Start of a New Season

I imagine the image above may hurt some people's eyes. Still if you have read some of my past posts it does seem I have an occasional fondness for often ridiculed cameras. Last year I didn't see many such cameras. For a long time I could count on the cheap plastics being present at garage sales and thrift shops. However last year it looked like people must have finally cleaned all these cameras from their drawers and closets.


So at the start of a new season I was surprised to see a whole bin of these cameras at a thrift store that I visited on Saturday. I decided just to take the ones which were not grey or black. The five cameras above are the result. The Pink Eyelash camera says it has a 28mm lens. Other than that they are fairly ordinary.  I don't remember ever seeing anyone use one of this type of camera back in the years when they were prominent. From what I understand many of this type of camera were used as promotional items and often ended up tossed in a drawer. I actually have another of the Lexxus camera. The pictures it takes are not bad. They are consistently fairly sharp in the center and soft on the corners.

I don't feel in a big hurry to take pictures with these new finds. Although in the past I have found that a few of this type of camera, will take surprisingly nice images. And even some take bad images that are nonetheless interesting. Anyway at least they are some nice colors for the Easter season.

Kodak Retina Reflex III

I bought this camera last summer for 50 cents at a garage sale. Back during the early 1960's the Retina Reflex III sold for the equivalent of $2000 in today's dollars. Today that same price would get you an entry level full frame DSLR from Canon or Nikon.  I imagine that you would either have to be a fairly serious photographer or have a lot of spare change to have bought a Retina Reflex III when it was new.

The Retina Reflex III is certainly a nice camera to look at even after all these years. When the shutter is pressed it is one of the most quiet, vibration free SLRs that I have used. Part of that is because the mirror doesn't return automatically.  Like many other SLRs from this period the mirror doesn't return until the film is advanced. Overall the Retina Reflex is a fine specimen of a high quality German made camera. That being said I don't think I will ever take pictures with this camera. The main reason for that is the very limited options for exposure.

The Retina Reflex III uses one of the selenium meters that were popular in the early 1960's. You made your exposure by turning a ring on the lens until a needle in the viewfinder was centered. Probably in 1961 this was quite a feature. Unfortunately in my Reflex III the meter is dead. Still there is the option of selecting your own shutter/aperture combination.  When you move the ring you can make various selections of shutter/aperture pairings. Each shutter speed is paired with one aperture.  Like if you want to use f/8 the shutter speed is 1/30.  Now the bad part is 1/30 is the only shutter speed you can use with f/8.  There appears to be no way to decouple the shutter/aperture combinations. And that is a killer for me as far as this camera is concerned. I could probably figure out a way to make this set-up work, however it is more figuring than I want to do to get pictures from this camera.

I kinda wonder if this lack of flexibility didn't help to kill off the Retina Reflex line.  Probably there were other factors, however like today I think that a photographer laying out some serious cash for a camera would want at the least the ability to make his own shutter/aperture selections.

So for me the Retina Reflex III falls in the category of interesting and nice to look at, but not for taking pictures.  Which isn't bad for 50 cents.

If you want more details about the Kodak Retina Reflex here is the entry from Kodak Classics.

Canon EOS Rebel GII

• Autofocus: TTL with 3 selectable focusing points
• Focus modes: One-Shot AF, AI Servo AF, Manual Focus
• Light meter: TTL Evaluative, Centerweighted average, Partial Metering (approx. 9%)
• Exposure: Intelligent program AE, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Depth-of-Field priority, Full auto, Picture modes, Manual, Auto exposure bracketing, and Exposure compensation
• Built-in flash, 1/90th sec. sync 
• Shutter speed 30 seconds to 1/2000

2014 was different for me as far as the cameras I saw at garage sales, thrift shops etc.  The main difference was that I saw very few of the cheap plastic point & shoots that were so common in years past. Not sure what happened to them. The cameras I did find were mostly decent cameras for good prices. The find that surprised me the most was a nice Kodak Retina Reflex III which I got for 50 cents. 

I found this Canon Rebel GII last summer at a church sale for $4.  There also was a Speedlite flash included. Introduced in 2003 the GII was one of the last film cameras that Canon made. Pretty much if you have used Canon digital SLRs you will be at home with the GII.  My biggest impression of the GII is that it is the lightest SLR that I have ever used.  It would be easy to carry this camera around all day.  Still as can be seen in the list above the GII is a very capable camera. 

