G'Day Folks.
over a month ago, we went to a clearance auction, Heather seen the radio next to a rabbit trap or similar in a picture on the auction companies web site.

It was a very cold morning, there had been a frost, most of the items for the auction went around the house out side, house was on 5 acres, so there was a bit of room.

The radio was out in the open, it looked like a something pulled out from the rubbish, it was in poor condition.
it was on the second last table, we got there around 8am, auction started at 10am, the usual collection of antique and second hand dealers and
collectors and farmers.
around 3pm we finally got the the table the radio was on, it seemed to take for ever to get through the table, finally the radio came up, and I though there would have been heaps of people bidding, just me and another bloke, I think most people, had spent up earlier.
So with my had firmly stuck up, the bidding got up to $75.00 and the other bloke declined to go any further.
I was shocked, I did expect a bidding frenzy, as there had been with a Stromberg Carlson signaling lamp with morse key and spare bulbs, it went for over $300.00, but just one other person bid on the C87.

Well it did look like it was pulled out of the rubbish and there is a broken piece missing from the front and a crack along the top, the chassis has a tiny bit of surface corrosion, under the chassis looks fine, the speaker cone almost looks new after the cleanup.
It has come up very well.

Just wondering, thoughts on what to do with the front of the cabinet and the cracking.

Many thanks.

Hi
With such an important & valuable radio I would recommend having the cabinet professionally restored. I get all of my radios that require it repaired by a professional repairer that actually repairs Bakelite & other plastics for a living. Of course you will always be able to repair it cheaper yourself however to date ( & I’ve seen a lot of Home repairs ) I’ve never seen anyone do a better DIY repair from watching YouTube clips or taking DIY tips from people on forums. The results of those attempts are quite honestly just crap. If we were talking about the repair of a very common radio I’d say knock yourself out however we are talking about a radio that once repaired is worth a very very conservative $2000 & restoring it in a haphazard way would be like respraying your classic Monaro or GT with spray cans from Bunnings instead of going to an actual spray painter. Give me a call on 0413282083. I can put you in touch with a professional restorer & show you actual before & after pictures of radios restored.
Kind Regards Scott.

Photos uploaded.

I'd concur with the restoration advice given above. The C87 is a true vintage classic and is definitely worth spending any amount of money on to put right. Whilst it'll always be a repaired radio, there wouldn't be too many collectors with the sort of money these radios are worth who still wouldn't buy it if it wasn't already in their collection - providing the repair is difficult or impossible to detect when the radio is displayed correctly.

The C87 was one of the first Art-Noveau styled radios and Australia's first Bakelite radio cabinet. At the time it was also the world's largest Bakelite radio, probably only beaten by Kriesler's 11-25 tablegram of the 1940s.

Many thanks, Brad and Scott.
Yes I totally agree, one of the reasons, I asked.
I was wondering if there was some one up around Brisbane, I could drop the cabinet off to, rather then trust couriers, even double boxed, I would hate to see it damaged anymore than it is.
They are such a heavy radio, I was rather impressed at the weight and how solid the Bakelite is, but I guess people picked these up from the top and that is where the cracking started, when I dismantled it, I was hoping for the broken piece to be inside, but that wasn't to be, there was also a piece of doweling stuck in the radio in place of the missing volume knob.
There is a crack along the top, which I think has been there for a few decades, some one attached a small brass pate to retain it near the rear of the radio.
There is one on gumtree, up this part of the country listed at $8K.

Will more than likely give you a call on the weekend Scott.

And Brad, what is the best format to send pictures to you.

Cheers.
Peter....

The biggest issue I see with those photos is that they have poor focus. Low f stops & auto focus are not your friend, in a job like this: Tripods are still useful.

The closer you get to a subject, "hand held" the more likely it will be to be out of focus (you move). Moving back & cropping it later helps with sharpness in depth.

Brad, what is the best format to send pictures to you.

JPG and as high res as possible. I resize before uploading them.

Yes, I will have to improve the quality of the pictures, Marcc.
Tripod next time and better lighting.
Will practice with the camera, I haven't used it for so long, out of practice, have been lazy and used the camera in the phone most of the time.
I have to catalogue what I have in the collection, so I will get better, I will get some foam sheets and use them to even up the light, cheaper than a second flash unit.


Almost the weekend
Cheers.

Where a lot fall down is with a lack of understanding of "depth in field" the digital is a bit different, but if you look at lenses like the ones on my 'Zenza Bronica' these have lines distance & f stops marked on the barrel: These are not decoration. They actually tell you "what" either side of the optical focus, will be in focus. The higher is that f number, the greater that distance will be. Sometimes you need only the subject (e.g. flower) to be in focus (enhance) and not have the background impinging on it.

