The fine Spring weather has brought the old cars back to the Plaza Vieja in Old Town.
The stylish little Bilora Bella offers some basic controls over aperture, speed and focusing, and it makes maximal use of the 127 format, producing negative images that measure 4x6.5cm. That is nearly three times the size of the 35mm format, although the camera is no bigger than a compact 35.
I am able to shoot my 127 cameras using some old bulk Portra 160 which I roll into backing paper from a couple defunct film brands. I am always a little surprised to get eight mostly ok images from such an effort as fumbling in the dark through the process of getting the film properly onto the little 127 reels seems a real hit-or-miss project.
4 comments:
I had an Ansco Lancer (Bilora Bella 44) in my collection many years ago, but its latch was weak and the back kept falling off. So I never put film through it. Too bad, as you could still buy 127 at the drug store then.
That butterscotch 54(?) Chevy looks wonderful. In the last 10 years or so I've come to really appreciate this era of Chevy and now prefer it to the tri-fives.
I think the Bella 44 may have had a film compartment big enough to fit in a 35mm cartridge. That loses some frame area, but gains some convenience.
I looked up "Bilora Bella" on Flickr and found a picture of a 3C like mine with a 35mm cartridge installed. Mine is too tight a fit, but removing the flat tension spring would probably make it work with 35mm. The narrower film strip would bypass the slightly curved film plane, but that would likely be inconsequential. You would need to cover the ruby window and advance by estimation.
Slightly curved film plane? The must have been a technique to achieve better sharpness at the edges with a simple lens. Your examples have a bit of the expired film look, but otherwise impressive from such a simple camera.
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