A Kodak Mystery

I went late one recent morning to the nearby Tiguex Park with my Kodak No.1 Autographic Special.     After 10 o'clock the New Mexico sun is often an impediment to getting pictures I like, but on this day there was a helpful slight overcast.  As I worked my way through the eight frames of the Kentmere 400 film I listened to the persistent complaints of a critic up in the cottonwoods, a Coopers Hawk.

I am a bit out of practice at using the camera, but as always, the uncoated Tessar lens yielded images with a unique look. 

 

From when I first acquired this old Kodak in 2007 I have always regarded it as the most interesting camera in what has now become a rather large collection.  The camera's design, materials and construction were all state-of-the-art a hundred years ago, and it still remains a practical and competent performer.  

What prompted the rescue of the No.1 Special from the display cabinet on this occasion was an email from Scott Rust:

" Hey Mike - I'm curious to see what you think about this one! Early model? Late model? Special order? Is the back a transplant from a different camera?

It's been fun trying to figure it out, but I've hit a wall on any additional information.

I found this on Craigslist probably 7 years ago - seller left it on their front porch and I put $10 under the mat - very clandestine now that I think about it. Maybe it's some sort of geeky nerd illegal photography syndicate fencing unauthorized modded cameras.

At any rate, that mask was a big surprise when I looked at it earlier this week. It'd been there the whole time but I didn't notice it and assumed the camera was a 6x6. 

LMK if you want any additional shots. 

Scott "

 Scott included some photos of his camera which looked much like my 1915 model, but it had a number of different features, the most significant being two ruby windows on the back, and a 6x6 mask to enable the option of getting twelve square images from a roll of 120 film.

 

 

Scott, in a subsequent message, also gave me a link to Pacific Rim's collection of yearly-issued Kodak catalogs which included the twelve years during which the No.1 Autographic Special was offered by the company.  None of the catalog illustrations or descriptions show or discuss the unique dual-format features of Scott's camera.

 

So, we would both be interested in finding additional information about this interesting variation of the Kodak No.1 Autographic Special.  Scott can be found at the Bluesky site were he posts about his camera adventures, and there is also a link there to his photographic work. 

 

1915

2010

 

Kodak Verichrome Pan

 Verichrome Pan is one of those films a lot of old guys would like to see on the shelves again.  It yielded a rich tonal range and very fine grain that very few modern films can match.  Kodak stopped making VP 120 about twenty-five years ago, but it ages well and there is a pretty good chance of getting some images with it even from a roll that is well expired.  The two rolls I was given recently are definitely in that category; the one that recorded this set of pictures had a use-before-date of Dec. 1973.  I decided to shoot the film in my Kodak No.1 Autographic Special folder that was built around 1917.

All the exposures were at 1/100 and f8 in bright morning sun, two stops wider than the 125 ASA box speed.  The negatives were pretty light, so a stop or two more probably would have been better.  I processed semi-stand for fifty minutes in Rodinal 1:100.

I did a poor job of framing my shots through the open frame viewfinder which I taped to the side of the camera,  so I cropped all the shots to match my intentions.  The uncoated Tessar lens never fails to astound me with its sharpness.

The bellows on my No.1 Special seems fine, but a small light leak has shown up in previous outings with the camera.  This time I ran some black electrical tape all around the back, and that seems to have solved the problem.  Given the fine performance the camera delivered on this last occasion, I think it deserves another go with some fresh film.

Still Special

I took my No.1 Autographic Kodak Special to the Albuquerque train station.  The Amtrak Express was being fueled for a trip north.

With its high-res Tessar lens and a snappy Wollensak Optimo shutter, this is my favorite Kodak.  I would shoot it more often were it not for a persistent light leak that I haven't been able to stamp out.  That is not for lack of trying.  The commonest source of such problems is pinholes in the bellows.  I did find some early on which I was able to eliminate with opaque fabric paint.

My usual routine in looking for the source of light leaks is to extend the bellows, open the camera back and hold the camera up to the sun.  Usually, pinhole leaks will be visible as bright specks of light in the corners and creases of the bellows.  Not all can be found in that way, however, so I usually then go on to inspect the bellows in the dark using a small led light like the keychain flashlight above.  Having meticulously examined the bellows, I'm suspicious that the light leak in the No.1 Special may be somewhere in the slide-open back.  I've added some light seal material to the back as well as half-covering the ruby window from the inside and putting a strip of black tape over the outside which I lift only when advancing the film.  No luck so far.

