Diving in at the deep end!

**trondareo** · 22-Oct-2014, 08:47

Hi I am Trond from Norway, and today I bought a Sperling 18x24 from a furniture uppholstry shop. Its not 8x10 or a more reasonable 4x5. It is not a well known brand with lots of support. It has no lens. it has no ground glass or back. But it does have four film holders and a leaky bellows. Oh, and there are some loose screws a bent track and and interesting tangy smell after sitting in the unheated part of the shop for god knows how long.

What do you think my probability of sucsess will be?

Looking forward to learning from this forum.

**David Schaller** · 22-Oct-2014, 08:51

Welcome to the forum. You may find information here about that camera (use Google to search), and I hope you are more handy with DIY than I would be!

**trondareo** · 22-Oct-2014, 08:58

Thank you!
I guess this is my winter project this year.

I have done a search, but it only turned up one forum post from '09
I have PMed him for tips.

**djdister** · 22-Oct-2014, 08:58

Depends on how handy you are (or willing to pay a woodworker) to rehab it. Finding a lens shouldn't be that difficult, just depends on whether you want "original" or a more modern lens -- plenty of barrel lenses are available. Here was a thread from someone with a similar camera:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...-Germany/page2

**trondareo** · 22-Oct-2014, 09:09

Thanks for the thread djdister, that was the one thread I have found.
I think I can manage the woodwork as long as i find out how the back is built up.
Here is a photo https://flic.kr/p/pJtrZ1