Gear update

Marley's Ghost

Marley's Ghost

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So It's been a couple of years ... I left as Marley and have returned as Marley's Ghost ... :) and a few things have changed around my equipment.
My MPP 5x4 was sold ... I simply couldn't justify keeping it as I was shooting far more with my lovely old Kodak Specialist. Yes it's as heavy as a bus ... but I really am a 'bigger is better guy' and I have a Mamiya RB67 for when I need a pocket camera lol. I mostly shoot with my 210mm Symmar S (and various Fuji lenses I have) but I also have the original Ektar pictured and a 5.5nch Dallmayer that both came with my Specialist 'kit' that I believe was once owned by Manchester Police Force.

WAW_3853b.jpg

I really must get around to repairing the geared front standard rise and fall ... the pinion wheel has just three teeth left and I have to use rubber bands to 'lock' the knob to prevent my front standard from coming down like Madame Guillotine when I'm going for movements! Not yet worked out how to get to the offending gear wheel ... but I'll get there.

I'm currently in the process of building a 10x8 camera ... so if anyone's interested I'll start a build thread. Yes I could buy one ... but where's the fun in that? Though I still might ... you can never have too many big cameras in my book.

Yes that's a double bass in the background ... I play with a fairly well known rockabilly band when not taking pictures!
 
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Hi Marley. Can't remember why you left but it's good to see you back.
I'd be interested to see what kind of a 10 x 8 camera you are building. I've been thinking about building one myself, but drawing up a few plans and ideas is as far as I've got. Mine would have to be light in weight, and I'd probably base it on one of my home-made 5 x 4 cameras.
 
Alan Clark said:
Hi Marley. Can't remember why you left but it's good to see you back.
I'd be interested to see what kind of a 10 x 8 camera you are building. I've been thinking about building one myself, but drawing up a few plans and ideas is as far as I've got. Mine would have to be light in weight, and I'd probably base it on one of my home-made 5 x 4 cameras.
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I'll put together a build thread ...
I have the advantage of a fully equipped workshop with an large CO2 laser cutter so my material of choice is laser cut 9mm plywood ... and so long as the 10x8 doesn't end up heavier than my Kodak Specialist I shall be happy!
Not got a lens to cover 10x8 yet ... but I'm working on that :)
 
You could use lead core plywood and it still wouldn't be heavier than a Kodak Specialist. I got mine out the other day just to check it over, and practically sprained my wrist just looking at it.
 
Alan Clark said:
You could use lead core plywood and it still wouldn't be heavier than a Kodak Specialist. I got mine out the other day just to check it over, and practically sprained my wrist just looking at it.
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Slip a Specialist into an ex British army Burgen ... add a half dozen film holders ... strap on a heavyweight Manfrotto pod with a stonking great ball and socket head ... and there is your month's workout ... beggar the gym ... I want to save my back and move up to a bigger negative :)
 
Great to see you posting again , your adventures with the specialist documented in your , if I may say superb YouTube channel really helped me work out what I had when I got my first London Kodak Specialist , I think there is a thread on here with somebody working out how to service the front geared movements on a specialist in the last few months.
GAS lead me to pickup a parts specialist with a missing rear metal standard on one side - it may help you if the front gears are still good.
The weight feature pushed me to a 57 Intrepid , and whilst waiting for that to be built a Sanderson regular half plate , again missing parts but fixable jumped in a box and hitched a lift with the postman to my door bad GAS but I have learnt a lot getting hands on with these things and the Sanderson is just a revelation in terms of lightness and utility- I need to make a back for it - the parts Kodak back may do the trick.
I am rambling and it’s your welcome back thread sorry
 
HowLarge said:
Great to see you posting again , your adventures with the specialist documented in your , if I may say superb YouTube channel really helped me work out what I had when I got my first London Kodak Specialist , I think there is a thread on here with somebody working out how to service the front geared movements on a specialist in the last few months.
GAS lead me to pickup a parts specialist with a missing rear metal standard on one side - it may help you if the front gears are still good.
The weight feature pushed me to a 57 Intrepid , and whilst waiting for that to be built a Sanderson regular half plate , again missing parts but fixable jumped in a box and hitched a lift with the postman to my door bad GAS but I have learnt a lot getting hands on with these things and the Sanderson is just a revelation in terms of lightness and utility- I need to make a back for it - the parts Kodak back may do the trick.
I am rambling and it’s your welcome back thread sorry
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Thank you. my YouTube channel will be resuming as well :)
 
That's the only Kodak Specialist I've ever reen, and the lens would have needed a special Import licence. The camera is a UK version of the Kodak 2D, based on similar to the RAF Ground Camera, The US Ektar lens is a coated version of the earlier 6" f7.7 Anastigmat,

Before and early in WWII Kodak Ltd sold "The Kodak View Camera" made here in the UK based on the Eastman Kodak 2D, in 3 sizes, Half Plate, whole plate, and 10x8, the1940 Kodak Professional Catalogue lists "The Kodak View Camera for Police Photography" is listed with the 8" f7.7 Anastigmat. The recommended lenses for normal Kodak View cameras were from Cooke, Dallmeyerm and Ross.

The Kodak Clinical Camera, with a few other features, also came with the 8" f7.7 Anastigmat. A Dialyte, this lens, along with the coated Ektar, is excellent for up to 1:1 making it suitable for Police and Clinical use. However, uncoated Dialyte lenses are relatively low in contrast.

