A fellow Camera Club member was asked by a lady if he knew of anyone interested in giving an 'Old Camera' a Good Home and he thought of ME !!
It was a 1930's Voigtlander ' Brilliant' TLR 12 -on 120 format. When he brought it to Club it was very dirty -- it had the original case, a Yelllow Voigtlander Filter in small leather case and the original Instruction book all squashed up inside the case !! I had to brush it all out with a toothbrush and lubricate the film winder and lugs, then I cleaned front and rear lens surfaces with lens fluid and tissues but have not got inside to clean the interior lens yet. I loaded with some outdated 2001 Agfa APX 400 film I rated at 200 ASA as it was old and took some test photos in the house a couple of which I have posted in this Group . In the Instruction book it talks about 'flash powder' exposure ! I cleaned the leather work with Saddle Soap and stuck down some of the black covering with glue.

Lucky you...! I just, today, took posession of a Mamiya C220 in excellent condition. Nothing to clean...so will load some film tomorrow and try it out.

Good morning, Pete;

Oddly enough, many people think that the "FP" flash terminal connector or the "FP" synchronization setting on their camera for flash exposure is for "Focal Plane," but originally it stood for "Flash Powder" up until at least the 1930s. And, you could still buy canisters of Flash Powder into the 1950s. And, with a trickle of flash powder along the full length of the flash tray, the burn time was also long enough to work with the focal plane shutter of such cameras as the Graflex Speed Graphic. It was impressive when it went off, and the usually white smoke did seem to dissipate fairly quickly. The concept of "smokeless powder" among the small arms shooting crowd did not seem to really catch hold with any great popularity among the photographers, and then they began to use the magnesium or zirconium or other wire filled screw base glass bulbs instead in the 1930s, but, yes, they were "smokeless." (It was contained inside the bulb, as long as it did not break.)

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

DrewB : I was also GIVEN a 1984 Mamiya C220 with the 80mm f2.9 'Blue Dot' lenses by a fellow camera club member and I have posted many photos into this Group -- I also got a 135mm f4.5 Mamiya Sekor lens set from e-bay.

Good morning;

Over about the last year, there have been several cameras that were just given to me. The most recent one was in January when a Canon FT-QL was handed to me. They have ranged from an EKCo. Hawkeye Vest Pocket folding camera through some other 35m cameras, and ending with a 1963 Graflex Super Speed-Graphic 4 by 5. Sorry, but no one offered to me a TLR.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington

I was also given a nice Yashica 635, that looks mint, but seems to have a frozen shutter (and I think it is lacking the 35mm insert... either that or I don't know how it is supposed to take the 35mm cassettes)