Junk and Cheap Camera Month: Will it or won’t it work for me?

I got this camera along with 3 others, for 99p. I have already added one of them to this month’s collection of posts. Out of the four, this was the only one that didn’t work. Well, that blows the outcome of “will it or won’t it work for me?”

But look at it…

It is a classic 1960s design which isn’t surprising as this camera was produced around 1965. It felt solid and surprisingly heavy for such a small camera. This example looked to be in great condition despite its non-working condition.

From the photos you can see the ‘rapid’ in its name comes from the cartridges it used. Luckily I had another rapid camera so I had a couple of empty cartridges to test the camera. Unfortunately, the shutter was completely stuck. I didn’t think I would get the chance to try it. Unlike the last camera I posted, the shutter blades on this one were already exposed. The design of the camera meant you could access them from the back through the film plane.

Not one to give up, and with this being such a pretty camera, I took out some needle point tweezers and tried to pry the blades apart. They were really stuck. I started to worry that I would damage them in the process. Finally, I managed to pick up an edge, just one. I then poured on some isopropanol, set the shutter to B and pressed the button. Nothing. I waited for the liquid to evaporate and tried again, this time with naphtha. Still nothing. I repeated the process a few more times and finally, slowly, the shutter blades opened but stayed open. I flooded the area with isopro and they slowly closed again. I used a cotton bud to wipe the blades. The blades were now opening and closing slowly. I repeated the process with naptha, including the wiping with cotton buds. I did this over and over at various points for 2 days, alternating the liquids. Finally, I left the needle point tweezers between the blades. This forced them to stay open and I left the camera for 24 hours. Hopefully, allowing the liquids to fully evaporate.

When I returned to the camera, released the blades, and pressed the button the blades worked as they should. They opened and closed freely and smoothly. Yatta!!!! But did the selenium cell still work? Yeah the needle was moving up and down with the light available. YES!!! Double Yatta!! Even the self-timer worked an fired the camera, that is the lever on the front of the camera.

I loaded a rapid cartridge with 12-ish frames of 35mm using the method I outlined in this post. I chose some expired Orwo, as I have loads of it and want to use it up. Plus, I only have E cartridges and this camera definitely adjust to the different ASA nodules. The cartridges with longer tabs are hard to find. I haven’t seen one for sale beyond a G, and that was expensive.

The camera is zone-focused, pretty much like an Olympus trip. Unlike the trip, it is a half-frame. The view finder has a red zone and a needle speed indicator. The ASA tab on the cartridge pushes down an activator which extends the red zone. It also moves to needle into the higher speeds as its base starting position.

Like the other rapid cameras I have tried, the counter goes down from 24. However, it will continue to shoot when it reaches zero. I used it in my garden and on a short walk, trying to remember to change the focusing.

Here are most of the results:

Did it work for me? After a bit of effort, YES!!

Now for an experiment…can I extend a tab and use faster film? Actually as there is a moving bar, I didn’t need to change a cartridge just tape the bar down. I measured the distance when it was fully ‘down’ and that was the same as an N – 6mm.

Therefore I loaded some Street Candy 400 and went for a very short walk, boy it was hard work. It was nice to be out in the fresh air after a week in bed with covid. I had to take it very slowly though.

Anyway, enough chatter, here are some of the results.

They seem to be exposed correctly, but I noticed the needle mainly stayed between 1/125th and 1/250th. I found that odd as it was a bright day and I did point the camera at the sun. The viewfinder says there are speeds up to 1/800th, I used the fastest setting?? Surely at some point it would have pointed closer to the top speed?? There were times I was also in darker, treed areas. In both settings the results are well exposed, so it is doing something right.

I am not sure I prefer this camera over the Welta Penti, but I do like it. I was trying to get a Welta Penti II which has a light meter, well so does this. I really like that I got this one for 25p and that I FIXED IT!!!

I should sell it, I have been forgetting that recently, it is a rare camera. I have never seen one before and there isn’t much about it on the net. I will have to ponder it a while.