Yesterday I collected three photographic items. Turns out I either have all three, or I have one pair that are very similar and two items the same.
Starting at the top with the square Rollei flash on the Paxette’s hotshoe, I collected the Rollei F19BC flash at a Value Village. It was the first item I have found at that relatively new Value Village in about ten visits, so that in itself was a minor triumph of collecting! It was 30% off senior’s day, so it cost me just $2.93 tax in. It is a 4-AA battery/one auto range flash in the “square flatface” design Rollei used.
Turns out I had already collected a Rollei 128BC and posted an article on our former web site in the last year. It looked pretty familiar and here is why. Rollei made two almost identical flash with over lapping production in two countries!
This is information copied from the official Rollei site—
Uses 4-AA batteries for 75-200 flashes
Initial recharge time with fresh batteries varied from 6–14 sec, depending on type of battery.
Replacement was recommended when recycling reached 60 seconds.
Duration of the flash—
The new camera was not acting happy and it took some playing with it to discover you have to advance the rapid-advance lever twice for every frame. The shutter was clicking but the shutter blades weren’t moving. It has a very simple two bladed shutter with what I thought was one shutter speed of about 50 sec.. Later information revealed the camera has three marked DIN /ASA films as well as a flash sync speed. Both DIN and ASA were not labelled on all cameras: it depended on the market the camera was made for to represent the films available.
The camera, after cocking and not firing multiple times the night before, was now totally jammed. I thought I might as well dive in a see what I could salvage from the new camera. I decided to try “flooding” the shutter with lighter fluid. I watched a horrifying YouTube video on working on Paxette cameras to get in the mood, and then took the camera’s top off. The top doesn’t come totally free as there is a wire soldered to the hotshoe, but it will come off. I poured lighter fluid on the exposed gear bits in the exposed top of the camera. I also shot some lighter fluid in through the ASA/DIN switch area and on the shutter blades from the inside side of the shutter. This is when I discovered flooding with lighter fluid—which I do outside to cut down on accidental fire-balls—is a lot nastier at minus 10 degrees C then at 20 degrees C. Suddenly the shutter started to fire, which I could see from the back with the back off.
I found that camera repair is as frustrating as ever. Tools don’t fit, screws get dropped, weird bits flop away from where they are supposed to be for reassembly. I don’t recommend the experience to anyone.
On the other hand—after reassembly— the shutter started to work! On the other hand the meter does not appear to being doing anything, if the camera even has an aperture it isn’t working and the rewind button isn’t doing anything either. Since I was never planning to try shooting this camera anyhow, it isn’t that much of a problem. The camera still looks very sharp. The viewfinder alone is stunning.
The Paxette electronic has a coated three-element 40 mm f/5.6 lens with focus fixed so you won’t get anything sharp closer than 1.82 m (six feet). The original camera used filters to adjust the light levels and had close-up filters too.
This camera was also has a footnote in cameras for claiming to be the “World’s first and only truly automatic 35 mm camera,” when it was second to Agfa’s Optima camera introduce weeks earlier. We know this because Braun was sued and lost to Agfa in court.
Fully automatic at the time was a indicator in the viewfinder that was green when it was safe to shoot. Otherwise you had to use flash.
Finally we get to the Polaroid Spectra. To be fair I knew I had at least one of these fine cameras. It was just this Value Village had four cameras to choose from. They had—
I had written about the Polaroid Spectra in Issue 29 /September, 2007 of AllPhotography. At that time I was fascinated by the lineup of controls across the back of the camera. From the left end of the row you can switch:
In Issue 9 /September, 2002 of AllPhotography I wrote about a $40 Spectra accessory close-up attachment that allowed shooting at 10 inches (25 cm). It used a pull-out measuring tape but mention was made of the same idea using twin light beams that, when they overlapped, allowed you to know you were 25 cm away “without touching the evidence.”
In Issue 22 /December, 2005 of AllPhotography I wrote about the dazzling Polaroid Copy Stand. It allowed you to clip the Spectra face down over the subject. The stand handled everything from redirecting the camera’s built in electronic flash to convincing the camera’s focus system it was in focus, even as the display insisted it was 1 or 0.1 units away. Of course the first five switches on the Spectra’s back all have to be in the up position, but if you happen to forget this stipulation, all the while Polaroid is selling more film!
Speaking to Customer Service at Polaroid (Sue was a delight) it seems the copy stand reproduces 1:1 ratio with lighting similar to a “room full of light” hitting the subject. From evidence collection, reproduction of driver’s licenses and shooting fingerprints in law enforcement to copying year book photograph’s for badges at reunions, the $59.95 list price copy stand was a very practical alternative to Polaroid’s next in order close-up device, a $700-800US copy stand!
Last night I tried to learn more about the Spectra’s 125 mm f/10 Quintic lens.
The original instructions for the Spectra picture the three elements arrangement as this.
I was surprised to learn this lens has a fixed front and rear element. In between the two fixed elements there is a lens that somehow changes the focus (not by moving in and out, but by rotating a wedge shaped optic).
From the front of the lens all you can see is a shutter blade arrangement, which could be covering the middle lens. Short of tearing the camera apart I don’t see what more I can find out.
There were more models of Spectra cameras cumulating in the Polaroid Spectra Pro made with Minolta branding under license. This model was quite different to the earlier models both in having a LCD display screen to show all the settings as well as tricks like-
- # 450010 E19BC 1971-1975 Germany & Singapore, 168,000 pieces.
- # 451000 128BC 1973-1978 Singapore, 249,000 pieces.
