Meet Lloyd

2

Meet Lloyd (ICA Lloyd 575): a German folding camera, from somewhere between 1915-1926. This huge, highly elegant beast used to feed on huge negatives: 9 × 14″. Luckily, it has also a roll film option (8 × 14″) which I converted to 120 film. But I am going too fast here…

So as I said, I found this beauty in a little second hand shop I visit every once in a while, and there is always an interesting camera(s) laying around there. The time before I almost bought and old Bronica, but unfortunately the mirror mechanism was broken. I got the ICA Lloyd for 20 euro and rushed home with it to continue checking if all is working as it seemed to be in the shop. And I was very happy to discover that it did! The bellows are still whole, with no holes, the shutter still works perfectly (1- 1/100, B and Z (still have to find out what’s that…) ), cable release, the lens was clean… I was very happy.

I did not find much on the net about it, and also trying to find film that would fit was not a success. I thought of trying to get another spool like the one that came with it or to build one – it is a few centimeters longer than a 120 spool. About a week ago I finally sat down to do it. I used two 120 spools, one of which I chopped, to create a spool that will also protect my finished roll from light!

And finally came the real test. I loaded a roll of Kodak Ektachrome E200 and went out. The results as you can see are nothing worth getting excited about, but I did, because I knew that I only need to get a few things straight and the next roll will be much better! First thing I had to get sorted was the rails.

Another thing I learned from this roll is that I need to wind more between frames…

The lens mount was not sliding easily along the rails, and it took much force to slide it. I was afraid of damaging the camera every time I did it, and also the focusing should be done by moving the lens mount forward and backward. So today I fixed this issue, using a little file to fix the somewhat bent lips of the lens mount, which now slides easily along the rails! Yeay!

A few days ago I ordered a user manual on the net, and I hope to find there all the answers to the questions I still have, mostly about focusing. There is a sort of a zone-focus indicator, but looking at the roll I shot, it does not work as expected. There is also an option to slide the lens to the either side, and up or down (sort of a shift lens effect?).

So I am hoping the next roll will be a big step forward with Lloyd – extreme fake 120 panoramas…

written by paramir on 2010-11-07

2 Comments

  1. quail
    quail ·

    thats pretty cool my father has a Kodak Brownie No. 2-A circa 1917 looks just like this if you would want to see it

  2. spoeker
    spoeker ·

    Hi Lloyd :)