I have a German-made Kodak Brownie 620. It has screw holes in it for a tripod but they are too large for a modern tripod screw, which is a standard American 1/4-20 . To use this beautiful antique on a tripod, I needed to make an adapter to make it fit from 3/8-16 to 1/4-20. The camera has a tripod screw hole on the bottom as well.
The adapter is made from parts I bought at a local Lowes Home Center: the body, a bronze 3/8 x 5/8 x 1" sleeve bearing; the "base" is a 1/4-20 nail-in Tee Nut (the hammer-in ones have flanges which will get in the way). I cut a section off a brass 3/8 x 16 bolt and used it for the 3/8 side.
I epoxied the tee nut in the straight end of the bearing first. The tee nut gives this adapter a nice flange for stability on the tripod head.
After the tee nut epoxy cured, I then epoxied the bolt piece into the flange end of the bearing, leaving about 3/16" of the bolt extending beyond it.
Once that cured, I had a sweet, compact little adapter to put my antique camera on a tripod.
The adapter is made from parts I bought at a local Lowes Home Center: the body, a bronze 3/8 x 5/8 x 1" sleeve bearing; the "base" is a 1/4-20 nail-in Tee Nut (the hammer-in ones have flanges which will get in the way). I cut a section off a brass 3/8 x 16 bolt and used it for the 3/8 side.
I epoxied the tee nut in the straight end of the bearing first. The tee nut gives this adapter a nice flange for stability on the tripod head.
After the tee nut epoxy cured, I then epoxied the bolt piece into the flange end of the bearing, leaving about 3/16" of the bolt extending beyond it.
Once that cured, I had a sweet, compact little adapter to put my antique camera on a tripod.
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Nice idea. I collect old 120 "user" cameras too, so I appreciate your initiative, but are you aware that screw-in reduction adapters for tripod sockets already exist and are (still) available rather cheaply?
As for more sources for 620 film (sometimes pretty cheap) check out Freestyle Sales, FotoImpex.de or Macodirect.
Cheers!
chrisn
After I posted the instructable, I learned about the existence of adapters. So, what I had made was a moot point, but I hadn't seen or heard of any until then.
I'm planning on using some of the 620 (commercially respooled 120) film in my Nagel Brownie soon. Thanks for the input!
Ted
Just keep havin' fun...your agile thinking will allow you to enjoy the old technology a lot longer then many other folks.
I've never seen one of those adapters, so believing that such an item wasn't available, I made one as I could figure out from what was available at a store like LoweDepot. The good, local, squeaky-floor hardware stores no longer allow one to browse or manipulate the stock, which was what I'd had to do.
I used this instructable for the mod: "Mod Film for use in super old cameras (620 film)". I cut the edges off the ends of the 120 spools to make them the smaller 620 diameter. I have to ask for my 620 original spool back from processing.
Other ways to modify 120 include respooling it on to 620 spools--this must be done in complete darkness; changing bag or darkroom with even the safelight off. I don't have those, so I buy 620 or I cut down 120 spools (they're plastic) with a pair of "trauma scissors". I have mailed my roll of 120 away so I'm waiting for my photos now.