I parted with a little bit of cash at the Shanghai Antique Market on my recent visit, and became the proud owner of two vintage Seagull cameras. I have mixed feelings about the transaction. I bargained pretty hard and got two cameras for 400 RMB, down from the seller's original asking price of 1300 RMB. I also earned the approval of a tough crowd of about a dozen Chinese and a few tourists onlookers, by conducting the entire transaction in Chinese. However, what I essentially got was one semi-functional twin lens reflex camera, and one groovy-looking and heavy bookend. All for the not-so rock-bottom price of US $60. Ouch!
It was a gamble, seeing as I know almost nothing about analog cameras. I checked the cameras out as best I could, but under the pressure of the moment, I wasn't cool-headed enough to get a clear picture of their condition. And their condition was not good. The first camera, a c.1964 Seagull 203 rangefinder that has an old-style folding bellows and shoots 120 roll film, is basically garbage. First, and least consequentially, the coupled EV-scale is broken or perhaps just misaligned. Second, the shutter is stuck and doesn't fire (although it was firing when I tested it at the market...hmmm). I am disappointed as I have always wanted to try out a rangefinder camera, but perhaps I will need to invest more than $30 for that experience.
(image courtesy Camerapedia.org)
The second camera the Seagull 4B, a box-style twin lens reflex produced sometime in the late 60's. These cameras are a cheap Chinese knock-off of the more famous German Rolleicord, which is a fine camera, but the Seagull is itself known for pin-sharp optics. Unfortunately, its also known for its unreliability and tendency to break down. Specifically, the shutter freezes up and refuses to fire, perhaps a victim of lubricant gone bad. My Seagull 4B, fortunately, seems to be mechanically sound. To my dismay, however, closer inspection revealed some kind of fuzzy organism growing inside the photographic objective lens. There was no solution but to take it apart and clean it. It was like Seagull open-heart surgery performed by an untrained but sympathetic soul.
It went well. The objective was successfully removed, cleaned, and replaced.
While I was at it, I decided to give my Seagull a makeover. I had to peel off the original cheesy black leatherette to dismantle it anyway, so naturally I replaced the leatherette with distressed brown leather. Looking good, but working? I still didn't know!
The thing about a camera like this, that is a challenge to the modern photographer, is that it doesn't have a built-in light meter, and I don't own a hand-held light meter. Thankfully I had recently learned the "Sunny 16" rule in my photography class. Sunny 16 says that if its a sunny day, the proper exposure at f/16 will always be approximately equal to the ISO of the film you are using. So armed with this knowledge, I set off on a sunny day to see how the camera performs.
I think its not bad, especially for $30 (er...$60). Its a real charmer and fun to use. Everything works. The pop-up waist level finder is huge and bright, but it makes composing a photograph a real challenge because the image seen in the finder is reversed. It seems to have a light leak, which is something I can try to fix, but its not too serious and wasn't apparent in all the frames I shot. I have a roll of B/W film at the developer in Beijing right now, can't wait to see how they turned out!
By the way, if you're interested or just curious, the same camera in unknown condition is currently on Ebay for US $118 + $40 shipping! Makes mine sound like a bargain!
