Debonair 120

As it says on the camera, it is a Plastic Filmtastic 120. The Debonair takes elements of two famous cameras in a marriage of fun.

A online acquaintance turned me towards my new favorite plastic camera. He buys them and turns them into various pinhole cameras, but they are a lot of fun just as a 120 film camera.

This is the Debonair Plastic Filmtastic 120. It is a hybrid of the Diana and Holga camera and manufactured in Hong Kong in the 1980’s and it is not associated with the Diana Debonair or a Imperial Debonair by the Herbert George Camera Company.

Closer inspection lets you see it uses the Holga type lens with a body and backing similar to the Diana family. Although so similar to the two cameras, a few new features appear. The instructions list some of the stats.

• Fixed aperture of F/8 on a 60mm lens. Lens barrel has markings similar to a Holga
• Two shutter speeds: 1/60 for cloudy or 1/100 for Sunny on a switch above the lens
• Uncoupled shutter for multiple exposure
• A hot shoe that is only supposed to work on 1/60 speed. (my flash fired on both speeds)
• 6×4.5 frame format for 16 pictures on a 120 roll. There is no option to change to 6×6

And it has my favorite feature for No Fat Rolls: A Metal Tensioner on Both Sides!

I live in a subtropical climate with lots of sun, but I found the camera a bit light hungry. It does work with ISO 400 and 100, but I find I like the results from the 400 the best so far.

Some in B&W 100

I really like the Debonair. I was not that interested in the 6×4.5 format at first, but I find myself wanting to use this camera all the time. Being plastic, it is so lightweight and those film tensioners have not left me with a fat roll yet. I do have one gripe: I noticed a line across the negatives, but not consistently. I am going to have to inspect for burrs in the camera or if the tensioner has to much pressure on the roll.

Aloha!

Scritto da neanderthalis il 2013-06-24 in #gear #test #plastic #medium-format #120 #review #16