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Mindseye
Tinkerer
Username: Mindseye
Post Number: 2
Registered: 09-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 24, 2012 - 04:39 am: | 
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hi there, im new to this forum and im afraid i also posted this in another thread before i found this one.
i have recently acquired a Dacora super dignette 1:2.8/45mm pronto LK which i am checking out.. anyone adise me on how to check if the light meter is working and if the aperature blades ae ok or sticky?
many thanks Nikky |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 300
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 24, 2012 - 08:14 am: |
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Your best bet on the light meter is to set the ASA at something you're fairly familiar with and aim it at a light source. Check if you get a "sunny 16" reading, i.e. F16 at the reciprocal of shutter speed should be at or about the ASA rating, so a sunny scene should be about 1/125 at F16 if ASA is around 100. If you get something close to that, and the needle responds to changes in light, you're probably OK.
For aperture blades, I'd open the back of the camera, and click the shutter at varying shutter speeds, looking through from behind. Select a shutter speed and shoot with lens wide open. Now do the same thing with lens stopped down all the way. If the two exposures are the same duration and light comes through the hole, the aperture blades are probably working all right. You can do the same thing at progressively faster speeds, and if there's sticking, eventually you should see it as a failure, partial or complete, to get light through the shutter. |
Mindseye
Tinkerer
Username: Mindseye
Post Number: 3
Registered: 09-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 24, 2012 - 06:23 pm: |
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thankyou for your helpful reply M.currie
the good news is that the aperature blades so seem to be ok.. proof in the shooting i guess.
the light meter however still eludes me..i have sent 1/125 at F16 and do see the needle move, but i have no idea how read that needle movement ,
( sorry to be dim , but this is the first time i have used a camera like this)
wish i had a manual.. do you know of a camera that is similar to the Dacora super dignette 1:2.8/45mm pronto LK that i may be able to get a maunal for ? |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 301
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2012 - 07:42 am: |
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As I understand the Dacora (just from reading, no direct experience) the meter is not coupled to the shutter, so all you do is read the meter and apply the reading to setting the camera. You'll have to decide if the meter is still accurate enough to depend on. As for general reading of the movement, you can put an obstacle in front of the selenium cell, and watch the needle, which way it moves when you darken it. If there's any offset or compensation required, this will give you a hint which way to adjust the camera. Chances are it's going to be a pretty vague reading, good for average light reading and films with a fair latitude but needing some experience to second-guess if you have backlighting or shadows to deal with.
Here's the Butkus manual page. He has no manual listed, but there's an address there by which you may be able to contact him for an unlisted one.
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/other_manuals.htm
Here's a link I found to a review of what appears to be the camera itself, which at least mentions the uncoupled meter, and suggests that you may get very good pictures from it when you get the exposures figured out! It also mentions and Ilford twin, for which I did not yet find a manual either.
http://www.lomography.com/magazine/reviews/2009/05/07/dacora-dignette-super-e-b- a-time-traveller |
Msiegel
Tinkerer
Username: Msiegel
Post Number: 306
Registered: 03-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2012 - 10:57 am: |
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I found something on the Ilford version here:
http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Sportsman_Auto_and_ARF.html
Quote from that site:
The user operates the camera by selecting a shutter speed on the lens barrel and then turns the aperture ring until a red needle coincides with the (selenium cell driven) white needle in the cut out on the (LHS) camera top plate or in the rectangular green field visible in the top of the viewfinder.
End quote.
Usually the red triangle (needle) has just an mechanic link to the aperture while the white needle moves depending on selected shutter speed and light. This system is basically found in various versions even in SLR cameras (Canon e.g. comes to my mind)
So in short: If the needles coincide the correct f-stop/shutter speed combination is selected.
Hope this helps. |
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