For some reason or another I have 5 Rolls of EFKE 100-127 (Exp.2008) size film in my fridge, so when I saw the Bilora on that well known auction site I couldn’t resist.
It is in reasonable condition and I won it for a very good price.
So to test it out I took it with me to the “Outwoods” a popular location in the county I live in.
It was a pretty tough test for the camera as it was quite dark in the woods and the camera has few controls (2 shutter speeds and 2 aperture settings). I developed the film in Rodinal and hoped for the best.
The lens is uncoated so you get that soft look which I quite like.
The photo’s are more or less straight from the scanner, I had to make a mask out of card for the negatives to fit into the film holder.
I’ve 4 more rolls to use, I will try to be a bit kinder with the lighting for the next one.
I had an Ansco-badged camera based on this body a long time ago. I found that the latch lever being in the middle of the camera back was a terrible design, as I could all to easily nudge it, open the camera, and fog my film. Did you have trouble with that?
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Hello Jim, I found it awkward to open on my example, I wonder if the design is different to the one you had, I have seen various models of the Bella 44.
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Jim was it an Ansco Lancer ? Having looked at some pictures online it looks to have a different back than the Bilora 44.
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That’s a good thing. Because the back on my old Lancer was really dreadful, to the point of the camera being unusable!
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