I like small cameras. They have a special charm to them that I cannot resist. I'd always wanted to have one of those Baby Tengors buecause of their minimalistic design and, well, because they're so tiny and childlike. So when I saw that poor-lit, blurry photo of a Baby Tengor on one auction site, I knew I had to try my luck. I placed a bid and won. I got lucky: I paid just about $20. Double lucky, may I say, because the example was a rare, focusable version. Currently up on one auction, the same rare version costs $128.
When it landed at my place, I made an eeky sound and almost jumped with joy. It's just so cute! So small, well built and sweetly heavy. And looks just excellent, almost no scratches on this tiny, wonderful 1930' metal box. But that's just the looks. As soon as I had the 127 film (Rollei Retro 80S), I put a roll inside. When I saw the results, I got puzzled and shot another roll. Well... these are samples from both films.
The quality of image may not be the strongest side of this camera, even though photo number one shows potential. It may very well be that what you see in the rest of the photos is just my shaky hands and bad focusing. I'll have to put another roll through and probably use a tripod.
A bit on technicalities.
Camera's full name is (his highness) Zeiss Ikon Baby Box Tengor 54/18 (E). The focusing model is the earliest of the Baby Tengor series and dates from 1931. The lens is Novar Anastigmat 1:6.3 F=5cm (the aperture ring moves smoothly, no clicks, minimum aperture is 11). There are three shutter settings: I, B and T, Instant time being around 1/15 I presume. It takes 3x4cm pictures on 127 film.
I like small cameras. They have a special charm to them that I cannot resist. I'd always wanted to have one of those Baby Tengors buecause of their minimalistic design and, well, because they're so tiny and childlike. So when I saw that poor-lit, blurry photo of a Baby Tengor on one auction site, I knew I had to try my luck. I placed a bid and won. I got lucky: I paid just about $20. Double lucky, may I say, because the example was a rare, focusable version. Currently up on one auction, the same rare version costs $128.
When it landed at my place, I made an eeky sound and almost jumped with joy. It's just so cute! So small, well built and sweetly heavy. And looks just excellent, almost no scratches on this tiny, wonderful 1930' metal box. But that's just the looks. As soon as I had the 127 film (Rollei Retro 80S), I put a roll inside. When I saw the results, I got puzzled and shot another roll. Well... these are samples from both films.
The quality of image may not be the strongest side of this camera, even though photo number one shows potential. It may very well be that what you see in the rest of the photos is just my shaky hands and bad focusing. I'll have to put another roll through and probably use a tripod.
A bit on technicalities.
Camera's full name is (his highness) Zeiss Ikon Baby Box Tengor 54/18 (E). The focusing model is the earliest of the Baby Tengor series and dates from 1931. The lens is Novar Anastigmat 1:6.3 F=5cm (the aperture ring moves smoothly, no clicks, minimum aperture is 11). There are three shutter settings: I, B and T, Instant time being around 1/15 I presume. It takes 3x4cm pictures on 127 film.
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