"Cheesehead" wrote in message
...
On Jan 25, 10:56 am, "Richard Knoppow"
wrote:
I was lucky enough to find a home made one, essentially
the back from a Calumet 4x5 fastened to a panel that fits
the back of the Agfa. Has the rotating feature of the
Calumet back. I also have a factory one for my Calumet
C-1.
I also have a factory 5x7 back for the Agfa so I can shoot
all three sizes with it. I also have a 5x7 Agfa Universal
View. Its similar to the 8x10 but didn't have the sliding
bed block. I have both 5x7 and 4x5 backs for it. Mine
originally came with the 4x5 back, Agfa-Ansco sold this as
a
"deluxe" 4x5 camera. The extra bellows draw is useful for
portrait and other work where longer than normal lenses
are
desirable. For some reason I have a fondness for the
Agfa-Ansco cameras and like to work with them despite the
fact that there are other, better, cameras.
BTW, I found my 4x5/5x7 at a yard sale complete with
Agfa studio stand, case, lens, and accessories being sold
as
furniture!!!
--
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Well, I do have the tools that would allow me to cut a wood
back out
of new material.
Perhaps looking for a rotating 4x5 back @ a modest price
might be the
easier way.
Glad to hear you did even better on your solution.
One little thing -- the lens came with its original cable
release.
Unfortunately it is not repairable.
I would like to get an original to replace it and keep it in
the same
state.
It says "Germany" on the top of the plunger and is *roughly*
10.5
inches long end to end.
While the rotating feature is a convenience its not a
necessity and was part of the Calumet back. Its easy to
adapt a Speed Graphic back. If you can find a Graflok back
so much the better because it takes all sort of accessories.
A Graphic or Graflok back will mount with a few screws, the
camera adaptor back only needs a square hole. The Agfa-Ansco
back is fairly simple to make.
Most of the German cable releases were made by
Gauthier, the same company who made Prontor shutters. It was
aquired by Zeiss along with Deckel. I think a web search
will find another, they should be cheap. You can also find
air operated releases that are very convenient, the air
cylinder screws into the cable release socket.
The large format Convertible Protars mostly came in
Compound shutters. These are regulated by an air cylinder at
the top of the shutter. Depite this they are quite accurate.
Some early ones had an air release cylinder built-in, they
have a nipple for the hose on one side. They have both the
air release and cable release and I think the air nipple is
threaded inside for the cable release.
Note that there are two cable release threads, Deckel
(Compure and Compound) are tapered, while the Kodak pattern,
used on Kodak, Ilex, and some other shutters, has straight
sides. I am pretty sure Bausch & Lomb used the Deckel type
since they were licensed by Deckel to build Compur and
Compound shutters in the US and continued to do so without
license after WW-1. B&L shutters _look_ like the Deckel
originals but have some differences such as different
threads and diameters. The parts are NOT interchangible.
Generally a good cleaning will return Compound shutters
to original performance.
Another shutter that may be found in some Protar sets is
the B&L Volute. This shutter combined the iris and shutter
blades so can fit into lenses with very small air spaces.
B&L used it for the B&L-Zeiss Protar extra-wide-angle lenses
supplied in some Protar sets. They are extremely difficult
shutters to repair.
--
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA