I have tried to buy this camera a couple of times. I yearned for a camera with my name on it, and I couldn’t afford the ‘Peggy‘. But then I saw this one, with my initials. Oooh nice, maybe I could get this camera and give it a funky skin to match ‘me’.
I ordered one from the bay, but it didn’t work. I thought it did, I checked it and saw the shutter move as it should with the film door open. So I decided to use it on the Big Film Walk back in June. When I got to the end of the film, and then 4 more shots, I was confused. I had watched it load and checked the rewind lever moved. It turned out the film only advanced when the door was open; as soon as you closed the door, it stopped. How weird was that? It was a shame, as it was the second year running I had no shots from the BFW.
Anyway, the seller gave me a refund, which I used to get another example. When that arrived, it didn’t work either. This time it was jammed, and I said a few choice words. However, I decided to keep it as the lens was worth what I paid for the whole outfit.
As I had nothing to lose, I decided to take off the bottom cover to see if it had not completed a cycle, a simple fix. The cycle would not complete, and in my frustration, I shook it. I might have said more bad words, but that is for me to know. Anyway, when I shook it, a small piece of plastic fell out of the innards. Hmm, maybe that was stopping the cycle, so I tried again. Yatta, it completed the cycle and was now moving freely.
I loaded a part-used roll of Agfa APX 400 and took a few shots in my garden. There was no point in wandering far if it wasn’t working. I developed it straight away. Here are the results.
I noticed two things on this test. First, the light meter needle was a little intermittent. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. The camera could be set manually, so that wasn’t an issue. The second thing was that the film counter didn’t work. That is more annoying than a hindrance. So not perfect, but working-ish.
I loaded another film and went for a walk around Hutton-Le-Hole and Lastingham. I have had a bit more free time lately and have been doing a lot of walking in the countryside. I love it. I do not love when I have to walk through a field of cows. I am even less impressed with bulls. On this walk, there was one field of 2 bulls, but they were very relaxed and weren’t interested in me at all. At the end of the walk, the route led me through a farm with some bulls in a barn, they were lovely, my favourite.
I have read that in the USA, you can’t just wander through fields of animals and such. Is that true? Here we have public footpaths that might go through farm land. Farmers are somewhat restricted on which animals they can put in those fields. For instance, they should know the temperament of the animals they place there. So, walkers ‘should’ be ok if we stick to the paths, but I have been charged by a young bull in the past. Well, I say charged, I think he just wanted to travel on the same path and was a bit surprised by my presence.
The results from that walk were a little disappointing. I was at the very end of a bottle of Rodinal, and the film was underdeveloped. I left the film in a little longer, and the amount was slightly over. I even used a higher temperature, but it didn’t work. Plus the fact it was a dull, rainy day, so I pushed the Exeter 400 to 800, it was all a bit ‘experimental’. I don’t mind, as I have every intention of going back to visit the Ryedale museum, which I didn’t do on this excursion.
So how about the camera? Well, it is very similar, if not the same as the Cosina CT-1. Looking at my camera list, I have only tried a few Cosina cameras, and I haven’t gelled with any of them, if they worked at all. This experience was the same; despite the name, the PM-1 did not rock my boat. You can find technical details on this website.
Even though it didn’t rocketh my boat, here are two reviewers who loved it:
https://arhphotographic.co.uk/2020/04/02/first-impressions-of-the-understated-cosina-pm-1/
https://www.35millimetre.co.uk/2011/04/20/cameras-i-have-loved-1-cosina-pm-1/
As for the future of this example, I had fun taking it apart, bit by bit and seeing the innards. I didn’t touch the lens of course.
Yeah, it’s true that in the US (and probably Canada too), you can’t walk through a farmer’s field or anything labeled as private property. However, on public lands like National Forests and I think BLM (Bureau of Land Management) properties, cattle can sometimes be found grazing (“Open Range”). So you might be biking along a road, turn a corner, and run into a herd. (Open Range is why cattle grates were invented.)
We have common land for grazing, but usually you find horses there. Regular people, not farmers, don’t usually graze animals there. I often go to the common land near me and ‘shoot’ the horses.
No right to roam in the United States. Private property is absolutely private. You see No Trespassing and Private Property signs all over in the country. My favorite is the sign with POSTED in giant letters and No Trespassing in smaller letters under it. We know it’s posted, you nailed it to a fence or to a tree. Duh.
Thats quite sad, so can you only go hiking in parks?