Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/05/04

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Subject: [Leica] 100 year anniversary of 120 film (Care & feeding of '29 Original)
From: photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 23:03:31 +0200
References: <625993.2837.qm@web125703.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <3D37FC30-95D4-4E62-BEC6-81F7744D04DA@charter.net>

Well, I don't know if this qualifies, but in mid-June I am going to spend a 
weekend in the Netherlands, including a day on the wonderful island of 
Texel, in the good company of Michiel Fokkema and other members of the 
Images photo club in Den Haag, and my primary camera will be the Fuji GW690 
loaded with various flavors of 120 film. I regard 35mm film as nothing more 
than backup for my digital cameras (I use a Bessa RM for that purpose, since 
it takes my Leica M lenses) but the big beautiful 6x9 negatives are 
something else.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog

YNWA







On May 4, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:

> I just found out that next year, 2012, 120 film will be 100 years old. 
> Anyone willing to do a celebratory project to commemorate the milestone?
> S.d. 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Carlos Manuel Freaza <cmfreaza at yahoo.com.ar>
>> Date: May 4, 2011 1:53:25 AM PDT
>> To: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: Re: [rolleiusers] Re: Care & feeding of '29 Original
>> Reply-To: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
>> 
>> Kirk:
>> 120 film was available from 1912 and the Rolleiflex was designed in 1928, 
>> it could be made to use 120 film but Heidecke wanted to keep the camera 
>> as compact and small as posssible and then he chose the 117 film (B1-6). 
>> The Rolleiflex was a market successs and hardly the firsts users got it 
>> they asked the factory about to adapt it to use longer film; F&H found a 
>> way to retrofit the camera for 620 film spools use with 12 frames. 
>> 
>> According the explanation in Claus Prochnow's Report 1, the 620 spools 
>> larger flanges made contact with the upper spool chamber and then it had 
>> to be enlarged accordingly, the lower spool was housed in a cage and 
>> projected slightly and then the camera back received two spherical cuts. 
>> The camera exterior was kept original without changes.
>> 
>> The camera could also be adapted for 120 film at factory, but it required 
>> major changes with modifications even for the camera exterior (i.e. a 
>> additional spool knob and a new wider transport knob with a groove) and 
>> the changes for the camera inside were significant too.
>> While the adaptation for 620 film looks pretty simple for a technician 
>> wanting to do the task, the adaptation for 120 film looks more complex 
>> requiring special parts, 120 spools had slight variants at the time and 
>> the adaptation needed to consider these variants.
>> 
>> It was from January 1932 with the first Rolleiflex Standard model that 
>> the Rolleiflex cameras were made to use 120 film from factory. The 117 
>> film was discontinued in 1949, F&H decision to adopt the 120 film size 
>> had nothing to do with the 117 film availability, the Rolleiflex users 
>> wanted a longer film. 
>> 
>> Carlos
>> 
>> PS:If you have the 620 spools, it's pretty easy to respool 120 film, the 
>> only difference 120-620 is the spool, film size is the same. 
>> 
>> --- El mi? 4-may-11, Kirk Thompson <thompsonkirk at hotmail.com> escribi?:
>> 
>>> De: Kirk Thompson <thompsonkirk at hotmail.com>
>>> Asunto: [rolleiusers] Re: Care & feeding of '29 Original
>>> Para: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
>>> Fecha: mi?rcoles, 4 de mayo de 2011, 1:03
>>> Thanks, Richard, for having a go at
>>> it, but unfortunately those aren't solutions (if there are
>>> any).
>>> 
>>> 1. No way 120, it's too fat. The early Rolleis used 117
>>> film.  Phillips explains that in 1929 it was the only
>>> size that had the frame numbers printed in the right place
>>> on the backing paper. 117 was 6 cm wide but had a thin
>>> spindle (making a thinner roll), small flanges, and
>>> different holes in the ends of the spools. 
>>> 
>>> When 117 was discontinued, many of the original Rolleis
>>> were converted to 620 film (which is still available from
>>> B&H). 620 has a skinny spindle and small flanges like
>>> 117, but it required a modification of the cameras: a
>>> different-sized left bump and right key to engage the
>>> take-up spool. These are the conversion parts I have some
>>> small hope of finding, if anyone knows of an old Rollei
>>> burial site where such things can be found.
>>> 
>>> 2. Years of experience have proved that klutzes like me do
>>> not work on their own cameras. So I still want to know if
>>> there's a classic camera repairman who retains old parts and
>>> skills. (Fleenor and Krikor don't work on these.)
>>> 
>>> Kirk
>> 
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In reply to: Message from s.dimitrov at charter.net (Slobodan Dimitrov) ([Leica] 100 year anniversary of 120 film (Care & feeding of '29 Original))