Having a go with a Kodak No 2 folding autographic

Jon Kincaid

Jon Kincaid

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I have been given a lovely Kodak folding camera in what appears to be almost mint condition and i want to run a film through it. I have a roll of Rollei Retro 400S 120 film and I've investigated how to load it so I think I'm ok on that front (fingers crossed) .

My main concern is whether im likely to over-expose the film as the only two shutter speeds are 1/25 and 1/50 (ignoring bulb and T (timer?)) and with a 400 film isn't that going to be too much light? Should I just go with the narrowest f-stop?

I'm bound to make mistakes but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
No idea, but a photo of the camera would be interesting. Nice to see someone trying to use it rather than as an ornament
 
Good luck, I have a No1 I was given but sadly the bellows are shot to tiny holes on every corner so it is an 'ornament' but otherwise it would have had film put through, albeit I haven't totally figured out how it works yet.

Would it make sense to save the Rollei film for something you know is working and put through some cheap or OOD 100ASA which might be more accommodating to the shutter speeds? As I was made awar in my duaflex thread, the camera would have been designed at a time when films were rated with speeds at 50, 80 and so on.
 
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If you use a physical lightmeter or a smartphone app like I do, you can just set the ISO/shutter speed (which are fixed on your camera) and the meter will give you an aperture reading according to the light conditions. I'd imagine the lens can stop down to F22 or more so you shouldn't have any issue unless you're planning to shoot the roll in the Sahara :0)

Cheers
Steve
 
I've just looked up the camera, and the lens would appear to be either f/7.9 or f/6.3. With a 400 ISO film, that would translate to overexposure outdoors except late in the day (or really foul weather :D). On the other hand, the film's latitude should cover most things - and underexposure is the thing to guard against with black and white anyway.
 
Also its not really a 400 film, in most developers its more like 200. You need to push it with a speed enhancing developer to get a true 400.
 
Yv said:
Good luck, I have a No1 I was given but sadly the bellows are shot to tiny holes on every corner so it is an 'ornament' but otherwise it would have had film put through, albeit I haven't totally figured out how it works yet.

Would it make sense to save the Rollei film for something you know is working and put through some cheap or OOD 100ASA which might be more accommodating to the shutter speeds? As I was made awar in my duaflex thread, the camera would have been designed at a time when films were rated with speeds at 50, 80 and so on.
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That was my thought (about the slower speeds back in the day). What does OOD mean? I'll have a look at the duaflex thread as I have one of those too (in very poor condition though) :-)

I don't have any other MF cameras so might as well have a go. Film was less than £4 and I'll process at home so little to lose really.
 
Jon Kincaid said:
That was my thought (about the slower speeds back in the day). What does OOD mean? I'll have a look at the duaflex thread as I have one of those too (in very poor condition though) :)

I don't have any other MF cameras so might as well have a go. Film was less than £4 and I'll process at home so little to lose really.
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Sorry, 'Out of Date' was what I meant. if your duaflex works, go have some fun with it, 1950's point and shoot on medium format, just brilliiant!! :D
 
Ah, sorry I didn't look up the available apertures on your folder! As per the other guys' posts, you're looking at either relying on film latitude, shooting later/earlier in the day or holding an ND filter over the lens.

Cheers
Steve
 
Out Of Date... do you mean that there's film out there that isn't already time-expired? it's been a long time since I had to stock up, and even the freshest stuff in the freezer went OOD in april 2014 according to my stock spreadsheet...

(nothing "silly old" but theres a couple of press-packs of Reala 100 in there with October 2009 on them, and a handful of Velvia 50 with the same date...)
 
stevelmx5 said:
Ah, sorry I didn't look up the available apertures on your folder! As per the other guys' posts, you're looking at either relying on film latitude, shooting later/earlier in the day or holding an ND filter over the lens.

Cheers
Steve
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That's a thought, I have a +9 nd filter. Not sure that I have enough hands though [emoji3]
 
Yv said:
Sorry, 'Out of Date' was what I meant. if your duaflex works, go have some fun with it, 1950's point and shoot on medium format, just brilliiant!! :D
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Of course, should have worked it out tbh. Might have another look at the duaflex then[emoji6]
 
I'm not sure what apertures you have with that folder but typically wide open would be F/16 ......that being the case, unless your subject is full sun which is probably unlikely in the UK, 400 speed film with a 1/50 shutter will likely only over expose the highlights by a couple of stops in an average scene.....most b&w negative film lattitude will handie that without problèm.....if you have f/22 or 32 then you can always stop down if you feel you need to.

Load it, shoot it, dev it and have fun seeing what you get from it.....most of all, have fun !
 
Asha said:
I'm not sure what apertures you have with that folder but typically wide open would be F/16 ......that being the case, unless your subject is full sun which is probably unlikely in the UK, 400 speed film with a 1/50 shutter will likely only over expose the highlights by a couple of stops in an average scene.....most b&w negative film lattitude will handie that without problèm.....if you have f/22 or 32 then you can always stop down if you feel you need to.

Load it, shoot it, dev it and have fun seeing what you get from it.....most of all, have fun !
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The stops are marked 1,2,3 & 4 but according one site they equate to

Aperture: "1", "2", "3," "4" (f/8, f/16, f/32, and f/64)

I'm off to have another look around the net, that sounds wrong to me!
 
Jon Kincaid said:
The stops are marked 1,2,3 & 4 but according one site they equate to

Aperture: "1", "2", "3," "4" (f/8, f/16, f/32, and f/64)

I'm off to have another look around the net, that sounds wrong to me!
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It is wrong (don't trust everything you read on the interweb)

It is Universal System , so US8, US16 etc. so it equates to f/11, f/16, f/22 and f/32.
 
More like f/11 16. 22. 32 or 16. 22. 32. 44

Focal length divided by the diameter of the actual aperture opening equals the f Humber

For example. 120mm focal length divided by an aperture opening of 7.5 mm would give an F/16
 
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