Some Fair Images from the Debonair Camera

In my last post, I described buying a plastic Debonair camera from the store of the Film Photography Project. Turns out I was the first person to purchase the camera from the FPP store! On Friday, I took my Debonair around campus and into downtown Ann Arbor to see what I could photograph during the huge Ann Arbor Art Fair. I shot all 16 frames and developed the film yesterday morning. I used a roll of Freestyle's Arista 100 Ultra (which appears to be a Foma film), and developed it in T-max RS developer for about 5.5 minutes. Considering that the nominal exposure of the Debonair is 1/100 @ f/8, a sunny day will produce really bright highlights on light surfaces, and with the Art Fairs using many white-topped booths, it definitely shows. However, mid-tones look good. Here are a few of my favorite images:

Braids.

Different Strokes

Mr. Jo Jangles, one man band.

Overall, I like this camera a lot better than the old Diana, and it seems to be better constructed than the Holga, too. The rectangular 6x4.5 cm frame is fine, and it is easy to hold the camera and shoot in landscape mode. It has a standard flash shoe, so I will carry a small fill flash with me next time.

Today's Mail --The Debonair Camera

A few days ago I was on the Film Photography Project's web site and saw they were selling a 120 plastic camera for the unheard of price of $19.99. If you have paid any attention to the prices of Holgas and Dianas, this is a bargain! I immediately ordered it, and it arrived today.

The FPP folks are great, and included some extras, including a roll of expired Ektachrome 100 to shoot. The Debonair was made in Hong Kong, and I have no idea when it was made, but probably not too long ago. However the FPP folks got a supply of these, I commend them for pricing the camera so reasonably. It takes 120 film and instead of the typical square format, the Debonair has a rectangular 6x4.5 cm mask, giving you 16 images per roll. The lens has portrait, group, and landscape focus settings (from about 5 feet to infinity), and a maximum aperture of f/8. The shutter speed is 1/100 sec. So, for a sunny day, I'll use ISO 100 film. I usually try to include sample images when I write about a camera, but you'll have to wait until I shoot a roll with this fun crappy camera. Meanwhile, if you are interested in the Debonair, I would order one ASAP, as I have no idea how many they have in stock.