Ian's Monthly WTF is this? Thread...

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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We ran out of good stuff to look at today in the charity shop, so I started rummaging through boxes and found these. Help please?

First up, what appears to be 1/3 of a camera. 35mm film winding mechanism and a small piece of glass over where I presume the film would go. I have no idea what the post thing in the middle is.

R0000226.jpg
R0000227.jpg

And second were a couple of metal 35mm sized film cans. No pin going through the middle, no winding mechanism, and no obvious way of getting them open. Both identical.

R0000228.jpg
R0000229.jpg

Google photo search got me nowhere. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.
Also, @AndrewFlannigan If you post a picture of the top one from when you had one, along with an accompanying image you took with it, I shall publicly eat my hat on YouTube.
I realised this might be a rash decision, so I'll drop a tenner to the TP support fund instead. Less funny, but more helpful as I'll still have my health and a hat.
 
My guess for the cassettes was Agfa Rapid - this seems more possible given this. Obviously cannibalized along the way.

Rapid film - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org camera-wiki.org

The camera looks a little along the lines of an early Leica, with the front cut off and replaced. The Leica was originally a means of testing 35mm cine film (OK, it wasn't called "Leica" then). I shall think a little more.
 
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PS How big is the ca (which is 1/3 of "camera")?
 
StephenM said:
My guess for the cassettes was Agfa Rapid - this seems more possible given this. Obviously cannibalized along the way.

Rapid film - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org camera-wiki.org

The camera looks a little along the lines of an early Leica, with the front cut off and replaced. The Leica was originally a means of testing 35mm cine film (OK, it wasn't called "Leica" then). I shall think a little more.
Click to expand...
Thankyou so much Stephen. Looks like we might get a tenner for those.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Thankyou so much Stephen. Looks like we might get a tenner for those.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping for a tenner for TP. If I strike lucky with the right old magazine, I might find a clue. Some sort of 35mm type film seems the area to look - possible 828 as well, That at least gives a ball park figure for a start date for a search.

My first camera took 828 film, but I can't show any prints from it - at the moment :)

I'm also considering stereo ca me ra s
 
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Update: The middle knurled knob allows the removal of the top plate. The chrome knob lifts out with a 35mm spool attached to it.
 
IMG_2458.jpg
 
Is the central metal rod fixed to the base? My only experience with a metal rod inside a 35mm camera is the build in cutting knife on my Exaktas, which is moveable once the retaining screw is released.
 
StephenM said:
Is the central metal rod fixed to the base
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Yes. Very fixed. There are also screws on the back that seem to serve no purpose. There are also no manufacturers markings at all. I'm wondering if this is some sort of home built thing.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Also, @AndrewFlannigan If you post a picture of the top one from when you had one...
Click to expand...
You were on a safe one there. ;)

The only thing I can recall, which looked at all like that, was an early contact slide maker. You loaded the unexposed film so that the film passed over the rod as a crude pressure plate, then fed the negative to be copied under the glass plate and exposed the film through the glass. If it's the device I'm thinking of, there should be a door that protects the unexposed film on either side of the current frame with a smaller door over the glass, so you can protect all the film when not in use. It was meant to be used under safelighting in a darkroom.

Slide printer Wallace Heaton Catalogue Ixus 70 IMG_4423.jpg

Then again, it might be something quite different. :naughty:
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
You were on a safe one there. ;)

The only thing I can recall, which looked at all like that, was an early contact slide maker. You loaded the unexposed film so that the film passed over the rod as a crude pressure plate, then fed the negative to be copied under the glass plate and exposed the film through the glass. If it's the device I'm thinking of, there should be a door that protects the unexposed film on either side of the current frame with a smaller door over the glass, so you can protect all the film when not in use. It was meant to be used under safelighting in a darkroom.

View attachment 405794

Then again, it might be something quite different. :naughty:
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what it looks like.
They often come up on ebay for £5 to £30, I bought one boxed with instructions for just over £5, was the only bidder!
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
The only thing I can recall, which looked at all like that, was an early contact slide maker
Click to expand...
So assuming it is that, is there a door missing off the front?

If that's the case, it looks like it'll have to go in the bin.
 
Harlequin565 said:
I shall publicly eat my hat on YouTube....

... I realised this might be a rash decision, so I'll drop a tenner to the TP support fund instead. Less funny, but more helpful as I'll still have my health and a hat.
Click to expand...
We are glad your hat and health survived (y)
 
Edible hats (cake decoration sized!) are widely available...
 
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