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Barry White
18-Sep-2010, 07:45
Hi, this is my first post although I have read the list from time to time.

I came across an unusual piece today and thought that someone here might be able to identify it for me. I first thought it was a pinhole camera of some sort but now I'm not so sure. As I don't know the posting rules for images I have a linked to some images on photobucket : <http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z242/PhotoStash07/Cameras/>

The back will accept some kind of film/paper and the lens cap control has "O" and "S" stamped on the body. There are no makers marks that I can see and there is no tripod mounting point either although there was a handle attached at one time.

Has anyone got a clue as to what it is?

John T
18-Sep-2010, 08:32
It looks like this is actually a solar enlarger. A glass negative is placed in the opening, photo paper is placed on the board with all the markings, cover over the lens is closed and it is taken outside, the lens is opened and the exposure is made.

Barry White
18-Sep-2010, 09:39
Thanks John,

I looked at it that way for a bit but the lens would then be facing the neg, not pointing down to the paper as in a normal enlarger. There might be a neg carrier missing as this set up would only work for one specific size of glass plate. The top/smaller frame is 167mm x 122mm ( ± 6.57" x 4.8" ) would that be a 1/4 plate size?

The base max size is 305mm x 387mm ( ± 12" x 15.2 " )

I can imagine taking the loaded thing outside and pointing it at the sun, movement would not matter so a handle is all you would need, wonder what kind of print quality one would get?

Steven Tribe
18-Sep-2010, 13:09
Yes I vote for a fixed solar enlarger too. These were typically made for one size negative plates (probably 1/2 plate size here). They were especialy popular when the public went over to 6x4.5 cm cameras. Some have an adjustment for different sized print paper.
The O & S might stand for "Overcast" and "Sunny".