# Camera Restoration



## ceeboy14 (Dec 9, 2012)

Is there anyone on here who does camera restoration? I inheirted a 1906 Chautaugua 5x7 view camera Which I would love to get back into pristine working order.


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## dxqcanada (Dec 9, 2012)

Hmm, looks pretty good condition ... I have seen much worse.

Ah, you have any experience with DIY ?


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## thetrue (Dec 9, 2012)

Is it functional or you don't know?


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## dxqcanada (Dec 9, 2012)

Working order may be more difficult ... as this camera uses plates ...are you are saying you want to use this camera.


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## ceeboy14 (Dec 9, 2012)

I was thinking I might be able to use it for some wet plate collodian...not sure it will work, but it was a thought. I am not particularly good at DIY. The shutter is functional as is the bellows rack and viewfinder. I've tried it with an old bulb release I had and at that time the shutter worked just fine.


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## IanG (Dec 10, 2012)

dxqcanada said:


> Working order may be more difficult ... as this  camera uses plates ...are you are saying you want to use this  camera.



The fact that it uses plates isn't an issue, you can use film adaptors in plate holders and this being American may take modern film holders anyway.  It really jst needs the covering restored slightly it's nowhere near as bad as some of my cameras which have required completely recovering.

The OP will need to fid the right plate holders for wet plate use.

Ian


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## compur (Dec 10, 2012)

If the shutter works and the bellows are light tight and the camera is complete with working movements then there isn't much to do. The lens probably needs internal cleaning though.

What do you want to restore on it?


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## Mully (Dec 10, 2012)

This camera might have a good value and I would check with collectors before "messing" with it.  A friend of mine once shined and cleaned an old rare rifle ...he took the value from 35,000 down to 2,000 with his polishing wheel.


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## ceeboy14 (Dec 10, 2012)

compur said:


> If the shutter works and the bellows are light tight and the camera is complete with working movements then there isn't much to do. The lens probably needs internal cleaning though.
> 
> What do you want to restore on it?



The back is pretty messed up and I am not sure if all of it (the back) is in working order. Mostly it would be cosmetics. It has been in my family since it was new.


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