Auto focus has a tendency, depending on the measuring points to focus on the first thing it sees. With a radio & tripod one try's to get away with the lowest speed & highest stop you can & flash can be a curse as well. Manual focus is on something in the middle of the target, when taking something like the pan.

Getting back a bit also helps (as noted) improve the depth of field & allows the intensity of an direct (not diffused) flash to spread out a bit. Try tissue paper as a diffuser.

I have a second flash that works in with the camera's computer (Nikon), or it controls the show. It has diffusers. The Bronica uses similar but its one of those tall Metz ones. I have worn out several cameras 2 x 120 (70mm); 2 x 35mm (One a Nikon); Now working on wearing out a Digital Nikon. Bronica chewed through over 200 rolls of reversal film alone, on one project.

I've had a Canon 7D since they were first released and a small collection of L Series lenses. Despite the fact that many phones now beat the 7D and similar models from Nikon, Olympus and Pentax for resolution, no phone can match a DSLR for depth of field and outright control of what's going on.

That said, any camera can be used for simple photos of radios and their innards providing there is plenty of light. I always encourage people to take their photos outdoors where possible as sunlight (at the right angle) is best. When there is enough light, things like sharpness and contrast take care of themselves.

So that one doesn't get their own shadow in the photo, move back and use the zoom to obtain the correct subject/background ratio.

With cameras having the f-stop and focus distance visible on the lens barrel, it is possible to achieve maximum depth of field with acceptable definition by setting the infinity symbol at the f-stop chosen. This focuses at the hyperfocal distance. Everything from infinity to the distance opposite the other f-stop mark is in focus. At least this is the rule I was taught by the photographer when I was working.

There is an explanation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7V94AdAUlI

Now this is where you want infinity in focus and is good where you are outside taking photographs where you can't predict what is going to happen, such a prang at a motor race, or wildlife. For close-ups like we have here , infinity is not necessarily wanted in focus. In this case

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance

has a system:
"The hyperfocal distance has a property called "consecutive depths of field", where a lens focused at an object whose distance is at the hyperfocal distance H will hold a depth of field from H/2 to infinity, if the lens is focused to H/2, the depth of field will extend from H/3 to H; if the lens is then focused to H/3, the depth of field will extend from H/4 to H/2, etc." haven't tried this, hopefully someone here has a simpler system.

Digital cameras may use this system, with the right manual settings, but I haven't seen the hyperfocal distance mentioned in the instructions for the various digital cameras that I have owned, which have not been high-end with settings on the lens barrel. So in that case I follow Brads rule: as much light as you can get, and depth of field will look after its self.

The shutter is actually a focusing device. If you "squint" That actually increases depth of field & focus, which is why that is a way of spotting eye problems.

Example: in the same light; the speed & f stop have a fixed relationship:

At f 2 the shutter speed increases to provide the volume of light required; depth of field falls; sharpness in motion increases;

Conversely, if you take f 22 sharpness of depth increases, but the speed slows, sharpness in motion decreases.

1/30 is the slowest recommended for hand held. Flash speed is around 1/1000 of sec The Metz was 1/300 at full power Bronica had an Iris shutter so it could take flash photos at better than 1/500th as that sort of shutter does not cut of feet etc.

Consider the light as a squat glass (f2) of say 250ml and a tall one of 250ml (f22) different shape same volume.

I think all of this photographic knowledge from years of exposure (pardon the pun), might rate a good write up and be a reference.
Like cabinet restorations and the project builds.

My biggest issue, I think, is not setting up an area to be able to use the camera correctly, and normally it's a number of quick in situ shots, hand held, in auto focus and auto shoot, an old EOS400d.

Cheers.

"normally it's a number of quick in situ shots, hand held, in auto focus and auto shoot"

That's just the point exactly.

Back in the days of my single lens reflex camera and film, and a delay for processing before you find out if the shot is any good, I kept a notebook with various tables for f-stop settings for various distance for the electronic flashes that I had, and other hints and calculations that might be handy, to give the best chance of getting the shot right.

But these days of automatic electronic cameras wasting film is not an issue and flash calculations are not needed; immediate review of the shot is possible and if no good, take another. So the notebook is packed away with the SLR camera and has not been seen for years. However I'll hunt it out and see if it can be turned into something useful.

Perhaps what is needed is more hints like Brad's; for good depth of field use as much light as possible, so forcing up the f-stop ie decreasing the aperture to a squint.

The flash is good to eliminate camera shake because it naturally gives a short exposure. Just the thing for quick handheld shots and get on with the job. But a flash throws shadows which can hide some detail you might want to show, particularly under the chassis. In this case diffuse daylight or flashlight is the way to go.

The problem with the flash on the 7D is that the lens hood gets in the road and creates a black arc shadow on the subject. I realise these means spending money but if flash photography is necessary a Speedlight flash would be a better pick. I prefer to avoid flash photography at all costs though.