Job Lot.

[daveh]

I have just purchased, whether wise or not, a job lot of six cameras on ebay. Therse were advertised as "6 Various vintage cameras all untested and sold for spares."

Minolta Auto Wide
Kodak Bantam Colorsnap
Kodak Retinette 1A
Aires Penta 35
Ilford Sportsman
Voigtlander Vito B

From the photograph they don't look too bad. Anyway at about £3.70 each including postage it seemed a reasonable punt. Expected arrival time is in about a week.

[pompiere]

I have a Minolta Auto Wide, you don't see them very often. It was one of the first cameras to have a built in meter. The speed and aperture are coupled so that once the pointers are matched, you can change them together without affecting exposure.

[daveh]

It was the AutoWide that mainly caught my eye. We had an Ilford Sportsman at the end of the 1950s - it was stolen.

[daveh]

Well, the box arrived yesterday.
Working:
Kodak Bantam Colorsnap
Ilford Sportsman
Aires Penta 35

Not working:
Minolta Auto Wide
Kodak Retinette 1A
Voigtlander Vito B

The Colorsnap has obviously smoked heavily all its life: it reeks of cigarettes. The Sportsman seems reasonably clean and what shutter speeds there are appear about right. The Penta seems right at all shutter speeds. The lens is bright and clear, except for a few light scratches on the front element. Everything is reasonably smooth. The viewfinder/pentaprism/screen/mirror all need a good clean though.

The Auto Wide feels as though it will work - its shutter speed dial is stuck. I think the Retinette probably qualifies as being knackered. Someone appears to have had a go at the Vito - screw heads burred and suchlike. I'm not quite sure what I shall find 'under the bonnet'. The shutter blades are rusted, so I suppose it's just possible that once they have thawed out it will be a worker.

[daveh]

Update:

Surprisingly the Retinette is now working. The wind on Lever is totally broken and the whole area looked so messy I wasn't expecting it to 'go'. All I need now is a non-worker to donate that lever.

The Vito too has now freed and is working. The camera arrived with about half a film on the wind-on spool. I removed that in the dark first. (I might just try developing it later, though I doubt that it'll be anything other than fully fogged.)

I have taken the top, front and bottom off the Minolta. They are all quite simple to remove and replace. I see that some of the internal screws have been got at previously, so it's been repaired at least once before. I really need to seek out some photos and/or diagrams of the shutter itself before proceeding to take it apart.

I'll put some photos up later.