I was pleased recently to come across a Bentzin Primar on ebay.  It is a compact plate camera, this one likely from the early to mid-1930s.  The dial-set Compur shutter having a top speed of 1/250 could have been made as early as 1914 based on the serial number.  The lens is a 10.5cm f4.5 Tessar.  The Bentzin closely resembles the KW Patent Etui, but has a somewhat more robust design.

Bentzin Primar 6.5x9

I was relieved to find that the Bentzin accommodates the Rada roll film adapter which is a much sturdier  than the Rollex adapter which is required for the Patent Etui with its very narrow back rails.

Box-top

The Bentzin needed just a light cleaning of the lens to be ready to make pictures.  I loaded the Rada back with some Tri-X 120 and strolled around Albuquerque's Old Town on a warm afternoon, and then again the following morning to finish off the roll of eight 6.5x9 frames.


My afternoon walk took me by some cottages near Tiguex Park which have undergone a lengthy restoration over the past year.  I snapped a couple shots, but the light was past its prime for this subject.


By pure good luck, a summer visitor to one of the cottages happened by and treated me to a quick tour of the furthest west cottage known as The Priest's House.  She said that the place was about 140 years old and that it had in fact been a priest's residence at one time.

click for 100% enlargement

I recalled making a picture of The Priest's House some time ago with better light.  After some searching through my blog, I found the picture made about six years ago with my No. 1 Series 3 Kodak.


The place does not look much different today from the outside, but the interior has been done over very nicely.  We are thinking we may lodge our daughter there when she comes for a visit from Phoenix.

Folded up, the Bentzin Primar fits easily in the hand or the pocket.


The plate cameras were originally designed to be used with glass plates or sheet film, either in sheet film holders or in film pack adapters.  This shows the Bentzin with a couple of film holders to the left and a film pack adapter at the top.


I believe the film pack adapter for this model held ten sheets.  After the exposure, a paper tab attached to the sheet was pulled to move the exposed negative through rollers to the back of the adapter and to make the next one available for use.  The film packs were fast and convenient, but expensive as they needed to be factory assembled by hand.

Sheet film is no longer available in the 6.5x9 size used in my small plate cameras.  It is still possible, however, to get 9x12 format film for the larger plate cameras from some European sources.

The only practical way to make photos with the small plate cameras like mine today is with a 120 roll film adapter like the Rada or the Rollex.  The roll film adapters work well in these cameras, though they add some bulk.  When putting the film adapter or the ground glass back onto any of the plate cameras it is important to do so only with the bellows extended.  If the back is slid on or off the camera when it is folded up, the back can snag the folds of the bellows and damage them.

The Visualizing Albuquerque exhibit runs from January 31 to May 3, 2015 at the Albuquerque Museum of Art.  It was not until my second visit that I noticed the sign out front said that photography is allowed at this show.  So I snapped a few shots with Tri-X in my Zorki 2-C, mounted with the Jupiter 12 lens.

Mildred Murphey. "Self Portrait", Aluminum

Ford Model T Speedster (1912)

I have taken quite a few photographs at the near-by Natural History Museum over the past few years.  Photography is not normally permitted in the Art Museum, so this exhibit presents an unusual opportunity to explore the museum experience.  I'll likely return several times with my cameras to try a variety of techniques.

I patched the last of the light leaks in the bellows of my oldest Kodak Duo Six-20 and took it to the Albuquerque Botanical Garden.  I seem to end up testing all my old cameras at some point with how well they can render a little garden sculpture there.



This mid-'30s model is very similar to the one Amelia Earhart carried with her on her last flight.  The camera's Deco style fit her nicely.


I felt I had made a little progress in getting the camera working closer to its potential on my outing at the Botanical Garden.  I was also happy with the combination of Tri-X film and D-76 developer on this occasion.  My last efforts with the combo had yielded some thin negatives, so I gave the film an extra minute this time in the 1+1 D-76 and got better density.

I finally figured out with the help of a bright little LED that the light was sneaking by the side of the slightly loose-fitting shutter release button.  The inner cone of the camera comes out with the removal of two screws, revealing the shutter release and double-exposure prevention mechanism.  I glued a small square of fuzzy light seal material beside the shutter release shaft and that seems finally to have done the trick.


None of the pictures on the last roll through the camera showed any light leaks.

These images were made on Tri-X and developed in D-76.  I processed the previous roll with this same combination at a 1+1 dilution and got some uneven development, with light stripes showing on the left and right sides of the negatives.  For this roll I used the D-76 in stock solution and gave a little more agitation.  That showed some improvement, though not to perfection.

Some previous images from the C330 are in my Flickrstream.