So your camera & lens are from around 1845 to 50 when the Specialist 2 was .introduced, along with the British made 203mm (8") f7.7 Ektar in a Lodak Epsilon shutter.

The downside to the 2D, Specialist and many othe US style tailboard cameras is the front & rear focussing runs in wooden grooves, which wear, this is also the case with some early British cameras. A camera used constantly for Police or Clinical use would be particularly prone to wear. The Specialist 2 adds Aluminium edges for the focus to run in.

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
That's the only Kodak Specialist I've ever reen, and the lens would have needed a special Import licence. The camera is a UK version of the Kodak 2D, based on similar to the RAF Ground Camera, The US Ektar lens is a coated version of the earlier 6" f7.7 Anastigmat,

Before and early in WWII Kodak Ltd sold "The Kodak View Camera" made here in the UK based on the Eastman Kodak 2D, in 3 sizes, Half Plate, whole plate, and 10x8, the1940 Kodak Professional Catalogue lists "The Kodak View Camera for Police Photography" is listed with the 8" f7.7 Anastigmat. The recommended lenses for normal Kodak View cameras were from Cooke, Dallmeyerm and Ross.

The Kodak Clinical Camera, with a few other features, also came with the 8" f7.7 Anastigmat. A Dialyte, this lens, along with the coated Ektar, is excellent for up to 1:1 making it suitable for Police and Clinical use. However, uncoated Dialyte lenses are relatively low in contrast.

So your camera & lens are from around 1845 to 50 when the Specialist 2 was .introduced, along with the British made 203mm (8") f7.7 Ektar in a Lodak Epsilon shutter.

The downside to the 2D, Specialist and many othe US style tailboard cameras is the front & rear focussing runs in wooden grooves, which wear, this is also the case with some early British cameras. A camera used constantly for Police or Clinical use would be particularly prone to wear. The Specialist 2 adds Aluminium edges for the focus to run in.

Ian
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Knowledgeable as always Ian :)
There is a great story that goes with this camera and ties in with the 1945/1950 date. I bought the whole kit ... packed in a case with film holders, a focusing base and baseboard extension, the two lenses ... and a bellows style focusing screen shade (which I have removed as I prefer a dark cloth. The chap I bought it from told me the story of how the camera had come into his family: his father was a young aspiring studio photographer in I presume the late fifties or the very early sixties. He was engaged to be married ... but his bride to be allowed him to bid on the Specialist in a sale of Manchester police photo equipment using their wedding savings as he needed it for work.
Actually the focus grooves are in pretty good shape - it's the poor front standard gear pinion that is looking a bit toothless (well three teeth to be exact.
As it came to me the shutter on the Ektar was buggered ... but by chance I found a 'new old stock' one from an eBay US seller still sealed in it's box and marked US Army. I find it's a lovely camera to use ... even if it's heavy enough to have its own gravity :)
 
I have a Kodak Mark II SI Ground Camera which must predate the Specialist but doesn't have the metal lining on the grooves, or a bail back, but otherwise seems to be the same as the Specialist Mark II. I know of only one other person that has one.
 
Kevin Allan said:
I have a Kodak Mark II SI Ground Camera which must predate the Specialist but doesn't have the metal lining on the grooves, or a bail back, but otherwise seems to be the same as the Specialist Mark II. I know of only one other person that has one.
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Mine doesn't have a bail back either ...
 
At the last Camera Fair in Wolverhampton there was a mint RAF Ground camera, with modern lenses on milled aluminium lens boards, about 4 lenses inc a 90mm SA. It must have been the earlier version, as it wasn't a MkII.

Ian
 
There's currently a fairly rough RAF Ground Camera on eBay ... looks pretty much identical to my Specialist ... except with a bail back and in RAF blue-grey. .
 
Marley's Ghost said:
There's currently a fairly rough RAF Ground Camera on eBay ... looks pretty much identical to my Specialist ... except with a bail back and in RAF blue-grey. .
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That one on eBay has a later Specialist 2 back, it is not the original.

Ian
 
The one I seen on EBay has the later back fitted but the earlier back is shown as one of the “ accessories”. Somewhere on the web there is a nice copy of the Kodak literature showing the various versions of the specialist - medical etc listing all the included options. They turn up often with various accessories or not , a cheap way into medium-large format if you can find/verify film holders half plate plentiful but only fomapan easily available and cheap from Process Supplies , actual 5x7 film holders not so easy at all - that’s another subject though.
 
HowLarge said:
Somewhere on the web there is a nice copy of the Kodak literature showing the various versions of the specialist - medical etc listing all the included options. T
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onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com

Kodak Specialist 2 update and instructions

Film & silver gelatin darkroom blog covering analogue or analog photography, printing and equipment. Ilford, Kodak, Adox, Olympus, Leica, Rolleiflex.
onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com
 
Marley's Ghost said:
There's currently a fairly rough RAF Ground Camera on eBay ... looks pretty much identical to my Specialist ... except with a bail back and in RAF blue-grey. .
Click to expand...
That's the same as mine - except with the added bail back - it has the same Air Ministry ref no AM14/2260. It seems like a reasonable deal although I'm not sure that all the lenses are for that camera.
 
1757255822409.png

From the Kodak Professional Catalogue 1940.

The later Specialist 2 was replaced by the metal bodied monorail Specialist 3 by 1960.

Ian
 
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