Camera review

The Bencini Comet-S, this camera has been sat on the shelf in the lab longer than me, and that’s over 12 years, just a fraction of its existence as it was produced back in the 1950’s. A mid-century marvel, we call it the RACE CAR or Macchina da corsa. Built in Milano of sturdy metal and an unusually vertical-shaped body.

The camera offers two, yes that’s right, two control options, instantaneous (1/50 second) or ‘B’ shutter, with a fixed aperture and a focal length of 3ft to infinity. It features a piston-like shutter mechanism with a very satisfying sound and feel. The shutter can also fire repeatedly without winding the film on allowing you to do double exposure’s with ease.

Now for the fiddly bit, this camera is actually built for 127 film with a negative size of 3x4cm (a mini 120) which is no longer available. For us to use it we had to load a 35mm film onto the small metal spools and directly into the camera in the dark, having to trim the 35mm film into shorter lengths to allow it to fit within the camera. Once loaded and the red translucent exposure counters on the back covered with electrical tape, we were good to go!

As the camera is designed for a larger negative it exposes the WHOLE 35mm negative including the sprockets, which is very fun. Scroll through to see the results.

For now this beauty is back on the shelf.

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