Curtis Color Scout

[Bolshoi]

Hello, guys, i've recently finished my most difficult project. This is a Curtis Color-Scout 4x5 fully restored with custom made dichroic beamsplitters. I thought it might be of some interest for you.
Curtis Color Scout is a famous color separation camera brand. which was quite popular in 40s. When i bought this camera it was just a piece of rubbish. The camera came in without holders and with both pellicles destroyed (Unfortunatelly, pellicles rarely make it to this day). So i had to make new frames and ordered a customized set of dichroic beamspitters (which increase camera's efficiency quite substantially). Beamsplitters were multi-coated to avoid image doubling.
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And a first self-portrait as a test shot
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(cant attach full size photo, use link https://www.flickr.com/photos/132081012@N03/51967393077/in/pool-92087504@N00/ )

[Bolshoi]

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[Tin Can]

Very impressive!

[Drew Wiley]

There's a miserably mauled one of those on the shelf of the local camera store just for sake of decor; not for sale, would be hell to refurbish it. Devin also made tricolor cameras, and a number of people have gone through the effort and expense to give them another life. A labor of love, I guess. Congratulations on your own effort! Hoya Industrial Division can remake the pellicles but at high cost; beam-splitters make more sense anyway.

[David Lindquist]

Yes, very very impressive work, including the test shot.
What are you using as the lens? I suppose back in the day it would have been an Apochromat Artar.

David

[Duolab123]

Very, very nice. Archival color. Polyester base black and white films. :o

[profvandegraf]

Wow! Very cool!

[Havoc]

Great job! I'm interested in those dichroic splitters. That must be a great step up from beamsplitters and color filters.

National Photocolour can stll provide new beamsplitters for their cameras. Sadly they cannot provide the color filters.

Got to move on with my Devin.

[John Layton]

An old schoolmate of mine, Jim Browning, has done this also (I believe with a modified Linhof?) - as well as dye transfer prints . Pretty amazing stuff!

[Bolshoi]

Thank you all very much!
I have to thank Scott Bilotta ( http://www.vintagephoto.tv/) without whose support the project would have been impossible to complete. He sent me a geniune Curtis holder for free so i was able to reproduce my own holders. I believe he also has the largest collection of color separation camera around the world. Thank you very much, Scott!

Yes, very very impressive work, including the test shot.
What are you using as the lens? I suppose back in the day it would have been an Apochromat Artar.

David
I use Rodenstock Geronar 210 f/6.8. The standard lens for the camera was Kodak Commerical Ektar 8 1/2 inch f/6.3. Some cameras were equipped with extremely rare Curtiss Colar Stellar 135mm, which i believe was the only large format truly retrofocus lens desing ever produced.



Great job! I'm interested in those dichroic splitters. That must be a great step up from beamsplitters and color filters.

National Photocolour can stll provide new beamsplitters for their cameras. Sadly they cannot provide the color filters.

Got to move on with my Devin.

Actually i've made a pair of pellicle splitters, but they do lose a lot of light. Original Curtiss pellicles were made of nickel-coated cellulose with more than 20% of light being lost on each of those splitters. Dichroic beamsplitters is much more modern solution to the problem. Some design changes had to be introduced into the camera's body of course. And yes, you still have to use filters (for sake of color balance), but the amount of light lost there is quite negligible due to light already been separated. My camera only increases exposure time from 4 to 5 times compared to conventional camera.

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(sorry for those color strips framing the shot, i use old Tasma 9x12 film for my experiments, which i have in unlimited supply. 9x12 cm is smaller than 4x5 inches so i can't align 3 negatives perfectly)

[RedGreenBlue]

My pleasure, Alex. You've done a remarkable job of re-inventing the Curtis.

Best wishes,
Scott

[Bolshoi]

My pleasure, Alex. You've done a remarkable job of re-inventing the Curtis.