The GII came with an EF 35-80mm kit lens.  Now I don't have the blanket dislike for kit lenses that some seem to have.  However this kit lens does seem a little soft although the contrast seems pretty good. It certainly is a usable lens and it appears that the softness isn't so great that it can't be fixed somewhat by a sharpening filter.  Still when using the GII you might be happier with a different lens.

The GII runs on two photo lithium batteries. I'm adverse to paying more to put batteries in a camera than I paid for the camera. So I was happy to find that I can get photo lithium batteries at the local Dollar Tree store for $1 each. So far these batteries have held up about as well as the more expensive ones.

It is a funny thing that even though the Rebel GII is a very good camera I doubt that I will use it much. I think my irrational knock on it is that it is too much like my digital camera experience.  Now I have nothing against digital photography, however when I am using film I want it to feel like a different process. To me film feels like it should be used with a camera that can live without a battery.

So I get one more post in before the new year.  Thanks to all who have read my efforts this year.  I wish each of you the best in the coming year.  I leave you with a few images made last summer with the GII.

Praktica

The Praktica was a very early SLR first introduced in 1949.  The best I can tell the one here was probably made around 1951.  I imagine that at the time it was introduced that being able to see the same view as the lens was still sort of a wonder.  Although the view through the Praktica's waist-level finder for me leaves a lot to be desired. The only way I could hope to focus was by using the built-in magnifier.  It wasn't a quick process to compose and focus an image with the Praktica.  I imagine that with practice it would get better, however looking down at such a small image in the viewfinder would take some getting used to.

Another thing that might be unfamiliar to someone who has only used more modern SLRs is that the Praktica does not have auto mirror return.  After taking a picture the viewfinder goes dark until the film is wound. That could be a problem in trying to follow continuous action. The shutter requires that you make a choice of using either the fast speeds or the slow speeds.  Unlike on more modern cameras there isn't a continuous progression from slow to fast. I would also guess that like with most older cameras that you need to make sure that the shutter is cocked before changing shutter speeds.

I would like to be able to say that my experience with using the Praktica was a pleasure.  And at least I might have been able to say that if the camera hadn't torn my film toward the end of the roll.  It did this so smoothly that I didn't suspect that it had happened and only found out when I opened the back of the camera and saw my film exposed to the light.  Unfortunately, I had violated one of my usual practices of only opening these old cameras in a dark bag.  Anyway I do not have pictures to show from my time spent with the Praktica.  And my level of enjoyment of the camera wasn't such as to make me want to quickly repeat the experience.  

I am glad that I have this early Praktica.  It is certainly interesting to look at. And the Praktica does have a place in history as the first camera to use the M42 mount.  When it comes to lenses my Praktica came with a very good one, the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Primoplan 58mm f/1.9.  So far I have only used this lens on digital which I wrote about a while back.  I thought the results were excellent and I remember at the time I said I was looking forward to trying the lens out with film using the Praktica.  I still am looking forward to using the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Primoplan 58mm f/1.9 with film, however I think that when I do it will be with a different M42 camera than the Praktica.

Yashica FX-2

Thought this camera might be a good place to restart this blog.  I was at the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County Indiana last week and bought this Yashica FX-2 for $9.  I happily would have paid that much just for the Yashica ML 50 1:1.7 lens.  Last fall I bought a Yashica FX-3 Super from the same dealer.  I liked the camera, however it came with a rather large lens, and for a while I looked for a standard lens to replace it.  By the time I saw this camera and lens I had forgotten about that search.  So I was glad to see the lens I wanted along with another Yashica camera to add to my collection.

The Yashica FX-2 was first made in 1976.  It is the second in a line of cameras that came about as the result of a partnership between Yashica and Zeiss.   As a result the FX-2 uses the Y/C bayonet mount.  This means that it can use both many excellent Yashica lenses along with the highly regarded Contax Y/C lenses. The Yashica ML 50mm 1:1.7 is highly regarded by some and seen as ordinary by others.  So far I have no actual experience with the lens, however based on previous experience with Yashica lenses I would expect it to be pretty good.  I have heard that the mixed experience that many have with some of these economy lenses of good design may have to do with quality control.  Having a lens checked out thoroughly is expensive so probably more clunkers get out the door in the economy lines then with the more thoroughly checked upscale lines.

