De Vere Devon Camera

HowLarge said:
If you can wait till the weekend I will have time to check the bellows on a parts Kodak I have.
Be gentle with the geared front rise brass gear breaks up if cranked too hard
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Cheers for that !

I can wait :D
 
Barney said:
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Do you mind me asking how much this set you back? If that's not too forward, feel free to say no.

I bought a Kodak Specialist 2 some years back for £140, but I always wanted the 5x7 to 4x5 reducing back.

I managed to mod an Intrepid reducing back with a bit of shimming. So now can shoot 5x7, FP100C45*, 4x5, FP100C and Instax. Still it would be nice to have the proper reducing back.

*Only have 1 pack of this left, and the other two packs that came with it had a colour cast, but if I could turn back the clock I would have bought so much of that stuff.
 
lharby said:
Do you mind me asking how much this set you back? If that's not too forward, feel free to say no.

I bought a Kodak Specialist 2 some years back for £140, but I always wanted the 5x7 to 4x5 reducing back.

I managed to mod an Intrepid reducing back with a bit of shimming. So now can shoot 5x7, FP100C45*, 4x5, FP100C and Instax. Still it would be nice to have the proper reducing back.

*Only have 1 pack of this left, and the other two packs that came with it had a colour cast, but if I could turn back the clock I would have bought so much of that stuff.
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Hello, I paid £50 for the item, but please bear in mind it was from a single photo of the top of the case all packed in together and without knowing what was there, there was not even the lens board visible, I actually thought it was a de vere devon as per the title of this thread. I paid commission and P&P on top of that bringing the total to around £98.

For that I got the camera as shown
The De Vere Devon Brochure
Two MPP 4x5 plate holders with film inserts,
Three half plate film holders
and of course that wonderful Ektar lens
plus the case to pack it all in.

The backs look very simple to make, and I could probably leave this as 4x5/half plate and wait for a couple of 5x7 film holders to pop up at the right price where I will make a 5x7 back. Over all a bit disappointed as I particularly wanted 8x10 facility, but I can't be disappointed at what I got for the money in a lucky dip.
 
Barney said:
Hello, I paid £50 for the item, but please bear in mind it was from a single photo of the top of the case all packed in together and without knowing what was there, there was not even the lens board visible, I actually thought it was a de vere devon as per the title of this thread. I paid commission and P&P on top of that bringing the total to around £98.

For that I got the camera as shown
The De Vere Devon Brochure
Two MPP 4x5 plate holders with film inserts,
Three half plate film holders
and of course that wonderful Ektar lens
plus the case to pack it all in.

The backs look very simple to make, and I could probably leave this as 4x5/half plate and wait for a couple of 5x7 film holders to pop up at the right price where I will make a 5x7 back. Over all a bit disappointed as I particularly wanted 8x10 facility, but I can't be disappointed at what I got for the money in a lucky dip.
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Oh that's very good, I think you did pretty well even with the commission.

I had the same lens on mine originally, as well as another on a Graflex. Never got on with them, both grubby and sticky and not firing correctly at slower speeds (I guess shutter rather than lens). Also trying to get filters on them was a pain. Much prefer having a modern lens mounted on the old 1950's camera setup.
 
lharby said:
Oh that's very good, I think you did pretty well even with the commission.

I had the same lens on mine originally, as well as another on a Graflex. Never got on with them, both grubby and sticky and not firing correctly at slower speeds (I guess shutter rather than lens). Also trying to get filters on them was a pain. Much prefer having a modern lens mounted on the old 1950's camera setup.
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What lens did you put on?

I exercised the shutter for a good half hour last night and I have got the 1 second down to about one second.
 
I made an adapter and can use my Linhof/Wista lens boards on the camera.

1787059243162.png

This is one of 2 half plate film holders that had been converted to use 5x4 film, by the original owner of my Specialist 2. I bought the camera off his grand-daughter.

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I've had a few 203mm f7.7 Ektar lenses, I still have 3. One came with the camera in the awful Kodak Epsilon shutter, a second was in a broken Prontor SVS shutter. the third is a very late US version in a Graphex Synchro Compur #1 shutter which has a preview lever.

Ian
 
Barney said:
What lens did you put on?

I exercised the shutter for a good half hour last night and I have got the 1 second down to about one second.
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Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar S 240mm
Schneider-Kreuznach G-Claron 210mm
Nikon Nikkor SW 120mm
 
@Barney, I have a similar camera, a Kodak Specialist 2, come round some time and i will assemble it for you, it takes both half frame and 5x7 holders as Ian has pointed out. My camera is part of a police outfit so has a double quarter plate sliding back although I don't have any quarter plate film holders for it.
 
Pete Spencer said:
@Barney, I have a similar camera, a Kodak Specialist 2, come round some time and i will assemble it for you, it takes both half frame and 5x7 holders as Ian has pointed out. My camera is part of a police outfit so has a double quarter plate sliding back although I don't have any quarter plate film holders for it.
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Thanks for the offer Peter, be in touch.
 
Hi Barney,
I dug the parts specialist out earlier, unfortunately the bellows have holes in the corners , bit of a shame as they look ok.
 
HowLarge said:
Hi Barney,
I dug the parts specialist out earlier, unfortunately the bellows have holes in the corners , bit of a shame as they look ok.
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Thats what mine are like, they look pretty good until you put a torch in there.
 
Barney said:
Thats what mine are like, they look pretty good until you put a torch in there.
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In a pinch you can drape a dark cloth over the bellows before exposing the film. If you're quite quick to remove the dark slide, trip shutter then insert dark slide you should be ok.
 
Barney said:
Thanks for all the Tips,

I was thinking of getting 7x5 and cutting it down, no need for that now.

Sadly bellows, which look good condition, are like fishnet stockings when tested in the darkroom.
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You could get some x-ray film. Cutting it down under the safelight is easier to do than in complete darkness with film. I cut down film in complete darkness with duct tape on the trimmer to run the film up against so I know it's doable but safelight is easier.
 
I managed to light proof the few laky corners on my Specialist 2, I've fixed worse.

Making your own bellows is relatively easy, a bit time consuming, much easier if you have a laser cutter for cutting the ribs. Plenty of guides online.

Ian
 
Of course Keith at Custom Bellows, in Birmingham, will have the pattern as his family made millions of sets of bellows for Koak Ltd. I suspect it was his grandmother I dealt with about 50 years ago, she went straight to a drawer and pulled out the bag bellows design for my Whole plate Dw Vere monorail camera.

Ian
 
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