Sure shots with a Shur Shot

[Grandpa Ron]

A couple of years ago I found my mom's old camera in the unheated attic. The fact that it survived the last 15 years or so sitting in a cardboard box was amazing. My first question was does it still work, my second question is how do I make it work. It took three steps to get it working.
1. Unhook the front cover plate. (It was held only by four small posts) and put a drop of silicone on the shutter pivot. There was no dust, bugs or mold.
2. The camera used 116 format film and still had a take up spool. By adding two washers to the end of the 120 format spool, it would drop into the unexposed film slot.
3. The Arista EDU120 film in 100 ISO had numbers that would align with the window, but they were for 16 shots per roll. The spacing for two shots was about 1/4" smaller than the original format and the film was a tad narrower. So, a cut a mask from black paste board stock held it in place with double back tape.

The first photo shows the camera and modifications. In use, I load the film in a change bag or dark room, when shooting I advance two numbers per shot, I unload the film from the camera to a developing tank, also in a change bag. I ruined my first roll by letting light seep into the ends of the 120 film on the slightly larger 116 take up spool.

I selected four "snap shot" type photos from our recent trip to the State Park and around home. Not to bad for a 1940's vintage camera.

My mom was a practical sort and would have though it silly to mess with that old camera and I am not about to give up my digital. Still there is a certain intangible charm to running one more roll through the camera.

The Camera

The bridge at the State Park.

The Inn and restaurant.

A brush pile, winter quarters for a few back yard critters.

Flagpole at the end of the drive.

 

[Derrel]

Pretty good for an old camera...

 

[Jeff15]

Good considering.........

 

[star camera company]

Now That’s the way to feel good about Photography!

 

[vintagesnaps]

Those are shur good! (I had to...)

They really are nice photos. I like shooting with a box camera, something about them.

 

[terri]

Wonderful shots. I hope you continue to pick it up, take it along when you're out and about. Looks fun!

 

[star camera company]

Best thing here is that it’s proven 116 isn’t dead. Well, maybe it technically is but 120 really can fill in. I always knew this was workable but seeing these images proves it. Flatness of field will never be what it once was. Original Verichrome (not Verichrome Pan) was on a thicker film base that allowed these large format roll films. In the world of forgotten roll film...116 is “medium format”.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

There are some really tricky issues both with the film and camera then with the digitizing of the image.

Some of the lack of sharpness near the edges is from film curl both in the camera and on the scanner glass do to the masking cardboard I used to hold the negatives while on the scanner. I use a lot of scotch tape and it was not very pretty. These days the 120 format is typically 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 with and edge border, these images were almost the entire film width and 3 3/4 inches long. I and going to make another camera film mask, large enough to stabilize the film edges better.

The next step in the project is to restore my uncles 1930's vintage enlarger, it is the only enlarger I have that can handle my 4x5 cut film and negative larger than 2 1/4 x 2 1/4. But that as they say is another story.

 

[webestang64]

Makes me want to bust out some of my old cams and shoot with um.................

 

[photoflyer]

Kinda like the vinyl (78 rpm at that) of photography.

 

[star camera company]

I don’t know if your camera has the “push in” yellow filter, but if it does that will sharpen your BW images. It does this by knocking out some of the chromatic abberation and concentrating the lens performance into the visual end of the spectrum. All in all, when you look at the lenses on a Pentax 6x7 camera designed to cover a big negative, then consider that single element meniscus...it IS amazing.