My father told me when I was a teen that he had some cameras put away that I would be inheriting. He was holding his Rolleiflex T, and said this is a great camera. He also said he had a really nice 4 x 5 that he no longer had. Anyway, last year my Mom let me go into the attic and get all his stuff. Then a few months ago she sends me her best friends Dad's collection. I had no interest in anything except the Rolleflex T but eventually started looking at the rest. Now I find myself looking at old cameras to collect and use. The T has been restored, and I use it along with a 2.8E, but I'm now on a mission to run film thru all I can, and make a print or two to go along with the camera for display. I pulled out a Goldi first, as I discovered there is 127 film available.
The camera looked cute and in good shape so I purchase one roll of Rera Pan 400, it's supposed to be respooled Rollei RPX400, and one roll of their Chrome 100. I cleaned it very well including the lens elements. I was surprised how nice it turned out and was hoping for good results. Before my test roll I looked at something with a loupe from the film plain and it appeared to fucus ok. I used a Saymon Brown range finder to focus my shots.
It tested out very accurate however most of the shots look out of focus. I tried lots of different f stops angles and distances and the sharpest ones are at 4' range. There also seems to be some type of light leak but I couldn't find anything using a flashlight in the dark. I discovered the film is very sensitive as well. I put the film in with much care, but still got light bands on my first 4 shots due to it being light struck during loading. On several of the shots the focus is so spotty I think the film must not be held flat at all.
I would like to run the slide film through it before putting it back on the shelf so if anyone has any ideas for the leak and focus let me know. The camera was a lot of fun for me to use however carrying it around opened was awkward as there is no strap. It's nice to put it in your pocket when done though! Here a re a few examples of my better images.
Here is half the roll showing the leak and the band, maybe from loading error? Neg looks a bit thin too. I used pocket meter on my cell phone. Maybe when I shoot the slide film I'll try my Sekonic L478DR with the spot meter attachment.
My sharpest image. Taken at f11 and it's underexposed, but I actually like the darkness.
I shot this at f11 @29', and f16 at infinity. I used a fence as a tripod. I was expecting much better!!
Sharpness sucks but it has a painterly effect.
Shot at f4. This is one were it looks like the film wasn't laying flat.
The camera looked cute and in good shape so I purchase one roll of Rera Pan 400, it's supposed to be respooled Rollei RPX400, and one roll of their Chrome 100. I cleaned it very well including the lens elements. I was surprised how nice it turned out and was hoping for good results. Before my test roll I looked at something with a loupe from the film plain and it appeared to fucus ok. I used a Saymon Brown range finder to focus my shots.
It tested out very accurate however most of the shots look out of focus. I tried lots of different f stops angles and distances and the sharpest ones are at 4' range. There also seems to be some type of light leak but I couldn't find anything using a flashlight in the dark. I discovered the film is very sensitive as well. I put the film in with much care, but still got light bands on my first 4 shots due to it being light struck during loading. On several of the shots the focus is so spotty I think the film must not be held flat at all.
I would like to run the slide film through it before putting it back on the shelf so if anyone has any ideas for the leak and focus let me know. The camera was a lot of fun for me to use however carrying it around opened was awkward as there is no strap. It's nice to put it in your pocket when done though! Here a re a few examples of my better images.
Here is half the roll showing the leak and the band, maybe from loading error? Neg looks a bit thin too. I used pocket meter on my cell phone. Maybe when I shoot the slide film I'll try my Sekonic L478DR with the spot meter attachment.
My sharpest image. Taken at f11 and it's underexposed, but I actually like the darkness.
I shot this at f11 @29', and f16 at infinity. I used a fence as a tripod. I was expecting much better!!
Sharpness sucks but it has a painterly effect.
Shot at f4. This is one were it looks like the film wasn't laying flat.
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