elrint
28-Jul-2020, 23:42
I recently bought a camera and the seller knew nothing about it. I've researched what I can about it, but with no labels or limited resources online of what I can search, it's making it hard. It's a 5x7 folding tailboard camera (no labels) with the numbers '28' on the lens board and a brass lens with '18491 C. Berthiot Fabricant Opticien Paris No. 3' engraved. I'm having difficulty trying to find anything about the model/maker since there is nothing on the camera itself, and tried researching the lens to get an idea but can't find much about that specific model sadly.
I went to test out the camera and wanted some advice on the shutter. You wind the gear once and the curtain/blind that covers the aperture gets wound up on a drum off to the side and exposes an opening in the cloth (no slits..a wide opening) where you can focus the image on the ground glass. You wind the gear again and that portion gets wound up also and the aperture gets covered up by another section of curtain....basically a horizontal guillotine shutter. The only problem is when I go to fire the shutter and expose film, instead of a regular guillotine shutter movement, it will go from the curtain to the opened/exposed view and stay there. I then have to lift the lever again and this releases the shutter tension again and it completes the movement and releases so the original curtain now covers the aperture.
Does anyone know why this happens instead of completing the whole wiping motion in one release? I thought perhaps something was warped or got stuck but there is nothing abnormal that interferes when the tension is released. There is a raised area that 'locks' the gear in place for both the opened section and 2nd cloth, my problem is when I go to release the shutter, it gets caught or stops at the first 'lock', which is when the aperture is fully open. When I lift the lever again the shutter releases again to the first cloth. Just want to know why it's doing this since I'll set the shutter speed, but it clearly doesn't make a difference if it stops when the aperture is fully exposed and I have to manually release the tension again.
Thanks for any and all help. Sorry if explaining the shutter problem was confusing...I'll try to take a video but I posted photos below for now...feel free to follow up with questions and I'll answer best I can.
206375206376206377
I went to test out the camera and wanted some advice on the shutter. You wind the gear once and the curtain/blind that covers the aperture gets wound up on a drum off to the side and exposes an opening in the cloth (no slits..a wide opening) where you can focus the image on the ground glass. You wind the gear again and that portion gets wound up also and the aperture gets covered up by another section of curtain....basically a horizontal guillotine shutter. The only problem is when I go to fire the shutter and expose film, instead of a regular guillotine shutter movement, it will go from the curtain to the opened/exposed view and stay there. I then have to lift the lever again and this releases the shutter tension again and it completes the movement and releases so the original curtain now covers the aperture.
Does anyone know why this happens instead of completing the whole wiping motion in one release? I thought perhaps something was warped or got stuck but there is nothing abnormal that interferes when the tension is released. There is a raised area that 'locks' the gear in place for both the opened section and 2nd cloth, my problem is when I go to release the shutter, it gets caught or stops at the first 'lock', which is when the aperture is fully open. When I lift the lever again the shutter releases again to the first cloth. Just want to know why it's doing this since I'll set the shutter speed, but it clearly doesn't make a difference if it stops when the aperture is fully exposed and I have to manually release the tension again.
Thanks for any and all help. Sorry if explaining the shutter problem was confusing...I'll try to take a video but I posted photos below for now...feel free to follow up with questions and I'll answer best I can.
206375206376206377