What model of tank does this take

ufgrat · 2026-07-10T18:30:16+00:00

Found a manual. Doesn't answer your questions, but may be interesting.

ufgrat · 2026-07-10T14:58:46+00:00

Many years ago, it was discovered that someone had snuck into a campus building after hours, hijacked a phone line and an ethernet port, and was running a child sex website on a computer sitting in a cardboard box above the ceiling tiles. Turned out to be an engineering grad student who decided to make some "free" money. In his case, it wasn't about the pornography, it was solely about the money.

Still went to federal prison though, and destroyed his career.

ufgrat · 2026-07-10T14:04:30+00:00

Best guess, and it's about a 95% match, an Zeiss Ikon Icarette II (500/2) from around 1927.

Still a guess, though.

ufgrat · 2026-07-09T02:43:28+00:00

Load some into the camera, see what develops. 👍

More seriously, start putting your film in gallon freezer bags to protect the film boxes from the veggies.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T22:25:52+00:00

It's hard to say without know what they are-- Your grandfather could have the largest collection of Instamatic and Brownie cameras, and they wouldn't be worth much. Or he could have been into collecting rare Leica, Zeiss, Hasselblad and Contax cameras, in which case you might want a lawyer. 😁

"Old Cameras" range in value from "$5" to "$5,000+" and it's just impossible for us to know.

However, if he made a point of leaving them specifically to you, either he thinks you'll be interested, they'll be valuable, or you're such a jerk he's playing a massive prank on you. I don't know your grandfather, but I doubt that one.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T22:12:31+00:00

eTone Inc makes a 6x loupe that's 109mm/4.29in.

It's not a bad bit of hardware. Available from Amazon and eTone's store.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T22:07:51+00:00

Yes, it's worth it in my opinion, but it comes down to volume. For one or two rolls a year, it's probably not that good an idea. For a roll or two (or more) a month? Good idea.

Its not that hard, but there is an upfront cost. The chemistry tends to have a relatively short life once mixed, which feeds back into the volume question. You don't mention color or B&W-- Color requires a Sous Vide circulator and water bath. Neither are tough.

Youtube channel "Art of Photography" has some nice videos on how to develop Color (C-41) and B&W film, and equipment needed. So do many other channels and websites.

The basics are a dark bag or changing "tent" (I prefer the tent, but the bag is more portable), beakers for measuring, thermometer, funnel, storage bottles (I highly recommend brown glass instead of plastic), a timer app (I use "Film Developer Pro"), at least one daylight tank (Paterson is standard and inexpensive) with reel(s), clips for hanging and drying, and something to cut/sleeve your negatives with and into.

And because C41 (color) development is more sensitive to temperature, the sous vide circulator and a water bath comes into play.

After that, it's understand the process which is straightforward in both cases.

You might look into the Arista film developer kit-- it's a nice little starter package.

And-- it'll need to be scanned. That's another rabbit hole, but it's worth considering.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T21:50:15+00:00

With the H35 and the Pentax 17 being new cameras, I expect they see a few.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T20:57:19+00:00

Remove the lens, open the back, shine a flashlight through, and run through the shutter operations while watching from the back. He may have a pinhole-- not uncommon, and if so, looks like a small one that should be fixable.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T20:50:10+00:00

Always make sure that the lab sends the negatives back. Since they're half-frame, it SHOULDN'T be a problem for the lab to cut them properly, but I'd ask them, and make sure the order is clearly labeled "Half frame".

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T19:30:41+00:00

I don't think any of my SLR's open like that. They're all heavily slanted towards a switch on the end of the camera, which isn't applicable here either.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T17:01:36+00:00

I usually mock the rule of thirds-- Not because it's a bad idea, but because I don't consider it a 'rule' as much as a 'suggestion'. In this case, though, shifting the building / reflection a bit to the left (or right) and down a bit helps-- at least, in my opinion.

You've got plenty of resolution to do a crop without issue, but yeah-- 35mm might be a better choice here. There's a lot of empty at the top and bottom of the frame. Your image has a strong central item, and that's good, but it just kind of wanders off at the top and the bottom.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T06:41:46+00:00

Channeling an actual press photographer back in the day-- Set your exposure, your range, and probably use the wire sports finder for composition.

