Bencini Comet

[col]

EBay find.. a 1950 Bencini Comet.. Now the problem is 127 film is a scarce as hens teeth.. So black out the little red windows and use a length of 35mm film.. I'm happy with the results.

[Berndt]

Thanks for sharing, Col.

I also got a Bencini Comet this month, but I didn't finish my test film yet. I used 127 film directly though. A Rollei Retro 80s, I always wanted to try anyway. Actually not more expensive than the 35 mm film version: www.fotoimpex.de/shop/filme/schwarzweissfilme/mittelformatfilme-127/rollei-retro-80s-rollfilm-127.html

Curious, how the results will come out and ... first of all, if I will get the film developed somewhere ... hahaha ... we'll see.

[Berndt]

BTW, forgot to ask: What Comet did you get ? There are quite a few.

Here is also a nice Bencini collectors HP ( in japanese though ): www.topgabacho.com/Bencini.htm
Beautiful cameras and fun to use.

[col]

Hello berndt it's the model 'C'

[Berndt]

Thanks, Col. Looks slightly different from mine, but also beautiful.


Bencini Comet S by bokuwanihongasuki, on Flickr

[camerastoomany]

Hi Col,

Is the town hall shot a crop? How much?

[Berndt]

Is the town hall shot a crop? How much?

The Comet takes 3x4 cm pictures on 127 film. If using 35 mm film, the crop factor should be 4/2.4=1.66 then.

[Berndt]

And here comes the second culprit joining my recent "out of focus curse", mentioned in the Middl Flex thread before.

Okay, I didn't expect a "Leica like sharpness" from this camera anyway, but at least the quality of its "bigger brother", the Koroll 24s. For people, who are not familiar with this type of camera, it's a quite simple one. The lens can be screwed in and out a little bit, setting the focus, which needs to be guessed. Screwing the lens in and out, it becomes blocked by a mark, showing either infinity or the closest possible distance for taking a photograph ( here: 3 ft. ) I couldn't find anything for an adjustment yet.

However, the focus is quite poor ... either at close distances or at infinity. It even seems to me, that the lens is sharpest at infinity if it is set to the closest possible distance ( which means, screwed out quite a bit ). Here a test picture ( one of my friends has been kind enough being a model for this camera too ).

Also interesting, the 1/50 sec and f:11 are quite doubtful in my opinion. I used a 100 ASA film and all "normal daylight pictures" have been totally underexposed ( basically just black ), just in strong sunlight, something can be captured.

Any ideas, experiences ?

Berndt

[col]

The background looks nice and sharp...Okay and as for the sharpness of your friend.....if anyone tells you he is out of focus.. tell them is that classical soft focus

[mickeyobe]

Berndt,

Why not place some ground glass or other translucent material on the focus plane and see if the lens is capable of making sharp pictures. If not, surrender. If it is you can probably make the necessary adjustments which might just entail ignoring the red focus line and drawing on your own.

Mickey

[daveh]

I used to find that my old Iloca gave quite reasonable results with its simple front element focussing. It was amazing how one could gauge distances in the "old days". I do think that with rangefinders and other aids one stops being able to set the right distance manually. We forget what we don't need to know. It's the same thing with water. We just turn on a tap, but don't really know where to look for water if the reservoirs and wells are dry. Give an aborigine a similar situation and water flow from the driest desert.

[hansz]

My way to avoid distance issues... (and a test to get a picture in this message - hope it works)

IMG_0009 by hanszeiss, on Flickr

[hansz]

Wow, just to find out how to incorporate a picture from flickr...
(Of course you know the pic is from a Zeiss Ikon Contessa)
Hans

[mickeyobe]

Aug 1, 2012 3:34:20 GMT -5 hansz said:

My way to avoid distance issues... (and a test to get a picture in this message - hope it works)

IMG_0009 by hanszeiss, on Flickr

Hansz,

Using the hyperfocal setting works if the lens' markings are correct.
But if not how will one know where to set it?

Mickey

[hansz]

Mickey,

Just bought from a fleamarket about 20 rolls for € 1 a piece (over time) just for these kind of purposes: testing equipment. In this case the hyperfocal settings were correct, but you made a very valid point, in several cases it was way off - even with Zeiss Ikon equipment (some bias here:-).

Collecting equipment is one, but testing and working to-get-it-right is the thing I like most.

Hans