so i won this and need advice

[rkmiec]

i won this ebay auction 360003191323 for a process camera and a few lenses.well i am hoping to salvage some parts for a future ulf camera.(maybe that wont work)also there is a vacuum back i hope to make into a printing frame.and there are two lenses a 35" and a 19" both rodenstocks.any idea of the worth of these to huge lenses and maybe what they may cover film wise.i got all this for 40 bucks.i may have made a huge mistake in getting this atleast space wise,any info on possible projects and values of this equipment would be helpful.i mean even the vacuum pump is worth more than 40 bucks...thanks for the help.god i just looked at the auction again and this thing is huge....uh ohhhhhhhhhh

[David H. Bebbington]

You are a brave man! Yes, the camera is huge, you will need to dismantle the partition wall in the center of the camera before you can even start on the camera itself, and I would think the assistance of at least 3 friends would be required to lift it even when disassembled into major modules, such as the camera itself, its carriage, the running rails, the lighting rig and the copyboard. The camera seems to be of all-metal construction (heavy!) and quite possibly is fully automated, i.e. adjustments are made via electric motors rather than hand cranks and the camera will be difficult if not impossible to operate away from an electric power source. Lens coverage - the camera is a 30 x40", coverage should be good for a foot either way at copying distances, it may be less than 30x40" at infinity but at a guess good for 20x24". What to do with the camera? If you have metal fabrication facilities, it would be conceivable to create some kind of pan-and-tilt head which would support the camera and would in turn be mounted on a pallet-like base which you could load onto the back of a pick-up truck with a fork-lift. A potentially great project, but not for the faint-hearted!

Regards,

David

PS: The value of the camera as a whole is I think reflected in the price you paid. You would probably get more for the lenses than you paid, people have probably been put off by the prospect and cost of hauling away the whole rig.

PPS: My guess is that the film back will be in the form of a holder with a sheet of plate glass inside coated with non-drying adhesive, onto which you place a sheet of 30x40" film (or any smaller size). I deduce this from the fact that the size is quoted as 32x42, i.e. 30x40 plus some elbow room (finger room) around the edge. This would be a further constraint on using the camera in the field!

[MikeK]

i won this ebay auction 360003191323 for a process camera and a few lenses.well i am hoping to salvage some parts for a future ulf camera.(maybe that wont work)also there is a vacuum back i hope to make into a printing frame.and there are two lenses a 35" and a 19" both rodenstocks.any idea of the worth of these to huge lenses and maybe what they may cover film wise.i got all this for 40 bucks.i may have made a huge mistake in getting this atleast space wise,any info on possible projects and values of this equipment would be helpful.i mean even the vacuum pump is worth more than 40 bucks...thanks for the help.god i just looked at the auction again and this thing is huge....uh ohhhhhhhhhh

That is a big brute. You should check out Clyde Butcher's horizontal enlarger - he calls it Big Bertha and I think you have her sister.

Mike

[rkmiec]

could it be turned in to an enlarger? maybe a better idea then a ulf beast

[JBrunner]

could it be turned in to an enlarger? maybe a better idea then a ulf beast

Dude,

This thing is almost a ULF enlarger now. That is it's true calling. Just a little bit of TLC.

[epatsellis]

I saw this auction, and had I been a bunch of miles closer, I'd of bid on it. The only use I could see would have been the lenses and possibly the motors and exposure integrator. Good luck in you project.


erie

[richard ide]

You certainly acquired a nice piece of machinery. I re-engineered a similar camera many years ago and ended up with a king size enlarger. I could enlarge a 30" x 48" negative. I added removable bellows extensions so I could get 9 ft. lens to film distance. Moving will be much easier if you make or rent a couple of heavy duty dollies and have a car jack handy. I moved my business 4 times so speak from experience. The bed probably weighs well over 600 lbs depending on length. Have fun!

[Jon Shiu]

If you want to make a "portable" camera out of it, you might want to bring a portable band saw to cut it up. (I inherited a 15x18 camera and had a hard time giving it away.)

Jon

[JBrunner]

It would look pretty cool bolted to the top of a jeep.

[Mick Fagan]

Yes that is a normal sized gallery camera for reprographic purposes.

It uses serious power, probably 3 phase.

The bed that the copy board rolls back and forth on, is usually in two or three pieces, depending on length. Most of the ones I have seen are around 5 to 6 metres long.

The lights for reflection photography are usually 4 x 1,000 Watt or the later German stuff from Klimsch were 2,000 Watt by 4 units, they all have inbuilt fans in the back of the lights to keep them cool. Fantastic thing to stand next to in winter.

The Vacuum back is probably a swinging door with a metal fine mesh like backing with markings for various sizes of cut sheet film. I don't think it's a roll film camera.

I had the job of helping our resident camera technician dismantle and put back together 6 of these about 20 years ago. You can safely carry the whole shebang (dismantled) on a 3 tonne tray truck. We kept the rails in one piece. When you dismantle it somewhere you should find some timber pieces that look like bricks, they will be marked with numbers 1 to 4 or whatever, these are the spacers for re-assembling the gantry (rails) correctly, although I suspect you are not going to re-assemble.

I think you have a good buy and will find uses for lots of stuff you have not even thought of yet.

The lenses will surely be Apo copy lenses and absolutely superb at 1-1 work. Usually at F22 or smaller, they will be very good for general LF camera usage.

The transparency (or backlit) copy board should be a wonderful light bench in your darkroom, just cut it to size!

To put this into perspective the Australian Army Mapping division bought a Klimsch version of what you have, that could take 4' x 4' single film sheets. It had three lenses and other stuff and the purchase price was $1,000,000 AUD 25 years ago It was sold at the government public auction about 10 years later for $5,000. If it wasn't sold it was going to the tip pre-smashed up.

Mick.