Großvaters Leica

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funkpilz

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My great-grandfather was an avid amateur photographer who used a 9x12cm view camera and a Leica 35/50/90 setup. He died at a relatively young age, but I've heard many stories about him, his cameras and his pictures from my father and grandfather.
Today, I climbed on top of the kitchen counter and fished out a few shoeboxes from the dusty top of the cupboard. The boxes had loads and loads of mounted slides in it, a few 9x12 plates with family photos, and, most importantly, a red felt box labeled simply "Leica". I held my breath for a moment, thinking, hoping, praying that it might contain the long-lost camera that everyone in my family kept talking about, wondering whereever it ended up...
When I opened the box, I did not find a camera, but I was not disappointed in the least: What it did contain was 12 rolls of B/W reversal films showing my recently deceased grandfather as a young boy. The labels said that these immaculate transparencies where exposed and developed in 1935...
 
Photos matter so much more than the camera…what an amazing discovery.

It would be great to see some of these photos!

Sadly I'll never be able to do the same —*my great grandpa was never interested in photography, and my grandpa, while being an amazing photographer, “didn't know” at the time that the negative was more important than the print — my uncle's using a lot of his free time to scan the remaining prints, as the negatives were thrown away.

I hope you're being very careful with the 9x12 plates…I wouldn't touch those without gloves. I'd also do most of the handling on the floor, on towels/blankets/mats in case it slipped…although that's probably my clumsiness.
 
I haven't really touched the plates yet, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how to scan those slides, since they're not mounted, but have been curled up for 75 years and need to be returned into that position… any suggestions?
 
need a professional approach... it's museum job to uncurl old film
see if there is no photo museum in Berlin or a photographical review...
Black and white transparencies ? or early kodachrome or agfa ? if colour contact the company... It would be a treasure for them to help you use them...
 
funkpilz said:
I haven't really touched the plates yet, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how to scan those slides, since they're not mounted, but have been curled up for 75 years and need to be returned into that position… any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I've heard that people straighten negative strips by putting them under heavy, flat objects for a week or two. I guess a few hardback books stacked might do well. I'm not sure what you'd use to protect single slides though — it's easy with negatives stored in sleeves.
I suppose you might, very carefully, use some tissue on both sides of the slide. I think adding a slight bit of humidity might help as well.

Make sure you don't let any dust on the slides move around when you put the weight on — that'll permanently scratch it.

I guess you could get them mounted at a lab for scanning. Or hand it over to the lab and tell them to scan and mount.
 
Well, I've uncurled film before, and this one doesn't seem impossible to get flat. BUT I'd have to cut it up to scan it, and that I don't really want to do because I couldn't just curl it back up and put it in its box, which is what I want to do.
As for the film, most of it is Agfa Isopan, also some Kodak Safety Film (that's the only marking on it). The mounted color slides I can't identify, but I'd venture a guess they're either Agfa or Kodak as well. I really don't know the available films from that area…
 
funkpilz said:
Well, I've uncurled film before, and this one doesn't seem impossible to get flat. BUT I'd have to cut it up to scan it, and that I don't really want to do because I couldn't just curl it back up and put it in its box, which is what I want to do.
Click to expand...

But why would you want to curl it up and put it back into the box? That's encouraging damage to the film —*I suggest you either sleeve them, or get them mounted and put them neatly in the box; that way there's less chance of them getting scratched and makes for easier handling should you ever want to take them out again.
 
I would forget about scanning in the strict sense and instead photograph the strips with a dSLR. Check out charjohncarter's setup in post #13 here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=87939

Alternatively you could go old tech with a slide copying rig for film.

Kudos for wanting to keep the strips uncut and return them to the box. They deserve respect. If it hasn't harmed them in 75 years, why mess with it?
 
Hmm, tough one. If you want to see the slides and preserve them maybe the best option is to cut them in strips, scan and sleeve them. In that case all the relatives you want to share the pics with can see, and the negs will be preserved.

You can also mount them, no rocket science there.

Personally I would die to see them and would probably seek help to uncurl them and scan them professionally.
 
I forgot to mention: The color slides are dated in the 50s and 60s, 1935 was simply the oldest film I could find in the boxes and the most valuable since my grandfather passed away recently.
The issue with the curled film is that it needs to go in a box that is made for fifteen rolls of film, meaning it has fifteen little compartments. So no matter how I do it, I can't cut them up.
Once I have some free time on my hand, I'll probably copy them from a light table or something. I don't think that'll be pleasant though… Lots of mistakes to make there I assume.
 
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