Rollfilmkamera - half decent resuts

[Nesster]

I've struggled with the Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera with Skopar (1933)- it has been difficult to get sharp results from it. I think the focus is a bit past infinity, and the shutter is very 'strong' possibly creating shake when I click it. These were with the camera mounted on a travel tripod, and mostly with a cable release.

Ilford Delta 100 developed in Ilfosol-S - the developer comes out of the tank tinged yellow, and the film ends up blue-ish. Which results in these brown tinted scans, if I don't compensate. I kind of like the vintage look.







I'd set the distance appropriately in the shots above... this last one is out our front door, with focus set to 2.5 meters. The infinity setting resulted in everything being slightly oof - thus my belief the camera is set slightly beyond infinity. I can adjust for this by moving the focus lever a bit forward, so it's not so bad.



Overall, the results don't have the definition I hope for - and that I get with both the Bessa 66/Skopar and Bessa I/Vaskar. I'll probably try again later...

[Nesster]

Here is a more modern rendition of the first shot...

[PaulC]

Getting there ... it flares a bit, you'll need to be careful with the sun. Nice work so far, though.

[marty]

Nice series. If I'm not mistaking the model of your camera it looks a lot like one of mine kodak foldings. In this case you could try to put together a little hood out of a piece of plastic tube which internal diameter matches the rim of the front element. It's just an idea, you know, but maybe could help with the flare.

[Nesster]

Thanks - I don't mind the flare and shot with it in mind with this uncoated lens. I did hope the Skopar would look sharper though. Looking through old catalogs and ads, the Rollfilmkamera was Voigtlander's cheap model, a non-self-erecting throwback in the Bessa era... with the theoretical advantage of sled focus rather than front element. However, pulling out the bellows to its stop is not entirely positive and likely is the source of the focusing issues. My copy seems to be from the very end of the Rollfilm production.

The Ilfosol is 3 not S, my bad - I just recently bought it from B&H - and noted the yellowed developer from the very first roll - I forget the film, it probably wasn't Delta 100.

[luisalegria]

Not bad results at all. Very much what it was meant to do in its day I would think.

I try check infinity focus of these with tape over the film plane before trying a roll, it seems an accurate enough way to get focus in the ballpark. I've learned my lesson on my Ansco Speedex, where I foolishly trusted that the factory focus was still good.