Smena 8m Test Roll - fun little cam

tunalegs

Pretended Artist
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Finally put a roll of Ektar through a late, all black Smena 8m that I purchased years ago then never used.


I had a bit of a time guestimating the distances in metric (I'm very good at it in feet) and the ergonomics of the camera make it very prone to suffering motion blur through camera shake.


When held still though it produces pretty sharp results. Two serious faults though. Strong skylight is reflected off of the bottom of the film gate, resulting in weird flare with a rather abrupt and noticeable cut off across the tops of frames. And two, the viewfinder is not accurate at all. It shows less than the frame captures, but to an extent far larger than usual for an old camera (ie. this viewfinder more than compensates for a slide holder's slight cropping).


Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr


Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr


Note flare across the top of this frame caused by internal reflection! ^^^^


lamp by Berang Berang, on Flickr


corner by Berang Berang, on Flickr


mask by Berang Berang, on Flickr


leaf by Berang Berang, on Flickr


saab by Berang Berang, on Flickr


There's something about a cheap plastic camera that inspires a carefree mood behind the viewfinder, but unfortunately the inaccurate viewfinder kills this joy when you see most of the results. :D
 
Nice performance from a neat camera and "no batteries required" - that's a bonus.

What t needs is a BLIK RF or any other make but I guess the BLIK matches the focusing scale.

Regards, David
 
Intresting it looks so sharp as to look at you'd think it would be a bit naff as its very basic looking.

Only thing I can think of is to try an external VF, that might correct the Parallax problem with the built in being so far to the side.
 
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