Getting some sun by Jon Marmor

 ©Jon Marmor, Getting some sun; Baby Brownie Special, ReraPan

A strange (Bencini) Comet appeared in 1961 / Una strana (Bencini) Cometa apparsa nel 1961 - by Alessandro Lisci

In the early 1960s, Bencini launched a 127-format roller camera, which, like other models such as Tanit, Comet, etc, produced 3 x 4cm negatives. These models are immediately recognizable by the vertical viewfinder and by the presence on the back of two red windows on left and right,  instead of only one, in the center. The frame numbers on 127 film's backing paper are for square format (4 x 4 cm) exposures. However, with the Cometa, each frame number is used twice: first when the number appears in the first window, and again when the same number appears in the second window. Thus, with this 3 x 4 cm format there are twice as many exposures as are possible with the square format.

Although the Cometa shares this and other features (such as construction of aluminum alloy, meniscus lens, etc) with many other cameras, the Cometa is distinguished by some original (eccentric?) solutions that make it a slightly different camera.

If you hand the Cometa to someone who is not familiar with it, asking them to open the back to remove / load the roll, many people will turn it over in their hands, perplexed, looking for the lock / unlock button or the door hinge (I've made this test personally :). In fact, there is neither: to open and close the back you have to rotate the metal ring around the eyepiece of the viewfinder, and so you screw or unscrew the back of the camera on the camera body (which recalls the diopter adjustment of the viewfinder in some cameras ).

 

Other unusual solutions are the winding knob and the flash mount located on the bottom of the camera, while the upper part remains completely free.

In fact all the other controls, including the shutter release (a generously sized lever), are located on the lens barrel. In the style of these economical cameras in general, there are not many controls, but controls are not completely absent, as they are in some such cameras. The focus is adjustable (from 1 meter to infinity, turning the ring on which the distance scale is engraved), and with two levers (one at the top and one at the bottom) you can choose respectively between two apertures (f9 and f16) and two shutter speeds (1/50 and 1/100 of a second), plus a B setting (there is no threaded connection for a cable release,  present in some other inexpensive models with the classic metal shutter button on the top of the camera). Also on the lens barrel is a plug to which a flash cable can be connected.

Even the general shape is different and original: almost square, with a pleasant mix of rounded and angular lines, and centered above the lens, the large rectangular viewfinder.

The plastic parts on the right and on the left of the viewfinder, in which the words "Bencini" and "Cometa" appear, seem to imitate and allude to the presence of an exposure cell that actually is not there (not unusual in these inexpensive cameras, such as the Yogi Bear 127 camera).

As in many Bencini cameras, the lens consists of a single meniscus lens.

Produced only in the 1960s and not even for the whole decade, the Cometa is finally, among Bencini cameras, also a bit rare: Over several years, compared to many models Bencini (Koroll, Comet, and others), which I have run across several times, I happened to run into a Cometa only once (and I took it home ). Perhaps it is a comet with a rather long orbital period, like Halley's comet. If it appears to me again in the course of my life I will be able to establish it and update this page; otherwise try to check the old eighteenth-century documents, medieval, Chinese, etc., which speak of sightings.

In addition to direct observation, the source of historical information (in Italian) on the Bencini Cometa is these beautiful pages dedicated to the history of Bencini.

 - Written by Alessandro Lisci
translated by Google Translate, with a little help from J. M. Golding

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Agli inizi degli anni ‘60 la Bencini lanciò sul mercato un’altra fotocamera per rulli di formato 127 che, come altri modelli quali Tanit, Comet, etc, produceva negativi di 3x4cm. Questi modelli sono immediatamente riconoscibili dal mirino a impostazione verticale e dalla presenza sul retro di due finestrelle rosse invece che una sola, in posizione centrale. I numeri di riferimento sono infatti quello del formato quadrato (4x4cm) stampati al centro della carta protettiva del film, sul quale si scatta però due volte: una prima volta quando il numero appare nella prima finestrella, e una seconda volta quando lo stesso numero appare nella seconda; ottenendo così un numero di pose doppio rispetto a quelle possibili col formato quadrato.

