Ansco Studio Camera

[big_ben_blue]

I just recently finished restoring my Ansco stand. Was the battleship/metallic grey "premium de luxe" version . Anyhow, my original plan of stripping the paint and going with a wood finish got torpedoed right away. The above mentioned mix of different woods was one thing (one post being Mahagoni and the other probably basswood); but the overall quality of the wood raised some eyebrows. Seriously, the one post looks like it originated from reclaimed wood out of a shipping pallet, all dinged up, burning marks, knots and what not.
I can just imagine how the grey luxury finish came about:
accountant - "we need to lower manufacturing costs"
plant manager - "how about using all the free wood from the reject pile"
director - "but nobody in their right mind would buy this crap"
company sign painter - "lets buy that cheap gray paint and slap it on generously to hide the mess"
director (again) - "now absolutely nobody will buy this ugly sin for sure; we are ruined"
marketing spinster - "simple call it the "de-luxe" version. All you need to do is jacking up the price into the sky, and every gullible consumer out there thinks it's the must-have gizmo of the season."
And so every photographer with a name to prove and a deep pocket went out and got one. And the lesser heeled frugal competition went for the 3rd party knock-offs, all the starving poor artists simply repainted their cameras them-self, and the ones on drugs went even further and painted them white instead of gray.

PS: My stand sports an ebony finish now.

[cdholden]

Mark,
In all my travels around TN, I've only seen one. I don't go west of Jackson very often, but I cover eastern and middle TN pretty well. In the 6 years I've been bouncing around the state, the one I saw was in a camera shop down in Chattanooga. I forget the name of it, but I could find it if I was in the area again. I think it was an Ansco, but it had a J. C. Somerville branded lens on it. I guessed it to be a Rapid Rectilinear as it just seemed to be too small to be a petzval type lens on an 8x10. After telling me the story about how he got it in pieces and had to find screws from a variety of sources to put it back together, the guy behind the counter said it was for sale. When I asked how much, he was offended when I snickered at his "$3500" reply. "Good luck with that."
I'm curious. What size lensboard does your camera have? I picked up an older style Ansco field camera a while back. I thought the ones without front tilt all had 7.25" boards. Mine is just short of 7.5". I've been looking online and have recently seen some listed as 6.5" and 7".

Chris

[Mark MacKenzie]

Hey Chris!
9" x 9" . I am making boards from Finnish Plywood. Maybe its called marine plywood... birch but no voids and good quality. This one was in North Carolina and came with 8x10, 5x7, and a homemade 4x5 back. The 5x7 is the sliding one but I don't have the inner piece which I will cobble together. The bellows draw is amazing. I bought it primarily for my 14" Comm. Ektar and the Vitax. Drop me a pm and I'd be happy to meet you and show it off.

Yes, the value of these things is weird. Small market of people to actually use them and they are too big for curiosity pieces. Useless as a field camera but so handy to have setup in a studio. I saw one on Ebay listed for $3300. Mine was less than an inexpensive 8x10 field camera.

Ben, I bet you're right on the money. The paint is cool though and the speckles must have been a little more expensive than without.

I wonder how all of y'all's sitters react to this thing. When I shoot my Anny Speed I get good looks from people liking the old school camera, I can't wait to see the reaction to this. My wife thinks it is too imposing... but she's had her space invaded by cameras for too long.

[cdholden]

I think I recall reading that some manufacturers made their backs to be interchangeable between their studio and field cameras. I can bring you one of mine to test that out. If that's the case, you may want to keep an eye out for a standard 5x7 back. The sliding one shoots 2 portraits on a 5x7 sheet. In my selfish opinion, 5x7 is the smallest size that I like for my contact prints. If nothing else, it's just one more option to offer your sitters/customers.

