This was another camera given to me by a friend to ‘clean-up’. He also gave me the Brownie I just posted about. He said the seals had rotted or sort of melted. Indeed they had and were smeared all over the rest of the camera.

The main issue was the seals around the focusing screen. They had totally disintegrated and to replace them was very tricky. I read it meant taking the top cover off to gain access, plus they didn’t actually effect the light tightness of the camera. So I cleaned off anything flaking just to avoid any further mess, but it looked like someone had tried before me. The focusing screen was in quite a state. Against a bright light it was hard to see through, but with regular light it wasn’t so bad and could still be used effectively.

In those photos, you can see the + and – for the simple light meter. That seemed to work as it should with the LR44 batteries inserted. I continued replacing the seals around the door hinge and back door.

I replaced the hinge ones with foam and the door with wool. It made the door a bit stiff to open, but I hoped that would become easier with use. The last one was the mirror dampener which was also foam. At least the lens was in fairly clean. The rubber around the lens had fallen off, I replaced that with foam too, just to make it more pleasant to hold and to give a better grip.

Then I loaded some expired Kodak RAR to test whether it was light tight. I took a few shots and developed the film in caffenol with the RAR from the brownie.

Here are a few of the results.

They are incredibly grainy, but I could tell they were light tight and the focusing seals didn’t affect the results.

That meant moving on to using a better film, this time a half roll of Exeter Pan 100. I took the set up to the War Horse at Mill Pond Meadow in Featherstone.

This camera from 1982 has speeds up to 1/700th, a self timer, an uncoupled TTL meter which I have mentioned, and a shutter lock. That’s it really. The camera works mechanically so if the meter doesn’t work it won’t be an issue. The main issue if you are buying one are the seals and smearing.

Here are the results from the second test. I didn’t have any trouble focusing through the damaged screen.

What a lovely set of photos. The War Horse is a marvelous sculpture in a rather odd place. You can park in the adjoining rugby grounds and walk to it, but it does seem to be in the middle of nowhere. It is so lovely it needs a more dramatic setting, hopefully the grounds will grow around it.

As for the camera, it is a lovely, a sturdy SLR from the 80s. They are fairly cheap and seal kits can be found online cheaply. I will be giving this one back to the owner, along with the Brownie. I won’t miss either of them, but I was very happy to try them.