arhphotographic

When I saw this camera, in a local charity shop, I knew nothing about it having never used one before. A quick search revealed that it was a 35mm film camera made around the mid 1960’s aimed at the enthusiast. It has no light meter and doesn’t require batteries to operate, nice. ☺️

What immediately peaked my interest was the fact that it had a pop out waist level viewfinder, something I rather enjoy.

A waist level viewfinder in remarkably good condition!

The film wind on mechanism has a very satisfying 90 degree throw. However when I pressed the shutter release, which I thought was located in the usual place, nothing happened. The only other button was on the front, on the left of the camera near the lens. This is actually the shutter release button. So a left handed camera with a waist level finder.😮 But before I got carried away and bought the camera there was a rather odd and potentially deal breaking thing about the camera. When I actuated the shutter the viewfinder went dark and I couldn’t see anything untill I once again wound the camera on, at which point I could see very clearly.

Never mind that the camera works and was in good condition, I thought, so I went and paid for the camera.

Then there is the rather unusal shape of the camera. Having said that it sits in my hands very comfortably.

In the above image you can see the release lever for the lens. The lens that is attached to the camera is a 50mm f2.9 Meritar.

Although the cheapest of the lenses to be fitted to the camera, I was intrigued by it. The collar, nearest the lens mount of the camera, when pulled towards the camera moves! Consulting the camera manual revealed the reason for this behaviour. You can preset the lens to an aperture marker of your choice. Then you open up the lens, f2.9, so that you get a bright viewfinder to look through to aid in focusing. Then without taking your eye away from the viewfinder you simply turn the aperture ring which will stop at your previously chosen stop. If I haven’t explained that very well then just view the video below by clicking on the image.

How cool is that!

The build quality of this camera is really good.

Everywhere you turn you are greeted by thoughtfulness and a eye for detail. The image below is of the film chamber lock located on the base of the camera. Rotating it so that the red dots align means it is unlocked.There is no door, the whole back is removed off the camera. Loading film is very straight forward.

Another curiosity about this camera are the shutter speeds. You’ll notice from the image above that they range from B to 1/175th🤔 Why stop there?

The answer may well lie in the construction of the shutter/mirror mechanism. In the image above you can see, as a result of the camera film advance, the mirror is in the correct position to see through the viewfinder. When the shutter release is actuated the mirror flips up out of the way, and the film ‘curtain’ moves to allow the film to be exposed. The mirror does not drop back into place and hence the reason why, when you look through the viewfinder,everthing is dark.

Again the video below shows it better in operation.

I loaded the camera with some Rollei Retro 400S and went in search of some subjects to capture.

I initially found the viewfinder, even with the magnifier, difficult to use and judge the correct focus. The image above and below bear testimony to that.

However with a little perseverance I thought I was getting better at achieving focus.

In addition it took a while to get used to a left hand shutter button. The more I used it though, the more I actually liked it.

It was definitely a slower more meditative photo making experience. For a number of shots I used f8 and 1/125th as I could, according to the distance scale on the lens, get everything from 10 feet to infinity in focus. Really shooting from the hip🧐

I can’t quite work out the lens. Sometimes things were really sharp and then apparently with the same distance and aperture not so.🤨 The likely reason was human error.

With the last image below I was gaining in experience so as to experiment. I stood with my back to the building and held the camera above my head and took the photo. Not bad methinks

I was genuinely saddened when I couldn’t wind on the film any more and had to go home. 😕 I can’t say that about all my cameras I’ve used. I will definitely be using this camera again. Yet another keeper.😀