Dacora 1 film camera.

[Mick]

Hi all. My neighbour passed away and when her son was clearing out the house they found an old camera and gave it to me. It's a German 1950"s Dacora 1. It's an old medium format film camera and it's got a roll of old unused Kodak 120 Codacolour film. Anyone know anything about these old film cameras and where ca n I get instructions how it works? It's a cool looking bit of kit with a vario 75 mm 6.3 lens. Always fancied medium format and doing some old mono film.

 

[Drizzt321]

Looks like it's a classic 6x6cm folder, cool! Those are lots of fun. http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Dacora_I

Also, the Kodacolor (correct spelling) has come in various flavors over the years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodacolor_%28still_photography%29), so it depends on which one you have. Although, I suspect if it's been sitting there for decades without decent storage, it'll be...interesting. Either awesome weirdness, completely crappy worthless, or somehow working just fine.

As for instructions, the Butkus page seems to be for a similar model, although not the exact same. Most folders are pretty similar in operation to each other, so it should be close enough.

I'd first check that the lens doesn't have a lot of model or other stuff gunking it up, and then check the operation of the shutter. You can trigger the shutter while holding the back door open so you can see through it, as well as the shutter blades. While you are doing that (use bulb mode or simply hold the shutter lever open after hitting the release) check the aperture by changing it while looking through the lens. It may still be fine, but you might need to get (or do it yourself) re-grease/oil the shutter and/or aperture blades since it's likely been sitting there for decades.

Last, you'll need to be able to estimate exposure well, use a pocket cam to get the exposure, or get a light meter. Along with that, learn Zone Focusing http://digital-photography-school.com/ultimate-guide-to-zone-focusing-for-candid-street-photography and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_focus are good starters.

And don't get discouraged when your first couple of rolls aren't at all what you thought you'd get. I've shot a few dozen rolls through mine and I'm still learning it's sweet spots.