Kodak no.3A Autographic

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I had to have this, such beautiful condition it was in. Not a Special so no rangefinder and not one of the very pretty ones with morocco leather and red sealskin bellows, so not one of the more desirable models but should be a good shooter as it has the well regarded Kodak Anastigmat f6.3 170mm (7inch) lens which is a dialyte type and should be pretty sharp. Ilex shutter that has 1/100 top speed (tripod mandatory) but from what I've read, the 1/100 and 1/50 on these Ilex shutters tends to end up around 1/40 after all these years.

Takes postcard sized film (122) which is 3.25 inches wide and gives you 3.25 x 5.5 inches exposures. That's a 14cm wide film gate so I can shoot 6x14 images in this if I modify it to use 120 film, but my plan is to adapt it to use 116 sized spools so I can shoot 70mm in it, I happen to have a few hundred feet of Fujichrome 50 in 70mm perf and a couple of 116 spools, it's not difficult to make a backing paper for 116 so with a bit of fiddling about in the dark I should be able to make up a roll of 116/70mm film for this old Kodak.

There were also plate backs for these 3A cameras, be nice to find one of those and try some sheet film and paper in it.

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Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

That is in excellent condition, looking forward to the results.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers. The idea of a 6x14 Fujichrome slide is quite enticing. I'll have to buy some E-6 chemicals.

Posted your Perkeo negs this morn btw.

I scanned a couple and the detail just blows 35mm away:

Same with the roll we shot in the Mamiyaflex, but sadly it overlapped the frames a lot and only fragments were scannable, but the quality was still evident, never been close to this level of detail in any of my 35mm scans.

So I'm totally sold on the idea of MF format, but 120 film isn't cheap, so when I found the 70mm Fujichrome 50 for 6 quid for 100ft I jumped on it, had it in a fridge a while, been hunting for a good 116 camera to use it with but those are proving hard to find, then this beautiful Kodak 3A came along dirt cheap.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Lens is key factor on slide, if uncoated result will crap on color slides Sad

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Wow.........I'm impressed with the Perkeo ! Cool

Thanks for dev'ng the film Ian.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

That's in cracking condition. I have one of those - superficially nice, but shot bellows.
Given the age of them now, I wonder if yours was re-bellowed at some point, for the longest lasting bellows were the red ones (it's not unusual to find 100 year old red originals still working fine). I toyed with making a 120 adaptation in it, but the lens doesn't really justify the effort - B&L Rapid Rectilinear.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

No problem David, there was a bit of overlap on a couple of the frames, hence one is cropped. Send me as many bw films to dev as you like, I've got large stocks of developer and fixer. I might need a bit of turning to fit a lens in shutter sometime.

I wouldn't be surprised if this has new bellows, although looking at the overall condition, they might be original and the camera has had little use and the leather didn't dry out during storage.

I would like one with red bellows, usually those have simple lenses and ball bearing shutters. The rapid rectilinear is a decent lens when stopped down, larger apertures you will have some nice vintage character and swirly but very smooth bokeh, it's worth putting at least one roll through it.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

I have a bunch of these.
I have been cannibalizing some to put together a few runners.

Still have to get around to converting to 120. I have done some work on it but it really needs a more sophisticated approach.
The real problem with that is film flatness. Not only do these need spool adapters, but also a good mask and a pressure plate.

I have the plate back with groundglass slide and one plate holder. Unfortunately unlike most plate holders this one needs some modification to work effectively with paper. I'm still looking for other plate holders, though these are not a bit common.

The plate backs seem to be usable on all models, at least mine does.

The "specials" didn't usually have rangefinders, thats just some of them. Mostly the specials had a better lens and most importantly a premium shutter. Thats what made them "special".

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Congrats, Ian, looking forward to those 6x14 landscapes!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers guys. Good info Luis. I'd like a plate back for this, paper can be had very cheap on ebay.

I cut a 10cm piece of the fujichrome 70mm stuck it in one of my 6x9 Bessas and exposed it at 12 ISO - 1/5 sec at f11.

Developed it in Fomadon LQR, came out with the emulsion still on it, you can see an image but I doubt it will scan. Fixer is fine, I used it right after on a 35mm film. I left the piece of 70mm sat in the fixer, maybe it will clear.

Looks like this needs to be developed in E-6. I might try it again with Ro9, people say they have successfully processed slide film in it.