Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

FML, did it again. Whats the most important thing to have in a film camera when you go out shooting?

[johnnyrod]

Um, film? Now is that better or worse than leaving the lens cap on?

Re. the Vitos, if you don't need two then I would choose the one to sell, check its all working properly, shoot a film with it at some point, then you can sell it as working and film tested and you'll be the most popular mucker on ebay. I'm not a fan of viewfinder cameras so I'm not interested but someone else might be. I'm not much good at zone focusing, but also I tend to grab shots so not a lot of thinking time. I also find I've been using fairly low apertures (even at 200ISO) a lot of the time so not a lot of room for error (DoF).

[Kenzie]

Yep, film. That's twice! I had my Zorki 10, Auto 110, Envoy Wide with me so I wasn't short of cameras. The two usable Vitos I will keep but I bought one just for the case. This is the one with the sticky shutter. You should try zone focus, really easy. I sell trailers at work so can quickly guess distance. The power switch on my AE-1 has gone iffy but can't get the top off due to a rusty screw.

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[yokohama]

Johnnyrod, you're a baad maaan! You've got me intrigued by those cameras now. I've cleaned them both up and they're fine mechanically. The focus ring on the Record was stuck but after a while on top of the radiator, it loosened up ok.
I've dropped a film into the Dacora and I'll try to take some shots with it. It will be interesting to see what comes out.
On the focus ring, the numbers start at 1 and go 1.2; 1.5; 2; 2.5; 3; 4; 6; 10; infinity. It's a German camera so I'm guessing that's metres, not feet? (It cant focus down to a foot surely)

[Kenzie]

Get some photos up of what they are. Curious now. How can I get a smell out of a camera? The FED 4 that came with a joblot really smells musty. Can't seem to shift it.

[yokohama]

Here's the Billy. It's got a lovely musty, leathery smell.




And the Dacora. I cant find out much about it other than it's the 3rd or 4th incarnation from about 1960.This one seems to be a pretty basic workhorse. I don't think its value is any more than £10-£15 and once ebay and paypal take their cut, it's hardly worth selling. I'll see what the images are like. If they're half-decent, I'll probably keep it.

[Kenzie]

Nice looking cameras. I have a Billy Clack 74 which is the same family I think. Started putting the spare Vito back together, will need it's focus setting though. I take it I need to set the focus to infinity and the rest should be ok?

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[johnnyrod]

I guess you missed the word "meter" on the front? But yes, you're right about it being metric. A common problem with Agfas is the grease in the focus thread going hard, the fix is as you've found, warm it up then you can get it apart and clean and re-grease it. The shutters are designed to run dry - the only lube is on the focus helix, maybe a touch on the shutter/aperture rings, and maybe the tiniest drops of watch oil for the mechanisms inside. For God's sake don't try spraying WD40 at anything to free it up! It may or may not sound obvious. Anyhoo if you can see the focus helix then by all means clean it off and re-grease it (sparingly), if not then just see how you get on. Looks good otherwise but I can't really see the lens glass - if there is haze or grot on the rearmost (nearest the film) it'll have the greatest effect on the picture sharpness. Also looks like it still has an old metal spool in it, not a modern plastic one. Anyway it's a 6x9 so you'd get 8 pics on a roll of 120 film. These make good landscape cameras as they give such a big negative, the equivalent of about 120-150 megapixels. The clarity of a big print really needs to be seen to be believed.

Dacora looks nice and clean, think you're right about price. I wouldn't expect amazing things from it to be honest, maybe more of a vintage look to the pics!

Smells, um. I usually wipe these things all over (inc. leather, quickly!) with isopropanol. The smell might not go though. It's "character"! Just make sure it's clean before you actually put it up to your eye...

[Kenzie]

Oh it's clean all right. Even baby wiped it! Leaves a smell on my hands after handling it. It's not high on my list to shoot with.

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[johnnyrod]

Decided to make the Contessa LBE I have work. Got the escapement and self-timer soaking in hexane overnight, seem to have dislodged something that makes the aperture work, will find out what later. Tell you what, it's a hell of a lot easier to work on than a Super Ikonta! Shutter speed range is limited but is 1/15-1/500 so fine really. Am planning to shoot with it when done and probably sell it, was a bit daft to buy it but was only a tenner so will make a few quid. Tessar f2.8 lens so pics should look good! Need to finish it first...