Seppur la Cometa condivida questo ed altri elementi (come la costruzione in lega d’alluminio, lente a menisco, etc) con molte altre fotocamere, la Cometa si distingue per alcune soluzioni originali (stravaganti?) che la rendono una fotocamera un po’ diversa e particolare:

Se si dà in mano la Cometa a qualcuno che non la conosce, chiedendogli di aprire il dorso per togliere/caricare il rullino, molte persone la rigireranno tra le mani perplessi, cercando la serratura un pulsante di sblocco o la cerniera dello sportello (fatto il test personalmente:). Che infatti, non ci sono: per aprire/chiudere il dorso bisogna ruotare la ghiera metallica attorno all'oculare del mirino, e così si avvita/svita il dorso della fotocamera sul corpo macchina (cosa che ricorda la regolazione diottrica del mirino in alcune fotocamere).

Altre soluzioni poco comuni sono la manopola di avvolgimento e l'innesto per il flash posti sul fondo della fotocamera, mentre la parte superiore resta completamente libera.

 

Infatti tutti gli altri comandi incluso il pulsante di scatto (una leva di dimensioni generose), sono posti sul barilotto dell'obiettivo. Comandi che- nello stile delle macchine di fascia economica- non sono poi molti, ma non sono nemmeno completamente assenti, come in alcune. La messa a fuoco è infatti regolabile (da 1 metro all'infinito, ruotando la ghiera su cui è incisa la scala delle distanze), e con due levette poste una in alto e una in basso si può scegliere rispettivamente tra due diaframmi (f9 e f16) e due tempi di posa (1/50 e 1/100 di secondo), più la posa B (manca però l'attacco filettato per lo scatto remoto, presente negli altri modelli -anche economici- col classico pulsante di scatto metallico nella parte superiore della fotocamera). Sempre sul barilotto dell’obiettivo, vi è lo spinotto a cui va collegato il cavetto del flash.

Anche la forma generale è diversa e originale: quasi quadrata, con un mix piacevole di linee tondeggianti e spigolose, e in asse sopra l’obiettivo, il grande mirino rettangolare.

La parti in plastica a destra e a sinistra del mirino, in cui appaiono la scritta “bencini” e “Cometa”, sembrano imitare e alludere alla presenza di una cellula esposimetrica che in realtà non c’è (una cosa tipica in molte fotocamere di fascia economica), come non c’è nessuna indicazione sul semplice mirino di tipo galileiano.
Così come in tante fotocamere della Bencini, l’obiettivo è costituito da una singola lente a menisco.

Prodotta solo negli anni ‘60 e nemmeno per tutto il decennio, la Cometa è infine, tra le fotocamere della Bencini, anche un po’ rara:
nel corso di diversi anni, rispetto a tanti modelli Bencini (Koroll, Comet ed altri ancora), in cui mi è capitato di imbattermi più volte volte, mi è capitato di incappare in una Cometa solo una volta (e me la sono portata a casa). Forse è una cometa con un periodo orbitale piuttosto lungo, come quella di Halley. Se mi apparirà un’altra volta nel corso della mia vita potrò stabilirlo e aggiornerò questa pagina, altrimenti provate a controllare i vecchi documenti settecenteschi, medievali, cinesi etc, che parlano di avvistamenti.

Oltre a quelle derivate dall’osservazione diretta, le notizie storiche sulla Bencini Cometa hanno come fonte queste belle pagine dedicate alla storia della Bencini.

- Alessandro Lisci

Beach as Flat as a Prairie by Jon Marmor

©Jon Marmor, Beach as Flat as a Prairie; Baby Brownie Special, ReraPan

One month till 127 Day!

July 127 Day is only a month away! It takes place on Thursday, the 12th of July (that's 12/7 in European).

127 Film Photography will feature 127-format photographs made on July 12, 2018, in a special exhibition. You're invited to participate!

No fees, no competition, just a friendly virtual community joining together to make 127-format photos on  July 12, 2018.

To show your work,

1. Take 127-format photographs on  July 12, 2018.
2. Send one of your photographs from July 12 to 127 Film Photography. Please email one jpg file, 500 pixels wide, to 127filmformat ~at~ gmail.com, by September 12, 2018. (That's a month longer than previously - hopefully this gives everyone enough time to get their film developed and scanned).
3. In the subject line of your email, type "July 2018 127 Day."
4. In the body of the email, please include the copyright symbol, your name, the title of the photograph, location, camera and film types, and your website address (or other link to your work). In that order. Please follow this example (you don't have to use initials if you prefer to be known by your full name!):
   
   ©J. M. Golding, Tidal, northern California, USA, Yogi Bear 127 camera, Rerapan, http://www.jmgolding.com

All types of 127 film format are welcome, whether the film began its existence as 127, or you used 35 mm film in a 127 camera, or you respooled 46mm film, or you cut down 120 film to 127 size ... or maybe you have a technique that I don't know about yet - if so, please tell me so I can share it with others who love this format (with full credit to you, of course - or perhaps you'd like to write a short article for 127 Film Photography about it!). Photos made on 127 film in a different size camera are welcome too.

