[SilverDog]

I found a Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic in an antique store and tried running an old expired roll of 620 film through it. The film was fogged.
The bellows on that camera were in pretty rough shape with some separation at the seam where the fabric overlaps on the under side of the bellows.

So I searched Ebay and found one with the original owner manual. I used the main camera/bellows from that one and joined it up with the film back from the first one I bought because it was in better shape and still had the stylus.

120 film will fit and wind in this camera on the 120 spools so I ran off a test roll. The attached pic is a negative scan at different aperture settings developed in D76 for 9 minutes. You can see that there was a light leak that fogged the film in the lower right area. This was from the window on the back where you would write your info with the stylus on the original Autographic film.

Yesterday I modified the film back by adding a layer of 1mm light seal foam on the inside covering over the autographic window opening to eliminate the light leak. I have a roll of 120 loaded up and I'm shooting some photos to see if I got rid of the leaks.

Shutter speeds are 1/25, B, T, and 1/50. I measured the speed at 1/50 and my tester reported back 1/38. I'm shooting this roll at this speed and using a light meter to help calculate f stops.
The aperture on this model is not marked in f numbers. It reads 1 NEARVIEW PORTRAIT, 2 AVERAGE VIEW, 3 DISTANT VIEW, 4 CLOUDS MARINE
I'm guessing from the size of the iris in relation to lens opening that these correlate to f/16, 8, 5.6 and 4.

The viewfinder is quite small and hard to see in full daylight so I designed and 3D printed a nifty little hood for it that friction fits on top. (makes it look a bit like a steam locomotive) I plan on making a second version with a magnifying lens in the top portion.

It's a neat little camera. It fit's easily in a pocket when folded up and has two tripod mounts. I find it easier to shoot with if I install a small travel tripod on it as a steady counterweight.

Once I expose this roll I'll post pics in this thread.
More info on this camera can be found here: Autographic - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

Attached Images

         

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Last edited by SilverDog; 02-20-2023 at 09:12 AM.

[ismaelg]

Beautiful!
Love seeing these been used!
Your camera (No.2 Folding Autographic Brownie with round edges and Ball Bearing shutter) was made from 1917 to 1923. It was not designed for 620 film. It predates it. It was designed for A-120 film which is 120 film with an added layer to the paperback for the autographic feature.
All Kodak "No.2" cameras use 120 film, No.2A use 116 film. Cameras for 620 film (introduced in the early 1930s) usually have the "Six-20" designation somewhere.

Yours has a Ball Bearing Shutter and seems to be an achromatic meniscus lens. The top of the line Rapid Rectilinear Lens model was f8 so most likely yours is around f11 max. So your aperture settings could be something in the neighborhood of f11, f16, f22 and f32.

Another caution for light leaks is the red window. I use a piece of electrical tape over it and open only to advance. Keep in mind that film on this era (1920's) was not panchromatic like today's film (sensitive to all colors). Since it was not sensitive to red and it was very slow by today's standards the window was enough protection.

Please keep us posted on the results. Thank you for sharing. I love seeing these been used!

Thanks,
Ismael

[SilverDog]

Beautiful!
Love seeing these been used!
Your camera (No.2 Folding Autographic Brownie with round edges and Ball Bearing shutter) was made from 1917 to 1923. It was not designed for 620 film. It predates it. It was designed for A-120 film which is 120 film with an added layer to the paperback for the autographic feature.
All Kodak "No.2" cameras use 120 film, No.2A use 116 film. Cameras for 620 film (introduced in the early 1930s) usually have the "Six-20" designation somewhere.

Yours has a Ball Bearing Shutter and seems to be an achromatic meniscus lens. The top of the line Rapid Rectilinear Lens model was f8 so most likely yours is around f11 max. So your aperture settings could be something in the neighborhood of f11, f16, f22 and f32.

Another caution for light leaks is the red window. I use a piece of electrical tape over it and open only to advance. Keep in mind that film on this era (1920's) was not panchromatic like today's film (sensitive to all colors). Since it was not sensitive to red and it was very slow by today's standards the window was enough protection.

Please keep us posted on the results. Thank you for sharing. I love seeing these been used!

Thanks,
Ismael

The roll of 620 was given to me and I loaded it up for fun just to see if it would work.

Yes I have had some round dots show up on the film from the red window. I darkened it up a bit with a red Sharpie. I should indeed cover it with black tape like you do. I did note that it's easy to over expose with this camera due the film sensitivity. I shot a roll of HP5 ISO 400 fully stopped down in most exposures. I plan on developing it in D76 for 9 minutes. I'll initially scan for proof then do contact prints from the negs.

