When I wrote about a Brillant V6 I said, “You never know, I might get another Brillant”. Well, I did, I was given this one from a junk box. It looked pretty rough sitting on top of all that junk, but I was sure it would work as they are quite sturdy really.

But which Brillant is it? It is not the V6 as it didn’t have an accessory compartment. It isn’t the S as it doesn’t have a focusing wheel. So it must be one of the first Brillants as it does have a metal body. The only issue is, the 1/500th speed. None of the Brillants mentioned on this page with an f4.5 lens have that as a top speed. This one has a 1/500th Brillant listed at the bottom which was produced between 1933-38. I can’t zoom in on the photo, but it is the only one I have found with that speed. It must be that, one of the many variations of ‘Brillant’. Nice, an f4.5 and a top speed of 1/500th from the 1930s.

As rough as the camera looked, when I checked the speeds, they seemed fine. It was a little hard to cock the shutter at 1/500th but once I did, it fired with speed. It was so quick, I barely saw any movement. I was a little worried that the blades weren’t actually opening, but when I looked through the back of the lens and fire it, there was light. Having reread my orginial post I already knew the red window on this version was obviously in the wrong place. If I used it, I would only get 8 shots on a roll. There was a counter on the side which moved with the advance of the film, but there was no film stop. Hopefully that counter would be accurate and I could use that. The only issue with the counter was that it started at one, not zero. So as soon as you started advancing the film it moved and the reset button needed a fair bit of jiggling to get it to reset back to one.

Anyway, I loaded a roll of Rollei 100, which isn’t my favourite film for some reason, and walked around my local area. I did try some closer shots to try the focusing, but other than that I just shot away at some of my favourite places.

Yatta, the counter numbers matched the film even if the film paper numbers didn’t. It is pretty sharp considering its age. It was a very bright day and even at the top speed there was a little over exposure, especially on the pylon shot. I find Rollei quite grainy at the best of times and that shot blew the grain right out of the water/sky. At there is no light meter, it was totally my fault. I didn’t change the settings from the previous shot.

I swapped/sold/gave away my other Brillants, so I think I will keep this one for now…somewhere, when I find some space. It is already beaten up, so I don’t mind throwing it in a bag or taking it to the beach, shock horror!