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A 24 mm x 24 mm not-so-toy new toy
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:02 am    Post subject: A 24 mm x 24 mm not-so-toy new toy Reply with quote
A new toy coming, a fifty years old Robot Star:


A stainless steel body, spring drive, semi-automatic -- it will shoot 25 frames at 5 frames/s if your finger is fast enough, 50 exposures on a standard 36 exp roll of 35 mm film, rotary shutter, X sync at all speeds, very robust -- it can take the g forces encountered by WWII fighter planes (a model with a larger film magazine was used by the German Luftwaffe to record hits), working temperature range exceeds what I can take (I've seen a range from -80C to +80C quoted), so it really isn't a toy. The standard lens is a Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 1.9/40, a Planar like double Gauss design, supposed to be very good, sharp already wide open. There is also a range of other lenses available.

The recommended way of shooting is rather Pythonesque Shocked (Note the quite decent size of the body, it is about the same size as e.g. a Rollei 35 or an Olympus XA, i.e. very small):

Explanation: the viewfinder can be switched from the normal back-to-front direction to left-to-front, there is a second ocular at the left edge of the body or upper/lower edge if the body turned 90 degrees -- may be quite handy at times.

Veijo


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice camera, Veijo, congrats!
Are you going to test it with film?
I look forward to see how it can perform.

Best regards,
Jes.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks a fun toy I look forward to seeing your results


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
What an interesting cam!
I hope you find someone who processes the 24x24 shots, or are you doing it yourself?


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
So these are the famous Robot cameras! At least I see one.
I am really curious about your feedback on this one.
-


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Jesito wrote:
Nice camera, Veijo, congrats!

Thanks Smile

Quote:
Are you going to test it with film?

Certainly, I do not just collect cameras, I've every intention of shooting with every camera I buy or at least with the lens, in this case with the camera.

Quote:
I look forward to see how it can perform.

Well, the lens is supposed to be good, and the camera is mechanically very stable compared to the 35 mm folder cameras I've been satisfied with so I expect it to perform well enough -- it is, after all, just a 35 mm camera with the weakest 33% of the frame cropped away.

Veijo


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Richard_D wrote:
Looks a fun toy I look forward to seeing your results


Seriously speaking, of all the cameras I have, this basically is perhaps furthest from a toy. The basic design has been applied to very many and very serious, demanding purposes. I haven't found a good account in English, but just looking through the pages at http://www.robot-camera.de/ROBOT_Kameras/robot_kameras.html will give an idea even if one doesn't understand German. The account at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_camera does give a reasonable outline in English.

A Robot Star has its limitations, it is a fully manual camera with just scale focusing, but it has one advantage: it will probably just work, even under conditions where most modern cameras fail, and being spring driven it is easier to handle with gloves on than a FED or a folder camera -- or a Rollei 35S, which I had been considering. The lenses are single coated, but the Xenon ought to be about as good as the contemporary Planar of my Rolleiflex 2.8E, the FOV of the 40 mm lens corresponds to an about 95 mm lens on a 6x6.

Veijo


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
What an interesting cam!

Yes, have a look at the www.robot-camera.de pages, there are quite unbelievable things.

Quote:
I hope you find someone who processes the 24x24 shots, or are you doing it yourself?


I'll probably have to do the scanning myself, but anyway, that would be the only cheap way to get a reasonable IQ even with the "normal" 24x36 frame size.

Veijo


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's a wonderfully designed camera and 3'm glad you're going to use it. I can understand purely collecting cameras but it wouldn't be for me. These things were built to be used.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Richard_D wrote:
These things were built to be used.


For sure, look at that film magazines availables :



Shocked


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Flor27 wrote:
Richard_D wrote:
These things were built to be used.


For sure, look at that film magazines availables :


<snip>

Good grief!


PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
vilva wrote:
A Robot Star has its limitations, it is a fully manual camera with just scale focusing, but it has one advantage: it will probably just work, even under conditions where most modern cameras fail, and being spring driven it is easier to handle with gloves on than a FED or a folder camera -- or a Rollei 35S, which I had been considering. The lenses are single coated, but the Xenon ought to be about as good as the contemporary Planar of my Rolleiflex 2.8E, the FOV of the 40 mm lens corresponds to an about 95 mm lens on a 6x6.

Veijo


It is some kind of reassurance to have a cam that will work under even extreme conditions. And if the results are only half as good as with a Rollei 35S, you can really expect some great shots. I once have used my mother-in-law's Rollei 35S ... wow, that's a great little cam!
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