Any idea what this is?

[Richard Rankin]

Ok, this baby arrived today. Well, more of a great-grandfather than a baby, I suppose. Ole appears to be correct re the stereo. The back of the bellows has a notch where such a divider could have fit. And, as Steven said, the divider is, of course, missing. The back is missing the GG, but does remove and would be replaced by the film/plate holder. Haven't tried any holders yet to see if one might accidentally fit.

So, you guys are totally amazing. I haven't seen how the entire bellows would remove and rotate as suggested, but I think that is probably also correct and I will see how to do that eventually. But at the moment, it appears to me to be fixed to the front standard. The lens board is attached to a sliding board which is attached again to another sliding board, so the rise and fall in the front is unlike anything I've ever sen. And both boards slide right off if needed. The more interior board is supposed to be fixed to limit its movement with the 2 front knobs that are missing. There is also a top knob for sliding left or right.

The camera is missing heaps of brass screws, which I suspect I can replace easily. The biggest problem I can see is that the bottom of the rear standard has a bent metal thing on each side that fits down into a slot and then slides sideways a cm or so to lock it in. One of those is missing and making a replacement is probably beyond me meager skills. But otherwise, the bellows would need replacing and a lot of screws and some wood glue, but it's not too bad.

I admit, I have totally fallen in love with this ugly thing. I think I might have to try and salvage it...

Cheers, Richard

[Ole Tjugen]

One way to repair such an oldie might be to get a modern Russian Reisekamera to strip down for parts...

The quality of the old one is likely to be far better than a new Russian, but the Russian will have usable parts!

[Steven Tribe]

Photos, please Richard.

I did say that this is not a turning bellows type - the back is turned through 90 deg. when the two top latches are released.
Screw threads will be metric (M3 and up).
I think the top knob is the one used for stereo left/stereo right adjustment. This can be done with the skilled photographer behind the camera!
Remember to look for names on the camera. These are often descretely placed on working brass strips like Deardorff.
Now you have found the notches in the back you should look for the corresponding, but different design, notches in the front ( I didn't mention them earlier so as not to raise your hopes about the stereo option).

[Richard Rankin]

After looking at it more closely, it clearly isn't going to rotate around the front standard. Too bad Sorin at DIYCameraKit is leaving for ages or I'd break this apart and order a bellows kit for it.

It will be a few days until I can take better photos - I have another whole plate camera I need to finish off so I can sell it.

This does have an interesting feature at the rear of the rail platform. There is a brass enclosed round piece of glass. At first I couldn't figure out what it was until I stood up and was looking down on it. It's a bubble level! There's some viscous fluid in there, floating around. Maybe some type of oil?

The missing brass piece may be easier to make than I had thought. I'm not sure I can do it, but it really isn't much more than a piece of bent brass, rounded edges and some screw holes in it. I might be able to find a semi-handy person who could replicate that.

I'll post some photos as soon as I can and check the parts for hidden names.

Cheers, Richard

[Steven Tribe]

There is rather a quite good illustrated description of the "reisekamera" which lists some of the known makers. It is at camerapedia.org/wiki/Reisekamera - it is in English. Spirit level is unusual on these but some had the hanging (useless?) clock-hand on the side.

[Richard Rankin]

I disagree a little with the author of that piece. The one I have here is extremely light and portable and fit in a very small shipping box for a whole plate camera. I actually thought they had sent the incorrect camera at first because the box was so small. The key, I think, is that the camera is pretty much the same width and height as the ground glass, which is not true of any of the other cameras I have.

Haven't had the time (or nerve) to disassemble the front standard yet and check for a notch. I'm fairly certain that it will be there, though, given the obvious facility for a divider in the rear. What might such a divider be made of? Would it be stiff like wood or a curtain of bellows material. I've never physically seen a stereo camera on the inside.

Cheers,
Richard

[Steven Tribe]

I agree with you about the very portability of these tailbacks. But remember these were also made in ULF, 40x50cm, I believe!
I have posted these photos on these stereo central bellows part before ( search under Bentzin, stereo ) but here are a couple of photos. This is self made on the basis on what can be seen from a rear shot of a camera which still had the original bellows and trial and error with mock-ups. Note that mine is tapered. This is because, although because the outside of the bellows is perfectly square, the folds are much greater near the front standard.
Insertion and removal takes less than 30 seconds.
Since I first got my stereo/mono tailboard I have checked the 13x18cm tailboard offered on e**y. A great many of them (more than 25%) look like they are the same type as yours and mine but the small brass lined holes don't get noticed by the seller.
An exception is one on sale by Fotoherbst at the moment (no connection with him/her). This will of great interest for you as it shows the mounted plate holder and gives a perfect shot of the engage system. This holder is exactly the type I have.

Later: sellers name is fotoherbstcom. Item no. is 280047771556.

[Richard Rankin]

Fotoherbstcom has several reisekameras listed. I bookmarked him/her so I can peruse the photos with more attention. Thanks for the tip - my Ebay searches don't turn up items on the German site.

The bellows curtain you added is very interesting. Do you have a photo of your camera without the back or the curtain so I can check it against mine?

[Steven Tribe]

Here it is. The rear tabs are held in the slot by the compression of the rubber in the central "bellows". The front holes have brass, reinforcing strips to hold the detachable bellows division in place. They use the system that lens boards have when there is no security latch in the front. That is, the top hole in the front is about 4mm deeper than bottom hole. So you position in the top hole first as high as possible so that you can just push the bottom tab in - then release the bar, which falls down into the bottom hole to ensure a safe fit.