127 Film Photography will publish all photos received (as long as they are in 127 format and do not contain images of nudity, violence, or exploitation).

I look forward to seeing your 127 Day photos!

Ava in Motion by Jon Marmor

©Jon Marmor, Ava in Motion; Baby Brownie Special, ReraPan

Here is the method I use to cut 120 film down for use in 127 cameras - by Luke Taylor

I am offering a 3D printed cutting device on eBay (blue and yellow thing in the pictures) but any method to cut the roll will work.  My first device was nothing more than a shallow hole cut into a block and a utility knife blade screwed to the block.  The device has a recess in the yellow part to contain the end of the roll while the blue arm that houses a razor blade is lowered into the film.  Here are step by step instructions on how to use it.

With great care, it is possible to do steps 1 through 6 in subdued light.

Step 1: If you want to use the film in a 4x4cm camera that shows the film’s frame numbers in a red window, pay close attention to the roll orientation in the picture. This will preserve the 4cm frame numbers.  (The backing paper on 120 film has frame numbers for both 4 cm and 6 cm images; we want to use the 4cm frame numbers for 127 format). If you do not plan to use the film in a 4x4 camera that has a red window then it does not matter which end of the roll is cut off.

Step 2:  This picture shows the film roll in the recess hole in the yellow side of the cutter.  It is important to keep pressure on the roll as it is rotated to keep it bottomed out in this hole.  This will ensure the cut is even and at the correct depth.  It is also important that the rotation of the film is such that the drag of the blade is “tightening” the rolled film on the spool.  The picture shows this direction with a red arrow. 

Step 3: Rotate the film with one hand and apply moderate pressure downward on the blue cutter arm with the other.  Continue until the blade has cut through all of the film and backing paper.  You will notice the drag of the blade will increase when it contacts the plastic spool.  Do not attempt to cut off the spool; only the film and backing paper are to be cut.

Step 4 & 5:  Unspool a length of the backing paper until the “Start” marking is seen.  Be careful not to unspool too much paper - that will expose the film to light.  I use a big metal binder clip (as seen in Picture 5) to hold the remaining film on the spool while I prepare to cut off the excess paper.  Fold the backing paper in half lengthwise and make a diagonal cut.  This technique will ensure a very symmetrical “V” in the paper.  Bottoming out this “V” in the 127-spool slot will perfectly center the paper in the spool.  I would not attempt to cut any shape by “eye” because it won’t be centered well and will cause difficulty when loading to 127 spool.  The length is not very critical.  We are just trying to remove the excess amount so the completed spool diameter will not be too big.

Step 6: You can get the paper started on the 127 spool and clip it as well to prepare it for the transfer steps.

The remaining steps must be done in a darkroom or changing bag.

Step 7 & 8: In complete darkness roll the backing paper tightly onto the 127 spool until you feel the tape on the start of the film.  Carefully peel the tape off and save it (I just stick it to the back of my other hand).*

Step 9:  Carefully tuck the film into the partially rolled backing paper and continue to roll the film and backing paper onto the 127 spool.

Step 10 & 11:  While transferring be sure to allow slack between the 120 and 127 spool for the film and backing paper.  Because the 120 and 127 spools are different diameters, a buildup of excess film will happen.  I have been successful with letting go of the 120 spool once the 127 has a decent amount of material on it.  It may also be necessary to “tighten” the film on the 127 spool as you go to ensure it is fully seated on the new, smaller diameter spool.

Step 12:  When you’ve rolled to the end of the film, tape the film to the backing paper using the tape we saved from the beginning (Step 8).  This is also the time to mark the backing paper to indicate where the film is starting.  I use little stickers for this.

I am hoping this article will encourage more people to shoot images for the next 127 Day. 

*Note about Lomography film: I have found the tape they use to be INSANELY sticky. This has caused a lot of frustration when transferring the tape, FYI. 

- Luke Taylor