[rusackson]

At this time I only have the camera (not the legs) stripped to bare wood and it is entirely made of Cherry. As I was initially stripping and sanding I was amazed why anyone would want to cover up such a great piece in that grey paint; which I now dub (thanks to Big Ben) battleship grey for its resilience. I guess as they entered the modern era people decided to say "F*&K OLD WOOD". Woodwork in many homes of the era suffered the same fate. As I am not an expert on identifying wood I brought the camera to someone who specializes in it, Bud Nosen of Bud Nosen Models. Nosen supplies most hobby shops with wood for modeling projects: http://budnosenmodels.com. Their shop is just down the road from me. They confirmed it was made of Cherry. I will post some photos of the camera as the project progresses.

[Mark MacKenzie]

Good luck with it; I look forward to seeing the photos. I wonder if you will have to stain the cherry to even out the red and maybe darken it some. I wonder if a gloss or matte finish is more appropriate.

I took the original lensboard to Home Depot to match the grey for touchup and lensboard paint but they only got close. Its noticeably a different shade but not too bad and of course no metallic flake. It will do.

[Louis Pacilla]

I think I recall reading that some manufacturers made their backs to be interchangeable between their studio and field cameras. I can bring you one of mine to test that out. If that's the case, you may want to keep an eye out for a standard 5x7 back. The sliding one shoots 2 portraits on a 5x7 sheet. In my selfish opinion, 5x7 is the smallest size that I like for my contact prints. If nothing else, it's just one more option to offer your sitters/customers.

Yep you recalled correctly Chris.

The Ansco field cameras and studio #5's do share the same spring backs with one difference. while the field cameras have a special clip with metal corners on the spring back and NO registering pins. As we know most cameras of this era including Century field and Studio and the #5 Ansco Studio have the registering pins in all or some of the corners.

I did this on my Studio #5 by using a 8x10 Field camera back and adding the pins. I bought a stock rod of brass from the hobby store and cut it to size. Just make sure when you drill your holes to use one size smaller bit. This will insure a tight fit for the pins. Then just tap the pins in and then I sanded the pins ends so they are smooth. That's it. You'll find you only really the pins on the two sides. This is how I did my 8x10 back.

Here are some snaps to better show what I tried to explain. The 1st shot shows a 5x7 field back and the 8x10 back w/ pins added.The second is 5x7 no pin 5x7 with pins (Studio) and the last is the original 5x7 back without brass clip plates and the converted 8x10 back.

[rusackson]

From what I have read Cherry is a pain to stain. It coats unevenly and appears blotchy. Gel stains (pigmented) are not supposed to suffer from this problem. Considering adding the color to the topcoat as another option. If Cherry is left alone it will naturally darken down and take on a red color. I initially thought smaller parts of the camera were different woods because of the darker red color. They must have been sitting around the Ansco factory for awhile ready for assembly. I am amazed at the color change from the time of sanding until today. It is already slightly more yellow/orange than the pale flesh appearance after sanding.

[Mark Sawyer]

Rusackson is right, but there are pre-stain treatments to help the wood stain more evenly. Easy to use, and very helpful on old or previously-finished wood of any type. Color added to the clear finish coat tends to hide the natural grain, and I don't like the effect.

[Mark Sawyer]

Mark, I have to admit. I have no flange on my Vitax. I cut the hole in the lensboard pretty accurately and the lens threaded into the plywood. I then wrapped the inside (of the camera) barrel with a thick leather and used a hose clamp. It is totally bogus but seems very stout. I am very very careful with it and will be looking out for a flange.

This is almost exactly the same idea, and it's the best alternative to a flange I've come up with: next time you're at the hardware store, look for a big sewer connector fitting. They're black rubber with a big ring clamp around each end. With a utility knife, cut about a 1-inch band with the ring clamp off each end, (now you have enough for two lenses!) Put it around the back side of the lens (behind the lensboard where it won't show) and screw the ring clamps down tight. Keep the rubber snugged up against the lensboard as you tighten it, and the compression will tighten it just a little more. Very secure, and the rubber protects the barrel from any damage.

I've done this on a number of my lenses, including the 13-inch Vitax below, (it's the big lens). I've since painted the clamps flat black, but wanted them to show up well when I took the photo.



I bet your solution works as well as mine, but missing flanges are a common problem, so for anyone else wandering through the thread...