127 Day - 12th July 2012

Flooded Underpass, Baby Ikonta, Agfa Retro 80S

Having had a couple of months away from the darkroom, yesterday's 127 Day was the perfect excuse to shoot and develop some film. Unlike previous 127 Days, I wasn't at work in one form or another, so I wasn't constrained by that (in some respects constraints like this can help give shape to the day); with all the recent rain, the morning was bright and sunny, so I went out to shoot some film.

I took my Baby Ikonta, already loaded with out of date Efke R21 (now branded R100, the '21' relates to the film's DIN number, 100 being the equivalent ISO). I had a roll of Agfa Retro 80S, and a roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan, with an expiry date of 12/81. I also shot a second roll of Verichrome Pan with an expiry date of 1968 in the Foth Derby. All films were developed with Rodinal, the expired films were stand developed for 1 hour, at a dilution of 1:100 (the expired films were also rated at half their nominal speed).

Previously, I've had mixed results with expired Verichrome Pan. The roll of Verichrome Pan with the more recent expiry date wasn't stuck to the backing paper, unlike the older roll, a problem I've encountered before. The more recent film was packaged differently, with a sealed foil-backed wrapper: the older films were simply packaged in twisted foil paper, which may have let the film get damp at some point, although I have no knowledge of how either of the films had been stored through the years. The expired R21 had a similar problem, with a mottled texture on the negatives, possibly transferred from the backing paper.

Lea Bridge Road Station, Baby Ikonta, expired Efke R21

Argall Road Industrial Estate, Foth Derby, expired Verichrome Pan

Graffiti, Shadows, Baby Ikonta, expired Verichrome Pan

Forest Road, Baby Ikonta, Agfa Retro 80S

See more photographs from 127 Day in the Flickr 127 Format Group Pool

Foth Derby - Part two

Foth Derby II

Having repaired the cloth shutter to my Foth Derby, I ran a roll of Efke R100 film through it. The aspect of shooting with this camera which needs most attention to those unfamiliar with it is cocking the shutter.

Unlike more modern cameras, where the shutter is 'cocked' as a consequence of winding on the film, and so appears a seamless operation not noticed by the user, most cameras the age of the Foth Derby require the shutter to be cocked manually (the exception being rotary shutters typically found on box cameras). With leaf shutters, this is done by turning a lever on the side of the lens, a simple operation. On a focal plane shutter, cocking it involves turning a knob to wind the shutter curtains past the film gate, where they travel back at speed with a gap between them to expose the film when the shutter release is pressed.

Foth Derby shutter unit showing the pin and corresponding holes for selecting different shutter speeds.

On the Foth Derby, the knob has to be turned through three quarters before it catches. Turning this has to be done in one swift decisive movement, which takes a little practice; the springs tensioning the shutter are quite strong, and if the shutter knob slips before it's wound all the way until it catches, the shutter curtains slip backwards- potentially with a gap between them, accidentally exposing the film. On my camera, someone had cut away crudely the leather from under the shutter knob, done, I imagine, to make it easier to turn. In my restoration of the camera I painted the bare metal black to make this less obvious. My technique for cocking the shutter is to turn the camera one way while turning the knob the other. It's interasting to note that the last incarnation of the Foth Derby, the Gallus Derby-Lux had a shutter knob that stands rather more proud from the camera's top plate, making it a similar size to the winding knob.

Middlesex Hospital Chapel, Efke R100, developed in Rodinal 1:25

Site of Railway Buildings, Hackney, Efke R100, developed in Rodinal 1:25

Foth Derby

Foth Derby with f3.5 Foth Anastigmat lens

The Foth Derby is a strut-folding camera for 127 film produced by C.F. Foth of Berlin during the 1930s. Unusually for compact cameras of that date, it features a focal plane shutter with speeds of 1/25th-1/500th of a second, and 'B'. The camera pictured above is a type 2 Derby, with a Foth Anastigmat f3.5 lens, self timer and telescopic viewfinder.

I bought the camera 'as is' from a certain auction site, and it arrived in working condition, but in need of a little repair. The shutter comprises two cloth curtains, one of which had deteriorated. This was more than just a few pinholes, so I decided to disassemble the camera to see if I could remedy the problem.

Camera with lens and lensboard removed

The first step was to remove the lens, held by three screws including the long focus stop. The lens was relatively clear, and I simply separated the front and back elements for a light clean. I then removed the lens board, held on by four screws. Once the lens had been removed, it was easier to see the condition of the shutter curtains. From the front of the camera, the surface of the shutter cloth was cracked; held up against the light there were lots of pinholes. The other curtain which covers the film when the shutter is cocked was fine: possibly without a lens cap, light through the lens caused the deterioration of the one curtain, the other being rolled out of the way.

Close up showing the cracked surface of the coating on the inside of the cloth shutter curtain.

Pinholes in the shutter curtain seen against the light

I thought that the four screws that can be seen through the front of the camera might enable me to remove the shutter, but these screws hold the bellows to the shutter. Opening the back of the camera, I removed the spool holders to either side, then from the front of the camera, I unscrewed the six screws either side of the bellows, covered by the lensboard with the lens collapsed. These six screws hold the film gate and rollers around the shutter unit. Having removed this, the shutter unit was still held to the camera body by something. This was the self-timer, secured with a screw through the top plate into the shutter. Having unscrewed this I could remove the shutter.

Foth Derby disassembled

Foth Derby shutter unit

With the film gate removed, the whole of the shutter curtain was exposed. The next stage of disassembly would have been to remove the shutter curtains; however I wanted to attempt a repair without doing this if possible. For the repair I used black acrylic paint, thinned with water to the consistency of milk, which I thought would be flexible enough for occasional use. The paint was applied to the back of the curtain, i.e. on the other side of the fabric from the cracked surface, which I left as it was. There were so many holes it was simpler to paint the whole surface of the curtain. One coat of paint left some holes visible against the light, and I gave the cloth another three coats. Once the paint was dry, the shutter curtain appeared to be flatter than before, presumably the fibres of the cloth swelled with the moisture from the paint, then tightened in the process of drying.

Shutter repaired with acrylic paint

I polished both the metalwork and the leather while the camera was disassembled after gluing down some of the leather, which was peeling, and the light seals inside, then put it back together after leaving it overnight as a precaution against the fumes from the glue and polish affecting the shutter mechanism, lens or anything else.

Foth Derby continued