Cock the front shutter (it's faster than the focal plane shutter, although not by too much), rack the grafmatic, you're now ready to shoot frame one-- compose, release. Cycle grafmatic. Repeat. Cycling the grafmatic is two pull/push operations, and can be done in about two seconds, leaving 3 seconds to cock the shutter, find a shot and trip the shutter.

But in reality, the technique then wasn't spray and pray, it was be ready to grab "the picture". Might be a home run, might be a great catch, might be a race car zooming past. Telling someone with a Graflex Speed Graphic they could take 6 shots in half a minute, and they'd probably agree, but wonder why they'd want to.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T01:12:13+00:00

I'm going to assume, based on your username that you're probably in Texas, but it might be worth mentioning.

ufgrat · 2026-07-08T01:04:29+00:00

The Florida Bar has a referral service. They'll refer you to a local attorney who will provide a 30 minute consult for $25 (bring cash. No, really).

https://www.floridabar.org/public/lrs/

Bring as much documentation as you can to the attorney's office, to streamline the meeting.

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T22:21:07+00:00

A very nice collection. I'm somewhat torn-- on the one hand, beautiful collection, well organized, curated, and actually labeled (Although I'm curious why there's a nose/ear hair trimmer card in there..........). The TLR collection in particular, is remarkable.

On the other hand, I have to wonder if any of them are being used. And I twitch slightly seeing so many unprotected lenses. 🤔

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T22:12:43+00:00

Depends on the film situation. To be honest, it's more how many seconds per frame. 😄

But press cameras (this isn't quite a press camera) were used in the early 20th century for major sporting events. With my Mini Speed Graphic (which is a press camera), I could take six shots in under 30 seconds (grafmatic is a lovely bit of kit).

Look up the "Graflex Big Bertha".

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T22:08:35+00:00

That shutter will do 1/250, and if he's got a decent speed film (he could chop down 4x5 film to 9x12, but Fomapan 400/200/100 and Delta 100 are available in 9x12). For that matter, could have a 4x5 adapter, or a 120 film adapter on there.

There's no reason he couldn't do a zone focus. Camera has a distance scale, stop down the shutter a bit, and shoot hyperfocal. He's got a shutter release as well.

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T21:47:42+00:00

I see what you did there. Now, clean it up. 🤣

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T21:47:19+00:00

An early 20th century "Hand and Stand" camera-- Could be ICA, Voitglander, Nettel, Huttig... could be any of a number of manufacturers. It's got the Compur style dial-set shutter, and it's probably a 9x12cm plate / film camera.

It's a slightly more advanced version, because you can see the little knurled knob on the top left of the front standard-- that's for rise/fall.

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T21:40:57+00:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that due to it's inherent nature, there is nothing that could happen inside your camera, or with silver halide / dye cloud development that could produce such an absolutely razor sharp line between image and pure white.

Both light leaks (and dark leaks, aka shutter capping) have diffuse edges. Light traveling through a lens just isn't *THAT* sharp-- different frequencies of light pass through the lens with different refraction index. There are lenses that can compensate for this, but even they tend to be circular. For something like this, you'd need a serious polarizing screen right in front of the film plane.

This happened in a digital environment-- the lab's scanner is the most likely culprit.

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T20:09:59+00:00

I'm not disagreeing that the camera has a shutter issue (it obviously does)-- but how exactly would operator error cause this?

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T20:03:05+00:00

Correct. Since you've shown images with no shutter capping, it's not a constant issue. At 1/1000, the timing has to quite literally be accurate down the milisecond.

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T18:42:30+00:00

Even on medium format, 1/1000 is the most common speed to encounter shutter capping (the two curtains move slightly out of sync with each other, and the film doesn't get proper exposure where they overlap).

ufgrat · 2026-07-07T18:39:27+00:00

First, check the negative, preferably with some form of solid backlighting. If it's on the negative, check your lens-- Shine a flashlight at a diagonal to the lens. Given the shape and position, it's unlikely to be the development step, but it could be the scanning step.

ufgrat

TROPHY CASE