A number of months ago a fellow LF forum member gave away the project camera below. It's a 5x7 Agfa Ansco. I'm guessing 1940's vintage, but I don't know for certain.
It's been a relatively slow process, partly because I just work on it here and there when I have time, but I am hopeful that I am nearing completion. More to follow..
Last edited by Lffbug; 16-Nov-2013 at 14:38.
After receiving the camera, I was concerned that I had bitten off more than I could chew.
I've done a little restoration of old furniture and tools, but never a camera. Furthermore, my knowledge of large format is just budding - I freely admit that I am still wet behind the ears. Up until the past year and a half, most of what I had learned about photography was digital - nothing involving wood, brass, and movements.
Disassembling the camera was not difficult, but perhaps a little difficult bringing myself to do it. There were so many parts and pieces. I ended up taking a lot of pictures of parts at various angles as I disassembled them, just in case I forgot how to get it back together. Good thing I did!
All the sections laid out on my work table. Don't worry, the hammer was not used in the disassembly!
It's worth it, they are nice cameras.
I have one.
The bellows were old, pretty stiff, and brittle. I took them off and set them aside and focused my efforts and the remaining pieces.
Also one of the parts is a 4x5 back that's not part of the original camera. I hope to find it useful to me (if nothing else I can get a perceived longer focal length with my current lens), but I am more excited about the prospect of using 5x7 film, even though it's hard to get a hold of. (Several folks have mentioned shooting paper for contact prints - I think I'd like to try it, but I'll probably need some advice from you more seasoned LF'ers).
Some repair was required of the rear standard, and a couple of other places. The wood had developed cracks and splits that would cause problems down the road if not repaired. So before sanding and refinishing I had to repair some of the wooden parts.
I have been restoring the camera section by section. I removed the brass and shined it, sanded the wood and removed the old paint, stained and finished it.
Rear standard after repair
I have restored two or three of these cameras, one suggestion for disassembly as you take each component apart keep all the pieces and screw in a separate container. ie: coffee can
My last restoration ended up with a 5x7 Calumet bail back and a Walnut lens board.
As far as buying film I believe B and H, Adorama and Freestyle carry 5x7 film and there is also 5x7 E-ray film available.
There are a couple of options for the bellows. There is a man in China that sells bellows on the big auction site you would have to give him the measurements and then there is a company in the UK that will do the same, last quote I had was for a little over $200. US dollars.
I also talked to the company in Rochester, NY that can make bellows and they weren't all that interested in making a pair.
Originally Posted by Ron Stowell
The bellows have so far been my biggest hurdle. I thought for a while about trying to make some, but felt that would be quite a challenge. I even went so far as to practice making bellows with paper. But, I hadn't been able to come up with a material that I thought would be suitable (light tight, thin, and flexible), and the paper mockup proved to be more difficult than I thought.
I finally decided a few months ago to contact Jim Ormond who used to own Western Bellows. He said even though his business no longer exists, he is still making bellows until all of his stock is used up.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ormond's health hasn't been great, and I've been waiting for him to finish for a couple months. I just spoke with him this week, and he still expects to finish them, so I guess I'll just see where things go.
I didn't have a lens with the camera, so I started doing some looking and ended up buying a 210mm Rodenstock f5.6 Sironar-N as a starter. I built a lensboard from a thin sheet of maple, but I didn't put a rabbet in it. I'm concerned that not having one may result in a light leak. I may have to change up my lensboard a bit if that's the case.
I'm hoping the lens choice is a suitable choice for a 5x7, hopefully having enough image circle for movements. I also think a brass lens would look really neat, but that's not top priority right now.
Here's how it sits today.
Attachment 104760
Attachment 104761
Obviously I still need the bellows before I can start using it. On my want, but don't need list, I would like to make some sort of leather carry strap to replace the missing original, and find a full size ground glass. I attempted to grind a glass yesterday using automotive rubbing compound, but it wasn't working so well when I accidentally broke the glass. Oh well, it was cheap glass anyway. I might be better off just buying one.
Automotive valve grinding compound for grinding the ground glass available from NAPA. I have been able to obtain spare ground glass from the auction site.
Take a look at www.strapworks.com they have ready made straps that look great.
Keep us posted as you progress this looks like a great project. I 've got an Ansco sitting on my work bench waiting to become a winter project.
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