Sunday, April 15, 2007

Photographica: The FED 3b & the Balda Super Baldax

Earlier this week I received my FED 3b 35mm rangefinder camera and I must say that I'm quite impressed with it. My expectations that the FED might be a really great camera have been exceeded. The FED 3b really is a great camera!

The FED 3b is not without it's quirks, however. The manual is here and it's highly recommended that one commit the details to memory. In many respects the operations of the FED 3b are contrary to typical camera operations and failing to adjust the shutter speed or rewind the film correctly could at best ruin a few shots or at worst wreck the camera entirely! I wrote all the necessary details down on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet.

Beyond the quirks, the FED 3b is a super nice camera to use. It fits nicely in one's hand and all the controls are within easy reach. The winding lever is a definite plus. The lack of lugs for a on-camera strap are a bit of a minus. Frankly, the FED 3B just looks swellegant. The f/2.8 Industar 61 lens is truly remarkable for clarity and crispness and easily on par with Zeiss lenses. I've been told that the Jupiter 8 lens excels the Industar and is on par with a Sumicron. Goodness!

These Soviet era rangefinder cameras are pretty cheap, too. Mine was $49 with a worn, but serviceable case. Definitely a bargain for such a nice camera!

The Balda Super Baldax 6x6 rangefinder arrived, too. A truly nice, petite coupled rangefinder medium format camera with an f/3.5 Baldanar lens and ever ready case ( and it's a true ever ready case, too. A triumph of German precision!). The Super Baldax also features an automatic frame counter and double exposure prevention mechanism ... and this is where my learning curve began.

I suppose it would be a good idea to do a lot of research on a vintage camera before loading it up with film. I should have dug a little deeper with my online research and perhaps I would have saved myself two rolls of film, but ... alas! My initial understanding of the film advance/frame counting mechanism was that one loaded the film, advanced the film by ratcheting the advance knob counter clockwise-clockwise until the number 1 appeared in the ruby window, pushed the serrated tab to the right, turned the film advance knob counter clockwise until the number 1 appeared in the frame counting window, exposed the first frame and then ratcheted the counter clockwise-clockwise and the film would be advanced to the second frame, the number in the ruby window and frame counter aligning perfectly. Well, not so. It became evident immediately that there was going to be some severe overlapping of exposures. Two rolls of film down and I was not pleased.

I then did some research. Finding two other Super Baldax users, I emailed them detailing my problem and asking for advice or assistance. One of the Super Baldax users replied saying he'd had similar troubles and assumed the film advance mechanism was faulty. He'd pretty much given up on the camera. A posting in a Balda camera group on Flickr mentioned having the same problem with severe overlapping. Ah, frustration!

But a chance remark pointed the way toward a solution. One user mentioned that in the 1950s, film emulsion and the paper backing on roll film was thicker than the emulsion and paper backing we use today. These vintage frame counting mechanisms are calibrated to expect that thickness and, not getting it, cause the film not to advance properly causing the overlapping. I've experienced a similar problem with my Ikoflex twin lens. This lead me to think: would it be possible to fool the mechanism by adding some thickness to the core of the spool? That evening I cut a piece of typing paper into a strip 2 1/2 inches wide by 8 inches long and tightly wrapped that around the core of an empty spool. Salvaging one of the ruined rolls of film, I rewound it. Loading the Baldax up as per usual, I taped the leader of the dummy roll to the padded spool core and wound the camera up so the number 1 was showing in the ruby window, adjusted the frame counter to number 1 and ...

Before I continue on, I should tell you about something else I learned via Matt Denton's page on his Balda camera. Rather than ratcheting back and forth to advance the film, one should turn the film advance knob counter clockwise until it can't go any farther, then turn it clockwise until it stops. This is the frame-to-frame measurement. It's simple once you know.

... after making the first exposure, advanced the film (see above) and ... success! Frame number 2 in the counter window, frame number 2 in the ruby window. I ran this padded spool test several times until I was satisfied that it truly worked. Like clcokwork every time.

I conducted a similar test with my Ikoflex and it worked there, too. Woo hoo!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

So, would all (Super-)Baldax cameras then have this problem, i.e. I couldn't use modern film without respooling?
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