What film?

A friend loaned me two b/w negatives, one each of his parents on their
wedding day, asking me to try and print some decent photos for him.
Based on his age they were probably taken in the mid-1930s. They
measure 4 1/2 by 3 3/8 inches. They seem thicker and stiffer than roll
film, but not as thick as my 4x5 negatives. I am able to keep them flat
in my 4x5 neg holder by putting them in sideways. Anyone know what kind
of camera used this film and what kind it was? Was it sheet or roll film?
Thanks for any help.
Art

In article ,
Art Reitsch wrote:
A friend loaned me two b/w negatives, one each of his parents on their
wedding day, asking me to try and print some decent photos for him.
Based on his age they were probably taken in the mid-1930s. They
measure 4 1/2 by 3 3/8 inches. They seem thicker and stiffer than roll
film, but not as thick as my 4x5 negatives. I am able to keep them flat
in my 4x5 neg holder by putting them in sideways. Anyone know what kind
of camera used this film and what kind it was? Was it sheet or roll film?

That's either a funny film pack size ("funny" meaning "I haven't ever seen
it before, but maybe that doesn't mean much") or it's Polaroid, maybe
polaroid print/negative material, which gives negatives similar to film
pack negatives.

Film pack film was in between modern thick sheet and thin roll films in
thickness. I think it's about the same thickness as long-roll aero
film. You may want to print it in a glass carrier; I find it tends to
sag pretty badly in a glassless 4x5 carrier.

--
Thor Lancelot Simon

"The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be
abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky

"Art Reitsch" wrote
mid-1930s... negative 4 1/2 by 3 3/8 inches... Anyone know what kind
of camera used this film and what kind it was?

Most likely, one of these old roll films:

http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/FilmHist.html

In something like this:

http://www.toycameras.jmlgraphics.com/autographic.htm

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm

Back in the early twentith century they made all sizes of film. The
polaroid P/N type of film wasn't around then so what you have is either
a negative from a roll or a sheet film.
Kodak, Ansco, and a couple of other manufacters, whose names escape
me, made what the called "pocket cameras". At that time most of the
cameras were what we now call large format. 4x5 and up. 4x5 was the
"standard" of the time and didn't fit pockets to well. The pocket type
of cameras used roll film from 3-1/2 by 6 inch and smaller.
All this is interesting but for you, TMI. All you need to worry about
is which side is the emulsion on and to keep it flat. A glass 4x5 neg
carrier will do the trick.
For further information look at the Kodak web site, the Smithsonian
web site for more information.


Good luck on your search and printing of your friends negatives.

Draco


Getting Even isn't good enough.

Art Reitsch wrote:

A friend loaned me two b/w negatives, one each of his parents on their
wedding day, asking me to try and print some decent photos for him.
Based on his age they were probably taken in the mid-1930s. They
measure 4 1/2 by 3 3/8 inches. They seem thicker and stiffer than
roll film, but not as thick as my 4x5 negatives. I am able to keep
them flat in my 4x5 neg holder by putting them in sideways. Anyone
know what kind of camera used this film and what kind it was? Was it
sheet or roll film?
Thanks for any help.
Art


Hi Art,

This is not what you were asking, but when I encounter an odd sized
film, I make a mask (one for each side of the film) of stiff black paper
in which to enclose it when putting it in the enlarger.


Francis A. Miniter

"Art Reitsch" wrote in message
...
A friend loaned me two b/w negatives, one each of his
parents on their wedding day, asking me to try and print
some decent photos for him. Based on his age they were
probably taken in the mid-1930s. They measure 4 1/2 by 3
3/8 inches. They seem thicker and stiffer than roll film,
but not as thick as my 4x5 negatives. I am able to keep
them flat in my 4x5 neg holder by putting them in sideways.
Anyone know what kind of camera used this film and what
kind it was? Was it sheet or roll film?
Thanks for any help.
Art


Is one of these the actual width of the film or is it the
width of the image? If its the film I can't find any such
roll film in either width nor any standard film pack film.
Odd indeed.
You will find a list of discontinued Kodak roll film
sizes on Thom Bell's web site. Thom is with Kodak Customer
Service.
http://www.geocities.com/thombell/oldroll.html
There are 31 sizes listed and there were other European
roll sizes, mostly differing in the number of exposures
rather than the size of the film.
There is no equivalent list of film packs but they mostly
followed standard sheet film and glass plate sizes. This is
near enough 9x12 cm to be a possibility. Roll film and film
packs were both on thin base support so as to be flexible,
generally the same support was used for both.
Roll film was used in a very wide variety of cameras
ranging from simple box cameras to quite up market folders.
Film packs were mostly used in adaptors for use in cameras
designed to take glass plates. Again, there was a variety of
such cameras, many of them folding cameras of various sorts.
Typical film packs held 12 to 18 films. These were in a pack
a the front with a spring loaded back plate pushing them
toward the front of the film pack. They were changed by
pulling a paper tab on the side, each film having a tab.
When the tab was pulled it pulled the exposed film around a
roller to a chamber in the back of the film pack and allowed
the next film to be pushed up to the front. When finished an
opaque paper came to the front allowing the pack to be
removed in daylight. Film packs were made until about 15
years ago when Kodak, the last manufacturer, discontinued
them. The reason is probably that there was no longer any
market.

This might be European film with a different thickness
than US films. Check for any edge markings which might show
the manufacturer or even the type of film.
In any case the best way to deal with it is to use
either a larger glass sandwich negative holder with a mask
(can be made of any opaque, thin, plastic or paper) or by
making a makeshift negative holder cut to size. Print
mounting matts are about the right thickness for this.
I've printed a lot of old stuff processed by
photofinishers, generally it prints very well although there
is a tendency for the negatives to be a little contrasty.


--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA