What make is this camera?

[emjos]

Hello all! This is my first post here and concerns a Large Format Camera I have found - but not on the web. The xenar lens indicate a 1950-s design, if the lens is original. I don't know how many hundreds of LF cameras I have googled, but this one is not to be found. So what is it?

Can anyone tell?


I'm ever so grateful for any tips!

[joselsgil]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum. Could you possibly post some more photos of the camera? Side view and back might help. Is it made of metal, wood, plastic composite?

Jose

[emjos]

Hello Jose!

Thanks for the welcome. I have been shooting medium format (6x4.5, 6x6 and 6x9) for a year or so but LF has always had a certain "lure"

The front and back standards are made of metal. The rear side is wood and you see some of it protruding at the back.

I won it in a auction but it hasn't arrived yet.

(I am aware the bellows is sagging, but restoration is part of the fun with cameras anyway.)

[Peter Gomena]

I have seen a similar camera listed on a local website. I'll see if I can find the posts about it. It is American, made in L.A., I think, and no longer manufactured. The wooden back seems out of place. I believe the one I saw was all metal. The name may be "Brand", so it may be a brand-name camera.

Peter Gomena

[DrTang]

The front did remind me of a 'brand' - but did they use round lensboards?


looks like part Brand, part homemade and maybe uses Omega D2 enlarging lensboards

[Tracy Storer]

The double rail and some of the castings look like Brand / New View (Nu Vue?) from Newton Photographic Products in Los Angeles, company is long gone.

EDIT: Just looked and found a New View on Ebay (110824794592) not as close as I thought, though still similar.

[Leonard Robertson]

It does look very much like a Brand Camera Company of LA product, with a different back:

http://shopnew55.blogspot.com/

http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/00Dgoc

The round lens board is a puzzle, but I have a dim memory of the very early Brands using this. Presumably the lens board screws into the front frame, as no retaining clips are visible. You can search variations on "Brand Camera Company" or "Brand Camera" in both Google and Google Images. It isn't easy to search, since the word "brand" as in "brand name" keeps showing up in the search results.

Len

[emjos]

Yes, the Brand camera looks more like it than any other I have seen. It seems to have knurled knobs at the front instead of screws though. Interesting this. Perhaps it is a homemade hybrid?

[Peter Gomena]

Hmm, the website no longer has a picture of the Brand I saw. It does show a Newton Nu-Vue, which is of similar build. All metal camera with square lensboard, not round, but similar construction. You probably have a Frankenbrand.

Peter Gomena

[emjos]

The plot thickens… or perhaps not?

The camera is here on my bench now. No letters or markings on the aluminium frame at all unfortunately And I have looked everywhere!

Further there appears to be no interchangeable lens plate, the camera must have been manufactured for just one lens. The Xenar 4.5/150 has serial no 2441436 and the Press-Compur shutter has number A493309.

It has a full assortment of shift and swing and tilt: The front standard has shift up/down, tilt and swing while the rear standard has tilt and swing only.

Two ground glass backs accompanied the camera. One rotatable for 9x12 cm film (glass exactly 90x120 mm) and one fixed for 12x16 cm (glass exactly 120x165 mm). The larger one unfortunately was without the ground glass.

There was also one wooden (exquisite craft!) double sided film holder for 9x12 film measuring exactly 12 cm across. Pulling out the dark slide there is a thin metal inset, the size of the film, kept in place with a little lever at the bottom. Slide the lever and the metal inset pops out a bit. The metal inset measures 9x12 precisely.

Now, on a box containing the rotatable ground glass back there was an old scribble saying "Ka 62 Vridb. sp. a??" (question marks for unreadable letters). That /could/ be a swedish military designation indicating the camera was a "Kamera 62", ("Vridb." means "vridbar" = rotatable) it is not uncommon that numbers on military gear indicate year of acceptance or start of use. Perhaps the origin is swedish then? From 1962? Since I am located in Sweden it is not unlikely. The tripod screw is 3/8" though.

Do you think any other film holders could be used? I'd love to find just a few more.

Now it needs a cleaning and lubrication (the aluminium has powdered a bit) and the shutter also needs a going over, it is very slow on the 1/2 and 1 second setting.

Any tips and/or recommendations very welcome!