This is the second 127 camera I was lent by a friend. The Anny 44 worked very well, but what about this Bencini?

I was sure I had used a similar looking camera, another Bencini, but I couldn’t find it in my list anywhere. I knew it was a half-frame 120, so I search for that and voila, the Koroll 24S. I had neglected to put Bencini in the title so it was harder to find. I have corrected that now and with this camera, I can now make a section in the list for Bencini. Interestingly, the Koroll post said I bought that camera in Bakewell which I went to again this week. What a coincidence.

Just like the Koroll, the Comet II is from the early 1950s and is a half-frame of sorts. This time a 127 half-frame, making the negatives 3x4cm. Just like I did with the Anny, I cut a 120 roll of Kentmere 400 to 127. I looked at the lens for speeds and it had 1/50th written on the side, but this great post gives technical details for the first comet which they said should have been 1/30th. They said their example registered 1/150th, significantly faster than the expected speed. I could see this example was quicker than 1/50th and guesstimated the speed at around 1/100th at least, definitely faster than expected.

The camera came with the original instructions, but they didn’t give any technical details.

The instructions also didn’t explain the 1/30th which can be seen on the front of the lens. That contradicts the 1/50th on the side of the lens?? Plus looking at the little arrows, it seems to suggest the 1/30th can only be activated at around a one meter distance. That doesn’t seem to be very useful. The side of the lens has a pull out lever which activates the bulb mode, moving the arrow to the ‘b’ on the front of the lens does not do so. So I decided to ignore the symbols on the front of the lens, either way the camera was much faster than 1/30th.

I took the Comet for a wander. I pointed and shooted, turning the winder one turn after each shot. I could not see the numbers in either of the two red windows. There were no marks on the winder so I drew a little black mark to help me measure.

Here are most of my results. They include a double exposure of neon signs and a close up where I set the lens to 1m.

Oh, and before the shutter can fire, you have to pull out the lens.

I was impressed with the sharpness of the images, especially the close up shot of the warning sign. Unlike the Anny, the shots are sharp over a much wider area of the negative. The pressure plate on this camera is flat, no compensation being necessary.

Unlike the Anny, this camera can still be found very cheaply along with other Bencini cameras. Their simple design probably means many will still be clean and viable. The paper-like cases are another story.

I will return this camera along with the Anny, back to the original owner. If I happen across another Bencini, I will be fairly happy.

UPDATE: As per the comments, I did attach a flash to the sync and I noticed a slight drop in the shutter speed. So I think the 1/30th on the front of the lens barrel is the flash sync speed. The sync did fire the flash I attached to it…though the shoe was a little small for me to push the National PE-145 on fully. Thank you Juan.