As far as the FX-2 goes it is a typical of the all-mechanical cameras of its time.  The shutter speeds go from 1 to 1/1000 along with B.  There is a button for a depth of field preview.  Other than for the meter no battery is needed.  Unfortunately, the battery that is needed is one of the no longer made mercury batteries.  So when I use this camera it will likely be with a hand-held meter.  Still the first use this purchase will get will be when I put the lens on the FX-3 Super.  That camera uses modern batteries, and when I used it last I remember that the meter worked very well. 

I does seem like my purchases and use of film cameras has fallen off in the past few months.  I think that may be partly as a result of having reached the point where I have more cameras than I can find a place or use for.  At least right now all my camera drawers are full and many cameras are taking up space in places that I'd rather use for other things.  So that definitely has put a slow-down on my desire to add to the pile.  The FX-2 was too much of a good deal to pass up.  And with my liking for all things Yashica it will probably still be around when I thin the herd.

Two Camera Books

 Canon EOS 650 Promaster 28-80mm F/3.5 on Fuji 400

I recently saw Camera: The History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital on sale at Barnes & Noble so I bought it.  It has been out since 2009 so I imagine a lot of you have it or have looked at it.  The book is not an in depth history of photography, however I thought it was an interesting quick read.  The main appeal it had for me is the many photos of descriptions of cameras in the Eastman Collection. And for me the pictures were worth the price of the book.

Camera: The History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital also shows the important part Kodak played in the development of digital photography. I know that a lot of people have faulted Kodak for its seeming failure to take advantage of the digital technology that they developed.  Myself I can't say what Kodak might have done differently, however I can see why many wonder why they didn't avoid sinking to the low point they are at now.

A second book Glass, Brass, & Chrome by Kalton C. Larue and Joseph A. Baily is one of my all-time favorites. Subtitled The American 35 Miniature Camera Glass, Brass, & Chrome was published in 1972. Glass, Brass, & Chrome gives some in depth information about the 35mm cameras that were made in the US from the 1930's until the 1960's. Both of the authors used many of the cameras that they are talking about.  I think that this book may be one of the best ways to get a feel for the glory days of the US camera industry.  It has been out of print for a long time, however it is not hard to find a used copy. 

Both books make some predictions about the future.  Glass, Brass, & Chrome was finished at the time that Kodak's 126 Instamatic film was dominate.The authors seem to expect this dominance to continue with Instamatic film maybe replacing 35mm.  I wonder if Larue and Baily would be surprised that over 40 years later that 35mm is one of the surviving formats while 126 has been out of production for over a decade.  The author of Camera: The History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital appears to have no love for film.  To him digital is much superior.  His prediction is that the next advance will be a camera and media that can capture the kind of image that our eyes can see.  How that will work out I have no idea. 

Canon FTb

I remember in the 1970's when I was first looking to buy an SLR that the Canon F1 was the professional camera while the FTb was for the amateur or for use as a backup camera. Without a doubt a lot of Canon F1s were sold to professionals, and I imagine that a large number were sold to people like myself who had no real aspiration to become a professional. I do think that I fell somewhat for the allure of thinking that top of the line equipment would make me a better photographer.  I have never regretted buying the F1, however there is little that I have done with the F1 over the years that I couldn't have done with the FTb. 

A lot of the difference in expense with the two cameras has to do with the use of more durable materials for the F1.  For example, the F1 has a titanium shutter whereas the FTb has a rubberized silk shutter. Overall the F1 was made to stand up to heavy use and hazardous conditions and that costs more.  Most of us are never going to subject a camera to the kind of use that the F1 was built to endure. And the FTb has nothing to be ashamed of concerning toughness.  I think it says a lot about the quality of Canon products of that era that the FTb was considered an economy camera.  If you can get your hands on an FTb I think you will be impressed with its quality look and feel.  And by all accounts it is a remarkably durable camera.  I have read countless reports of people using the FTb for decades with no complaints.

Anyway my point in comparing the F1 and the FTb is that many times we pay for professional equipment when the lower priced models may serve our needs just as well.  I think that may be more true in the digital age where I don't think that current cameras will have anything like the lifespan of an F1 or FTb. At least if you payed for more camera than you needed in the 1970's you could still count on it for decades of use.  I don't think that will happen with today's digital cameras. 

Now the FTb also lacked a lot of the features and options of the F1.  Still it has everything that I would need most of the time. And it does have useful features like mirror lock-up and a nice depth of field preview that many cameras in its class lack. I haven't checked out how well its exposure meter works since I find it easier to use a hand-held meter than to mess with battery issues.

