Vintage Cine Cameras

Today I have been sorting through old cine cameras and finding out all about the ones I currently have to sell. I have taken some photo's ready for Ebay and just started some research about each model, I currently own around 15 or so!

Most are in a 'working' condition and the ones that are not may be, thats if I can figure out how to work them. I guess I could look this up on the internet, there are plenty of cine camera manuals and dedicated cine camera websites out there, but I much prefer figure them out for myself.

Most cine camera's appear fairly simple to figure out how to use but some can be very 'baffling'! Especially to someone new to this but I am learning something new with each camera.

I am amazed at some of the 'interiors' of these cine cameras, apart from being in excellent condition some look simply wonderful. You don't see anything like this in modern cameras, I guess its more about 'cost' and probably the fact that not many people would care as long as it worked.

It makes me wonder if there is a 'point' to what I have just said well I guess you could say yes. Take camera's for instance, the modern digital camera? I would not be without mine especially for the work I do but in the past couple of years, I have had to replace them at least every 18 months.

They do exactlly what they are meant to do but they just don't make them as 'robust' as they should do. Maybe there are one's out there but I am guessing these are not going to be cheap?  I could understand why if I were a 'wildlife' photographer or had to use the camera in 'extreme' places but this is not the case.

Maybe I should 'splash' out and buy a more expensive camera? I have never paid more than £200.00 for one and would worry if I did. The digital camera's I have owned in the past have all been your average, half decent and fine for the work that I do but they have all stopped working after a period of time.

Ironically, there is an exception and this still works today even though it must be over 10 years old and for the last 8 or so years has just been left in a desk drawer. Guess what it is? A Kodak! yes a Kodak DC215 Zoom that cost me a fortune when I purchased it.

The only reason I stopped using it was because I had upgraded to a camera with more 'megapixels, plus it would 'burn' through AA batteries no problem until someone advised me to use re-chargeble one's. Talking of Kodaks, I have managed to sort out the problem with the No.1 Pocket Kodak and its working fine now, will update later.

Just realised the time so its 'off to bed' for me, early morning start tomorrow. I am off to take some photo's, something I have been meaning to do for a while now. Its all very good 'dealing' in cameras but I want to go out and see what I can do. I will be using a digital camera, hopefully a 'film' one soon, its more of a practise run. Plus I am very good at editing photo's with Photoshop, I know its cheating but I have salvaged some great photo's. I guess when it comes to using 'film' theres going to be less chance of that.

One last thing, I have found out that the local college allows anyone to use there 'darkroom' and will also give advise. This is great news as I intend to have a go at developing the photo's I shoot, hopefully will be able to arrange something for next week.

Restoring Kodak PART 3

Well, I learnt something new today about restoring 'Vintage Kodak Camera's, to make the leatherette 'shine' use a good shoe polish. I hope I did the right thing but I do remember reading this somewhere.

So, today I glued most of the pieces of 'leatherette' back down to the camera except for the front panel that cannot be put back on until re-painting is complete. I then gave the camera a bit of a clean and polish, I was going to continue with trying to sort out the sliding action.

The camera's 'bellow' unit slides now or should I say 'glides' nicely until it reaches the case. This is where there hinge underneath the lens should rise up and the whole lot should fit back in the case. It then jams and will slide over back into the camera case but requires some 'jiggling'. I cannot see any obvious signs of why this is happening and its causing me concern, if I cannot sort this out then the camera will only be a 'display' piece.

I would be happy to have this on display, even in its current condition, but then I am biased. The challenge was to restore the camera in order to take some photo's. so I guess its back to the 'grind' stone.

I did manage to date the vintage 'Pocket No.1 Kodak Camera' but unsure how accurate this is, it would be great to find out if the dates correct and how many were produced. Anyway, here's some more photo's of progress so far. i am 'chuffed to pieces', which reminds me of a joke -

My friend suffers with manic depression so I pushed him in front of an old  'steam' train. He was 'chuffed to bits'! Oh well, it made me laugh.

"Restoring Kodak" PART 2

I managed to do a bit more work on the "Kodak Pocket Camera" today even though its been 'one of those days', busy! busy! busy! Today I stood not 25 feet away from where some of the defining moments in 'rock' history were made! Or should I say 'created'? I was at the studio where Queen recorded the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' album, 'Oasis' first album 'Definitely Maybe' was recorded (or should I say the first attempt?). I could go on as this was just a few 'groups' who have recorded there such as 'Led Zeppelin' but back to the camera.

