Thornton Pickard Rubyette No. 2 – So now what?

So now what?

This is the question I ask myself, or perhaps should have asked myself when I rashly bought this wonderful example of an English plate camera. It’s a Thornton Pickard Rubyette No. 2 which was made in Altrincham, Cheshire, sometime in the 1930’s. It’s a reflex camera and was designed initially for plate photography. I have no intention of getting involved with plate photography despite being full of admiration for such things, and am quite content to stay with medium format and 35mm.

So why on earth did I buy this? Was it because it’s beautiful in an angular, lumpy, awkward kind of way? Or maybe because it came complete with a 120 or possibly 620 roll film back, and I thought it would be a wonderful way to experience what it’s like to shoot a large format camera whilst using 120 film. Maybe it’s because Altrincham is just down the road from where I live, and I envisaged photographing around the Broadheath area of that town where it was made. Then again, maybe it’s because I’m a romantic fool? Most probably it’s simply the case that I’m an idiot. In the words of the fictional policeman cum philosopher, Dirty Harry Callaghan: “A man’s gotta know his limitations.”

So this is where I stand now. (I think) I’ve worked out how to load the film, how to focus, and how to set the aperture, but the shutter is totally perplexing me. It’s what I believe is a falling shutter camera, but I’ve almost certainly got that wrong, and I confess to being baffled. Each time I cock the shutter lever, (which is reminds me of clockwork) the shutter speed indicator goes to whatever speed it thinks fit so to do, and not the speed I’d set it to. When I then release the shutter, there seems to be just one slow speed. I’ve tried Google and YouTube without success, and nobody I know has the faintest idea how it works.

So here I am, hanging my head in my shame before the world, and admitting that I’m out of my depth with this camera. Despondency has descended like a cloud blanketing my normally optimistic disposition. It would seem that this camera will have to be relegated to a display piece, or sold on which would be an admission of defeat. Not a position I care to be in.

But, I would so dearly love to learn how to use it. I’m not proud, so I am awaiting the combined knowledge of the 35mmc community to come to my aid and free me from my ignorance. Alternatively, you can simply mock me in the comments section.

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