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Post by philbirch on Jan 4, 2015 17:27:32 GMT -5
I got this from seller I have used on ebay who specialises in cameras, but appears to know not much about them. On three occasions I have bought a camera as 'not working' and its been fine. This is the latest. Advertised as 'wind-on and shutter jammed' I picked it up for £12 including postage. It is in worn condition as you can see from the photos but isnt too bad. The shutter/wind problem is due to the front of the camera being removed and not put back in its correct position. The coupling between the lens assembly and the camera can get out of synch and its a 30 second job to put it right. The shutter fires ok but is sticky on slow speeds. I found a video on youtube about disassembly, cleaning and lubricating this very same model. Link below. The camera:    |
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Post by philbirch on Jan 4, 2015 17:31:25 GMT -5
The Original Savoy was loaded from the front, the whole lens/shutter panel was removed and the film loaded from the front. I've seen some crazy loading methods but this took the biscuit. The model II has a more conventional back-door loading system but kept the removable lens panel, later models had a fixed lens panel. The front was removable so the lens could be used on a special enlarger.
An interesting camera and only my second French one.
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on Jan 5, 2015 9:35:33 GMT -5
I have never seen the Savoy enlarger you mentioned, but it must be behind the unusual arrangement of removing the whole front. French designers were well known pre-war to come up with patent breaking ideas to get around both Zeiss and Leica patents. After the war they continued to make slightly odd designs.
One point worth mentioning is the lens, Som Bertiot is the maker, they are very good lenses, but suffer fron "soft" coating, and must be cleaned very carefully with "wet" cleaning, and drying carefully without rubbing. The Glass was normal, it is just the coating that was a bit delicate.
On using camera lenses as enlarger lenses, it is OK for 3 of 4 elements lenses, but there is a risk of heating elements and breaking the balsam glue, when used in an enlarger or projector. Also the field flatness is not good, and most lenses work better reversed in the enlarger.
On the other hand enlarger lenses work well as macro lenses on cameras.
Stephen.
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Post by philbirch on Jan 5, 2015 14:23:20 GMT -5
I know that Som Berthiot lenses are good, one reason I bought it. If the camera was a complete write off I could use the lens on my NEX. It looks to be a triplet. The lens had cleaning marks where the coating is rubbed away but it won't affect sharpness, I fully expect images to have fairly flat contrast.
I use a couple of enlarger lenses for macro and even for normal shooting. Purists will tell you that proper macro lenses are the way to go but my £10 E-Rokkor takes some beating.
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Post by genazzano on Jan 5, 2015 14:58:30 GMT -5
The French industrial designers have long marched to their own drummer. My Gallus cameras such as the Derlux, as well as simple but beautiful cameras such as the rare Rox or Allox are just a couple examples.
Btw, I use a Tessar enlarging lens on my PB6 bellows setup with the D70 camera to digitized film. It is small and convenient and gives results as good as my Nikkor macros. I know many don't agree but I have a lot of very good digital images that came from a Tri-X negative through a Tessar enlarging lens.
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on Jan 5, 2015 16:10:56 GMT -5
What is fascinating is the thought that somebody at Savoy once thought the weird design was a good idea!!
For French ingenuity, just look at the Foca Focaflex 35mm reflex camera, up side down transparent mirror, and solid focusing target etc! and no pentaprism, everything is different to more usual designs.
Stephen.
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