Sunday, February 20, 2011

Foth Derby

I picked up this elegant little 127-format folder recently on ebay. The Foth Derby was a contemporary of the early Leicas and had several features in common with them including a similar focusing mount and a cloth focal plane shutter with a 1/500 top speed.



When I held a light to the back of the shutter curtains and peered in through the lens, it looked like the starry night sky. To cover over the pinholes, I applied a coat of opaque fabric paint to both curtains. Not having any 127 film on hand to test the repair, I rolled up a strip of 35mm Acros inside some 127 backing paper to do some test shots.



The paint seems to have gotten rid of all the pinholes. However, I did get a couple of instances of a light leak across the frame due to the fact that a gap sometimes opens between the curtains if I don't cock the shutter with a single smooth turn. I may try increasing the tension on the curtains a bit.

2 comments:

Julio F said...

Nice find, that is an elegant camera. Your cat is a very stately model.

Mike said...

I'm looking forward to playing with the Foth Derby more once we've gotten settled into the new house. Richard has always been an unflappable model who has cooperated in the testing of nearly every one of my old cameras.