My new toy

Carrying on the Winterfest theme, some of you may remember that I bought an old 1950's Agfa camera at the CWA market in Leura while we were in the midst of our Winterfestivities last weekend. It seemed to be in working order at the time of purchase, and the gentleman who sold it to me assured me that this was so. However, upon further examination after purchase, I discovered that in fact the focussing mechanism and the viewfinder mechanism were both completely jammed, rendering the camera fairly useless.
Oh well, I thought, I suppose I could take it in to a camera place and see if they could limit the repair cost to only one arm and leg.
I jumped on the net and did a bit of research about the camera (mostly just to find out if I had been ripped off) and was surprised to discover a page with repair instructions for my specific model of camera and for the two exact problems that my camera was sufferring from. It turns out that back in the 50's Agfa used to use a "lubricant" that over time basically turns into a glue. So with a little bit of tinkering and only a minimal amount of swearing, I was able to take the camera apart, unstick all the problem areas, and get it back into working order. I even managed to put it together again without having extra pieces left over!

Here is the finished product:


I still have to find film, however; it takes the old 120 style, which is not as easy to come by these days, although it shouldn't be too difficult.

Another interesting development was that the leather case of the camera had a soldier's name and details inscribed. I did a quick search, and managed to find out that the camera used to be owned by an old war vet who died in Leura a couple of years ago, which is probably how his posessions ended up at the CWA market. I even found his obituary:

Warrant Officer Class 2 John (Jack) George Norman
14841
May 25, 1925 - February 10, 2005
(ex 17 Construction Squadron
RAE Vietnam, 1967, 198 Works Section
RAE Vietnam, 1967 – 1968, 32 Small
Ship Squadron RAE Vietnam ,1970)
Funeral service held at Leura Memorial
Gardens and Crematorium, Leura
NSW, followed by his cremation.
February 17, 2005

It's kind of interesting to think that he might have had the camera with him when he was away at war. When I first opened up the camera, it still had an old film inside - it's probably completely ruined already, but it might be interesting to find out if there's anything interesting on it.