My latest additions…
It seems there is always a camera that I need to have when browsing Car Boot Sales or online sales sites, so here are a few that caught my eye recently, and reasons for picking them up…
The Finetta 88 had been on my radar for a while, but not felt the need to buy one, but when this lovely grey version popped up on eBay for the ridiculous price of £5 it was worth a bid. Surprisingly I got it for the stating bid.
Finetta 88
Yes, it is not a mint example, but all it needed was a general clean, and shutter blades degreased (which was as simple a job as it gets). Now in perfect working order, and waiting it’s turn in the queue for a film test.
Made by Saraber Finetta Werke in Germany from 1953, it has some interesting features like the interchangeable lens which is rather uncommon on a simple viewfinder camera. This one came with the Finetar 45mm f2.8 lens, which is tiny and a bit crude to be honest, but we’ll see how it performs when tested.
I much prefer the look of this grey version over the black.
Next up is the TOMA M-616D, which I have seen as the Wizen M-616D with a quite high asking price. This price may make you assume it is a good camera!
TOMA M-616D
The moral of this story is don’t think that what seller’s are asking is a reflection of quality! It is a plastic piece of crap basically, that luckily only set me back £8. It is definitely worth £8 all day long, but that’s all. There was one on Esty for a staggering £145! Really?
It was made in Taiwan around 1985 when plastic 35mm point & shoots were in abundance, so you can see where it comes from. On the plus side it does have CDS metering, motor wind, a flash and quite a cool design compared to what the big brands were churning out at the time. The slide opening body is unconventional, but it does seem to lack the quality finish.
Pentax Auto 110
Wow, what a cutey! The Pentax Auto 110.
My sole reason for buying this was the role of Lomography 110 film in the fridge. It was sold as untested, as most of my buys are, but it came with the 18mm f2.8 and 50mm f2.8 lenses, so my thinking was if it doesn’t work at least I could sell on the lenses to get my money back.
Sure enough it didn’t work. Upon investigation the batteries had leaked and corroded the wires behind the battery compartment, and the shutter was jammed mid cycle. It is currently in the ‘to fix’ pile.
Lastly a real oddity - The J. Langham Thompson medical camera…
J. Langham Thompson
Bought for about the same price of a roll of Portra, it is a proper chunk of a thing. Made in the 1950’s for the medical industry by J. Langham Thompson in England in low quantities going by the serial number.
The physical condition is very good, and the only thing I can find wrong is the return spring on the shutter button - should be an easy fix.
As the threaded tube on the front is just for mounting to some kind of equipment, and is not a lens, I thought it would be a fun experiment to make a pinhole and mount on the front. without the shutter spring it only works in basically Time mode which is ideal for long exposure pinhole photography. There is no tripod mount, so I have found an aluminium adjustable cradle to hold it firm.
As you may be able to tell from this little sum up, I will buy anything if it is interesting or a bit quirky!