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Keytarjunkie
18-Sep-2012, 16:02
Loomis Camera in Elyria OH is going out of business this month, pretty sad. I went to look around but really had to dig to find anything of interest to me.

Here are a few things I got that I need some help with understanding.

-a 8x10 ground glass screen and wood frame. Any idea what camera this would go to?

-a 4x5 back w/ ground glass, attached to a bellows and a lensboard holder thing. I assume this is some sort of copy enlarger, any idea?

-a wood double darkslide that says in each side "this holder made to fit 4x5 PREMO cameras" does this take wet plates? would it be possible to use it with my 80's Nagaoka 4x5? It fits, it's just really awkward to take out the darkslides.

-some sort of magic lantern lens. there are marks along the aperture slot that read 256, 128, 64, 32, 15 (or 16), (8 or 9), and 4. the markings read "bausch & lomb optical co" and "rapid rectilinear"

Any idea about the history of any of these?
Keytarjunkie
18-Sep-2012, 16:03
And the lens.......
Jim Jones
19-Sep-2012, 05:19
The aperture on the lens is marked in the old U.S. system where the marked 4 equals f/8 and the marked 256 equals f/45.
Sevo
19-Sep-2012, 05:41
Rapid Rectilinear/Aplanat type lenses are no laterna magica lenses by the way - these were the run of the mill photographic lens for just about every purpose other than portrait from the 1870's until after WWI.
goamules
19-Sep-2012, 05:50
It is sad to see a business that has allowed several generations of American owners to live out their dream, since the early 1900s, going away. Good pictures of it's history here:
http://loomiscamera.com/history.php
Keytarjunkie
19-Sep-2012, 05:58
Great thanks for the info guys. I think the aperture scale is useless because it is just a big slot - I assume this took some kind of drop-in apertures? Any ideas about the other stuff?

Yes, Loomis camera has quite a history. Unfortunately the quality of their used merchandise has kind of diminished over the years, the stuff that's left is mostly corroded and covered in dust. A real sign of the times...
Sevo
19-Sep-2012, 06:03
Great thanks for the info guys. I think the aperture scale is useless because it is just a big slot - I assume this took some kind of drop-in apertures?

If there is a scale, there will have been a iris aperture - but these were often replaced with a Waterhouse stop slot when they broke.