Restoring An Ansco 8x10 Commercial View Camera

[thronobulax]

I'd always wanted to scratch the 8x10 itch, but I didn't want to pay the high prices for Wisner, Tachihara, Deardorff et al (let alone Chamonix or Ebony!). I just wanted a camera with ample movements to fiddle around with.

A few months ago, I came into possession of a fairly tattered Ansco 8x10 Commercial View Camera. This wasn't surprising. I did a little digging, the newest this camera could be would be from 1939 and it's quite possibly older. I believe this model camera was used by both Edward Weston and Ansel Adams at one point or another. According to the old catalogs, these were $85 when new!

The camera was fairly dusty and dirty, the brass was dull, and everything needed a good cleaning and lubrication. More significantly, the bellows were completely done and needed to be replaced.

My goal here was not to create a pristine as-new version of the camera. I wanted to retain its patina and scars, but just clean everything up and make it shine a little bit.

I also wanted a 6x6 to 4x4 lensboard adapter. All my Wisner 4x5 Technical Field boards are 4x4 and a couple of them cover 8x10. I wanted to be able to use any of these on either camera, with a view toward some day building a 4x5 reduction back to be used with other lenses in my Wisner kit.

So, I got a new-old-stock Deardorff adapter without hardware, added a commercially machined brass top slide, and made the bottom brass retaining bar from hardware store brass stock, screws, and nylon spacers. The Deardorff needed a little encouragement on the router table to fit nicely into the Ansco lensboard slot.

I also put some foam pieces on both the 6x6 and 4x4 lens board openings to that any board installed fits tightly once locked down. The handles slight board-to-board thickness variability.

I sent the bellows frames to Richard Ritter in Vermont who fixed them up and sent them off to - I believe - Custom Bellows in the UK for the actual bellows fitting. They came in today and I've just completed reinstalling them to complete the project.

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing how "the sausage got made". So, here is a small album in chronological order:

Ansco 8x10 Commercial View Camera Restoration - Home

 

[HowLarge]

Very nice and with front shift as well

 

[David M]

That does look good. Well done.

 

[Nas]

Great work. Customs bellows replaced my Deardorff bellows. Thanks for documenting the restoration process.

 

[thronobulax]

I am hoping one of you (perhaps @Ian Grant) might know how to service the front rise locking mechanism on this camera.

The front lens mount is on a rack and pinion system that is used raise- and lower the lens. Once in place one is supposed to push the knob that does this to the right (when viewed from front of camera) to lock the lens at the height. My camera is sufficiently old and/or worn that doing this does not reliably lock up the lens at that height.

I am hoping that there is an adjustment for this rather than having to replace the gears themselves.