[Pioneer]

I have a No 2 Autographic Kodak that works like a champ. I love it but I had to replace the red window and I still keep it covered with black electrical tape unless I am actually advancing the film. The camera definitely uses 120 film and the Rapid Rectilinear lens works very well. The shutter on mine still works quite well after all this time but the speeds are not quite what they were. 1/25 is ok but 1/50 is closer to 1/30 and 1/100 is 1/50 so I make the necessary adjustments for the speed difference.

[titrisol]

For that cameras ISO 100 is very fast. At that time 12, and 25 were the max ISOs,
With HP5 it is very hard to shoot outside, sunny 16 should be 1/400 and the max shutter speed is ~100.
However, for shooting inside is miles ahead from anything from that time.

I shot a roll of HP5 ISO 400 fully stopped down in most exposures. I plan on developing it in D76 for 9 minutes. I'll initially scan for proof then do contact prints from the negs.

[AsahiRaccoon]

I found a Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic in an antique store and tried running an old expired roll of 620 film through it. The film was fogged.
The bellows on that camera were in pretty rough shape with some separation at the seam where the fabric overlaps on the under side of the bellows.

So I searched Ebay and found one with the original owner manual. I used the main camera/bellows from that one and joined it up with the film back from the first one I bought because it was in better shape and still had the stylus.

120 film will fit and wind in this camera on the 120 spools so I ran off a test roll. The attached pic is a negative scan at different aperture settings developed in D76 for 9 minutes. You can see that there was a light leak that fogged the film in the lower right area. This was from the window on the back where you would write your info with the stylus on the original Autographic film.

Yesterday I modified the film back by adding a layer of 1mm light seal foam on the inside covering over the autographic window opening to eliminate the light leak. I have a roll of 120 loaded up and I'm shooting some photos to see if I got rid of the leaks.

Shutter speeds are 1/25, B, T, and 1/50. I measured the speed at 1/50 and my tester reported back 1/38. I'm shooting this roll at this speed and using a light meter to help calculate f stops.
The aperture on this model is not marked in f numbers. It reads 1 NEARVIEW PORTRAIT, 2 AVERAGE VIEW, 3 DISTANT VIEW, 4 CLOUDS MARINE
I'm guessing from the size of the iris in relation to lens opening that these correlate to f/16, 8, 5.6 and 4.

The viewfinder is quite small and hard to see in full daylight so I designed and 3D printed a nifty little hood for it that friction fits on top. (makes it look a bit like a steam locomotive) I plan on making a second version with a magnifying lens in the top portion.

It's a neat little camera. It fit's easily in a pocket when folded up and has two tripod mounts. I find it easier to shoot with if I install a small travel tripod on it as a steady counterweight.

Once I expose this roll I'll post pics in this thread.
More info on this camera can be found here: Autographic - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

Love that viewfinder shade! I should make one for mine.

[SilverDog]

I developed the roll of 120 I shot last week. LOTS of light leaks, most likely bellows. It showed up most when I was in full sun. White streaks at angles on the negatives.

This one was OK because it was facing away from the sun.
It's a quick and dirty bit of digital processing I did of a phone camera shot of a 120 negative. I held it up to blue sky when I took it, desaturated it on the phone app then emailed it to myself. Opened in PS, inverted and changed mode to monochrome, saved and opened in LR to tweak the exposure, black, white, shadows etc.

Fun

Attached Images

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[kypfer]

I developed the roll of 120 I shot last week. LOTS of light leaks, most likely bellows. It showed up most when I was in full sun. White streaks at angles on the negatives.
This one was OK because it was facing away from the sun.
It's a quick and dirty bit of digital processing I did of a phone camera shot of a 120 negative. I held it up to blue sky when I took it, desaturated it on the phone app then emailed it to myself. Opened in PS, inverted and changed mode to monochrome, saved and opened in LR to tweak the exposure, black, white, shadows etc.
Fun

Haha … the joys of playing with old cameras
The light leaks, if in the bellows, can be easy enough to find simply by peering into the back of the camera whilst shining a bright torch around the bellows. Working in a dark environment can help, it only takes a minute hole to be a nuisance
I have a tube of "Comma" Instant Gasket Silicone RTV Sealant (bought very many years ago) which is effectively a thick black rubber solution … ideal for patching pinholes in bellows and fabric shutter blinds.
Just make sure it's totally dried before folding the camera (or operating the shutter)!
I've got a transparency hood for my flatbed scanner which is used if I ever need to work with roll-film negatives


Afterthought :- HP5 might be a little overkill for something like your Autographic … average film speed from when these were new would have been 100ASA or somewhat less, I've taken advantage of the wide latitude of XP1 (XP2 today) in the past, but whatever works for you