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Deeper into Robots
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:33 am    Post subject: Deeper into Robots Reply with quote
After playing awhile with my Robot Star, I just couldn't resist the temptation to get also the most advanced version, i.e. Robot Royal 24, which has (proprietary) bayonet mount lenses, true serial shot capability and a coupled range finder. The camera wasn't exactly cheap, but it comes with two lenses, both a Xenar 2.8/45 and a Xenar 3.8/75, so I don't need to waste time hunting for the 75. The FOV of the 75 mm corresponds to a 180 mm lens on a 6x6.

The camera looks like this with the 3.8/75 mounted:


(photo loaned from the ebay ad, I'll replace it with a photo of my own as soon as I get the camera.)

It is 130 mm wide, 80 mm high and 36 mm deep, and weighs a hefty 1 kg+ with the lens -- no plastic parts anywhere. The RF base is about 60 mm so it ought to be pretty accurate. The winding knob of the earlier Robots has given way to a winding key at the right-hand end of the bottom, and the mechanism is wound with a back and forth movement like an old-time pocket watch. To the right of the lens is the normal/serial switch set at the N(ormal) position. In the S(erial) position the camera will take something like 5-6 shots/s as long as the shutter release is pushed and there is power left in the spring. To the left of the lens is the speed selector, B, 1/2 s -- 1/500 s. The "half-moon" below the lens is the bayonet latch, which must be moved to the right in order to release the lens (set first at infinity). The lens is taken off and inserted straight without twisting. The yellow dot at M near the lower left corner is probably just a cover for the contact, the cover of the X contact seems to be missing. The 75 mm lens needs an external viewfinder, which isn't provided, but I'll just add a suitable mask to a superfluous 35 mm viewfinder, which I acquired for the FED-2 before getting a 28-135 mm turret finder.

I bought this camera for the occasions when zone focusing isn't accurate enough. Of course, I have the FED-2 RF, but this Robot is a much better street camera with the very fast, very quiet, motorized film transport.

Veijo

PS. here is a link to a description of the 36 mm version: http://www.lumieresenboite.com/collection2.php?l=2&c=Berning_Robot_Royal_36 .


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like a gem! Congratulations to this wonderful cam!


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This Robot looks a lot more camera than the previous one (and a lot more beautiful)


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
Looks like a gem! Congratulations to this wonderful cam!


Thanks, let's just hope it performs as expected. However, my expectations are quite realistic as far as the IQ is concerned because flatbed scanning sets an upper limit to the achievable IQ -- however good the camera and the lenses are -- and I'm not going to invest in a proper film scanner, I can use medium format and/or the 5D when I really need more IQ.

BTW. hier gibt's etwas etwas gründlicher auf deutsch: http://www.lausch41.com/robotroyal1.htm

Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Juanma wrote:
This Robot looks a lot more camera than the previous one (and a lot more beautiful)


Well, there are people who actually prefer the first one. Ignoring the large knob on top of the body, it looks like an ordinary camera, and the knob is very essential, it is used for winding up the mechanism and it contains the main spring of the clockwork driving the whole thing. When you hold a Robot Star in your hand, it is really quite cute, and being relatively heavy it doesn't at all feel like a toy -- and it just works. Most of the later models of the Star are very utilitarian and just plain ugly compared to it. Robot Royal, however, tried to compete with e.g. Leica and Contax, and both the construction and the looks show it, and in some respects it is very advanced.

Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This camera has a motorized transport? Shocked


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Aesthetically they're both lovely cameras. Does this shoot in square format too?


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Richard_D wrote:
Does this shoot in square format too?


Yes, it does, you can discern it from the shape of the viewfinder. Robot Royal 36, on the other hand, is a normal 36x24 and has a rectangular viewfinder, c.f. the linked article. I first considered the 36, but I've already got several cameras of that format (a few folders, a FED-2, a Praktica LLC and a Contax 139Q), and the square format seemed to offer both new opportunities and new challenges, a way to keep the old brain ticking.

Veijo


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Excellent camera and beautiful lenses, Veijo. I'm sure that you'll make good use of this Robot!


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I really like the look of that. How many square frames will it produce on a 35mm roll?


PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vilva wrote:
BTW. hier gibt's etwas etwas gründlicher auf deutsch: http://www.lausch41.com/robotroyal1.htm


Veijo, you can speak German?


PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Farside wrote:
I really like the look of that. How many square frames will it produce on a 35mm roll?


55 frames, which with any luck can be shot with three windings of the clockwork -- and in three four second bursts if need be.

Veijo


PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Truly a camera ahead of its time. Not only BEAUTIFUL, but it looks like the quality if first rate. It is amazing, the spring-wound film driver!

You don't see these every day! Laughing


PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
vilva wrote:
BTW. hier gibt's etwas etwas gründlicher auf deutsch: http://www.lausch41.com/robotroyal1.htm


Veijo, you can speak German?


Well, I don't speak or write any too well now -- for lack of practice. Reading is OK, and I can follow spoken "standard" German reasonably well. I had seven years of German at school and used to read some after that, both novels and scientific literature covering various fields, and I still do watch (or just listen to) some German TV serials -- mostly just for the language.

Veijo


PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vilva wrote:
Farside wrote:
I really like the look of that. How many square frames will it produce on a 35mm roll?


55 frames, which with any luck can be shot with three windings of the clockwork -- and in three four second bursts if need be.


What an excellent little beastie. I'd never heard of them until now and it's the kind of thing I'd probably have bought years ago if I'd known they existed. I just love that type of engineering, going against the grain and making it work reliably.
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