Retinette 1B tips?

srichards

srichards

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My Dad has leant me his Dad's old Retinette 1B. It's rather more primitive than I'm used to.

I notice the film advance isn't racking up exposures. It sounds like it is winding on and I think I tensioned the film right. Will it matter? I don't want to mangle the camera when it gets to the end of the film.

Is the selenium meter trustworthy in reasonable light levels or is taking an incident reading and doing from that a better idea? I have a light meter.

I was also thinking of taking one of those laser measuring devices out with me as I'm useless at judging distance :) Is there a DOF guide for each setting anywhere as it would be useful to find out how much the plain of focus varies with each aperture setting? I know the distance ring is calibrated at f4.
 
If it's anything like the Retina IIIc you have to preset the exposure counter to the number of shots on the roll so 24 or 36 generally and the the counter will count down to zero.

Have a look here for the manual http://www.cameramanuals.org/kodak_pdf/kodak_retinette_1b.pdf

Personally I wouldn't bother with the meter, it may give you a rough guide but you're probably better off using the sunny 16 rule or a separate meter.
 
Ah! I read that manual and it still didn't go in that it works backwards, doh.

I was thinking sunny 16.
 
Ugh. Well I don't like this. Tried it outside and what a faff on a stick.

The film didn't seem to be winding on properly either as it was getting tighter to cock the shutter even after just a few frames. Wound it back and pulled it out. Followed instructions for film loading so I have no idea why it's not ok.

Not having much luck with film cameras.

Fingers crossed the 7000 is more idiot proof ;)
 
Have you got an test film to use? I have a roll of Poundland film that I use to check the film advance in cameras that haven't been used for a while, I shoot the whole roll checking all the speeds (just by listening ) then test the rewind function.

As it's a test roll I try not to rewind it all the way and open the back to wind the last few frames.

I've had this roll for the last few years and it's saved wasting an awful lot of film ;)

It's also got TEST FILM - DO NOT PROCESS in big black letters just in case I'm tempted to grab a roll when I'm heading out the door in a hurry :lol:
 
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I used out of date jessops. I ended up cutting the film to get it out as it seemed to need too much effort to try and rewind it.

I normally listen to the camera without a film in first and it sounded ok so I bunged in a film. It's most likely to be user error in some way as I think every other camera I have used has a way of telling you when it has been misloaded....
 
Point & Guess! Thread is my first experiments with a Retinette 1a.

First up.. you ARE pressing the rewind ratchet release button before winding back, aren't you?

The under arm wind on lever is a little unusual to get used to, but shouldn't be too hard to operate.

Selenium meters? Used properly can be brilliant and better than a TTL meter in many modern cameras. I have two, the one with the retinette in the other post and a Leningrad 4. Both meter within 1/3 of a stop against a brand new Nikon.

Used with discretion, they offer more versatility than TTL metering, and require less discretion than F16-Sunny rule. Under-rated little gadget as far as I'm concerned.
 
Teflon-Mike said:
Point & Guess! Thread is my first experiments with a Retinette 1a.

First up.. you ARE pressing the rewind ratchet release button before winding back, aren't you?

The under arm wind on lever is a little unusual to get used to, but shouldn't be too hard to operate.

Selenium meters? Used properly can be brilliant and better than a TTL meter in many modern cameras. I have two, the one with the retinette in the other post and a Leningrad 4. Both meter within 1/3 of a stop against a brand new Nikon.

Used with discretion, they offer more versatility than TTL metering, and require less discretion than F16-Sunny rule. Under-rated little gadget as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

Definitely pressed rewind release ratchet. I followed the destructions carefully :)

The metering did seem quite good. It's just the actual controls are difficult for me to use. My first camera had manual wind and that would be stiff sometimes but this seemed too stiff to risk continuing to use. I might see if I can find somewhere local to check it over and maybe I'll risk another roll of Jessops ;)
 
Messed around with it this morning and it the wind on is ok when there is no film in it. Shutter sounds like it is firing at different speeds so that is ok.

I can only assume the film tension has to be completely right or it doesn't advance nicely. Manual says tension it with the rewind thingy until you feel a 'slight resistance'. I did that. But there's no way of knowing what they mean by slight resistance! Also film pulls out of canister with almost no resistance anyway.

I think using it a little with no film has ungummed it a bit though.
 
I have one myself that was a great uncles and i shot a roll with it but i never ran into any film winding issues other than the advance lever is a little awkward being on the bottom of the camera. These were consumer level cameras so easy to use, i just loaded it like any other camera and had no issues. I do tend to tension the film as much as i can before closing the back though, you can use the teeth on the rod next to the take up spool to grip the film and hold the tension, once the back is on just rewind until you feel the tension change, in other words slight resistance.

The metering is OK providing of course the selenium cell has survived the decades, test it against a camera you trust, i wouldn't use it for metering slide film but for negative films it does the job well enough in most situations i.e. not high contrast.
I just used mine with a Watameter rangefinder accessory on the top like so:

Kodak Retinette IB (Typ 037) Kitted Out by Morinaka., on Flickr
 
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