Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

Got it, its a Portrait Brownie No2

http://www.brownie.camera/portrait_brownie_no_2.htm

[johnnyrod]

6x9, blimey, pretty big

[Kenzie]

Found my copy of the film and when he takes a shot of "Mother and Country" you get a good shot of the camera. Shame that the wind on kn-ob is pulled out so he can't wind it on!

[johnnyrod]

I don't see anything wrong with collecting cameras from films, I can only presume they were chosen for a good reason though rather than just whatever was hanging around!

[yokohama]

What is it I need to get this off?
A bent paper clip just aint up to the job.

[yokohama]

Coincidentally, there's a box camera in one of the local charity shops up here. No idea what it is as I just saw it while passing. It's not my bag but I can check it out if anyone's interested.

[johnnyrod]

Yoko - not for me

Kenzie - I'll reply later with a top tip, don't force it for now!

[johnnyrod]

OK so I found time earlier than I'd expected! You can use the spiky end of your lens tool for this, but it won't go small enough as is. Take the two connecting bars out so you have the spikes/blades loose. Put one spike in each hole and brace them against each other, a bit like this
Removing cap from 55 gal drum - YouTube
but with them more vertical. As you twist, they will first of all twist around each other, but keep a grip on them and keep twisting, and they'll jam against each other and start working on the screw instead. Once it's loose you can usually use one to spin the screw out.

Got the package Kenzie, had a quick look but won't have any real time until at least mid next week. Bessa seems very sticky, it wouldn't even fire on 150 to start with, so I suspect it's well gunked. Newer escapements, and I include the 60s Prontor ones, are basically one mechanism for all speeds. Some others like Copal have a lever (the one that hangs out towards the self timer) that is a bit like having first and second gear, so the main part of the escapement can run down fast or slow, to cover all the speeds from 1s up to 1/500 or whatever. Older ones like these can have two mechanisms in the escapement, switching from one to the other at maybe the 1/25 or 1/10 speeds. You can see when it's open as the grooves of the speed ring at some point will hold part of the escapement up so it can't move while another part is still able to be adjusted. For example
1/25 setting by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
The follower about 1 o'clock is now stuck up at 1/25 and above, rotate clockwise for lower speeds and it has space to drop inwards. Anyhoo it's academic which bit is gunged as it all needs a clean! It looks like a fairly simple one, maybe similar to a Vario, seems to have only three leaves, looking from the front.

On RFF they are having a photo contest to win a Rolleiflex, the theme is to shoot in the style of Vivian Maier. I got nowhere trying to define her style first - she was a street photographer but shot pretty much everything. One thing that was interesting though is that she put herself in a lot of pictures, either as selfies using something reflective, or her shadow. Sometimes it adds a new dimension to a picture, like this:
https://citinerary.net/system/ckedit...-1024x1024.jpg

[Kenzie]

Glad it arrived ok, sorry to drop the Certo on you in so many small bits!

Yoko, would be interested to know what it is.

[johnnyrod]

I was expecting worse actually! I do like a challenge, shame I can't get onto it sooner.