Best wishes,
Scott

I'm glad to see you here, Scott!
I was trying to buy a delapidated Devin for another restoration project, but unfortunately mr. Putin started this bloody war and everything (including ebay) is unavaiable anymore here in Russia.
I wonder, is there any way to speed up film changing? Those glass holders are really a pain to reload.

[RedGreenBlue]

Hi Alex - the best solution I can think of is to have lots of holders and an assistant to preload them for you. It was typical in the day to carry 18 or so holders in a case.

I might have Devin spare parts for you if you do get hold of one. Let's pray for peace and normalization of relationships.

[Tim V]

Wow, just seen this. I've been shooting a ton of tri-colour using my Linhof Techno and a roll film back out in the field, but obviously manually shifting out filters etc rather than one-shot. I love the strange results that technique often results in, but man, I'd LOVE to have a working one-shot camera like this, especially using 4x5".
Does anyone have any other good links for info on these cameras? Living in New Zealand, I very much doubt there's anything of this nature surviving here to look at let alone restore.

[Drew Wiley]

Congratulations! What a fun project.

Another common tricolor camera size employed 5X7 film. I've seen quite a few negs of 1940's and early 50's Hollywood celebrities done with 5x7. Both Curtis and Devin were in the tricolor camera business.

At one point during the era of the Dye Transfer Forum there was quite a bit of reconditioning chatter going on between several people restoring these, including Jim Browning. There are all kinds of way they could be reinvented or re-tweaked at a much higher level of performance than originally.

[RedGreenBlue]

I wasn't aware of the links policy. My apologies.

Two Curtis tri-color one-shot cameras were sold this past week on the popular auction site. Now I see that one more has been listed and by the same seller. It's a 4x5 without a lens. This Curtis camera uses lens boards, so sourcing a suitable lens and making a board is doable. I have no connection with the seller and I'm not promoting their sales, however color cameras appear so infrequently that I like to get the word out for anyone who has an interest.

I could be wrong as to who wrote this, but I think it was Jack Coote, a prominent pioneer in color processes: that not more than 1,000 color cameras of all makes had been manufactured for sale.

Color camera prices vary significantly. I have watched sales for decades and purchased more than 3 dozen of a variety of types and makes over the years. Typically in a year, I will see 5 or so offered for sale via auction sites and auction houses.

The two I mentioned sold for more than I expected, especially the 4x5. They had characteristics that added value - they were the latest and final version Curtis cameras, with multiple lenses and each had one Curtis retrofocus lens, a real rarity. On the other hand, both had mold, the extent of which could not be determined without inspecting in person.

Another issue when shopping for a one-shot camera to actually shoot with, is the condition of the reflectors. With Bermpohl cameras this is rarely an issue because they are made of glass. Pellicle reflectors however are fragile. It's always a shot in the dark as to whether pellicles will be intact and clean enough to use. I have found that no seller has ever been able to assure me that their camera had intact pellicles, that both were present and they were clean and free of mold. If it matters, you need to inspect the camera personally.

With the notable exception of Bermpohl filters, filters will tend to have varying degrees of delamination. I have a few Curtis filters that are perfect, but the remainder of my Curtis, Devin, National Photocolor, Lerochrome , Recekmeier cameras and others, do have separation. Those filters are still usable if you crop.

The most common sizes available are appx. 2x3, 3x4 and 5x7. As Drew Wiley mentioned, 5x7 was common. It was the size preferred for commercial work. 2x3 and 3x4 were considered amateur sizes. 4x5 was really only made by Curtis. He marketed 4x5 to press photographers. My 4x5 Curtis came from a newspaper, and I believe the recently sold 4x5 did as well.

Color cameras for use can be a project, but again, as Drew mentioned, the Dye Transfer forum had discussed restoration. As I recall, Jim Browning described removing the frames from a 5x7 Devin, sending them off to National Photocolor for replacement pellicles, reinstalling then and realigning the camera. I believe this is still an option for those with time on their hands.

By the way, the seller I mentioned has also listed sets of Curtis holders, both film and film pack. The photos show the degree of filter delamination.

Scott