This post has taken ages to complete. It wasn’t the actual writing, but getting the camera to produce an image. I wanted an image so I would have something to write about. I got the Maximar a year ago at a camera fair and it seemed to work fine. There were some film backs in the box so I thought I was all set. Then I tried to mount the backs on the camera; they didn’t fit.

When researching which back would actually fit this camera, I came across an issue…there was simply no information online at the time. I found this page which details other Maximars, but the 207/5 wasn’t mentioned at all.

I found a few sites selling the camera, without backs. This site was among them and said the camera was a 12×9 camera from around the 1930s. A few others mentioned it was a 6×9 camera which threw a spanner in the mix. In the end, I looked online for another example where I might be able to swap the backs. I ended up getting a Maximar 207/3 with a Rada 120 back which I thought would be very useful. It proved without a doubt the backs were not 6×9.

That is the 207/3 on top, it is way smaller than the 207/5 on the bottom. I know a few of you are thinking, why didn’t you just measure the focusing plate. Well, I did of course, but it was a bit ambiguous and didn’t give me a definite answer.

The next stage was to ask for help. So I took the camera to West Yorkshire Cameras. They brought out all their spare backs and let me try them on, a bit like Cinderella and the glass slipper. Unfortunately, try as we might…the 207/5 was unable to go to the ball at that point. What to do next? I was not giving up!

After a bit of thinking, I remembered a guy to whom I sold some spare parts to. He had a table at a fair I was selling at. Plan B Retro’s table was a treasure trove of parts. Maybe he would have something that would fit. I sent him a message and he said, come down and have a rummage through his warehouse. Before the date for the rummage, I found this site, though it doesn’t have much information, it does state the 207/5 is a quarter-plate camera. I sent this information to Aaron and he prepared some possibilities ready for when I arrived.

They looked good, they looked like they would fit. But…..THEY DIDN’T FIT!!!! they were off by mere millimetres. Aaron suggested a solution. Cameras of this design are usually made of wood. If I took the skin off, I might be able to reglue the body and gain back those millimetres. OK, I would try that.

It was made of metal!!!! Fine, If I can’t reglue it, I will squash it…squash it just a couple of millimetres. It won’t affect the lens or bellows, it should be fine.

YATTA!!! They fit!!! Just, but they just ‘fit-ish’, but at least I had something to work with now.

But what to put inside the backs? I didn’t want to buy sheet film and then have to cut it down, positive paper was also a bit expensive for a test. Each of the new backs had a piece of sheet film inside, maybe I could use those as masks for something else?

I measured a 120 negative and cut some of the sheets to make masks of the relevant size. As I was doing that, I was struck by a thought…that size reminds me of something..isn’t it the same size as an Instax mini?

It was! As I had 7 backs, I loaded 5 with cut-down 120 film pieces from an expired Kodak Tmax roll and 2 with unexposed Instax mini sheets. I had already tried using Instax Mini sheets in a Yashica 44, so I knew how to do that. At the Analogue Spotlight event, someone suggested using a rolling pin in a dark bag to develop the instax. That is an option if you don’t have an Instax Back for the Diana F+.

OK, the backs were loaded, now it was time to try and get an image…I took the set-up to the garden as I didn’t want to lug it anywhere if there was an issue.

Well, that was a disaster. I had figured that pulling the dark slide up might cause an issue and I had marked a line to stop pulling. But the line was for 120 film, not instax. On the first attempt, I pulled the dark slide too far and the instax sheet popped out inside the camera.

I tried again, after drawing a new line.

Not exactly framed right, but it is an image!!! Yatta!!

How was the Tmax? Well after figuring out how to put the small pieces of 120 film onto a developing spool and then how to dry the film, here are the results.

The negs got a bit manhandled, but again…images!!!

Now to load the backs again and go somewhere a bit more interesting, hello Sandal Castle. I did the same ratio of 5 film backs and 2 instax backs. This time, the film was fresh Fomapan 100 which I was a bit nervous about as I have found it does have a tendency to scratch easily. With all the manhandling this process involved, I was sure the results would have lots of marks on them. In the end, the main issue was with the negatives sliding inside the back. If I did it again I would have to think of a way to secure the strips more effectively.

Here are the results, after I post-processed them to straighten-ish the images.

Here are the instax results…result one didn’t work.

Well, I would love to try taking some portraits with this camera. I would also like to try some positive paper cut to the right size. Both of those projects will have to wait for brighter days and when I can look at the camera again without going AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!

Other relevant links:
https://www.mikeeckman.com/photovintage/vintagecameras/maximar/index.html