Vilhelm Pacht, and the First 35mm still camera

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way back around 1900 Danish Artist and Inventor Vilhelm Pacht designed and built a prototype 35mm still Camera using perforated Cine film. He was unable to carry the prototype fully to working condition, but sometime prior to his passing in 1912 showed it to the Nellerod Carpenter and Camera Maker Jens Poal Andersen. While JP studied and learned from the model, he found it overly complicated in some manner. He did however borrow the general layout for his four 35mm cameras built between 1916 to 1924. •••• The Pacht Camera still exists in a Danish Museum, but I’ve been unable so far to get and info other than thus photo. I DO have the goal to replicate the camera and shoot with it. I’m speculating the shutter is a borrowed unit (look familiar to anyone?) and that it uses a fixed simple lens. Format “may” be 24x50mm. It appears a wire pull may trigger the shutter. The records do say it used sprocketed film, so some advance must be present.
 
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Sounds a complicated venture, good luck tho it'll be interesting to see the results.
 
Interesting bit of history and camera.
Found Pacht's patent dated June 12th 1900 for a feeding mechanism for films in kinematograph (synonym from cinematograph-a camera that could develop its own film and served as its own projector).

Considering your work on the Jans 35mm camera I'm sure this build will be just as nice.
 
Awesome project to undertake. Sad that Vilhelm Pacht did not get to finish his camera. It seems no one else could finish it either. Keep us updated with your progress =]
 
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I done some “to scale” drawings using the only “known” which is 36mm tall film cans. This results is a camera roughly 6.5” x 2 1/4” x 3”. That’s really compact, even today. Unsure what Pacht used for a shutter open possibilities. It does look like I can adapt in a Kodak Brownie 2A shutter. The thing should be heavy for its size. Given that Walnut is a Native Wood in Denmark, that’s my wood choice. ••••• Vilhelm Pacht today is an unknown and unrecognized innovator. He almost single handed brought cinema to Denmark. He Knew 35mm would be perfect for a small camera, and tried to make it a reality.
 
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Here's the really cool part....


3D printing!
 
Mahogany?


Nice dovetails!
 
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Walnut. A Native wood to Denmark. Not knowing anything about the shutter he had planned, I’ve adapted a Kodak 2B Brownie shutter. This will sit atop the inner light (dark) box, which will have the aperature plate behind. This will sit “a thick film width” in front of the film gate. This will have a simple knob advance. •••• It was a non working prototype which I’m shy on details. So, I’d say if I can figure out a simple way to make it work, likely that’s the way he may have done it. I’m planning on a positive meniscus 60mm fl
 
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Well I’ve finished it up! Very pleased overall and especially impressed with the cameras potential. Film goes in tomorrow. •••• I had little info except for the photo in the first post, and reading it was 24x50 format. It’s logical the drive was a crank on the main spool, and that a wire shutter release was used. Scale came from the height of the film “cans” at 36mm. It appeared the metal cans may be connected, indeed when I formed the cans in the strip steel a kidney shape appeared, forming a seamless film path. Looked Good to Me! The shutter: Who Knows. I found a snappy KodaknBroanie shutter which worked well into the available area and I was able to “link up”, only drawback is it fires up, and down. No big deal, but a steady 1./30 second at F11. The lens arrived from Surplusshed, a 20mm 62mmfl positive meniscus. This nests in behind the shutter and throws a surprisingly good image at F11 on a ground glass. I’m planning on a folding wire finder, and a “manual counter”. Size is 6 1/4x 2 1/4x3 1/4. Weight 400 grams.••••• This was 1900 Folks, Vilhelm Pacht was Years, Decades....ahead of the pack of cameras in use at that time. IF he had developed his idea to the point I’ve continued it, we may be praising Him, instead of Barnack. Oh Well, now I’m gonna prove his design with images!
 
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Very nice, I can't wait to see the images it produces. =]
 
Alot of early camera designs were sound and only need modern gasket material to make a go of them.

Have wanted to figure out how to make the shutters but never found books or useful drawings
 
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Vilhelm, Your Camera Works! Had the pleasure of seeing a strip of nice negatives emerge from the fixer! No light leaks (WOW), Nice even spacing of the images, and a great start. Booboo made not filling new (to me) Ansco tank with enough developer (duh), So, Pachts design works. It’s a one thumb operation. At f11 the
Single meniscus shows too much flare. I’m reducing the stop to f16. The bulk roll I have is ISO 100 and all negs were somewhat overexposed, the lower light ones were the best, so a smaller hole behind the Brownie shutter will take care of that. All in all, first film out of the first prototype 35 built, I’m Happy!
 
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