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

This is another gift from a friend gift. When I get cameras from friends, it is usually for one of two reasons. Either they have been given the camera or they have found them in the loft. Usually, the friend doesn’t know how to use them or they think they might not work. This one falls into the latter of those categories.

When I first saw this camera, I thought it took 127 film. It just had the look of a VPK. In fact it was a 35mm camera produced in 1938. I pressed the button to release the bellows and lens, they flew out at high speed. It had the quickest release that I have ever encountered. I thought that might make it tricky to put it away again, but no, it went back smoothly. There are two more buttons to be aware of. One can be found on the side of the flip out section. That one trips the shutter, you have to cock the shutter the usual way for a bellows camera, but the button fires it. The other button is by the film advance. That one has to be pressed to release the sprockets so the film can be advanced.

Other things to take note of are:
* The counter has to be set manually to zero at the start. This example’s worked perfectly.
* To rewind the film you have to pull out the film advance dial, which is different to any other camera I have tried.
* The viewfinder is small, but adequate 🙂
* The aperture selector is on the bottom of the lens and goes from f2.9 to f16
* The speed selector is on the top of the lens and goes to 1/300th
* The focal distance is around the lens, the lines have to match up so then you know if you have chosen infinity or 5 feet.

I loaded a part roll of Street Candy 400 as it was a dullish day. Then I went to Heath Common as I knew there was a sunflower field and some horses. I like going there for walks as it is close to my house and quaint. On a sunny day, it is perfect. On a dullish day it is still nice. After the walk I developed the film with Pyro and for the first time ever it failed me, the film looked weird. I am not sure if it was something I did or the film didn’t suit the developer. I managed to save them in post process, but I am tempted to go back and retake them on colour.

Did it work for me? Yes, without any cleaning or fixing, it just worked. I loved this camera. It is one of the smallest bellows cameras I have ever tried. It might even be smaller that a VPK which I mistook it for. It is small enough to fit in the tiny pockets of women’s trousers.

Actually, this is the first Balda camera I have tried. I makes me want to try more. This one and other Balda cameras can be found quite cheaply, so maybe I will in the future. I think I might keep this one, is certainly is interesting.