Uses 4-AA batteries for 75-200 flashes
Initial recharge time with fresh batteries varied from 6–14 sec, depending on type of battery.
Replacement was recommended when recycling reached 60 seconds.
Duration of the flash—
- E19BC—1300-3000 sec
- 128BC—2000-3000 sec
The new camera was not acting happy and it took some playing with it to discover you have to advance the rapid-advance lever twice for every frame. The shutter was clicking but the shutter blades weren’t moving. It has a very simple two bladed shutter with what I thought was one shutter speed of about 50 sec.. Later information revealed the camera has three marked DIN /ASA films as well as a flash sync speed. Both DIN and ASA were not labelled on all cameras: it depended on the market the camera was made for to represent the films available.
- DIN 16 /ASA 10 gives 40 sec
- Din 18 / ASA 32 gives 60 sec
- Din 21 / ASA 64 gives 120 sec
The camera, after cocking and not firing multiple times the night before, was now totally jammed. I thought I might as well dive in a see what I could salvage from the new camera. I decided to try “flooding” the shutter with lighter fluid. I watched a horrifying YouTube video on working on Paxette cameras to get in the mood, and then took the camera’s top off. The top doesn’t come totally free as there is a wire soldered to the hotshoe, but it will come off. I poured lighter fluid on the exposed gear bits in the exposed top of the camera. I also shot some lighter fluid in through the ASA/DIN switch area and on the shutter blades from the inside side of the shutter. This is when I discovered flooding with lighter fluid—which I do outside to cut down on accidental fire-balls—is a lot nastier at minus 10 degrees C then at 20 degrees C. Suddenly the shutter started to fire, which I could see from the back with the back off.
I found that camera repair is as frustrating as ever. Tools don’t fit, screws get dropped, weird bits flop away from where they are supposed to be for reassembly. I don’t recommend the experience to anyone.
On the other hand—after reassembly— the shutter started to work! On the other hand the meter does not appear to being doing anything, if the camera even has an aperture it isn’t working and the rewind button isn’t doing anything either. Since I was never planning to try shooting this camera anyhow, it isn’t that much of a problem. The camera still looks very sharp. The viewfinder alone is stunning.
The Paxette electronic has a coated three-element 40 mm f/5.6 lens with focus fixed so you won’t get anything sharp closer than 1.82 m (six feet). The original camera used filters to adjust the light levels and had close-up filters too.
This camera was also has a footnote in cameras for claiming to be the “World’s first and only truly automatic 35 mm camera,” when it was second to Agfa’s Optima camera introduce weeks earlier. We know this because Braun was sued and lost to Agfa in court.
Fully automatic at the time was a indicator in the viewfinder that was green when it was safe to shoot. Otherwise you had to use flash.
Finally we get to the Polaroid Spectra. To be fair I knew I had at least one of these fine cameras. It was just this Value Village had four cameras to choose from. They had—
- a very basic 35mm plastic camera for $3.99
- a slightly better Bell&Howell fixed-focus 35 mm camera for $4.99
- the Polaroid Spectra for $4.99
- an Olympus Trip 35 in a ratty case for $24.99
I had written about the Polaroid Spectra in Issue 29 /September, 2007 of AllPhotography. At that time I was fascinated by the lineup of controls across the back of the camera. From the left end of the row you can switch:
- From feet to meters
- Turn the focus “beep” on and off
- Turn on a selftimer
- Switch autofocus off (when shooting through glass, you are setting infinity)
- Turn the flash off and on
- Adjust the exposure lighter and darker
- To top off the fun there are LED’s to indicate flash status (amber for charging, green for ready) and finally a remote control plug.
In Issue 9 /September, 2002 of AllPhotography I wrote about a $40 Spectra accessory close-up attachment that allowed shooting at 10 inches (25 cm). It used a pull-out measuring tape but mention was made of the same idea using twin light beams that, when they overlapped, allowed you to know you were 25 cm away “without touching the evidence.”
In Issue 22 /December, 2005 of AllPhotography I wrote about the dazzling Polaroid Copy Stand. It allowed you to clip the Spectra face down over the subject. The stand handled everything from redirecting the camera’s built in electronic flash to convincing the camera’s focus system it was in focus, even as the display insisted it was 1 or 0.1 units away. Of course the first five switches on the Spectra’s back all have to be in the up position, but if you happen to forget this stipulation, all the while Polaroid is selling more film!
Speaking to Customer Service at Polaroid (Sue was a delight) it seems the copy stand reproduces 1:1 ratio with lighting similar to a “room full of light” hitting the subject. From evidence collection, reproduction of driver’s licenses and shooting fingerprints in law enforcement to copying year book photograph’s for badges at reunions, the $59.95 list price copy stand was a very practical alternative to Polaroid’s next in order close-up device, a $700-800US copy stand!
Last night I tried to learn more about the Spectra’s 125 mm f/10 Quintic lens.
The original instructions for the Spectra picture the three elements arrangement as this.
I was surprised to learn this lens has a fixed front and rear element. In between the two fixed elements there is a lens that somehow changes the focus (not by moving in and out, but by rotating a wedge shaped optic).
From the front of the lens all you can see is a shutter blade arrangement, which could be covering the middle lens. Short of tearing the camera apart I don’t see what more I can find out.
There were more models of Spectra cameras cumulating in the Polaroid Spectra Pro made with Minolta branding under license. This model was quite different to the earlier models both in having a LCD display screen to show all the settings as well as tricks like-
- Multiple exposure
- Timed interval operation
- Bulb
- External flash connection
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