This little $10 wonder arrived in the mail yesterday, bought from another member on the forum here (thanks Dan). According to Camerapedia, the Dacora I dates from 1952, and was made in Germany. The lens on mine is an Isco-Gottingen Westar 75 3.5.
Its very similar to a lower line Zeiss Ikon, and sports a limited 4 speed Vario shutter w/ speeds of B, 1/25, 1/50, and an optimistic top speed of 1/200. I had to readjust the linkage on the top shutter button to the shutter on the front, but that went quickly. Unfortunately, the lens didn't quite want to go to infinity, so I put a ground glass on the back and discovered that the lens had been out of its shutter at some point in the past and restarted in the wrong place. Rather than tear it down (and also because I didn't have a screwdriver tiny enough to take the 3 grub screws out around the front bezel) I marked the lens for infinity w/ the GG, then made a mark at 10' and 5', measured w/ a measuring tape. Those distances would take care of most shooting needs for an old folder.
The film was Shanghai GP3 Pan 100 that was metered at 70 w/ a yellow filter. I diluted it 1:1 for the first time, and gave it 16 minutes at 68 degrees. It's fine, but I prefer the full strength smoothness. The pics really aren't half bad, but my hood was vignetting on most shots. Pretty surprising, considering how big it is, so maybe it protrudes out a little too far? If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to that issue. There is a lack of detail in the highlights, but that may be my metering or developing. Please ignore the blurry photo w/ the hood on. All in all, a fun little camera. I needed a small folder.
One odd thing is that the camera is listed as taking 120 film, but I had to trim down the Shanghai spool w/ nail clippers to get it to load, so maybe this is actually a 620 camera? Even the old style, metal 120 spools got stuck in there.
Its very similar to a lower line Zeiss Ikon, and sports a limited 4 speed Vario shutter w/ speeds of B, 1/25, 1/50, and an optimistic top speed of 1/200. I had to readjust the linkage on the top shutter button to the shutter on the front, but that went quickly. Unfortunately, the lens didn't quite want to go to infinity, so I put a ground glass on the back and discovered that the lens had been out of its shutter at some point in the past and restarted in the wrong place. Rather than tear it down (and also because I didn't have a screwdriver tiny enough to take the 3 grub screws out around the front bezel) I marked the lens for infinity w/ the GG, then made a mark at 10' and 5', measured w/ a measuring tape. Those distances would take care of most shooting needs for an old folder.
The film was Shanghai GP3 Pan 100 that was metered at 70 w/ a yellow filter. I diluted it 1:1 for the first time, and gave it 16 minutes at 68 degrees. It's fine, but I prefer the full strength smoothness. The pics really aren't half bad, but my hood was vignetting on most shots. Pretty surprising, considering how big it is, so maybe it protrudes out a little too far? If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to that issue. There is a lack of detail in the highlights, but that may be my metering or developing. Please ignore the blurry photo w/ the hood on. All in all, a fun little camera. I needed a small folder.
One odd thing is that the camera is listed as taking 120 film, but I had to trim down the Shanghai spool w/ nail clippers to get it to load, so maybe this is actually a 620 camera? Even the old style, metal 120 spools got stuck in there.
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