Tim Murphy
Well-known
Dear Board,
I bought 2 of these years ago based on positive internet reviews of them being fun little 35mm cameras that worked well for the folks who reviewed them. I finally decided to take a look at them after many years.
One camera appears to be without issues but when loaded with film it fires one shot and then nothing. The winder does not move once wound to full tension after the first shot and neither does the shutter button do anything after the first shot. Pressing the rewind button and holding allows the film to be rewound but it just seems like it is dead to me.
The second one has the viewfinder labels out of phase. Set at 4 plus feet it reads group, at 8 plus feet it reads scene, and at 40 plus feet it reads close up. It does however load properly and wind and advance the film. I know that because I loaded the film I ran in the first camera and shot it twice to make sure it worked. I rewound it mid-roll twice and the rewind button properly relieved the tension on the winder spring. The old meter seems to be reasonably accurate when compared to a known good meter set to the same film speed.
My question is, what are the odds that the lens is somehow rotated on the mount on the second camera and the focus indications in the viewfinder are in fact correct? I suppose I could shoot a roll of film and develop it to confirm that, but I'd rather not trash another $ 10.00 roll of film on a camera that only cost me as much as a roll of film. 😉
Regards,
Tim Murphy
Harrisburg PA 🙂
I bought 2 of these years ago based on positive internet reviews of them being fun little 35mm cameras that worked well for the folks who reviewed them. I finally decided to take a look at them after many years.
One camera appears to be without issues but when loaded with film it fires one shot and then nothing. The winder does not move once wound to full tension after the first shot and neither does the shutter button do anything after the first shot. Pressing the rewind button and holding allows the film to be rewound but it just seems like it is dead to me.
The second one has the viewfinder labels out of phase. Set at 4 plus feet it reads group, at 8 plus feet it reads scene, and at 40 plus feet it reads close up. It does however load properly and wind and advance the film. I know that because I loaded the film I ran in the first camera and shot it twice to make sure it worked. I rewound it mid-roll twice and the rewind button properly relieved the tension on the winder spring. The old meter seems to be reasonably accurate when compared to a known good meter set to the same film speed.
My question is, what are the odds that the lens is somehow rotated on the mount on the second camera and the focus indications in the viewfinder are in fact correct? I suppose I could shoot a roll of film and develop it to confirm that, but I'd rather not trash another $ 10.00 roll of film on a camera that only cost me as much as a roll of film. 😉
Regards,
Tim Murphy
Harrisburg PA 🙂
