Got me a new Acro 127 rangefinder

[Philip]

It just arrived this afternoon, my new Acro 127-film rangefinder. Seventy years old and looking far worse than most 70-year-olds that I know. Looks bad but most of it works fine.  However the focus is almost completely jammed; it moves just a little between infinity and 50 feet.  That doesn't give me much leeway, but I think this weekend I may test it out anyway.  It has an extinction meter and, as I said, a rangefinder. It uses the vertical-aspect "half-frame" 127 format.  Nice little camera.  Even if it stinks of sitting somewhere damp for a long time.

Can someone refresh my knowledge (it's one of those things I used to know :rolleyes: ) of why focus wheels seize up like this.  How much trouble might it be to fix?

Philip

.

[br1078lum]

Philip,

If it's anything like the old Agfa's and Ansco's, most likely the helicoil greas has dried up.  Sometimes an application of heat will loosen things up, but it usually means a teardown is in order to clean off the old stuff, and relube with lithium.  Setting it in the sun for a few hours will let the heat soak in, and the UV rays will kill some of the mustyness (that is if it is outdoors.  Glass cuts down the UV light).  Good idea to clean the shutter mech while you have things in pieces.  And that is one camera I don't have in the archive to look at.  Must be in the 'heavy metal' class of antiques.

PF

[radiophoto]

Philip, is this it?



Found it on line, at this webpage devoted to the Acro 127.  Still, there might be different models.

[Major Black]

Cool looking machine.

[Philip]

Yup. That picture is the baby.  But mine isn't nearly as shiny.  The shutter speeds are in pretty good shape, though neither the B nor the T seems to work as designed. They both will stay open as long as you hold the lever in a kind of mid position.  And the slowest speed drags occasionally.  The speeds as labeled are 25, 50, 100 and 200. The last three seem close enough to right to use.  I like that workaday accessibility of of the rangefinder adjustment screws -- right on the camera's top deck.

I have a Bencini Koroll with a similarly stiff focus.  I only drag it out during high summer. 

It may be several weeks before the sun gets bright enough, and a couple of months before it gets warm enough, around here. But I'll try the heater over the next few days.

Thanks for the tips.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Philip

[br1078lum]

Hey, maybe you, me, and Sandeha can form a Bencini Koroll Club!  I'm amazed at the quality of the shots I got from mine.  And the focus was stuck when I got it, but just a little hard twisting finally got it loose, and it has not been a problem since.  I was afraid I'd have to give it the old Ansco treatment.

PF

[Philip]

 I've got my Koroll in hand right now and it's hard to move the focus at all. (It's winter, right?)  It's the 24S with a 45x30mm frame size.  Is yours the same?

[br1078lum]

Philip,

Mine is the original version I believe, not sure of the model number.  I need to do some more research on that, what I have is sketchy at best.  It's set up for 645, convertible to 6x6.  The red window mask reads 2 1/4 x 1 3/4, then rotates 180 degrees to 2 1/4 x 2 1/4.  Inside, you remove two bars that are held in by the roller frame to convert to the square format.  It has the one aperture of f:11, and the single speed of 1/50, with B being on a pull-out tab on the side of the lens barrel.

I have a picture of another one with a different front label, but the label on the top has the same number as mine, N.120923, so I'm guessing these don't have serial numbers.  Do you have the yellow filter and hood for yours?

PF

[br1078lum]

Okay, I've done some research Philip, and have determined mine is the 1953 Koroll S, sometimes called the 120.  That would make it the fourth version, slotted between your 24S, and the Koroll II.

Here are some shots I took with it in case you missed the earlier post in 'Bigger Is Better'.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/sets/72157626066299219/

Saw some wonderfull night photos while doing my research, and it has inspired me to try it when the weather gets a little warmer.

PF

[LarryD]

OK I got lost. I thought this was a 127 roll film camera but you are talking 120 format at the same time with 6x6 and so on. when I looked it up all I found was a 127 film camera.... Where did I go wrong?

[Philip]

Larry, we got sidetracked. I started talking about my new Acro which is a 127 rangefinder camera.  Then we started talking about our Bencini Korolls which are 120 cameras. 

[LarryD]

OK sorry I got lost there. I have been following this as I have some 127 film but I would like something better to shoot it in besides the Brownies. Also with Rollei and Efke and soon Foma making 127 I think I could use it from time to time as I love super slides and even if they are B&W I can send them to DR5.

[Philip]

Here are some shots I took with it in case you missed the earlier post in 'Bigger Is Better'.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/sets/72157626066299219/

Wow, your Bencini is much more reliable than mine. I've hardly been able to get anything sharp with mine, so I've relegated it to Toy Camera status. But you've got a perfectly good, sharp camera there!

When I've been careful about holding it steady, I've got some halfway decent pictures. I took this one about five years ago from a hotel window early one morning:

(Agfa 160 film).  
I think I used the B setting and jammed the camera to the window frame.

Like yours, mine has a B setting and a single speed, labeled 1/50th.  Mine has two apertures: f/9 and f/16, the latter being formed by two blades that produce a horizontal, oblong aperture.  I think it might make for interesting out-of-focus areas when focussed very closely.

When spring properly comes, I'll get mine out again and try again.  

And Larry, I'm hoping to get my Acro 127 camera fixed up enough to use in the next few weeks.


Philip

[LarryD]

Great I also found that you can get color film now in 127. I am wondering if it is not an older version of AGFA because it is also sold as 160 ISO.

http://www.frugalphotographer.com/cat127.htm

[Philip]

Larry, I've been using the Macocolor 127 C41 film for a few years.  I ordered it directly from Germany (twice).  It's a decent film but it is thicker than film was forty years ago, so there tend to be light leaks around the two flange ends.  This makes for uhhh, "interesting" flashes of red down through the pictures.  The leaks only occur after you've removed the film from the camera, so I try to be more careful than I used to be about where I place the exposed film.

Philip