Gordon Coale
27-Mar-2010, 21:04
So I was telling my friend Don, a retired photographer, about my new 1869 Voigtlander Petzval. (I bought the Petzval from Saint Eddie of the Wet Plate.) While I was going on about this beautiful old lens a light bulb went off in his head. He has been carrying this camera around for years. It had belonged to his dad and he had wanted to do something with it but has been realizing that he wasn't ever going to get to it. His thought was that I would be the perfect sucker...er, a worthy recipient for this unfinished project so he gave it to me along with a Century studio stand and a stainless steel sink and many 3 1/2 gallon stainless steel tanks.
His dad was high school music teacher. At the end of WWII he took a job in northern Ohio. He moved his young family (Don was 3) to this town to discover that the current music teacher had another 2 years on his contract and they couldn't get rid of him. They told him that if he could find employment for the next 2 years the job would be his when the current teacher left. So Don's dad opened up a portrait studio for those 2 years and his mom did the hand coloring for those that wanted color prints. This was the camera. After that time he hardly ever used it but for some portraits for friends. The Century studio stand was used to hold paint cans. The Century studio stand has been taken apart. I will deal with that when I get the camera cleaned up and working
The lens is a Wollensak Velostigmat Series II F4.5 12" with soft focus. The soft focus ring is bent and frozen and the studio shutter had been on backwards with the f stops facing the lens board. I think I can get the glass cleaned up. I view the lens schmutz as a protective coating. If the glass cleans up I will see if S.K. Grimes can take care of the rest.
It also came with an extension rail, 2 film holders, and 2 blank lens boards. He also needs to find the 5x7 split back for it.
Now to pull the the front standard forward, remove the belows, and start cleaning. And thanks to Eddie for selling me the lens that got Don to give me this camera.
More pictures at Flickr: 8x10 Eastman View No. 2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordoncoale/sets/72157623590269021/)
His dad was high school music teacher. At the end of WWII he took a job in northern Ohio. He moved his young family (Don was 3) to this town to discover that the current music teacher had another 2 years on his contract and they couldn't get rid of him. They told him that if he could find employment for the next 2 years the job would be his when the current teacher left. So Don's dad opened up a portrait studio for those 2 years and his mom did the hand coloring for those that wanted color prints. This was the camera. After that time he hardly ever used it but for some portraits for friends. The Century studio stand was used to hold paint cans. The Century studio stand has been taken apart. I will deal with that when I get the camera cleaned up and working
The lens is a Wollensak Velostigmat Series II F4.5 12" with soft focus. The soft focus ring is bent and frozen and the studio shutter had been on backwards with the f stops facing the lens board. I think I can get the glass cleaned up. I view the lens schmutz as a protective coating. If the glass cleans up I will see if S.K. Grimes can take care of the rest.
It also came with an extension rail, 2 film holders, and 2 blank lens boards. He also needs to find the 5x7 split back for it.
Now to pull the the front standard forward, remove the belows, and start cleaning. And thanks to Eddie for selling me the lens that got Don to give me this camera.
More pictures at Flickr: 8x10 Eastman View No. 2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordoncoale/sets/72157623590269021/)