Milsurp After Hours

The Kodak Tourist was made during the 50's and used 620 film. It was Kodak's last "folding" camera. Now days you can respool a 620 spindle with 120 film and you would be good to go... assuming the camera is working.... for a stingy 8 exposures of 6 by 9 instead of the 120 format dozen 6 by 6. But.. the negatives are really large so if the lense were really terrific you would have an exceptionally fine image to work with. The back will come completely off and I think there were some different backs and different formats offered back in the day.

I picked this one up off of ebay for $9 plus $6 mailing fee. It came with the original Kodak version of the never ready camera case. It was also equipped with the middle quality of the three offered choices , Anaston 6.5 lense. There is nothing automatic about it. No light meter either. No range finder. You set the distance by guess or go for the infinity mark. You set a shutter speed of 25, 50, or 100. You could also do a B or T exposure. There is an attachment for a remote shutter release.

Took it out for a test run today. And... the first few images at the really small F32 and F22 didn't come out. But moving toward the middle of the lense opening range I had better luck. The biggest disappointment was finding evidence of some hairy fibers in the scanned negatives. Looks like, upon examination, a wad of fine fibers are stuck on the inside of the lense sandwich with the internal window. I haven't figured out how to remove the lense or the internal lense cover yet.

In any case.. the camera seems to work like it should . Just have to try it out again another day.

That part on the viewfinder side isn't for a flash to slide in. That's for a separate range finder that could be bought separately. It looked about like rectangular tower with a wheel to turn and an adjustment window to look through. You can find them on ebay for more than I paid for the camera.

Is this the little beastie??
If so, Have I got a deal for you!!

That looks to be the one. One guy offered one on ebay starting at an opening bid of $2 because he didn't know what it was other than it was made by Kodak. Several are asking a starting bid of $24 or so. One person thought his was worth over $100. Your's looks cleaner than the average offering by far.

How are you at instrument repair??
As clean as this looks, it doesn't seem to work. It could just be the split mirror came adrift, or my old eyes can't see the split image.
(Even if it can't be fixed, it would look good in a display..
(It even has what I think is the original leather storage bag.)

It's yours for the price of mailing.

Dean

Someday when you're feeling flush, you might be interested in this one.....

I'd pay the postage on the range finder.. That's no problem. I have no mechanical ability whatsoever but it would be interesting to see.

That camera you just posted.... Zeiss Ikon model Super Ikonta BX. You must have quite a collection of actually valuable cameras. I remember one very historic one on a tripod you posted once. More camera than I'd ever be able to handle.

I went back and dug it up.

Niner,
It's on its way. The PO said it should arrive Thursday or Friday. Let's not worry about the postage right now (It was only $2.54).....You never know, I might find something else that will tempt you..

As for my "collection", these are just a few of the left-overs from when I did collect cameras.
I'm slowly cleaning out and trying to move them along. I still have three or four SLR's (three film and one digital) to sell, plus a couple of miniatures. (the Rollei and a Mamiya Super 16.)
I also probably have a half dozen Point&Shoots around but I think only one or two that use film.

I can make you a real deal on a Canon EOS IX w/box and all original manuals. (I might even be able to scratch up a basic lens.) The thing I can't do is find the APS film that fits it....

The big monster is for sale but the shipping is going to be horrendous. ( around 40 lbs. in two packages.)

Dean

Thanks Dean. Maybe I can reciprocate in some way.

APS film isn't my kind of film. There are plenty of cameras out there that use film that I can still get for a price I'm willing to pay.
That "big monster" ought to be worth some real money to somebody. Maybe some specialized auction site out there would be the place to consider if you want to sell it.

Dean, don't do anything rash with that Rollei

It arrived , Dean. And... although it looks brand new... the split hair focus isn't there for some reason. But it looks great on the camera for display purposes. Thanks. I appreciate it.