I have only recently gotten first-hand experience with the FTb.  I just happened to come across a nice looking FTb body for a good price on Ebay.  I actually didn't expect to be so impressed with this camera.  My thinking mostly was that I should at least have one of what as become one of the iconic Canons.

Canon FTb Gallery

Here are some of the details for the FTb.
At Wikepedia
Canon Camera Museum

Blue Deluxe 35mm Compact Camera

I suppose that I have a belief that every camera should have its day in the sun.  I would guess that the Blue Deluxe 35mm Compact Camera hasn't had many of them.  I picked this camera up at a garage sale last summer.  Its design did stand out from the other cheap plastic cameras, which seem to be trying to imitate whatever more upscale point and shoots are out at the time of their conception. I don't have any idea what the inspiration for the design of the Blue Deluxe was.  I think its appearance is fairly unique.  As far as capabilities go it is the same as other cameras of its type.  One shutter speed, probably 1/125, and one aperture which looks like f/8. The lens is very soft, lacking even much sharpness at the center. 

In honor of recently deceased film critic, Roger Ebert, the Blue Deluxe took a picture of the Cinema Theater in Urbana IL.  The Cinema was named the Princess until 1967, and was the place where Ebert often saw movies while growing up in Urbana in the 1950's.

There really isn't much more I can say about the Blue Deluxe.  It was kind of a fun camera to use and I like the pictures it makes.  I imagine that for as long as it continues to work I will run a roll or two of film through it every year.  I did make a Blue Deluxe Gallary.

Smena 8M

I was surprised when I noticed that I hadn't posted about the Smena 8M before.  I have had it for at least a couple of years although I haven't used it much. I got partly because I like Russian cameras and because I liked its red face plate.

When I opened the camera there was a finished roll of film in it. I developed the film and almost every image turned out well. The images are of a couple with a new baby.  From some feed back I have received when posting the images to other sites the images may have been taken in the Urkaine the 1990's.  So far these are the best found film images that I have developed.  I made a post about the images and a gallery here.

The Smena 8M seems to have been aimed at those who needed a cheap camera but who also wanted to learn something about photography. It was made in the USSR from the early 1970's till the mid-1980's. The Smena allows for learning by giving a choice in shutter speed from 1/15 to 1/250, and apertures from f/4 to f/16.  Nothing about the Smena is automatic.  You even have to manually cock the shutter. Focusing is by guessing the distance.  Most of the camera is made of plastic, however some parts like the lens an face plate are aluminum.  This makes the Smena 8M a very light camera.  Sometimes this lightness can be a problem since the shutter button takes a fairly hard push.  That combined with the lightness of the camera can make camera shake a problem.  Some people also have a problem keeping their finger out of the cocking lever when pushing the shutter.  Although that wasn't a problem for me.

So the Smena isn't the smoothest handling camera.  Where it redeems itself is with a good 40mm triplet f/4 coated lens. Its the kind of camera where if you know what you are doing you can get surprisingly good results. It is also the kind of camera that would reward a newcomer to photography who made the effort to learn.  Even some of the lack of smoothness in the camera's operation can be seen as positive if looked at as something that forces the shooter to slow down and think about what he is doing.

Smena 8M Gallery

Agfa Silette

When I was going through film images from the past year I noticed that I hadn't made a post for the Agfa Silette. I must have been planning to do so since I made a Silette gallery a while ago.  First made in 1953, the Agfa Silette is a fairly simple scale focusing camera using 35mm film.  The one I have seems to be the most common of the first version of the Silette.  It has a 1/25 - 1/200 plus B Pronto shutter and a 45mm f/3.5 3 element Agfa Apotar lens.  One notable feature of the Silette is that it has a film advance lever. That actually was a fairly advanced feature for a camera for this era. And to add to that the film advance also cocked the shutter! The Silette is a scale focusing camera.  Which means you have to guess the distance and then select it with the scale focusing ring.  The lens focuses to three feet.  Scale focusing may be a little intimidating if you haven't used it before, however with some practice and a study of the depth of field charts for the camera, it is easy to get good results.

The Agfa Silette appears to have originally sold for around $40 which would be a little over $300 today.  Just judging by the numbers of this camera that are still around Agfa must have sold a lot of them.  Ansco also sold the same camera in the US as the Ansco Memar. It is not hard to see why the Silette was so popular.  It is a well-designed easy to use camera capable of giving very good results.  For the money I think it could be argued that it was one of the best cameras around during its time. 

