PDA

View Full Version : Old Studio Camera – Advice Needed



OMU
11-Aug-2011, 12:27
I’m the proud owner of a “new” studio camera – (proud as a small kid with a new toy)
It’s an old Danish camera, Norka, and comes with a Heliar 36 cm f. 4.5 from 1928.

Some details need to be reappeared and I'm asking for some advice

GROUND GLASS: (5 X 7)

It's broken and needs to be replaced. I understand I can by a new one, or make on by myself.
- Should I make my one, or is it advisable to by one?
- Any recommendation where to buy?

FILM HOLDERS (5 X 7)

It came with an older wooden film holder wish works just fine.
- If I buy new ones online, will the film plane be the same as in the old holder?
- Or do I have to adjust the ground glass and only use the new film holders?

SHUTTER
There is an old "barn door shutter" in the camera. It seems to work just fine. It is powered by air, and inside it’s a small piston. This piston is decayed and need to be replaced
- Any idea where I can get a new one ore what I can use as a replace the old one?

Advices and suggestions are mostly welcome

Steven Tribe
11-Aug-2011, 12:51
Well there is a member who does have a good knowledge of the Norka (short for Nordic Kamera) and I think still has one (Gandolfi or Emil). He is in Prague this week I think.

Your camera was almost cetainly built for a much larger (metric size) and the back on it now is a result of the studio where it was reacting to the declining economic situation in the 1920's and later.

So before you get hold of or make a GG you have to decide whether you want to go back to the original format (18x24cm or larger).

The film holder is comparitive modern and these are still available on e**y. You may want to check whether they have the adaptors for film rather glass plates?

The rubber seal and piston is something that Emil might be able to give good advice.
This system is well worth renovating. Emil's similar shutter works perfectly.
The actuating cylinder is very similar to the one on the Grundner shutter.

These camera sold well in Scandinavia, but I have seen one for sale some months back in Wales!

You had better check that the Heliar is not a Universal Heliar!
I bought a similar set with an early Heliar (it says Heliar on the ring) but the graduations on the front cell revealed it was from the first series Universal Heliar which were still called just Heliars.

OMU
11-Aug-2011, 23:56
Thanks for your answer and the information about the camera.

It’s certanly build for a larger format. It’s clearly modified to fit the 5 x 7 format. It would be interesting to go bak to a larger format, but for a start I’l use it as a 5 x 7.

I’s probably difficult to find a used back for the larger format, and I suppose the only way is to build one my self?

Is there any suggestion where to by a new ground glass?

I have got some suggestions to wisit some shops that work in the pneumatic business and hopefully fint something that I can use as a piston for the shutter.

Heliar/universal heliar?
I can turn the front ring, and the front cell, but I non’t know if its an Universal. Is I possible to see if it is, by the naked eye?

PS
I had the pleasure to visit Emil at Vrå at the summer courses this summer :-)

Steven Tribe
12-Aug-2011, 01:50
A Universal will have some graduations 0 - 5 engraved on the side with an arrow. An ordinary will just screw out like an ordinary front lens cell.

Any 8x10 back (complete with springs and GG) can be be easily added on to to make a back that fits. I have old big backs that have been modified down - first to 5x7 and then later once more to 4x5.

Your 5x7 back looks like an original "downgrade in size" back plate made by NORKA or one of its competitors. The brass corner pieces look professional.

Search for Ground Glass here and you will find good instructions on how to make GG in a couple of hours!

OMU
12-Aug-2011, 22:45
Hallo again;

The lens is unfortunately not an universal, but I'm happy with lens anyway :-)

I'' try to make my one GG, but haven't found anyone who sells something that I can use to grit the glass.

I have chosen to live in an small and quiet place and is satisfied with that. But every time I need some photo gear, I envying those that live in large cities.

Steven Tribe
13-Aug-2011, 07:23
There is a reasonably recent thread on "do-it-yourself" grinding with lots of practical/material information.

The days when every major city had a store with well assorted stock for silver photography have gone. There is just 1 place in Denmark with a very narrow range!
Forunately, grinding compounds are available from gem stone/hobby jeweller's supplies. Another alternative is fine valve grinding paste from motor supplies.

akfreak
13-Aug-2011, 10:57
what a beauty

OMU
13-Aug-2011, 12:12
Thanks;
I love her :-)

John Koehrer
14-Aug-2011, 15:14
compound for grinding telescope lenses may be easier to find. It's the same material and once you have that, it's simple.

OMU
19-Aug-2011, 12:22
To night I have made a new ground glass. Bought velvet grinding pasta and used 15 min and I had a perfect new ground glass. No problem at all. Works perfectly :-)

I have used the recommendation from members here at the forum. Thanks a lot for your help!

