Traduction de Sylvain Halgand

It began to rot in its bag of fabric at the bottom of a cellar. The worms and moisture had already attacked leather and wood at the base of the camera, but curiously, I found quasi intact the handwritten instructions of this camera. Like, it can apply to the majority of the detectives, I retranscribes it below (by respecting the orthography used):
“Indications for the use of the camera.

To operate:

1° To mark the distance, by pushing the black stem placed below the lens on the desired figure. When it is to 10 m, the lens is at the point for all the distances higher than this number. it does not take more close that 2 meters. * See last page 2° To regulate the diaphragm, while turning the silver plated circle which surrounds the lens.
3° To mark speed while turning the button surrounded by numbers which is on the front of the camera in bottom, so that the point is on the desired figure. P=Time exposure.
4° To arm while turning the silver plated button placed on the front with the camera. There is a notch of stop when the button is vertical; to turn to the second notch = almost horizontal button, arrow inclined towards the “armed” word.
5° To take while pressing on the button which is with right side of the camera: only once for the snapshots; 2 times for the pauses. First time: slightly; the button of the winding must remain horizontal; second time, it must remain horizontal. Not to forget to emerge the lens before the operation.

To viewfind:

To look by the finder which is on the top of the camera, while leaning so as to have the eye near and well in the middle of the window. To take photography in the direction of the width of the plate, to pose the camera in the other direction and to look by the finder placed on the one side , but take care, because the mirror having moved does not indicate very exactly.

Time of pause:

With the sun: More or less fast snapshots according to the intensity of the light.
With the shade: Clear weather: Time exposure by counting one or 2 seconds between the aperture and the closing of the lens. It is the case for the portraits taken here in the gallery. Sinks weather : to increase the number of seconds.
Interiors: according to whether the apartment is more or less enlightened to vary 10 seconds with 1 or 2 minutes. Ex: chorus of the vault 2 minutes of pause with a rather small diaphragm.
The small diaphragm gives a greater clearness in the details; to employ for the snapshots and the interior with a very long pause. The large diaphragm gets busy by dark times, with average pause; the means for the portraits with day and ordinary pause.

To charge:

To enter impressionable plates the sheet plates and to place those in the camera, the small hooks of iron in bottom, in the groove of the small plank; the top of the plate is maintained by the hook of the shutter release. For plates 61/2 X 9, to also introduce into the sheet plate a sheet intermediary. For release impressed plates, to make turn right the key placed on the top of the camera, but the release is not done very well. Two plates fall at the same time, or one fall with half and makes miss the following operation. It is more advisable to go in a black place and to open the camera to make fall plates it.

Nota : The bottom of the camera not closing very well, it spends a light day which veils part of the plate. This is why it is needed…. black cap herewith which is enough to cure it.
It is wise to leave a sheet plate in the content of the camera to prevent that the first plate which one will make raye by friction.

* Since the disaster, this stem does not function any more but between 4 and 10 meters. One cannot thus take any more with this camera the photographs for indentity card, which having to have a rather large head, must be taken with 2 m or 2m50. To be useful itself then of the Kodak.