Agfa Silette Gallery

Kalimar Precision Zoom

Kalimar got its start in the 1950's importing Aires 35 cameras from Japan for sale in the US. Eventually Kalimar would be a distributor for cameras and accessories from most of the camera making world, until it was bought out by Tiffen in 1999.  At some point Kalimar put its name on the Kalimar Precision Zoom.  The Kalimar Precision Zoom is unusual in that it is the only cheap plastic camera that I have seen with a zoom lens.  I would guess it was made in the 1990's since that is when a zoom lens became the standard lens for many cameras. Other than its zoom lens the Kalimar Precision Zoom is a standard toy camera.  It has one shutter speed and one aperture.  It doesn't need a battery unless you want to use the flash.  The Precision Zoom does seem to be more solidly built than most toy cameras.  It also fits nicely into my hands.  Below are a few sample images so you can judge the value of the camera as a picture taker for yourself. All were taken with HP5 developed in Xtol.

Prices for 35mm cameras under $100 in 1957

I found the list below in the March 1957 edition of Popular Photography. It is the most complete list in one place of prices for 35mm cameras from the 1950's that I have seen. According to the Inflation Calculator you can multiply the 1957 price by 8 to get an idea of what the camera would cost in 2012 dollars.

Balda Baldessa 1b

Produced: 1959
Lens: Baldanar 45mm f/2.8, probably 3 elements.
Shutter: Prontor-Svs, 1 to 1/300 and B.
Focus: Coupled Rangefinder
Exposure: Uncoupled selenium meter.
Film type: 35mm









The Baldessa 1b was the last in the Baldessa series.  Its key new feature was a uncoupled selenium exposure meter. I think this camera earns its place in most collections for its looks and design.  It is not reported to be anything special as far as image making goes.  Although I would not know from personal experience since this is another of my none functioning cameras.  The problem is that the film advance will not advance the film.  Everything else including the selenium meter seems to work.  I wouldn't mind being able to run some film though it sometime since it looks like it could be an enjoyable camera to use.  However the possibility of shooting with the Baldessa 1b hasn't so far been enough to motivate me into finding out about fixing it.  Still I do think that it very well qualifies as a camera to have around just for its looks.

Since I don't care to repeat what others have already written, here are some links about the Baldessa series.

Balda Baldessa 1b at Dominic's Classic Cameras

Baldessa 1 Fun, Despite Its Performance at Shutterbug

Honeywell Pentax H1a

Introduced: 1961 or 1962
Shutter speeds: T, B, 1 - 1/500
Lens: Super Takumar 55mm f/2.0
Metering: Optional clip-on exposure meter.














I got this camera at an estate sale Friday. It is the rare camera where I was able to find some info about its previous owner.  I saw the name M. S. Helm on an airline sticker which was on the case where this camera was stored.  I goggled the name and found a past professor in electrical engineering at the local university.  He died in 2003 at the age of 92.  He had two children, both of whom appear to have had no children.  His son died in 2007 and his daughter had died recently.  So I would guess that this sale was to settle up her estate and that she likely had a lot of her father processions.

The reported interests of  Professor Helm were reflected in the sale.  It was said that he loved trains and there was a train set and much railroad memorabilia. The Honeywell Pentax H1a also is the kind of intelligent choice in a camera that I would expect Professor Helm to make.  The Pentax H1a is a great combination of economy and quality.

Honeywell was the US distributor for Asahi until the late 1970's.  Outside of the US the H1a was the Asahi Pentax S1a.  The Pentax S1a was an economy model and the last in the S series that preceded the more famous Spotmatic series. The H1a had a top shutter speed of 1/500 instead of 1/1000 and it the came with the f/2 55mm Super Takumar instead of the f/1.8.  The strange thing is that the H1a still has an unmarked setting past 1/500.  Some say it is a 1/1000 setting.  Also the Super Takumar 55mm f/2 appears to be the same lens as the f/1.8, just lacking the wider f stop. If you are interested you can do a search and read more about the debate on this camera and lens, however it appears to me that for less money a buyer of a Pentax H1a was still getting top of the line quality.  Just the kind of camera that an astute buyer might seek out in those days.

