Camera Questions

[lwmcanada]

Came across this camera, and am looking for more information on information on it. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Jack Dahlgren]

It is a big old process camera.
They are just about extinct, but you happened across a fossil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_camera

[Steven Tribe]

Its tradename is very appropriate - The Admiral. You would probably need a barge, tender and canal to move this around!

[John Jarosz]

30x45. Wow that's big. I've never seen one like that. The lens could have some value. Are you in a position to obtain it?


John

[Rick A]

In my youth, I used one of these. The rear was fastened inside the darkroom through the wall, and I had to go into a seperate room to load the copy. Then reurn to the DR and load film and turn or flood lights to illuminate the copy to make an exposure. The negative would then be removed from the camera and go straight into a tray to be processed. The place I worked at only had one tray that had a drain, and the chems were stored in tanks on a shelf above. It was less than fun to run through an operation.

[lwmcanada]

Thanks for the info. It's located in an old press building that was just converted into a university student centre and lecture halls. I work for the university as a media developer and I walked in to check out the building and came across this gem!

Apparently there was a stipulation in the lease of the building for the school that they had to keep this untouched. Any idea how much this would be worth?

[Brian Ellis]

How much it would be worth? You mean how much you'd have to pay to have it hauled away? I'd guess a commercial moving/hauling outfit would charge at least a couple hundred dollars to take it to the dump, depending of course on how heavy it is and how far away the dump is. I used one of these things to make copy negatives for alt processes as recently as about 9 years ago at a university I was attending.

[Jim Noel]

What an unusual stipulation. Apparently the previous owners had a significant attachment ot photography and this process camera.
The value is in the lens and the vacuum easel on the back. How much? can't hazard a guess w/o more info on the lens.

[jackpie]

Isn't that an Apo Nikkor? 610mm?

[lwmcanada]

I know it is a Nikkor, but i can't remember what kind, I will take another look tomorrow and let you know.

Just so everyone knows I'm not looking to buy it or make any money from it or anything, I'm just fascinated by this piece of machinery.

If anyone would like to see some larger pictures, there's a few on my flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49214282@N07/sets/72157625715262557/

[Vick Vickery]

Best thing to do with that is make a display out of it and let the students "WOW" over the big honkin' camera! Put a little fence around it so nobody will steal the lens (the only part that might actually be worth anything) and make up a picture story to display with it on the use of the Process Camera...could be a good project for a journalism major!

[Ernest Purdum]

Aside from the lens, there are industrial uses for a nice set of rails like that.