8x10 Eastman 2D Full Restoration - Input Please

[Fragomeni]

I restore antique cameras, mostly medium and large format, and it is a passion of mine for numerous reasons including the connection I feel to the finished camera and it makes getting equipment easier for me since I am a student and money is usually tight. Anyway, I am in need of an 8x10 so I've begun restoring a wonderful Eastman 2D (I'm 99% sure thats what it is from comparison to pictures, there are no markings on it). I've posted a thread in the For Sale/ Wanted section looking for parts and now I'm just looking for a little input/ guidance/ ideas for the restoration project.

If anyone has restored one of the cameras I'd love to hear about your experience and what you did to get the camera back to working order. Also, I'd like to hear about any improvements you made. Before any of the annoying naggers on here post some snide comment, yes I've read the other posts about restorations and Eastmans.

Two questions that I have deal with the front standard and its lack of movements and the rail extension. Did any version of these cameras come with a front standard that had swing and tilt? Is there any way to alter the camera so that it has front swing and tilt? As to the rail extension, does the camera require a set of extended or extra long bellows to use the rail extension or were the bellows made a standard size that expand long enough to stretch two rails (I'm re-leathering my bellows so I cant measure them at the moment)?

As usual, thanks to everyone that will inevitably help me out!

[Drew Bedo]

Well . . .I don't know if what I did qualifies as a "resiroation", but 15 years ago I bought a 2d at a camera at the Houston Camera Show. It was in good used condition; tight bellows all functions worked, one crack in the GG. I used it "as-is" for months with Scotch tape on the crack to hold the two pieces together.

I started by replacing the focusing screen. With the standards off the bed rails, I felt the need to care for the wood. I disassembled the camera as far as possible without exceeding my ability to put it all back together. As each metal fitting came off the camera, I taped it to a piece of cardboard in relation to the other parts and made notes on the cardboard to remind me what was what and where it went.

I used Formby's refinishing products and basically cleaned up the wood without stripping it down. Its not a 100% concourse restoration. The metal is not refinished or re-plated. A close look shows Q-Tip swirls in the corners, but what is on the wood inow s the original varnish.

That is my 2D restoration.

There should be a mfg name plate below the front standard. Mine says:
“Kodak View Camera
No, 2-D
Manufactured in The USA for
Eastman Kodak by
Graflex Inc.”

While these cameras were made almost unchanged from the 1920s through the 1950s, the name plate changed five or six times. Check McKeowen’s guide (what I have ) or some other reference to help you date your camera.

Keep us up-dated and poist pix!

[eddie]

all the cameras i have seen have enough bellows for use with the extension rail. if you do not have one you should be sure to make an extension rail for your camera. they really are great. while you are at it make a tripod sliding block as well. this allows you to find the balance point with any lens/extension combination. you can search the forums and find several examples with pictures to aid you.

i sold a kodak 2d whole plate camera several months back in the FS section. it had some front movements you may be able to incorporate in your camera.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ighlight=kodak

be sure to click on the additional photos.

eddie

[Brian Ellis]

Adding front tilt is a very nice improvement to a 2D. I didn't do that myself, Richard Ritter did it for me, but I imagine that if you contacted Richard he'd explain the procedure. It does mess with the originality of the camera of course but 2Ds aren't collectors items and I bought the camera to use, not to admire, so that didn't particularly bother me.

As for those "snide comments" by "annoying naggers" - after you've been here a while and begin seeing the same questions over and over and over again, when a simple search would have provided the necessary information, perhaps you'll understand better than you do now why we sometimes suggest a search rather than repeating an answer that we've already given 30 or 40 times in the past.

[Fragomeni]

Adding front tilt is a very nice improvement to a 2D. I didn't do that myself, Richard Ritter did it for me, but I imagine that if you contacted Richard he'd explain the procedure. It does mess with the originality of the camera of course but 2Ds aren't collectors items and I bought the camera to use, not to admire, so that didn't particularly bother me.

Is Richard on the forum? I'll do a search and see if I can contact him. I like keeping things original but incorporating front movements to these camera will improve its flexibility greatly which I would like. I'm not working on this one to be a museum piece so altering it for the better doesn't bother me. I shoot with everything I restore and everything I keep needs to be usable to my standards. I'll contact Richard

As for those "snide comments" by "annoying naggers" - after you've been here a while and begin seeing the same questions over and over and over again, when a simple search would have provided the necessary information, perhaps you'll understand better than you do now why we sometimes suggest a search rather than repeating an answer that we've already given 30 or 40 times in the past.

