Rare 95 year old antique camera, using 127 film in a 129 Krauss Rollette Luxus (c. 1928-1931)

Well how about this little beauty! Bit of a lucky auction find, this one was in a lot of auction cameras, not listed on the auction sale, but hiding in the box underneath so trashed cameras. Take a look, it's in pretty good condition, considering it wasn't even listed on the lot details!

So, after some digging (and it took quite a bit, there's not much info out there) I think it's a Krauss Rollette Luxus, a folding camera designed to take 129 film, made in Germany somewhere between 1928 and 1931. Not East Germany or West Germany, this one a pre-war camera, built during the Weimar Republic years. G A Krauss built cameras out of Stuttgart from 1924 to 1935.

Anyway, as you can imagine, the camera caught my eye, not just because it's in great condition but because it was clearly built with looks in mind back in the 1920s... covered in what looks like snake skin, not sure whether it is or not. It's a good looking camera!

Front section - shutter, aperture, lens - is all in pretty good condition as well, as you'll see, I test the shutter speeds and they're not far off.

Now... as I discover about half way through this, it takes 129 film. And no one in the world makes 129 film any more. And I can't see it making a comeback any time soon, because there just aren't that many 129 cameras still in circulation. This is the first one I've seen.

So, I thought that was curtains for this camera. But after doing some digging I found a piece from Analogue Wonderland talking about using 127 film in it, using spacers to allow the 127 film to run freely (link to article below).

Luckily I had one 129 spool in the camera, otherwise using a 127 film in the take-up side would have been difficult. The toothed but of the film spool, at the top, that engages with the wind-in mechanism, is pretty different between the two formats. I actually snapped a bit off the top of the 127 film trying to force it into place. Partly because it doesn't fit, but also due to the flimsy plastic that 127 film spools are made of these days!

Anyway, I think you could do it, but you'd need to file the split wider. Possible, but not easy.

Hope you enjoy the vid, drop me a comment below! Ever seen one of these cameras? Have any more info for me? Let me know!
Some more info on the camera:

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Rollette

https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Rollette

127 to 129 blog on Analogue Wonderland:

https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/blogs/film-review/90-years-in-the-life-of-a-voigtlander-129-film-camera

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