The attachment over the camera prism is a optional clip-on light meter that Asahi sold in the days before it introduced TTL metering.  I don't now if this one works since it uses a no longer made mercury battery.  Curiosity may lead me to eventually test it with some substitute, however not yet.

Professor Helm's H1a is the cleanest camera of its age that I have ever come across.  Other than a few light marks on the bottom where the camera likely had sat on a tripod the camera seems like new.  The viewfinder and lens is very clean.  Obviously this camera was well cared for.  All the camera functions seem to work like they should.  Although I will find out more when I run some film through it.  Still I would be surprised if there are any problems with it.  

I already have a Super Takumar f/2 and have found it to be a excellent lens.  Probably the biggest bargain in all the Super Takumars.  I would guess I will get the same fine results from it that I have gotten from the one I already have.  So I am grateful to Professor Helm that he took good care of his camera.  Hopefully it will remain in use for a long time.

Photos from Miranda Fv

This corn crib, built in the early 1960's, was probably one of the last to be built in this area. It was used to store whole ears of corn. Shortly after it was built farmers began to shell corn in the field and store it in grain bins like the one to the left of the corn crib.






I now have some results from the Miranda Fv that I wrote about on Tuesday. I developed the Kentmere 400 that I took with the Miranda Fv in Xtol 1+1 for 9.5 minutes.  The results were a little more grainy than prior results with this combination.  I also found that the shutter occasionally sticks with this camera and the mirror doesn't always return.  These failures knocked out a few shots.  Looks like I will need to do a little work on this camera.  Still it doesn't seem like anything major is wrong with it.

Overall I thought the results with the Auto Miranda f/1.9 lens were okay.  I was in a hurry to finish this roll so many of the images were shot in poor light and at shutter speeds too low to prevent camera shake.  After being used to having image stabilization it sometimes is easy to forget how difficult it can be to achieve a steady shot handheld at slower shutter speeds.  The image of the mail box is one of the few slow shutter speed images that came out okay.

 Here is one with the lens wide open.























Aside from what seem to be fairly easily correctable problems, I am satisfied with the results from the Miranda Fv.  I can't say that I was so impressed that it is likely to become one of my regularly used film cameras, however it certainly is a very usable camera, capable of decent results.  Although maybe once I get it back to a fully functioning condition it may rise in my esteem.  One thing I especially like about this camera is having the shutter release on the front.  At least on this camera it seems like a natural fit. 

Mostly it looks like the main value that the Miranda Fv has to me now is its looks.  For me at least it is a camera that doesn't have to work well for me to take pleasure in it.

Minolta Hi-matic 7SII

So far the Minolta Hi-matic 7SII has been my best find in an antique shop.  I got it for $10 last fall.  The camera is in excellent condition and came with a case and flash in the same condition.  I didn't know much about this camera when I saw it, however its condition and obvious quality told me it was worth the $10.  A funny thing is that in the same group of cameras there was a fairly common SLR that looked like it had had its hot shoe pulled off with a pair of pliers. The asking price for that camera was $25.  All I can figure is that the dealer was pricing the cameras by size. 


The Minolta Hi-matic 7SII is a compact and light-weight rangefinder with a sharp 40mm f/1.7 Rokkor lens.  It has a very quiet mechanical copal shutter with speeds from 1/8 to 1/500 and B. The rangefinder on mine is bright and easy to see.  I started out in photography at the time when SLRs were taking over from rangefinders.  I had never actually used a rangefinder until a year or so ago.  Back in the old days my eyesight was much sharper than today and focusing an SLR was easy.  Now with my decreased eyesight I often find the rangefinder easier to focus.  


The Minolta Hi-matic 7SII uses a CdS cell that was originally powered by a 1.35v mercury battery.  Since these batteries are now banned you will have to work out a substitute like one of the Wein Cells. Without the battery the camera will still work fine in manual mode.  With the battery you have the option of using shutter priority auto-exposure.  So far I have been using the camera in manual mode and a hand-held meter, however I just got a battery and plan to test out the auto-exposure soon.  I imagine that in auto-exposure mode that this light weight quiet camera will be very good for things like street photography.  


