Any cheap 110 cameras with sharp lenses? Other than Pentax Auto 110?

[Donald Qualls]

I get good quality images from both my 30 and 303. The 303 deleted the PC connector, so no worry there, while there's no provision for actually mounting a flash on the 30 (plastic outer housing won't fit the Minolta clamp). Doesn't matter, they're mainly outdoor cameras, anyway.

I was thinking on my drive to work this morning -- it ought to be possible to build a slitter that would simultaneously perforate film for 110 camera feelers. One perf every 19-20 mm or so ought to do it, cover the counter hole in the cartridge, and you could fit 36 exposures in there easily -- and get three such strips from a roll of 120. Build it in the body of an old dead folder, and you could do the slitting and perfing in daylight, only need dark for loading the film into the cartridge.

 

[ciniframe]

My brain started thinking about how to; 1. perforate the film and, 2. get the spacing right...in total darkness.
Total manual operation of such a mechanism, while slow to operate, would be the simplest to design. A wheel, with slots that stop it's rotation every 20mm, then a spring loaded punch that is pushed down to make the hole, seems to be doable. The film would have to be rolled along with a rubber roller that would have enough friction against the film to not slip. But also not damage the film.
Great, going to be hard to get to sleep tonight, thanks Donald.

 

[ProgramPlus]

What is the benefit of the perforation again? My only 110 camera are Pentax Auto 110 and the only benefit in those cameras is they prevent you from accidentally over winding the camera and keeps the frame spacing regular which is a benefit for some scanning masks.

 

[ciniframe]

What is the benefit of the perforation again? My only 110 camera are Pentax Auto 110 and the only benefit in those cameras is they prevent you from accidentally over winding the camera and keeps the frame spacing regular which is a benefit for some scanning masks.

Some cameras use them to stop the film at the next frame and some (usually simple models I believe) use them to drag a lever to cock the shutter.
Also, for factory loaded film, the frame edges were preflashed, so the film had to position correctly on these flashed frame edges. With reloaded film this of course would not be an issue.

 

[Donald Qualls]

All 110 cameras, as far as I know, stop the advance with the perfs if present, but some will work without them. The advantage of one perf per frame on reloads is that, potentially, you could load film without backing (in a cartridge with the window closed off) and not only be able to use the reloads in any 110 camera. You'd also get consistent frame spacing, and could narrow the space between frames (by shortening the distance between perfs) to a more normal 2-3 mm between frames. That should let you get 30-36 exposures on a strip cut from 120 -- and when you can advance a third stroke, you're done.