6x4.5

I have always like the 6x4.5 film format because of the large negatives and the fact that I can get sixteen shots on a roll of 120 film.  The format also inspired camera makers to produce a lot of attractive compact designs.  I have examples from Zeiss Ikon, Welta and Kodak. , including four of the Duo Six-20 model from Kodak's Stuttgart plant with different shutter and lens combinations.

I recently shot a roll of HP5 in my Duo Six-20 that has a Tessar lens and a Compur shutter with a 1/300 top speed.  That 3.5/70mm Tessar is a bit inconsistent in its results, possibly due to the fact that it is uncoated, though I have gotten better and more consistent pictures in regard to sharpness and contrast with the same lens on my older Model I.

My liking for the Duo Six-20 got me started re-rolling 120 rollfilm onto 620 reels.  That turned out to be a lot simpler than I had imagined for a long time, and it only takes me a few minutes now to get ready for an outing with the camera.

It has been a while since I shot any of my fully manual cameras and I'm finding I have gotten a bit careless in making sure I have focus, aperture and shutter all properly set before making an exposure. There is also the issue of getting the frame spacing correct through the ruby windows when most modern paper-backed films have frame numerals that can only be seen dimly in bright ambient light.  However, those are all issues which get resolved with more frequent use.

Vintage Weekend

Albuquerque was treated to a visit from a Ford Tri-Motor this weekend.  The "Tin Goose" was a regular visitor to the city in the 1920s and '30s.  I had never seen one in the air before, so it was a real thrill to see it flying.

Quite a few people took advantage of the opportunity to make a 15 minute flight  in the Tri-Motor.  My guess is that people boarding the plane in the 1920s would have been more formally dressed for the occasion -- the men in coats and ties and the women with hats and gloves.

I made these pictures with Amelia Earhart's favorite camera, the Kodak Duo Six-20.  I had a bit of a problem with flim flatness, but managed to salvage a couple shots I liked from the roll of Fuji Acros processed in Rodinal 1:50.  I  also made some color shots with the Olympus Infinity Stylus, so will post some of those when I get them scanned.

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Tri-Motor Color 

Before and After

I generally value functionality over appearance in my old cameras.  Sometimes, however, the two overlap.  For instance, the engraved or machined lettering and numerals on shutters get hard to see as the paint wears away over the years.  The shutter markings on my old-model Kodak Duo Six-20 looked pretty good when I got it, but I managed to nearly erase them in the process of cleaning the shutter with lighter fluid.

Luckily, improving the visibility of shutter markings is a task that can be easily accomplished.  I just dabbed a little black acrylic paint over the letters and numerals and then wiped away the excess with a tissue.

Here are the before and after pictures:

While I used acrylic craft paint it is possible that enamel could work a little better.

The effectiveness of the repainting will vary with the depth and sharpness of the markings.  The white paint I used on the aperture markings made a less dramatic improvement in their appearance.

La Cieneguilla

I first visited the petroglyph site at La Cieneguilla shortly after we moved to Albuquerque in the Fall of 2008.  I was pleased sometime later when one of my shots of the Autumn foliage there was featured on the BLM web site for the area.  Recently, though, I noted that the picture has been reduced to a size which leaves much to the imagination, so I'm posting it here again.

The Cieneguilla site is a few miles south of the Santa Fe Airport at the west end of Galisteo Basin.

I drove up to La Cieneguilla again yesterday.  I was climbing up to the rimrock by 6:30, but it was already getting warm, and clambering over the rocks to get close to the petroglyphs was a challenge.  It is an effort worth making, however, because of the quantity and variety of rock art on display.  The site is particularly renowned for the large number of hunchback flute player images, but there are representatives of a great many of the designs found all along the valley of the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

Kokopeli

Procession

Whimsically recumbent Kokopeli

The Elk Hunter

I shot the Fuji 200 color in my Leica-copy FED 1g with the Jupiter-12 35mm lens and the matching wide-angle viewfinder.  My shutter repair seems to be holding up well, but I did get a little over-lap in a few frames.  Probably time for a more thorough cleaning.

I also exposed ten shots on TMAX 100 in one of my Kodak Duo Six-20 folders.  I have four of these 6x4.5 Kodaks which I like very much.  The one with the Anastigmat 4.5 lens and the Compur shutter works well.  I was planning on giving it some more exercise, but the heat and the terrain got the best of me. Next time, I'll take less gear and more water.

Riding the Swan

I patched the last of the light leaks in the bellows of my oldest Kodak Duo Six-20 and took it to the Albuquerque Botanical Garden.  I seem to end up testing all my old cameras at some point with how well they can render a little garden sculpture there.

My impression at this point is that the lens on this camera is not quite as sharp as the ones on my two other Duo Six-20, but it is still a capable shooter if handled with some care.  

This mid-'30s model is very similar to the one Amelia Earhart carried with her on her last flight.  The camera's Deco style fit her nicely.

I felt I had made a little progress in getting the camera working closer to its potential on my outing at the Botanical Garden.  I was also happy with the combination of Tri-X film and D-76 developer on this occasion.  My last efforts with the combo had yielded some thin negatives, so I gave the film an extra minute this time in the 1+1 D-76 and got better density.

Kodak Duo Six-20

One of my three Duo Six-20 cameras.  This one has a distance scale in meters, an older Compur shutter with a 1/300 top speed and a Tessar f/3.5 lens.  The four-element design of the Tessar yields good correction and resolution, but the added lens-air surfaces increase the likelihood of reflective flare in an uncoated lens. The old Compur's top speed is about a stop slow, but the lower speeds are all close to being correct.

I decided to get a lens hood in order to get the best results from the Tessar, but the only ones I found in the right size on line were expensive and located in Europe.  The local Camera and Darkroom shop did not have any that would easily fit the Duo Six-20 either, so I settled for a standard Series Five hood.  I cut a small strip of black foam and glued it to the inner rim of the hood to provide a good press fit.  I also picked up a selenium cell light meter at the same time to replace my old Sekonic which has gotten lazy in its readings.

I shot all of the pictures on this roll at 1/100 with the Tri-X rated at 200 ASA and processed in Ilfosol 3 at 1:14 dilution.

Europe and America

I got some nice shots from my first Kodak Duo Six-20, but it developed a problem with the shutter linkage which ended up damaging the shutter.  I replaced some of the shutter parts recently and took the camera along on a walk to the Tingley Beach ponds in Albuquerque.  I was pleased to see that everything seemed to be working properly again.

As I reported in the previous post, I have a second Series II camera, seen below on the right, which is an example built for the European market with distance scale marked in meters and a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens.  On the left is my American market camera with a distance scale in feet and a Kodak Anastigmat lens.

Some slight differences can be seen in the lens mounts of the two examples, but I think the lens formula is essentially the same -- four elements in three groups.  A comparison of the images from the two cameras show no differences in quality that I can see.

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.

Bosque Cottonwoods

I've been working on my Kodak Duo Six-20. I painted out the last pinhole in the bellows which gave me better image contrast. After removing and cleaning the lenses, I soaked the shutter in lighter fluid and got the B and T settings working properly. The solvent also floated away some of the black paint characters on the front of the shutter, so I may go back and try painting them back in.

About half the pictures from my last roll through the camera were grossly out of focus.  When I looked at the camera again I realized that I had set the focal plane target on the wrong rails, putting it about 2mm too far forward for proper infinity focus.  I've redone the collimation again, so we'll see shortly if I got it right this time.

under the bridge