Kodak 2D- It’s back!

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may remember I have slowly been having a go at restoring a Kodak 2D from 1947. This, or indeed anything like it, is nothing I’ve ever attempted before. Progress was tentative, but I gained a bit of experience as I went along. I got most of it done but what to do about the non-existent back?

I had a search about and the only spares I could find were in the US, perhaps not surprising as not only is this a US camera, the 5×7 format is much more so too than in the UK, where we mostly used whole plate in 1947. The cost was prohibitive. I also ruled out making one from scratch, that’s way above my skill level. Finally one night I hit upon a possibility – Intrepid Cameras! Sure enough they make a 8×10 reducing back down to 5×7. I could trim that down I thought to myself! I ordered one.

Lead time was stated at approximately 5 weeks. Almost exactly on 5 weeks it arrived. Now I have been as guilty as most of seeing photo’s one these plywood cameras and thinking that they looked a bit flimsy and perhaps would not last long. Well let me just say this, if anyone you know in film world says something like this, just challenge them to saw through the back of one! To the right you see my mostly good sawing – it took me two hours! They are tough!!

With the back trimmed down, I had sawed four lengths of the American Cherry wood that I had left over from making the lens board. These strips I used to make the baffle that that helps make the light seal. These were duly stuck on in the correct place (that was another whole “thing”!), and filled and sanded. Finally I painted the inside of the back matt black, and clipped it on – perfect fit to my surprise!

Above you can see, inside and out of the modified back and the supplied ground glass. There is provision on the camera to add locating pins to hold the back on. At this point I don’t think I’ll bother – it’s such a tight fit, it’s not going anywhere! I’ve stained the plywood down a little but it’s never going to match in -so the final job is just a couple coats of the matt varnish I’ve been using, and that’s it – DONE!