This Kalimar Type A was a curious Thrift find from earlier this winter. The camera was in nearly perfect aesthetic condition. However, the control dials on the front seemed frozen stiff. I had heard of the controls on other old cameras locking into place due to the old grease that hardened. Those cameras were fixed with heat from a blow dryer. For $8, I figured it was worth a shot trying to get it to work.
Kalimar A 35mm CAMERA // FUJIFILM 400 Color Negative 35mm
Sure enough, with a little bit of heat, it seemed like the grease loosened up. This allowed me to work the shutter and aperture! the focus was stuck at infinity, but that wasn’t too much of a problem.
the first couple of shots came out great. eventually, there was some noticeable noise when advancing the film. Although I DIDN’T know it at the time, there was DEFINITELY some issues with the FILM advance. The camera’s mechanical issues turned out for some really fun double exposures.
the boise river, 5 min from my house
Nikki and I took a quick trip down to Twin Falls, ID. The next couple of images were from that trip.
Although this camera was not in perfect working condition, I consider this a SUCCESS story. I had a lot of fun problem-solving the various issues. However, fixing the film advance seems out of my SKILL SET. Working the quirky 2-step shutter was a joyful experience. Getting a roll of double exposures back from the lab was an unexpected treat. This broken camera HAPPILY lives on a shelf in my house.
THX
LAWRENCe
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