I'm not new to fourms, I'm just new to this one. I've been an active member of online forums and communities covering all sorts of content since at least 2003 and I have seen my fair share of repeat questions but there is a HUGE difference between directing someone toward a link or offering a short answer to their question and including a link to a relevant conversation as opposed to being outright ignorant and uncouth in behavior simply because theres a computer screen between you and the person you are talking to. The kind of rudeness I've seen (not necessarily directed toward me but directed toward anyone) could very easily lead to a pop in the mouth in real life. Often what happens, this pertains to my own personal experience, is that a question comes up that may have been touched on in passing but never discussed or investigated and people who are eager to flex their internet ego jump to offer the type of snide comments I mentioned because THEY failed to read the question and realize that there in fact was no answer where they thought there was. I completely understand being annoyed at seeing the same question over and over but in a lot of circumstances, but certainly no where near all, questions are valid and the "Snides" as I call them just have to open their mouths in completely unnecessary and unhelpful ways. Very rarely does anyone on a forum outright try to annoy so there is no reason or excuse for behaving in a way that you wouldn't in real life. Sorry for the long triad but I just wanted you to hear where I was coming from. I guess I just hijacked my own thread...

[Peter De Smidt]

I have a 2D. Mr. Ritter made me a lens board that adds some lens tilt. By turning the adapter 90*, you could have it do swing. The amount is minimal but useful, and it doesn't require any modification to your camera. You would need to mount your lenses on smaller boards. If you'd like, I can take a picture of it and email it to you. PM me your email address if you'd like me to do that.

[Fragomeni]

Here is where I'm at with restoring the original bellows. The original bellows were a total loss and were crumbling away when touched. I've stripped the original burgundy leather off (what was left of it) and removed the original struts which were falling apart as well. I'm not making new struts and installing them on the original base cloth. Next I'll replace the original leather with a matching burgundy vinyl leather substitute which matches the old leather almost perfectly and retains the leather look but will be much more durable in the long run (talking a hundred years here haha). I'll post more pictures as the project moves along.

[Jim C.]

I would build the bellows from new materials if you intend to use the camera,
the bellows cloth ( liner ) is rubberized thin fabric and the rubber coating dries out
and could potentially crumble, the fabric too can rot, which would cause potential light leaks.

I'm curious about the vinyl leather substitute you intend to use, I'm at the bellows making point
with my both my Kodak 2D's, how thick is the that material ?

[Fragomeni]

I would build the bellows from new materials if you intend to use the camera,
the bellows cloth ( liner ) is rubberized thin fabric and the rubber coating dries out
and could potentially crumble, the fabric too can rot, which would cause potential light leaks.

This is the case to some degree but I've found that using the cloth as a guide for the struts and then covering it properly in new leather or vinyl alleviates most problems with rot in the cloth. Proper application of Pliobond (my glue of choice) and a good leather or vinyl will protect the underlying cloth fairly well as well as return the bellows to complete light tight status and I haven't experienced any problems with further cloth rot yet.

I'm curious about the vinyl leather substitute you intend to use, I'm at the bellows making point
with my both my Kodak 2D's, how thick is the that material ?

I prefer to use leather but a camera this big makes finding a sheet of leather that big quite difficult and expensive and I prefer not to use multiple sheets. On cameras this size a good leather embossed vinyl works very well. You can get this at practically any fabric craft store. I've used vinyl from Jo-Ann Fabrics. They have huge rolls that you can have cut to size and you can get enough for an 8x10 for between $20-$40 depending on the quality and color of the vinyl. Thicknesses vary, some have a cotton back that can be peeled off which leaves you with a thin vinyl sheet thats pretty much perfect and will allow the bellows to return to about the original thickness. The vinyl I used in this case has a slightly thicker back that wasn't removable. I wanted to try this vinyl for a while so this project gave me that chance. Honestly, the vinyl I used this time is thicker then I would prefer to use in the future and I'll probably go back to the vinyl that I can peel the back off of next time. This vinyl works fine and looks very good (color matches original as well) but it doesn't collapse quite as far as it needs to to fold the camera into storage position. This doesn't bother me in this case but if I were backpacking with this camera I'd prefer to be able to fold it down. Now I just need to find a lens for this puppy. I'll probably use this camera predominantly as a portrait camera which these are phenomenal for and I'll be saving up for an 8x10 with full movements for other types that involve backpacking and such.

Overall, the 2D is great for landscape despite what a lot of people will tell you and the lack of front movements is not a major downfall. These cameras were used for landscape very effectively for a long time and all you need to do is learn to make the camera work for you. If you really know how to get the most out of your camera you can achieve pretty much everything you can to with front movements on a camera that is restricted to rear movements like the 2D.

Pictures of new bellows: (you can see the new ground glass in third picture as well)

[Peter De Smidt]