Peculiar medium format camera with leitz Voort 9.5cm lens

[Layer-cake]

Hey guys,

I've come across a rather peculiar medium format camera that has a leitz voort 95mm 9.5cm F4 lens.

The actual body has literally no markings regarding manufacturer but all the different dials are hand written which leads me to believe that they where specifically made out for this lens, as its an enlarger lens there would be very few other enlarger lenses with the same flange distance let alone the the focus readings themselves.

I have looked online but i can't find any info other than the lens itself, so any help would be appreciated. I don't think it's a protoype of any sort, it is a bit rough in construction but the fact they added in the flip out wire focus area as you see on box camera's, makes me think it was made to be used, probably out of some barn house somewhere;)

It does have 2 different film backs, one that states made in england and the other with no markings either, only the film back with the "Made in England" stamped into it is included in the images.

it's a very interesting camera, looks like the veld between the camera and the film backs will need to be redone but still a bit puzzled about its origins.

Sorry for some of the blurred photos, was shooting at F9 and wasn't paying attention it seems.

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[jamaeolus]

Very interesting. Looks to be home made to me.

[Lloydy]

I can add nothing to your knowledge about this camera, but it is wonderful.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'd say that is someone's rather skillful DIY creation. The lens was sold for enlarging use, it should be sharp but low contrast.

[Layer-cake]

It is a very interesting creation indeed, I would agree it seems to be diy job as I doubt any manufacturers would use an enlarger lens when they would have access to the rest of their lens line up.

[duckrider]

Reminds me a lill' bit at Miroslav's cameras:
https://fstoppers.com/natural-light/photographer-snaps-nearly-hundred-photos-day-homemade-camera-4848

have a look at the pictures he made!

healthy & successful 2016 to You all

[Layer-cake]

Lol that is pretty cool, the photos are awesome and he seems like a rather interesting man

[luisalegria]

Looks like a very early or DIY roll film back.
Manually calibrated helical, which raises the question of where this helical came from.
No shutter though, which raises an even bigger question.
I'm guessing this was a one-off custom camera fairly carefully made for a special purpose.

[Layer-cake]

Hey Luis, the absence of a shutter did cross my mind but I didn't pay much attention to it until you said it now.....

It would be rather difficult to use the camera as you would need to use it in a light sealed room or be able to cover it in the required amount of time.

The other film back seems to have been manufactured with the same paint as the body but it doesn't have any markings on it either, non the less I will post some photos of it in a couple of days.

The helicoid I was under the impression that they used what was available and calibrated it accordingly, it seems to be the nicest constructed and milled part on the camera, it could also have been made bespoke for the camera by another company. I don't really want to take it apart but it might actually have some markings on it regarding the manufacturer so its something for me to consider doing.

[RubberFlubber]

Perhaps there was a shutter at some point, but it was made of paper/cloth and over time it has deteriorated away?

[luisalegria]

There would have been a shutter mechanism, even if the actual shutter is gone. There were quite a lot of focal plane shutter cameras with cloth shutters, but these are easily identified because of the necessary spring loaded rollers and controls.

[Layer-cake]

There doesn't seem to be any mechanical part or opening on the camera that would allow for a shutter to be put in place. Even if it was internal, they would need an opening for the shutter cable.

Looking at the calligraphy on the number 4 and 6 it would seem it was the same person who wrote the marking on the body and the film backs.

[luisalegria]

The slide-in back looks very much like the typical German miniature plate camera of the 1920's-1930's. It wouldn't surprise me much if thats where that part came from. The whole back seems to have been slipped over the "box' and riveted in place. I wouldnt be surprised if the thing will take a groundglass back from a Voigtlander Avus, Zeiss Maximar or similar.

It is a 6x9 format (actually probably 6.5x9 plate format), the roll film back seems to take 120 film, and is marked with film advance settings for multi-formats for 120 film (6x9, 6x6, 6x4.5). I think its likely you could put that back on something like a Voigtlander Avus. There doesnt seem to be a place to put the masks for the smaller formats, but these could just have been separate slides in place of the darkslide.

In Germany the equivalent roll film backs would have been made by Rada or Rollex, a US-made one was by Suydam. Those were the usual brands of the 1930's though of course there were many others. Rada, Rollex and Suydam were quite different from this in detail, though (depending on the specific model) they all could handle multi-formats.

[luisalegria]

I think that on the side its got a wire-frame finder and there seem to be screw holes on the back for its associated peep sight, which is missing. This was a typical arrangement on the folding plate cameras.

Its a very short distance from the peep sight location to the front edge of the unfolded wire frame. usually the wire frame was on the front standard, that is at the font element of the lens. This arrangement would give your thing a very wide frame indeed.

The 9.5cm lens would have been fairly wide for 6x9 (widish "normal" as usual on the 6.5x9 plate cameras was 10.5cm)
But even so, I don't think the film would be getting this wide an angle. Another mystery.

You have quite a brain teaser here.

[Layer-cake]

I do have a glass ground back from a voightlander so I will check if it focuses correctly tomorrow in better light, there is also a chance the voort lens was just screwed on due to it m39 thread.

This is one camera even my girlfriend likes;) but bit of a mystery indeed.

[luisalegria]

Its also possible that he specific dimensions of the film back on this thing are to some oddball British size.
I.e., similar to but not quite the German standard. I have a couple of these. One is an Ica-made SLR rebranded by Butchers.

[Layer-cake]

Sadly enough it doesnt seem the lens belongs to the body, i just checked with a kodak ground glass back and the infinity focus mark seems to be about 2 foot with the voort lens.

A bit sad really as i was quite excited about the the leitz lens and body combination but still quite interesting non the less. Just not what i was hoping for........

[luisalegria]

This may answer the puzzle about the shutter.
It could be the "original" lens on this was in-shutter (i.e., it was in a Compur or something).
It also seems likely that it was a fairly wide angle, based on the small back focus distance - maybe a 6.5cm Schneider Angulon or similar.
This could be a custom specialized wide-angle camera.

[Layer-cake]

it does make more sense regarding the shutter, I know the seller from the market here so I'll ask him if there aren't some bits he overlooked.

the camera came along with a rather large collection. managed to get a dallmeyer triple 75mm 2.8 from him too, so some rather interesting stuff.

[buerokratiehasser]

I don't know enough about DIY and in general, filing and milling stuff to comment on this camera, I think your observations are quite correct though, yes it does look like plate camera reabused.

With the film stock of the day which was like, ISO 6.23 ? or something, the "hat" or "cap" shutter mechanism would certainly a possibility. Half to 3 seconds you can do that certainly I think.. combined with a cage like plate perhaps

you can have a bit of that feel shooting an old 120 folder, you have to do most of stuff yourself, the luxurious ones actually provide three different exposure speeds! Can you imagine!

[luisalegria]

Most of the old folding 120 cameras had pretty primitive leaf shutters.
Often they had just two speeds - 'Instant" - somewhere between 1/50-1/100, and T
However, many also had quite sophisticated leaf shutters with full range of speeds usually B and T plus clockwork regulated speeds from 1 sec to 1/150, 1/250, or 1/500 for later Compurs and other high end shutters.
There was a huge variety of shutters on these things.