I have been well-satisfied with the results I have had with this camera and it is definitely a keeper.  In fact it is a camera that I think I would enjoy even if it didn't work just because I like the way it looks.  The B&W photos in the gallery below are Legacy Pro 100.  Fuji 800 is the color film. 
Minolta Hi-matic 7SII Gallery

Camera Older than Me and Newer Camera

I am getting to an age where I see items that once were a familiar part of my daily life selling in antique shops.  So it is nice to find there are still some collectable things older than me. The camera older than me is an Agfa Sillette. The Sillette was made starting in 1955.  It is a range focusing camera with shutter speeds from 1/25 to 1/200. It also has a B setting. The lens on mine is an Apotar 1:3,5, 45mm. Other versions have an Agnar lens.  These sold for around $40 back in the 1950's.  And considering how many I see on places like Ebay they must have sold a lot of them.  I haven't gotten around to taking a photo of mine yet, however you can see what one looks like here.

The Sillette is a solidly made camera that fits well in my hands.  It also appears to be a good picture taker.  I think the shortcomings in some of the images in the gallery below are more from the photographer than the camera.  I think that if I were to work with this camera more it could produce some excellent images. That being so, here is what I done so far.
Agfa Sillette Gallery

The newer camera is a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7.  It came out in 2010. Since newer versions have come out I got this one for a much reduced price.  What I wanted it for was for a digital camera that was easy to carry around and also could take quality images. So far I have been very satisfied with it.

I took Simon for his shots yesterday. I do think the 25mm lens makes the vet assistant look a little heavier than she is.











One of my favorite features of this camera is iSweep Panorama.  Here you can make a panorama in one go just by picking a starting point and moving the camera across the area you'd like in the panorama.  The images are stitched together in the camera.

Agfa Isomat Rapid

Agfa introduced Rapid film in 1964. It was supposed to be easier to load than regular 35mm film. Unfortunately for Agfa, Kodak 126 film propelled by the poplar Instamatic Cameras eclipsed the Rapid Film System. By the end of the 60′s even Agfa was selling 126 cameras. With the Rapid System you need two cassettes. One with film and one to take up the film. You place both cassettes in the camera and slide the film leader into the empty cassette and close the camera. When you are finished you remove the take-up cassette for processing. There is no rewinding. With this system the film also is protected if you should open the back of the camera before the roll is finished. The Cassettes also have a metal plate that sets the film speed for cameras that are capable of reading it. The Rapid cassettes use standard 35mm film and it is easy to reload an empty cassette. For me Rapid film is far and away the easiest of the obsolete film systems to work with.

I bought the Agfa Isomat Rapid for a few dollars on Ebay because it had a couple of Rapid Film Cassettes that I needed for Yashica half frame. It is a funny thing that on Ebay often a camera with a Rapid cassette will sell for less than people are selling the casssettes for by themselves. When I got it it appeared that the shutter would not fire which didn’t bother me since I hadn’t bought the camera to use. Lately I have been interested in using the square format. When looking to see if there were any 35mm cameras that did the square format I saw the Isomat Rapid mentioned. I thought it was too bad that the one I had appeared not to work. However in reading further I found that this camera has to be loaded with film and have the back closed for the shutter to work. And when I loaded the film and closed the back the Agfa Isomat Rapid did work.

The Agfa Isomat Rapid came out in 1965. It has a 38 mm 3-element Color-Agnar f:4.5 lens. The lens is zone focus either by symbols at the top of the lens or by a length scale at the bottom. It has two exposure modes, automatic and flash. The mode is set by a lever upper-right of the lens. For automatic exposure set the lever to “A” and the camera will automatically select an aperture setting. At automatic the shutter is fixed at 1/70. In automatic mode when you press the shutter halfway you will see a green light in the viewfinder if the exposure is okay. If not okay there will be a red light. The exposure system is powered by a selenium cell so no batteries are needed. Surprisingly the cell in my camera still works. For the flash mode you use the lever to set an aperature that will work with your flash. The shutter speed in the flash mode is 1/30.

So far I have just ran a couple of rolls of Legacy Pro 100 b&w film throught the Isomat. I took two feet of bulk film and pushed it into the Rapid cassette. This yields 16 square images. I have only used the automatic mode and found it gave good results. I haven’t been too particular about the focusing going mostly by the symbols. I do think that with some care this lens could give reasonably sharp results. So far I have been pleased with the ease of use of the Isomat and the images it gives. I imagine it will be a camera that will get regular use. If you would like some square images in 35 mm along with a kinda interesting camera then the Agfa Isomat Rapid can often be found for less than $10 on Ebay. You will probably need to ask the dealer about the cassettes since they usually don’t mention them.

Agfa Rapid Cassettes








Agfa Isomat Rapid Gallery