Originally Posted by
Will Whitaker
I'd start by asking the seller if he/she has the locking screws for the rear swing. From the pictures it looks like this camera may have been apart at some point, so perhaps the screws are still lying around. Barring that, if you could borrow an original to send to a machinist, it could replicated . That would be the best way to do it, but it involves money. I don't recall the thread it uses, but you may be able to find a suitable, albeit non-original, replacement locally.
As Len noted, the earlier versions of this camera did have wooden knobs, but those were the focus knobs only. The rear swing lock knobs would have been knurled brass in either case.
A possibly bigger problem is going to be finding F&S film holders (and ones that don't leak). Modern film holders won't fit. Occasionally (very occasionally) they show up, but may require work. Still, worth asking on this forum; you never know. Another possibility is to have Alan Brubaker make some, but that is expensive and could involve a considerable wait.
On my 12x20 F&S I modified the rear standard to accept modern holders by milling a groove for the light trap (the rib lock). It's simple to do, but you have to make sure everything is right before you commit to the cut; there's no going back. If you're not confident in your woodworking ability, I'd hire it out. And you'll need to check the T-dimension (distance from the face of the rear standard on which the film holder sits to the front of the ground glass). It needs to match a modern film holder. I got lucky on my 12x20 and they were the same, so no further mods were needed. The good thing is that once it's done, you can use modern 7x17 film holders which are fairly plentiful (and reliable).
Keep in mind that these cameras are close to 100 years old. It's remarkable that as many of them are in as good shape as they are. And it's a testament to their build quality. But in that intervening time they've been exposed to a lot of crud. When I got my 12x20 I went over every surface, carefully cleaning it (no solvents!), even using some string in the track grooves in the bed (kind of like flossing) to get the crud out. I then gave everything a good coat of Renaissance Wax, including in the track grooves. Johnson's paste wax would have worked as well, but the other is what I had on hand. The movements are very smooth and the camera looks pretty sharp, too.
Why a barrel lens? True, there are a lot of interesting lenses that came only in barrels. But there are lenses available in the 250mm - 360mm range in shutters which would cover this format. Since you're just getting your feet on the ground with this, having one less variable might be a good thing.
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