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slow blogging I went to the doctor this morning. It was my mother's appointment. My sister Madelane and my brother Terry were also there. We got confirmation that my almost 85 year old mother has breast cancer and will need 6 weeks of radiation treatment before surgery. It's not big but has to be shrunk before surgery. My mind is elsewhere right now. I'll be back.
burke and james project I made more progress on the Burke and James project. I continued on my strap making binge. One of the nice things about a camera like the Burke and James is that you don't feel guilty drilling holes in it. I needed a little strap to hold the back of the bed up for transporting. I have a friend that does leather work and she is going to make a nice leather handle for the Burke and James.
 Then I made a neck strap for the Frankenloupe.
 I bought another plumbing fixture for a cap for the bottom and a push on lens cap for the front of the lens. (B & H has a wide range of push on lens caps.) After years of picking up the loupe, focusing, and then putting the loupe down somewhere that I can't find it when I need to refocus, this will be the lap of focusing luxury.
 Then I went hunting in boxes and found some things I'd been looking for for a long while. I guess actually needing them focuses the eyes. I found 5 4x5 film holders (10 exposures) and a Polaroid 545 back. The Polaroid back will let me shoot Polaroid film/negatives (duh!) and also packet film like Fuji Quickloads and Kodak Readyloads. The Polaroid and packet films are pretty expensive so it may be awhile before I use that but it's nice to have the option. Now I need to find my film changing bag. I've seen it within the last 6 months. I need to find it again. Almost ready to order some 4x5 film!
 The big score was finding the Packard shutter. I took it apart and removed a little phenolic block that had a metal strip on it that must have been used for some sort of flash sync.
 Everything is good shape. Just needs some cleaning and some tubing and an air bulb.
I ended up with this shutter back in the early 1970s. I've been carrying it around for years as an antique curiosity wondering what sort of primitive photography would be done with such a device. Well, it's not a primitive device. Simple but not primitive. Really quite sophisticated. Having been a design drafter for many years, I'm a fan of elegant mechanisms and this one certainly qualifies. It also will be very useable. I think I see how I can make a simple mount that will slide on the front of my Schneider 210mm barrel lens that I got from Marja-Leena that doesn't have a shutter. I played around with it for awhile last night. Quickly openeing and shutting the shutter will probably give me around 1/25th of a second. I will have to test that. Most of my exposures will probably be in seconds and that can be timed with a watch. Now to start cleaning and painting the shutter.
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