a newbie from Tacoma W.A

[75suzuki]

Hello everyone,

its nice to find this place. I have a kodak no. 2a folding camera and a kodak brownie hawkeye, its my goal to make them serviceable again.

Simply put, I want to get these two girls working again. Find out what i need to know to make them function like new. Maybe ill even develop a knack for early photography.

Oh and no laughing, i WILL post pictures of them later tonight

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Welcome! Can't wait to see the girls!

 

[75suzuki]

Here they are, seemingly fully functional, just dirty.

Ive cleaned them up since that photo and have ordered some new production 120 film. Even found a local photo lab that will develop the film for me. I can hardly wait to try them out.

 

[WhaleDaughter]

When you do shoot with these, cover the red windows with black tape except when you're winding the film to the next frame. The paper backing on modern 120 film isn't as thick as back in the days of these cameras and if the window is left uncovered your film will fog.


"Rule 408: Time is not the boss of you"

 

[75suzuki]

Thanks for the tip, I hadnt heard about that.

 

[WhaleDaughter]

And you do know you'll have to re-roll the 120 film on to the 620 spool, right? At least for the Hawkeye, I haven't looked into the folder because I don't own one yet, but many of the Brownies used the 620 spool.


"Rule 408: Time is not the boss of you"

 

[75suzuki]

Thanks to youtube, I think ive got the gist of it.


There are a dozen videos there, showing how to load 120 into a brownie hawk eye. Telling me exactly what I must do, to use the 620 take up spool and how to feed the film into it. Seeing it done on video, better than a thousand word description.

As for the 2A folder, the videos show that the 120 spools will fit it just fine, they need the spacers to properly fit, but thats really not a big issue.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Welcome

 

[75suzuki]

The Brownie has now been fully cleaned, inside and out, oiled and seems to function flawlessly. Ive checked it for light leaks and found a slight leak along the bottom edge, nothing that a strip of electrical tape cant cure.

I cant wait to try this out, next week, when my film comes in.

 

[jcdeboever]

And you do know you'll have to re-roll the 120 film on to the 620 spool, right? At least for the Hawkeye, I haven't looked into the folder because I don't own one yet, but many of the Brownies used the 620 spool.


"Rule 408: Time is not the boss of you"

You can sand and trim the 120 spool, no need to re-roll. Lay the medium sand paper on a flat surface, grab the roll of 120 and grind top of spool until it fits and moved smoothly. Take some side cutters and trim a little off so it moves with clearance. Done it a few times, doesn't take much time.

 

[john.margetts]

And you do know you'll have to re-roll the 120 film on to the 620 spool, right? At least for the Hawkeye, I haven't looked into the folder because I don't own one yet, but many of the Brownies used the 620 spool.


"Rule 408: Time is not the boss of you"

You can sand and trim the 120 spool, no need to re-roll. Lay the medium sand paper on a flat surface, grab the roll of 120 and grind top of spool until it fits and moved smoothly. Take some side cutters and trim a little off so it moves with clearance. Done it a few times, doesn't take much time.

And introduce a whole lot of abrasive dust into the camera! When film is rolled through the camera, it produces a small amount of static electricity which will attract that dust to the film surface.

Sent from my A1-840 using Tapatalk

 

[benhasajeep]

Welcome. I have several old Kodaks that I cleaned up. And always had plans to test out with film. But these darn new fangled digital thingys kept getting in the way of good ole fashioned progress.

Hope they work out.