I was given this camera to try as it looked very cute and used 127 film. Not only is it a 127 film camera, but a half-frame 127 camera. The name may come from a Phoenician goddess of war and fertility.

It was produced around 1955 and is very simple. Much like Brownies, there is Bulb and Instantaneous settings, B or I. The instantaneous setting is around 1/50th, probably even less, but that is a guess as I can’t find any details on the net. There is no double exposure lock, you can fire away to your heart’s content. The back of the camera is secured by two sliding strap lugs, much like Holgas, but much more secure. The back of the camera has two red windows to aid film advancement. You wind the film until the number one is readable in the right red window then take a photo. Then you wind the film until the number one is readable in the left red window, repeating the process with all the numbers. The viewfinder is a very tiny 2 mm square on the back of the camera. It is a square hole despite the camera not taking square photos. The Tanit actually takes 3x4cm photos in a vertical format which is evident by the front side of the viewfinder.

The first film I tried in it was a roll of Efke 100, a proper 127 film, not a cut down one. I wanted the numbers to be in the right place for the red windows so I decided to use a film with the correct backing paper. Here are some of the results.

The results weren’t great. I wasn’t sure if it was the development or the film. On this website, you can see some more examples of the film. By looking at those photos, I think it was exhausted developer. So I decided to reroll some 35mm film into the efke backing paper so I could use the numbers again. I chose Agfa APX 400 as I had a few rolls of that and the weather has been quite dull recently.

Here are some of the results from that roll, a couple of shots overlapped due to my carelessness.

Much better, but still a little fuzzy. That is definitely the camera this time. I was surprised by the lack of an image in the sprocket area. I much prefer 35mm in the Yashica 44.

Though I do think it is a funky looking camera, I probably won’t be using it again. If I ever get a display case, it will make a nice exhibit.