Using 120 film in 100-year-old folding cameras, 06 January

Using 120 film in 100-year-old folding cameras, 06 January 

I've had a number of vintage Kodak folding cameras for a while now, and back in November I added another that I've been after for a long time, the massive Kodak 3-A Folding Pocket camera to the collection. (It still tickles me how a giant heavy camera like the 3-A could ever be considered as a 'pocket' camera.)

Soon after receiving the 3-A I finally got my act together and ordered some adapters from camerhack.it so that I could use 120 film with these cameras, since hunting down rolls of 122 or 116 film would be fruitless or expensive (or both). I have three vintage cameras that I would like to use with 120 film, the Kodak 1-A Autographic Jr, which takes 116 film, the Kodak 3-A Folding Pocket camera, which takes 122 film, and a roll film back for the KW Patent Etui, which takes 118 film.

I ordered the three sizes of adapter from camerhack.it and they arrived last week. So this past weekend I've had great fun preparing the cameras to use with 120 film. The first thing I needed to do with each folding camera was make a mask to cover the film gate so the films don't curl. I've been studying various options and the best one seems to be to make a rectangular mask that fits over the whole of the film gate.

I measured the dimensions of the film gate and calculated the width of the space needed to overlap the edges of the 120 film by about 5mm each side. To get the dimensions right I used the paper backing from a roll of 120 film. This was probably a little too much, but I wanted to make certain that the film would run smoothly through the camera and be supported all around. The material was thin plastic from a cheap envelope, but quite sturdy. To minimise the chances of the plastic scratching the film I sanded the edges of the frame with sandpaper. I hope this will be enough. 

I checked the fit of the mask and glued it into place in the back of each camera (there's no going back now). I also added a thin wedge of magic sponge to the space under the wind-on spool, which I hope will ensure there are no 'fat' rolls and the 120 film will wrap tightly around the take-up spool. This is a lesson I learned from using the Agfa Clack on the Frugal Film Project a couple of years ago. 

The final step was to calculate the number of turns I need to wind on the film to get nicely separated frames. I know that I'll get about five frames from the 1-A, and four from the 3-A, but how many turns of the wind-on knob will I need with my cameras? Camerhack.it have a nice guide on their website for each of the adapters, but for my cameras it was a little bit off, so here is what I found. Bear in mind that this was with just the paper roll, no film included so these might be in error, but this is what I will try with the first roll, which will be purely experimental anyway.

After checking the two cameras I turned to the 118 film back. This doesn't actually need a mask installed, it is fitted with a dark slide, but of course I need to check the number of turns. The 120 roll with adapters fitted snugly in the film back and I wound on the film until I could see the 'start' line in the window. I then started turning and marking the paper where I thought each frame would be. I reckon that I'll get about seven frames out of a single roll of 120 film, but I think this is an overestimate. The first roll will certainly be interesting. 

The weather forecast for the next few days is unsettled, with rain and winds forecast, but next week hopefully I'll be able to take these cameras out on a test run. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the results. 

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#Kodak, #Autographic, #116Film, #Camera, #Bellows, #Experimental, #Film, #ShittyCameraChallenge, #FrugalFilmProject, #Retro, #Vintage,