Sunday, February 16, 2014

Another German Kodak

I recently acquired another Kodak Duo Six-20 Series II.  This one has the older Compur shutter with a 1/300 top speed coupled to a Carl Zeiss Jena f3.5 Tessar lens.


The camera arrived in good cosmetic and functional condition and required only a superficial cleaning to ready it for a test run.  I re-rolled some Tmax 400 onto a 620 spool, loaded the camera and strolled over to the Santa Fe 2926 locomotive restoration project that is not far from where we live.


Quite a lot of work has been done on the locomotive since I last visited the site.  Some important components were stolen about a year ago by scrap metal thieves, but those have now been replaced.


The big oil and water tender was hauled down the track to the old AT&SF shops for the National Railroad celebration last year.  It will go again in May, and there is a possibility that the locomotive will accompany it too, though not yet under its own power.


Some of the old guys who were there five years ago when I first started visiting the project are still there working.  They have also recruited a couple high school kids who have been given the job of conducting Sunday tours.


 Both kids were totally into the locomotive's extensive lore and were able to talk easily and at great length about the history and operation of 2926.  It was great to see such a couple bright kids so passionately involved in a worthwhile project.


I was also very pleased with the performance of the Duo Six-20 and the Tessar.  The uncoated lens clearly will benefit from the addition of a lens shade, but the resolution was very good, as would be expected of a Tessar.  I'm looking forward to working with it more.

3 comments:

Julio F said...

A great project, I remember your older shots of the engine. Very nice to see it advancing.

The camera performed well, too.

Jim said...

I especially like the portrait shot of the engine. You are a hardier soul than I, rerolling 120 onto 620 spools.

Mike said...

I resisted the idea of re-rolling 120 to 620 for a long time because I'm a real klutz. I finally gave it a try when I got my first Kodak Duo Six-20 because I thought it was such a beautiful camera. Turns out to be very easy to do, and it really only takes a few minutes.