This weekend I am leading a walk in Blackpool in conjunction with Ilford Photo and HiveArts. I was going to advertise it on this website, but the walk is already full so never mind. I will write more about it after the event. In preparation for it, I went to the gallery last week to demonstrate some film cameras.

Whilst there, one of the HiveArts team handed me two cameras and asked if I would have a look at them as he wasn’t sure they were working. One was badly damaged by battery acid, but this one seemed ok.

I was surprised to see some battery adapters inside, which was a good sign. Someone cared about the camera in the past.

There were some batteries inside the adapters, but I swapped those and cleaned the terminals. Next, I checked the seals, and everything seemed ok. So I decided to test it with film. I loaded my last roll of Bananachromatic as I was sure the camera worked.

I wandered around Wakefield, going to some locations I had pinned on Google Maps for a project. I have been given a book of old photographs of Wakefield so I thought I would find where they were taken and retake them. I will also write more about that when the project is finished.

The ECR seemed to work really well. The rangefinder was clear, but I tended to keep the camera on infinity anyway. I have tried an Olympus EC before, but this is the R version…R for rangefinder. I definitely preferred it over the EC- zone focusing version.

The camera doesn’t give you much information. There is a light on the top that activates on a half-press if the batteries are ok. There is no capacity for a manual override, so if the batteries are not working, then neither is the camera. You can see the light inside the viewfinder, but there is no other information about the camera’s choice of settings. So it is a fancy point-and-shoot with a rangefinder. Oh, there is a lock on the front so you can avoid draining the batteries or taking accidental bag shots.

But did this one actually work? Here are the results from the Bananachromatic developed in 510-Pyro.

The film has a lot of contrast, but other than that the photos came out ok. The look of the film actually matches quite well with the photos in the book I have.

I wrote this post quicker than usual as I have to give the camera back in a couple of days. The owner is very pleased to have this camera he got for a bargain price back and working…maybe I can get a cake from Hive in return??