Focus Free, modern box handling

[laverdure]

Just found a tiny plastic Focus-Free item which's features include 28mm lens, viewfinder, film advance, film rewind, and shutter release (bless it's heart). Sounds like it shoots at about 1/60th. Anyone know what sort of fstop they set these things at?

I suppose they operate on the principle that negative film can take massive overexposure, yes? With the Dof of a 28mm I'd expect they wouldn't need too small of an aperture, but maybe I'm on the wrong track?

My first toy camera! I feel a little giddy!

 

[nicolai]

Can you post a picture of the camera?

 

[Akki14]

No clue but it sounds like you'll be following the standard "ISO 100 film on bright sunny summer days and ISO 400 film for winter and overcast days" mantra that has become mine with my box cameras. I have a focus free camera but it allegedly has working apertures (they look a bit odd to me, squareish). with numbers on it.

 

[Bob F.]

Take a ruler and measure the aperture in mm as best you can through the lens. Then you can use N=f/D where N = the f-stop; f=focal length (28mm in this case); D = diameter of the aperture (in mm). This should get you close enough I'd have thought.

Cheers, Bob.

 

[laverdure]

Can't really take a picture, no, I have no d*gital camera

It's a Bell+Howell, anyway. Thanks Bob for the formula- looks like it's about f8 (~3.5mm).

Can't wait to see what it can do. Thanks again all.

 

[zsas]

Bringing back to life an old thread, just got one of these for $0.50, shall be fun to use this summer when the sun comes back out:

 

[bvy]

I have (or had) one of these. They're fairly solid and reliable -- nice feature is the sliding lens cap that also locks the shutter release. So you can pocket it without worry. The pictures are so-so. I "upgraded" to a Vivitar Wide & Slim, with its slightly wider 22mm lens and was much happier with it -- profound distortion and dazzling sun flare.

 

[pen s]

A similar camera was the Vivitar PN2011 (google it). A few years ago they turned up regularly at Goodwill, Value Village, etc. Seemed to have obtained a minor cult status among toy camera fans.

On another note I have noticed that Freestyle has lowered the price on the Vivitar Wide and Slim clones, they were $30, now they have them for $20.

 

[johnnyh]

Just today, I received a Boots-branded (chemist/drugstore chain) FF135 camera with a 28mm lens that actually labels itself as being F11. The aperture diameter looks to be typical of the type, and I guess the shutter speed is somewhere in the 1/50 to 1/100 region.