2028-08-24 Sorting Olympus Six Camera Parts

Recently the Edmonton Photographic Historical Society was given a collection of photographic items that had been handed down through a family for generations. While many of the items were complete, there were some items that were incomplete or simply collections of pieces. 

    This is a plastic bag titled “Camera Parts #2”. That came into my collection. I decided to unpack the bag and shoot every item. Some items required two shots so I could show both sides. I ended up taking 36-images! 

    There were less items than even taking both sides of most items because I took both a vertical and a horizontal of the way I filed the items. I used an egg container because it is a classic way of keeping track of camera parts as you disassemble a camera, so I thought it was appropriate.
    

    There was a folded sheet of paper that had a collection of screws and metal bits.
    

    That was balanced by the occasional single part like this one. Inside rim set shutters there are often brass rings that are tightened down to hold layers of parts together. Often a small screw with a cut cap is used to lock the brass ring from rotating. There will be a crescent cut in the brass ring's locking ring the offset screw can rotate into. 

   Some items seemed to belong together, like these two plates from an Olympus Six. 
    

    It turns out the Olympus Six—thanks to McKeown’s guide for the photo—came in many versions. The “Chrome” series had a rigid tube finder as opposed to the flip up finder on earlier cameras in the Six line.   None of the Six cameras had adequate distinctions marked on the deck but the tube finders were found on Models I, II and III. Models from then on had the finders built into the top housings.

    Speaking of the top tube finder, this group of bits looks like that!
    

    I strongly suspect these parts are from an Olympus Six too. All cameras marked this took both 6x6 and 4.5x6 images. The orange plastic was to cover the ports so the roll film wouldn’t get fogged. 

This is both side of the film pressure plate from a Six I expect. Note the two circular windows for the two formats mention earlier.

    

These chrome knobs and screws seem to be from the Olympus Six too.

    

But then you have these long and relatively flat bits that could from the Olympus Six either from the front standard or inside for film chamber bits. The two chrome pieces third and fourth from the top look a lot like the film back door release. 

    There were three bags with lens elements in them. All bags were identified, but without further guidance on what lens assembly you are trying to put back together you will have some combinations to go through.

The largest bit looks like a front standard from a folder.

This is the iris from the lens shutter assembly that made up at least six parts.

  

    This is the shutter assembly that has further rims and rings attached to build up the finished lens/shutter.

    This plate fits on the second last image that captures all the posts sticking up to set them.

    The other side of the last image is marked “COPAL” for the name of the shutter. It is also marked with the shutter speeds.

    This rim that also attaches is marked with the hyper focal zones  of sharpness for the apertures from f/3.5 to f/22.

    

    I am not sure all the parts you need to build the front standard shutter assembly of an Olympus Six are in this egg carton. With some guidance from a repair manual I suspect you could put it back together. 

    You would still have to find a body and a bellows to make a working camera.