Tag Archives: prinz

Prinz Mastermatic III

Junk Camera Finds, , , , , , , , ,

I have a feeling this camera was part of a job lot otherwise I have no idea where I got it. It is certainly not something I would have chosen. The skin of the camera dropped off the moment I picked it up. I decided to recover it even before I tested it with film. Looking it over everything seemed to work so I though why not and why not use a completely new-to-me type of skin.

Animals of Farthing Wood. I got a book from a charity shop and used the old skin as a template. The paper was a little stiff on the curves but once the varnish made the paper a little wetter it was easier to manipulate.

This camera from 1967 was cheap and cheerful at the time and still is. The selenium cell means you don’t even have to buy batteries. Even though it is partly metal, I thought it felt quite cheap. Before the new skin, I thought it looked it too but now it looks awesome. The photos of the cameras are enhanced by the lovely Nidderdale countryside where I took it to try it out. It seemed appropriate.

The meter’s needle indicator on this example was a bit hit and miss, I have a feeling there might be a loose wire inside, but I don’t feel like taking it apart to see. The meter gives a reading in EV mode. The camera can be set to operate in regular or EV mode. It is much easier to change the settings than on some other EV cameras I have tried. There is no rangefinder so you have to guess the distance or use zone focusing.

I have already promised the camera to someone who liked the look of it, so I wanted to try it very quickly. That meant I tried a new developing company. They offered a download link of the scans. Literally the next day from posting the films I received an email with the link, amazingly quick. I paid for the cheapest version of scans and that is what I got. Though it looks like the films I sent were developed very well, I am unimpressed with the scans. I am not going to name names, but I will stick to my regular C41 developer as they are cheaper when choosing a decent set of scans. Unless I am in a hurry again, but then I will try the more expensive scans to check the difference.

Ok that said, I put in a half used roll of XP2 that I was given. Here are the test shots.

Well, the light meter was accurate when it worked. But the focus and lens is “funky”, that is the only word I can think of. I kind of like it, but it is funky with a definite drop off. Focusing at close range was tricky and I would recommend sticking with infinity-ish.

I tried processing some of these shots with the Snapseed App on my phone. I love the results.

Today I sold three cameras including this one, I sort of regret it but I always do and I can’t use all the cameras I have so in the end it is a good thing…keep saying it out loud, selling your cameras is a good thing.

Agfamatic 2000 Sensor (110)

Swaps and searched for, , , , , , ,

This camera is another batch swapped for one, if you understand that weird sentence. I almost didn’t take it as I didn’t really want to bother with 110 film again. But it looked so clean and small, a bit like a spy camera. I could imagine whipping it out of my pocket and copying some illicit documents.

Really, look how small it is and I have tiny girl hands. Before I tried a film, I played around with it. The wind on movement is completed by pushing the camera on the sides like an accordion. This example’s movement felt really smooth. In fact, once I did put in some Lomography film I took a shot and thought the film had not wound on. The movement was so perfect, I thought it could not have worked so I took the same shot again and watched the numbers as I pushed the camera. The number went to 3, so it had worked. The movement is sheer butter.

It was originally released in 1973 and I found it very easy to use. It has just two settings, sunny or cloudy, and a shutter release button. The weather settings change the speed from 1/50th to 1/100th. The aperture is fixed at f9.5. It does not need a battery to work. Simple and cool. In fact so cool that this article refers to it as a design icon. The article is an interview with the actual designer so he might be a little biased.

I tried a few shots at St.Aiden’s RSPB reserve, a place I have written about before. Then I remembered a weird adapter thing I had in my junk box. I fished it out, yeap it said 110 “adaptor”.

It fit the flash cube slots perfectly. I attached a flash and the cable, fired it up. Voila, it seemed to work. I tried a few more shots with the flash.

The adapter fitting was a little loose. Apparently, there is supposed to be a small plastic thingy to make it fit more snuggly. I didn’t have that so I had to hold the unit in place while using it. When I held it correctly, it fired without issue and exposed the shot quite well. The issue of pinhole light leaks from the backing paper is evident on a few shots. I hate those. It is a known fault and should be addressed.

Here are my results, you can see without the flash it is pretty useless inside. It did very well outside, if not pointed into the sun.

I was impressed with this little camera and would recommend it, I still would not recommend the film if there was any other choice, but hey, there is no choice. The camera sound mentioned in the linked article of “Ritsch-Ratsch-Klick” is very appealing and I found myself engaging the camera without a film just to hear it.

For a film, I would recommend for 35mm try Kosmo Foto Mono. Love that stuff.