No I have to solve the problem with the shutter.

Steven Tribe
19-Aug-2011, 14:37
In my green youthful days I spent some time as a skills analysis "expert". One of the jobs was an analysis of the hand manufacture of old fashioned bathing rings. The women used raw rubber sheeting that they could bend to all sorts of shapes and glue. These were then vulcanised - a fancy expression for heat treatment. Whether this thin raw rubber is available from upmarket hobby dealers I do not know. Even if the piston system is the main cause of the non-functioning, you must expect to meet dry and cracking rubber. All my Guerry shutters from the same period had rock solid rubber.

OMU
21-Aug-2011, 12:53
Yes, the piston is dry and cracked. :-(
Haven't had time to find a solution to the problem, but still hope i will :-)

Cheffalo
23-Jan-2014, 14:04
Hi!
My first post to this large format forum, and it is about a rubber piston for a NORKA shutter.. I received one today and I need to replace the rubber to make it function. Any suggestions?

Steven Tribe
23-Jan-2014, 15:47
This thread goes back to the days when DIY did not have its own category - as it does now!

The Norka shutter has the same system as the Guerry shutter, I believe. This has been written about here and I described a system using a section of cycle inner tube with the fixed valve tube intact.

Cheffalo
23-Jan-2014, 16:54
This thread goes back to the days when DIY did not have its own category - as it does now!

The Norka shutter has the same system as the Guerry shutter, I believe. This has been written about here and I described a system using a section of cycle inner tube with the fixed valve tube intact.

Great, I'll check in the DIY area! So you managed to get your Norka shutter operational then?

Jim Noel
23-Jan-2014, 16:54
Got to a shop which sells supplies for polishing rocks and purchase some 600 grit carborundum. That will make a fine ground glass, infact two at a time is easier than one.

Hallo again;

The lens is unfortunately not an universal, but I'm happy with lens anyway :-)

I'' try to make my one GG, but haven't found anyone who sells something that I can use to grit the glass.

I have chosen to live in an small and quiet place and is satisfied with that. But every time I need some photo gear, I envying those that live in large cities.

Louis Pacilla
23-Jan-2014, 23:11
Got to a shop which sells supplies for polishing rocks and purchase some 600 grit carborundum. That will make a fine ground glass, infact two at a time is easier than one.

Hey Jim I think OMU has solved this problem long ago seeing how that part of the thread goes back to 2011. Took me a little while to figure that out myself. OMU seems to be using his Nordak Studio camera and 36 cm Heliar to make a few portraits.

Here's one of his portraits from Dec 2013. Good for him!
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?108889-December-2013-Portraits&p=1091927#post1091927

Cheffalo
24-Jan-2014, 00:48
I found the Guerry thread. Do the cycle tube collapse fast enough for short exposure times? I rather need a cylindrical rubber bellow but I will absolutely try something like this.
I have a few other lenses I'd love to fit on this camera, lenses with no built in shutter (old projector lenses) so I'll need a working one.

Steven Tribe
24-Jan-2014, 01:26
Depends on the condition of the old spring.

You haven't mentioned what kind of camera. Buying Norka/Guerrys can be expensive as you will need a range of sizes for lens diameters. For studio cameras, the grundner shutter is a far better choice - the same idea as sinar/copal shutters.

Cheffalo
24-Jan-2014, 02:20
It's an old full plate mahogany camera from Helsingborgs Fotografiska Magasin (see attached cell phone shot) with a Tessar 4.5, 25cm 'Fliegertruppe' lens. Small studio camera/big field camera? The Norka shutter is attached inside the bellows and I think it would be nice to make it work, somehow. The shutter is in very good shape, not counting the brittle rubber parts.

Attaching a picture weren't easy here, I'll try again later..

Cheffalo
24-Jan-2014, 02:28
The images.109106 109108

Steven Tribe
24-Jan-2014, 08:20
This is standard design German Reisekamera in the 18x24cm size - probably between 1895 and 1915. The fitment of a NORKA camera is unusual and suggests it has been used as a studio camera (long exposures). I have an identical camera with me in Spain this week - except that I have mounted a sinar/copal shutter between the bellows and the front standard so I can get 1/60 sec.

This thread is getting mixed as it now contains DIY, Lens, and Camera subjects! If you want more info about the camera you had better start again under cameras!!

Cheffalo
24-Jan-2014, 16:25
I was under the impression that you wanted to know what camera.. All I searched for was help to fix the shutter. I'll mend it somehow.

Steven Tribe
25-Jan-2014, 01:48
I have asked our splendid Mods to move this to the camera theme, as it is mostly about cameras (OP's original title).
Are you missing the back??

Cheffalo
25-Jan-2014, 10:49
No. You can fold it over.