Thursday, April 2, 2009

2 April, 2009 -- Not April fools

Theresa brought me a couple of old cameras to investigate.

This one is a Mycro, made in Japan. I'm guessing that it's from the 1950's.

It's about two and a half inches wide, in a nice leather case.

It has adjustable shutter speeds from 1/25 second 1/50 sec and 1/100 sec and B.
In the old days, B stood for bulb. When you squeezed the bulb, the shutter would
stay open under air pressure. When you let go of the bulb, the air pressure would
decrease, allowing the shutter to close. Sometimes in old photos you see the bulb hanging
there on a cord which was in reality a hollow hose for the air. In more modern cameras like
this one, B stands for time exposure, controlled mechanically with a spring.

This camera has an adjustable lens aperture, ranging from f4.5, f6.3, f8, and f11,
and the lens focal length is 20mm.

There's a window on the back, indicating that the film had a paper backing
with numbers, similar to the old 120 and 620 size. And there is a tiny remnant
of the paper tab that goes in the slot of the film wind spindle.
The whole thing is very tiny and fragile.

Now, are you ready for your test?
Here's the question: what size film does it use?

2 comments:

Fonda said...

Mycroscopic film?
How about 120?
http://mycro.jp/en/index.html
That's a pretty cool camera!

Ma said...

You are right! Take 120 film and cut it lengthwise to make it about 16mm wide. Then paste it to paper backing. I don't know how to measure the paper for numbers that will show up in the rear window. Easier to just tape off the window, and estimate frame width when winding.