Last year, I acquired a Kodak Brownie Bull’s-Eye 620 camera at a yard sale. I took some pictures with it – it’s a decent shooter, and I like the idea of using 120 film in a 620 “wide” 6×9 format – but, as much as I loved what the camera could do, the pictures it took always came out soft.
Now if I’m TRYING to get that soft, old-timey postcard look from this camera, then that’s fine. But I want more out of this shooter than just soft, old-timey postcard images.
And yes, I am quite aware that this camera is almost 60 years old. From 60 years ago, when it rolled off the Rochester assembly line, up to and including today, it’s probably gathered up an inordinate amount of dust and gunk and grit and any other associated santorum in its lens elements.
Now I could send this camera off to a place like Cameraworks in Latham, and have my digital camera tech Allan take care of it… but I thought about what it would take to fix this camera up. I need to get to the lens, remove it from the chassis, clean it, and re-insert it back into the camera. This is not a job for the faint of heart. Trust me on this.
Then I thought some more. This is a camera from the 1950’s. It’s all screws and clamps and wires. It had to be assembled somewhere, why can’t it be dis-assembled – and, subsequently, re-assembled? Okay, even if my experience in taking things apart and putting them back together is limited to watching episodes of How It’s Made and Pimp My Ride – I think I have a chance here.
After I took the camera apart, I washed the lenses in an alcohol-based solution. I then carefully re-assembled the camera. This was why I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in college – it allowed me to use clear, analytical thought in working with repairing a 60-year-old camera.
Once the camera was returned to its working state, I packed it with some respooled 120 film. What you see is a roll of Delta Ilford 400 black-and-white film, the first roll packed through the camera since its cleaning.
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Wow. That cleaning really worked! Look at how sharp those pictures turned out!
And for sure, I now have some serious plans for this camera.
Especially if I can get a wideangle shot with current film.
Oh man… if I snagged some decent shots with a lens full of dirt and gunk… imagine what I can pull off with some solid slide film or some swank B&W film, now that this cameras has 20/20 vision in it.
Yeah. I’m excited.
Chuck The Writer 
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Reminds one of a day when you could work on your own car too. By the time I was six, I was taking apart my toys on Christmas morning hours after tearing the wrapping off.
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Potrzebie –
I really do. At first I was worried that I wouldn’t get this thing back together after I took it apart, but since I figured the camera was a mass-produced assembly-line product and it didn’t contain any spot-welds, I figured I had a chance to make this work.
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As a side note: I miss Pan-X!!!
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Great use of the word “santorum”!
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