I wrote at the end of my post of the Purma Special, that I had some filters for the Plus and would probably get one at some point. Well, tadaaaaa…
As I now had the Special, the Plus and lots of filters, I decided to get the book too.
The book has all the information you might ever need on Purma cameras, including the manuals. It let me know the Plus came out after the Special, being manufactured between 1951-59. Just like the Special, the viewfinder is the smallest I have ever ‘seen’ in a camera.
Three versions of the Purma Plus were made, I have the later version with the red plate. You can read more about the versions on this website. That link also has details of the filters or lenses that were available for the Plus.
I have one box with a mount and a lens inside, the colour coding on the lens told me it was the green one. A small part on the edge of the lenses are painted in the following colours…
- No. 1 white 18″.
- No. 2 yellow 24″.
- No. 3 green 32″.
- No. 4 red 49″.
- No. 5 blue 66″.
- No. 6 black 120″.
These are all distace filters, the underlined ones are the ones I have. I don’t have any of the coloured filters for this version of the Purma.
My example has some etching on the front and back as reminders about the shooting settings. The lens mount states it is an f6.3 and 55mm.
Look at that tiny viewfinder, they had to draw an eye on it so you wouldn’t miss it.
I had an expired roll of 127 Efke 100 film and decided to load that. Though it can be processed as a reversal film, I chose not to explore that route.
Interestingly, the first place I took this camera to was the same place I took the special, Holmfirth. It just seems like the right place to use a camera from Purma. I finished the film in Castleton, which has the same vibe…and a castle.
Here are the results. As you can see, I did remember to use one of the close-up lenses on the photo of the wall…though not necessarily the right one.
On a typical roll of 127 film, you will get 16 shots, on a hand-cut roll this number will vary. The film isn’t the best one I have ever used and I won’t be buying any more. I prefer to cut down a roll of 120 HP5 as it is fresher and less inclined to scratching. As for the camera, this and the other Purma’s probably won’t ever fail due to their construction, so they will go in a box and await a day when I want to use an ‘interesting’ camera. Or if I ever get the other lenses or filters somehow.
I have a soft spot for these cameras, and seeing as the only Purma camera I don’t have is the Speed, I will keep looking for more. BUT, given the rarity and prices of that model, I doubt I will be getting one anytime soon.
Hi, I found your article when searching information about a little box I found during an elderly relative’s house clearance. The box is approx an inch & half square, Purma plus supplementary lens. It has No4 -49 on the box but inside there are 2 glass lenses one has yellow paint on the edge. They are no good to me but if you could use them I am happy to post if you cover the postage? Kind regards Joanne
Send me a message with the contact form. If I already have them, I can pass them to another purma user I know.
Hello,
I am certainly late in pinpointing the noticeably uneven exposure made by Purma cameras, a feature that came to my attention only recently, just by looking in other people photos in various web pages, particularly in sunny shots (presumably exposed at the camera’s “FAST” shutter speed): the problem is typically manifested as overexposure of the bottom picture part, gradually turning to an underexposed upper part.
I believe that this should seen as an unfortunate intrinsic design fault of this rather unique and strange curved focal plane shutter, attributed to the fact that on releasing the shutter ITS TWO METAL PLATES START AN ACCELERATED MOVEMENT AT THE SAME MOMENT, WHILE MAINTAINING A SLIT OF CONSTANT WIDTH BETWEEN THEM. So, the acceleration of the two metal plates across the film gate results in progressively lower exposure times for the currently exposed film strips behind.
Contrary to the same nature of accelerated movement of their spring-loaded curtains in typical focal-plane shutters, the above uneven exposure problem is not present, in either mechanical or electronic ones, because DUE TO THE VERY FACT THAT THE SECOND CURTAIN STARTS MOVING LATTER, THE SLIT BETWEEN THE TWO CURTAINS GRADUAL INCREASES DURING THE EXPOSURE TIME. So, the combined result of a) the accelerated movement of curtains, and b) the simultaneous gradual increasing of the curtains slit during their travelling, is that the sequential exposure of each film strip behind the curtains is here kept equal!
I am so sorry for not answering sooner, your comment went into the spam folder. I looked back at the purma special photos and there does seem to be uneven exposure on those. To be fair, I haven’t used the camera on bright days, but I can see a difference. So I think you are right. I will try the camera again on a bright day and test your theory.