"Cheesehead" wrote in message
...
On Jan 24, 3:22 pm, "Richard Knoppow"
wrote:
I found an AGFA-Ansco Universal View camera yesterday
at the Anaheim camera show. Its in good condition but
needs
some TLC and minor repair. Its missing the sliding bed
block. The camera is quite usable without it and I could
probably make one since I have another similar camera so I
have a block to use as a pattern. But I wonder if anyone
on
here might have one. I would be nice to have an original.
I
think the same block was used on the AGFA Commercial View
camera.
This camera dates probably from about the mid-1930s. It
has the older style front without tilt. The tilt was added
about 1940-41 and the top brace eliminated about a year
later by an arrangement of interlocking L strips on the
sides of the sliding portion of the front rise. These were
medium-priced cameras in their day, more expensive than a
Kodak 2D but much less so than a Deardorff.
My other Universal View is a military surplus one
probably built in the mid-1940s. It has both front tilt
and
new type front and also has the 6x6" lensboard necessary
to
meet the military spec which appears to have been written
for the Kodak 2D, the original design had a 7-1/2 square
board. This is can be an advantage for mounting very large
portrait lenses.

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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA


Congrats. Good find.

I got locally, off Craigslist, a 1923 Eastman 2-D for $400.
The camera has a finish that looks like new. It came from a
family
member,
so I'm really the first outside-the-family owner of this.
Just the bellows has some corners in need of tlc.
The best part was the lens that came with it.
B&L Protar VII, triple convertible. 11 7/8, 18.xx & 23.xx.
Super clean with its original front cap.
I was also told that the lens was ordered with the camera,
circa 1923.

And the outfit even came with film!

I am, well, excited. I am now officially camera-poor.
(But I do have a bunch of stuff on eBay right now --
a C1 in need of TLC, and another Eastman 2-D as a project
case.)

The B&L Convertible Protar was originally built under
license from Zeiss but B&L aquired the rights somehow after
WW-1. It is a very fine lens. The individual cells are
corrected for coma so they are sharper than the cells of a
Dagor but the combined lens is about the same. The 2D was
probably the most popular camera for studio use in its day.
It was strong and not too expensive. Still an excellent
camera especially for field use. You have a fine rig there.
If the bellows have pin-holes they will probaby need to be
replaced. While there are many cures for pin-holes proposed
none works very well because the flexing of the bellows
tends to loosen any patches. However, the one that seems
best is the patching material sold for diver's wet suits.


--
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA