RB Cycle Graphic plate camera.
Eastman Kodak Co
Category
Photographic technology
Date
1907 - 1922
Materials
Wood, Leather, Metal, Glass, Plastic
Measurements
Closed size 240 x 218 x 112 mm
Place of origin
Rochester
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1524817.1
Summary
RB Cycle Graphic 5" x 7" plate camera, manufactured by Folmer & Schwing Division of Eastman Kodak Co. The camera housing is made of mahogany, covered with pebbled black leather. Black leather handle. The front standard is of cherry wood. The bed is made of cherry and brass. Dark maroon bellows. The back has an integral pop-up focusing hood and ground glass screen, with cloth side panels. Brass brilliant viewfinder mounted on standard. Rising front. Spirit level on top. Two tripod bushes on base. Bausch & Lomb automat shutter, with plate attached inscribed Eastman Kodak Co successors to Folmer & Schwing Co). Markings: Plate at base of standard inscribed with "R.B. Cycle Graphic, Folmer & Schwing Division, Eastman Kodak Co, Rochester, N.Y.". "RB" stands for Revolving Back, meaning that the film may be oriented in either the landscape or portrait orientation or any orientation in between. The camera has a “triple extension” bed, a three layer telescoping track arrangement that allows the front standard to be moved a great distance forward (about 22” from the film plane for the 5”×7” size) as required for the use of long focal length lenses, especially in closeup work. Fine adjustment for focusing moves the second layer of the pile, using a rack-and-pinion mechanism operated by a knob located near the end of the first layer. A focusing scale is provided for focusing by distance. The term “cycle” in its name was meant to exploit the association, in the early part of the 20th century, between bicycling and photography. It is a folding (“self casing”) camera—it folds into a compact, closed package for transport. The camera is classified as a view camera, meaning that composition and focusing were ordinarily done on a ground glass screen at the rear. “Graphic” was a widely-used product trademark of the manufacturer. The R.B. Cycle Graphic was the actual camera at the heart of the Cirkut Camera, a specialized camera which took panoramic photographs of almost unlimited angular span on roll film that passed before a slit aperture as the camera rotated on its tripod. A special back, known as a Cirkut Attachment (see Inventory No. 1524817.2), mounted in place of the normal back, included the roll film transport mechanism and a governed, spring-wound motor that moved the film and rotated the camera. When the attachment and camera are combined, they are known as a "Cirkut Camera Outfit".
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986.
Makers and roles
Eastman Kodak Co , manufacturer