Occidental Life Building

Henry Charles Trost was the designer of the Occidental Life Building which was built in Albuquerque in 1917.

Wijiji

Wijiji is the last-built Chaco Great House; it is about a mile-and-a-half from the main canyon complex.



We took our bicycles along on this trip to the center of the Anasazi world, so the trip out to the Wijiji ruin from the campground was an easy 20 minute ride. I went alone the following day, but there was a spectacular thunder storm the night before and the dirt road was impassible to the bike after the first quarter mile.



My boots picked up a lot of Chaco mud on the walk in, but it was well worth the extra effort to visit the ruins again and to see the fine rock art panel a hundred yards further up the arroyo.

101010

Albuquerque Landing

Sitting at my computer reading the NY Times this morning, I heard a low roaring sound out back. It was a balloonist pumping some hot air into his envelope to stay above the trees and rooftops. I snapped a few pictures with my digital through the window and went back to reading the paper.

A short time later, the neigbor's dog started barking, signalling another balloon going by. This one looked like it was heading for a landing nearby, so I grabbed my camera bag and walked toward the descending balloon.

In the bag was my 95-year-old Kodak No.1 Autographic Special loaded with TMAX 400, and a point-and-shoot Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim with a roll of Fuji Superia 400.

If our good weather holds, I may head over to the Balloon Fiesta field early tomorrow to try a few more pictures.

Kodak Practice

Cottonwoods in the Rio Grande Bosque


Aspen in the Sandia Mountains


Library Bus Stop


Since my Kodak No.1 Autographic Special is a candidate for making the trip to Chaco Canyon, I thought I ought put in some time with it. One of the hazards of having a large camera collection is not being comfortably familiar with a particular camera for lack of experience. Every old camera has its quirks, and if you don't work with them enough, you find yourself missing shots you should have gotten.

The Tessar lens on the this near-centenarian Kodak is very sharp, and everything works pretty much as it should. Still, one has to know how to properly compensate for the difference between what the viewfinder shows and what gets on the film. It is also important to take into account the limited depth of focus at near distances, and to exercise care in focal distance estimation.

I have a Series-V lens hood and a filter adapter that fits the Special. I have also recently acquired red and yellow filters to use with it. The big 6x9 negatives do a nice job with texture and tonality, and I think the filtration will add some nice darkened tonality to the skies I am likely to encounter as backgrounds to the architectural ruins at Chaco.

nap time

more geese

The ducks and geese were well fed at Albuquerque's Tingley Beach on a cool but sunny Saturday afternoon. Click for the full size images to see the nice qualities which the Tessar lens imparts to the photos.

Special

The Kodak No.1 Autographic Special is the most interesting camera in my collection. It was built about 1915 and represented the state of the art at the time in many respects. Few other cameras then had shutters like the dashpot-operated Optimo with speeds from 1 second to 1/300. The Bausch and Lomb Tessar, licensed from Zeiss, was recomputed to allow a fast f4.5 aperture. The camera's overall construction was of very high quality and included features that put it into the luxury class including a finely-textured sealskin covering. The resolution of the images from the lens combined with the 6cmx9cm format is astounding.





Shooting a 6x9 with no rangefinder is a challenge I haven't really mastered. I've found it generally a good idea to put the camera on a tripod and shoot at small apertures, so subjects that lend themselves to a slow and careful approach usually work out best.





To enhance my chances a bit more I also recently did a little work on the shutter, and I recollimated the lens. Setting the infinity focus is a little difficult on this camera. One has to loosen a screw that is beneath the flip-out tab on the cover, and then adjust the little stop button fore and aft in front of the lens mount.



I think I've got it right now, so we'll see if I can make some pictures that do justice to this fine old Kodak.

Truck in an Alley

Special

One of the most interesting Kodaks in my collection is this recently-acquired No.1 Autographic Special. The camera was made between 1915 and 1920 at a time when Kodak was still making use of lenses and shutters from other manufacturers in Rochester. This one has a fast f4.5 Bausch & Lomb Tessar lens, and an Optimo shutter that was very advanced at the time. The camera was manufactured to very high standards, and has some unusual materials that went into its construction, including bakelite side panels and sealskin leather covering. There is a page about the No.1 in the vintage cameras section of my web site.