Her Daintiness

[shadowfox]

There is no other word that can more aptly describes this classic:



The seller said that he (or she) never seen one this clean, true enough, it's jewel like appearance was enhanced by the brushed metal finish.  No pitting or corrosion in sight.



With a nub as a film advance lever, smooth too.



The lens is equally sparkly and dainty. 
Moreover, the RF patch is accurate, and so is the shutter.

What's not to like?

[martolod]

luvverly

[radiophoto]

Corblimey, 'at's a noice bit o'metal.    Sorry, following Kalle always brings out the Aussie in me.

Beautiful camera, Will, and very nice pics.  Looking forward to your first pics from it.

[martolod]

 :cool:

[LarryD]

Nice little camera there. You plan on using it this week?

[br1078lum]

Wonder if you'll ever find the other lenses for it?

PF

[jamesmck]

That is a handsome camera!

[Todd G]

I have a simpler version Paxette I.  It too appeared nearly new and unused when I acquired it several years ago.  It's a scale-focus, viewfinder camera, lacking the rangefinder and interchangeable lens, and has a simpler shutter with only four speeds plus B.  Dainty they are.  But Braun put considerable thought into some of the design features.

Mine also has the little nub film advance, which is a two-stroke arrangement.  First full stroke advances the film and the second half stroke tensions the shutter.  Notice the split on the advance wheel?  Both top and bottom halves turn together, counter-clockwise, as the lever is advanced, but on the return only the top half rotates back clockwise to the rest position.

A second thing I find interesting is the oversized rewind knob does not turn as the film is advanced.  It's completely disengaged from the rewind fork until you pull up on the rewind knob about a quarter of an inch.

And loading film is a pure joy for anyone whose ever fumbled with trying to bottom load a Barnack Leica.  The entire back comes off.  And not just the back, but the bottom, ends and clear around to the front.  Everything you see in Will's third photo, from the very left edge of the square plate holding the lens mount, clear around to the right edge of this same square plate comes off as one piece.  Then there's a hinged tab under the film cassette that swings out to remove it.  And the pressure plate is a hinged plate that swings up to uncover the film gate.

But rewinding can be a bit less fun.  I like the mushroom shaped top of the rewind button on Will's camera.  This is the small button on top, just inside from the advance wheel.  The one on mine is a straight shaft of uniform diameter, and slightly rounded on top.  This must be held in fully while rewinding, which can be a real thumb-puncturing experience for a long roll.

[shadowfox]

Todd, that's a nice impression.

I'm nodding in agreement reading it.
The whole bottom and back part coming off reminds me of the Voigtlander VF101 or Rollei 35,
but this camera is clearly older than those two, so who is copying whose design?

Also the film pressure plate that has hinges, bears an uncanny resemblance to those two.

Overall, this camera looks old, shutter tripper on the shutter itself, like large format lenses.
The shutter sounds 'big' when tripped, which is odd coming from a camera this small.

I picked a Fuji 200 roll and ready for this weekend, hopefully will get something to scan next week from this guy.

[LarryD]

I can't wait to see the results...

[Hoosier_Rich]

Looks great! I can't wait to see the results Will.

[shadowfox]

Alright, loaded the film in.
It's tricky (and I've read cautions from owners) that this little camera likes to chew film apart at the sprocket.

At first try, it seems everything is okay, I closed the back and start winding a few frames.  But something does not feel right, it's not advancing smoothly.

Following my gut feeling, I opened the back again finding the sprocket had not moved the film at all, in fact, it tore the film a bit.  Just like what the cautionary tales said it would happen.

The culprit is (are) sprocket teeth that are quite sharp, and not big enough to prevent film from slipping when there's not enough tension yet... like when we load it, duh!

So I had to make sure that the film sprocket holes fall onto the sprockets when they are exactly 90 degrees vertically, allowing the film hole to be flat at their base, thus a firm grip; and then the film pressure plate pressed around the sprocket (on top of the film) ensuring that the film stays flat as I start to advance it (with the back open).

I think this time I got it.  After I close the back, I start advancing two frames, it feels better this time.  As Todd mentioned before, the film rewind dial *do not* rotate with the film.

So, let's see if I would give out a smile of joy or irony at the end of the roll...

[shadowfox]

* Wide open, closest focusing.  A bit swirley, but interesting...



* Morning Shade
I think this one is f/4, my favorite from the set


 
* Dude, One Way!
Framing is not as bad, but the frame size seems to be smaller than the typical "full-frame" because there's a nice round black border in every picture (I cropped it, because it clashes with my white border).



* Canonical
At f/8 and 1/300th shutter speed, things sharpens up quite nicely



* Morning Rest
A Pete, resting in the morning, before continuing on its journey.

An Impression:
The camera is surprisingly quite nice to use, the viewfinder is a bit squinty, but I've seen far worse
Rangefinder focusing is good except for some of my attempts to close-focus that ended up with a blurred photos.  I chalked those up as operator's non-steady hands (or footings).  Oh, and unloading the film is just as un-fun as Todd described.  I had to held the tiny button all the way while inching the film back into the cartridge using the oversized but cumbersomely designed rewind dial.  This makes me miss the smoothness and sureness of rewinding film on my OM-1.

The lens is above average, but I wouldn't call it brilliant.  It does its job at f/4 and above, which is not bad at all.  This test roll only makes me want to try the other lenses made for this camera.  Would the Xenar be better? How about the portrait length ones? Did anyone ever make a Biotar or Sonnar -class lens for this system?

Overall, I would classify this one alongside the Konica Pearl in terms of ease-of-use. And finally, this may seem trivial to some of you, but I *really like* the shutter sound.

[LarryD]

Love them. The little girl is just fine.

[radiophoto]

Hey, not bad!  Of course, with all of the problems you described, I would not, were this my camera, use it very often.  Nice tale-telling, Will.