My Autopak 700 arrived yesterday at the same time as the film I bought from the Frugal Photographer so I was able to start shooting right away. Exposed 2 rolls by this afternoon & had them processed by Steve at the Lighthouse & the negs look fine. Interesting that the image of each frame continues into the frame divider line, so it is really almost a continuous exposure along the length of the roll. I found a battery that fits from an old Super 8 camera (mercury 625 from memory). The battery worked fine in the Super 8 but in the Minolta it seemed to be metering about 1 stop over the spot meter I was using. I wonder if the camera meter is faulty or was it just made to read for 100 ASA? I'm using the Solaris 200.
The Autopak 700 is a very well designed camera. It has rangefinder focusing & an EV readout in the viewfinder. The shutter & aperture settings are on the lens along with a window that displays the EV setting. So you set the exposure by transferring the EV value from the viewfinder meter reading to the lens setting. It has a hotshoe, pc connection & cable release thread in the shutter button. The sensor for the light meter is a small window that sits just inside the front of the lens barrel so it will be metering all the time & running down the battery unless you keep it in the case. Very similar to the Olympus SP 35mm camera.
I'm hoping to get into the darkroom tomorrow to make some colour proof sheets for a better look at what the camera is doing. I also have a Kodak Instamatic 104 on the way which might give me more of the plastic lens look.
The Autopak 700 is a very well designed camera. It has rangefinder focusing & an EV readout in the viewfinder. The shutter & aperture settings are on the lens along with a window that displays the EV setting. So you set the exposure by transferring the EV value from the viewfinder meter reading to the lens setting. It has a hotshoe, pc connection & cable release thread in the shutter button. The sensor for the light meter is a small window that sits just inside the front of the lens barrel so it will be metering all the time & running down the battery unless you keep it in the case. Very similar to the Olympus SP 35mm camera.
I'm hoping to get into the darkroom tomorrow to make some colour proof sheets for a better look at what the camera is doing. I also have a Kodak Instamatic 104 on the way which might give me more of the plastic lens look.
