My new camera project. 620 Brownie Junior

[Retro_10s]

Started this a while ago so I'll have to bring you all up to speed on this - had it about 4 months now.... found on Ebay for £5, needed a little work (well - i wanted to do the work but it would've been ok without)

Here she is!


Isn't she wonderful!? though it's pretty dirty inside and out...

she's a Kodak Six-20 Box Brownie Junior 'Super', made somewhere in between 1935 and 1940, Needed a little work but appears to be completely ready to function.

So I started cleaning it all up, starting with a full strip down of the basic components:

*Faceplate removed and rubbed with white spirit and a soft nail brush.
*Meniscus type lens cleaned and polished (no scratches!), the two light aperture lenses were also cleaned and polished
*Clean faceplate was then polished.


*Top light aperture and side light apertures cleaned and polished (very dirty)
*shutter mechanism cleaned and lightly oiled


Then i removed the two mirrors for inspection - unfortunately they're way past their best and will need replacing for best results,... not sure how I'm going to tackle this part really - perhaps some adhesive mirror tape will work but i'd rather find some proper mirrors for the job:


Faceplate edge resprayed:


Surround edge finished and I've just gone round the chrome strip with the autosol polish, as well as all the other bit and pieces like the view finder frames, winder, and light apertures on the front. Photos don't do it justice at all - It's not far off mint condition now,:





The mirrors arrived, and instead of making 2 they made me 6 free of charge!! They're great and Very clean!


Installed in both View finders


So now i have crystal clear working View finders

So here's some up to date pictures (taken with more care and a decent camera) for you all:




couldn't resist a bit of photoshop:


Now I did have some 620 film but it turned out it had already been exposed, developed them and there were some great pictures from the 60's on there, shame i wasn't born back then to understand them more!

so I have some 120 which will do just fine,.. the spool needs trimming by 1mm and I intend to Take the brownie for it's first outing at the end of the month... in Sweden of all places!! can't wait - I've taken so much care over this camera since getting it.. the lens is spotless and the shutter is 10 times smoother now that i cleaned the spring up and lightly greased it... i'm really suprised at the accomplishment of it... bearing in mind the simplicity of the darn thing!

Hope i didn't bore you all!

[TPF Sponsor]

[DennyCrane]

Great pictorial! Looks like a good project that turned out well. Can't wait to see some pictures from 'er.

[Montana]

THat was a fantastic read. Glad you got some mirrors. I admire your dedication. Hope you scan and post your photos from Sweden!

Derrick

[Retro_10s]

thanks for your kind words!!!! It was a pain trying to find some mirrors for the view finders but i found a mosaic tile shop that offered to help out when they had an offcut. Very kind of them indeed, they're called 'Mosaic Heaven' on Ebay.

Well I'm off to Poland and Sweden at the end of the month.... I'm going to take a log of each photo- so i can cross reference the light meter etc against the picture outcome. This way i can see what i did right/wrong. Hope to use the portrait slide too.

I've just managed (this second!) to buy an old case for it - Seems pretty rare to find the cases without a camera but i managed! good times.

Oh and sorry moderators - i think this is meant to be in the collectors section... really I am a perfect n00b aren't I!

thanks again.

[Retro_10s]

Well I'm back - Took 8 pictures - In various lights etc so that i could take notes and scribble down some info on each picture - I've left the film in Sweden with my better half, who will develop them for me - don't know what i'd do without her!

very excited to see how they came out - Used the bulb (timed) mode on one picture too. Wish her luck! I will post up the scanned pictures when they are in my grubby hands! then it's time to re-roll!

*edit, forgot to add- i used 120 film on a cut down spool - B&W 400 Tri-X

[Retro_10s]

Well My girlfriend has now developed my negatives!!! She's amazed - so naturally I'm very proud... I hope to have some of them transferred to Digital soon so that I can show you the pictures!

They have not been put onto papers yet but by the sounds of it, it wont be long. I'm so happy - I have to admit, even on webcam the negatives looked very clear, haha!

The polishing of the lens and servicing of the shutter mechanism has totally paid off the focus is clear, and the picture is sharp.

Keep your eyes peeled!

[DennyCrane]

Can't wait to see them.

[MAARTE]

All I can say is WOW!!!!

[Retro_10s]

Please could a MOD move this to the collectors area? thanks.

Updates coming!!! Developing my film next week and scanning it to CD

[Retro_10s]

Well finally, here we are - It's been a long haul to get here! but here's 3 of the best pictures i took with the Brownie, using 120 Tri-x 400 film. I'm Very pleased indeed that a 1930's camera can produce these results... I've sized down the scans for you 56k'ers.

Centre of Krakow, evening, 10 second exposure


Car cemetery in Bastnas, Sweden.


Night time shot, Bromsgrove Bypass, UK. 30 second exposure.


I'll get more up later in the week... I am one very happy Brit!

[billygoat]

That is just amazing. . .nice work and pics

[tdiprincess]

Awesome clean up and really neat creative pictures!

[DennyCrane]

Retro, terrific shots. I exactly can't say how, but they have a unique feel to them. There's something about the depth of field I can't put my finger on, but they really have a great look. Very nice.

[Retro_10s]

Thanks Denny! I really appreciate the comments, I'm so glad you feel they're unique pictures. I'm so proud of my Brownie. I'll get some more pictures up later today.

Thanks again

[Retro_10s]

How am I supposed to get a moderators Attention round here? Since i can't use the report function to flag the thread up etc...

Pleeeeeeeeeease can this be moved to the Collectors corner?