I said it was 'one of those days', for some reason my 'blog' won't let me upload any photo's. I have managed to remove a lot of the paint and rust but still have a lot to do. I was un-decided about doing this as its a question of re-painting so that it don't spoil the look. Thanks to some advice from a helpful chap, Michael over at the vintage-camera-online forum , I have decided to go with the re-paint option.

I know that this is not the easiest especially getting good result and the only way I can think of doing this is using some sort of 'spray' method. I do not think painting by hand will produce the best results, thankfully I have a friend who renovates old 'Harley's'. He's a 'dab' hand at spray painting and I guess I could get some advice on the 'mechanics' of the camera. I know there's a big difference between motorbikes and camera's but he's great at fixing anything. I  could cheat and ask him to do it for me but I guess I will have to learn some new skills.

So, until I sort out this 'blog', I'm sorry but no pictures. I will retry later on. I am off 'wrapping", no its not a spelling mistake, the only 'rapping' I do is packaging my Ebay sold items!

Update, if you are seeing pictures then great the blog is working!

RESTORING A KODAK No.1 POCKET FOLDING CAMERA

Having thought about it, I decided to try restoring this "Kodak Pocket No1 Camera" which as you can see is, in a very poor condition. I thought that as I buy and sell camera's I should learn more about them. This is something I have never attempted before, I still get baffled by some and how they open, so you could say that I am not even a 'novice'!

I had thought about restoring a different camera which was in a lot better condition, see previous post, but it looked too easy. As this was going to be my first attempt at "restoring a vintage camera", I thought I would choose something more challenging. Jump in at the 'deep' end so to speak.

This old "Kodak Pocket Camera" has been sitting on my desk for some time now; I had considered at one time or another to Ebay it. I even considered throwing it away; thankfully this is something I never do! I hate to see anything 'thrown' away. I guess that’s why I am surrounded by all sorts of 'junk'; my wife’s words not mine.

I should tell you about the camera first and its current condition, there's plenty of photo's, as you can see, showing the obvious signs of damage but there are some that you would not be able to see. The lens and shutter were in a good condition and look like they will not require much work. The door is seized in the 'open' position and the bellows unit is seized tight in the 'closed' position. I have forgotten the technical term for the view finder attached near the lens but as you can see, there isn't one! There's plenty of rust and missing paint plus the leatherette is not in the best of condition, forever the optimist. So, I guess its time to get started......... 

Firstly, I removed the lens case which came out nice and easy. In fact the lens is in a very good condition and the shutter action fires at all speeds. The lens just requires some cleaning and it should be as good as new.

The second job was to dismantle the rest of the camera and this proved difficult as the door and bellows were seized, as shown in the picture. Also, it did take a while to work out what parts came loose or were meant to. I did not want to force anything but everything seemed stuck, got there in the end though.

There was no way the bellows and lens was going to come out without a fight, it was difficult. I tried gently easing the sliding piece (what is the correct term for this?) along the track but it would not budge. A little bit of oil helped but I was unsure in case the oil would damage the bellows, I was hoping the bellows were going to be in a good condition.

The one job I did not fancy doing was replacing the bellows as this looks like a very difficult. I may be wrong and I was not convinced 'patching' the bellows, although would work, was a choice. I was hoping to retain the original bellows, in fact I hope to keep as much of the original camera.

Well, it was a fight but I won, the bellows and lens unit slides up and down the track, not brilliantly but it’s a start. Also, the bellows look in very good condition, bonus! I have given them a bit of a clean and checked if they leaked any light. Not one bit, not even a 'pinhole' and all looks really good. I still may have to remove the bellows though so that I can work on the rest of the camera.

I am dreading this part as everything looks fixed with some kind of rivet? I am sure there's an easy way or even a specialist tool for doing this, I guess I will have to do some research.

So, door opens smoothly now, the lens and bellows unit slides back and forth (not smoothly yet!), I will have to go and figure out what to do next. I did have a little 'play' around with the lens to see how all this 'fit' together. The one thing I guess I have learnt is that the lens, so far, is the easiest bit to remove. This is good to know especially when I see 'old cameras' for sale where the lens is broke.

That does remind me to start looking around for spare parts, I wonder if there is a somewhere out there a 'Kodak' spare parts dealer? Or do I have to buy another Kodak Pocket camera for spares? Defeats the object really as I don't think I will find another camera in a worse condition or if I did I may be tempted to restore it!
Since starting this blog, I have been recommended some very good reference books. I have put them on my 'christmas' wishlist,  I might be lucky. They are costly but a 'must' for anyone interested in buying/selling and restoring camera's, or so I am told.

If you wish to assist me with advice then please do as it will be appreciated.