Chinon CE-5 - A Camera from the 1980s

It uses Pentax K mount, which mean there are many reasonable priced lenses available.  I got this camera for £12 and described as spare or repair.  It was in poor state, but the shutter fired after fitting new batteries.  Some of the leatherette were missing.  I gave it a good clean up, replaced the light seals, mirror bumper.  Also replaced the leatherette with the red vinyl.  It looks like a completely different camera.  Also managed to get hold of a power winder on eBay bundled with another purchase.  You could say it was for free.  In the 80s', I always wanted a power winder.  It was so cool and professional.  Of course, I would not carry one now, it is just too heavy and need another four AA batteries.

The CE5 is quite conventional and innovative at the same time.  It can shoot in manual or aperture priority and has a maximum shutter speed of 1/2000s  Self timer can be set to 5s or 10s.  There is a window on top of the viewfinder to see the aperture selected on the lens.  That is a wonderful idea and wondered why not many camera have this feature.  The camera does need batteries to operate.  It uses  tow LR44 batteries inserted from the bottom.  The innovation of this camera is the ability to fit auto focus lens on the camera.  The three electrical contacts on the top left of the lens mount are for the auto focus lens to connect to the camera.  I have never seen any of these lenses anywhere and must be very rare.  I have no idea how good they were or how fast.

The handling of the camera is very conventional for SLRs from the 80/90s.  Nothing unusual or different.  I am a sucker for the under dog and often wondered why no one remembers Chinon.  The cameras they made are quite good and quite a lot cheaper than the 1st tier companies like Canon, Nikon and Pentax, etc.  What ever the reason, Chinon cameras are very good value now.  I would highly recommend picking up one of these cameras for film photography.

I loaded the camera with Kodak ColorPlus 200 film for some street portraits.

The photos came out OK.  My C41 developer was getting exhausted and it showed in the negatives.  I need to get some new chemical before developing the next roll of film.  I need to shoot more with this camera.

Ricoh KR10 - A Budget SLR from 80s with Pentax K Mount

 I picked up this camera to give away as a gift for Christmas.  I paid £12 including postage as an untested camera from eBay.  In another auction, I paid £12 for a Ricoh Rikenon 50mm F2  lens.  Once received, I only had to clean up the body and put in two LR44 batteries and the camera bust into life and fully working.  I did have the replace the light seals and mirror bumper.  They were in a sorry state.  The lens was in remarkable condition, almost like new.  This will make a wonderful gift for Christmas.  Of course I had to test the camera with a roll of film to make sure it is fully working.

This camera does not work without battery, except X, which is 1/90s.  No other speeds are available.  It also has auto mode, which is aperture priority.  The shutter speed the camera selected is indicated in the view finder with a needle.  Handling wise, it is very standard without any surprise.  There is a mechanical self timer at the front which is about 10s delay.  Shutter speeds available ranges from B, 4s to 1/1000s.  I have not seen a camera that has speed down to 4s.  One feature is the film winding lever act as a on/off switch.  When pushed in, the camera is off and does not fire.  You do have to pull it out to turn on the caemra.

The mirror slap is quite loud though.  It has a distinctive mirror slap noise.  Definitely not a stealth camera.  There is no mirror lock up.  Matched with the 50mm lens. it makes for a very budget friendly setup.

I loaded the camera with Fomapan 400 and headed to Cambridge for some street photography.  The photos came out very well.  Exposures were accurate and I did not have to make many adjustments to the scans.

I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who wants a 35mm film camera to try.  Don't spend too much money in case film photography is not for you.