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Ilford Sportsman 4

 

The technical stuff:

Camera Type:- 35mm Compact Viewfinder 

Lens Type:- Fixed, Cassar 45mm f2.8 - f22

Shutter:- Prontor 125, 3 speed + B 30/60/125

 

 

This one came to me in very poor condition, it had been languishing on a table at a car boot sale in wet and dismal winter conditions. The shutter was sticking at all speeds, the lens was so bad you couldn't see daylight through it and the bodywork was generally in need of some refurbishment. The corners of the leatherette lifting up and one of the front panels was dented in.  after a bit of effort and tlc these problems had been resolved and the camera was ready for action. This leads me to the problem with the first two rolls of film. In the cleaning process I had removed the sticky grease from the thread of the front lens and this was now quite loose. The problem was that no matter how steadily I held the camera, because of the clunky shutter it was making the front lens shake. I re-greased the thread and all is well again. 

I have seen two shutter/lens combinations fitted to this model one being the Dacora/Vario, as fitted to previous models, and the other (this one) Cassar/Prontor. I have to say that the Vario shutter is better, it has a much smoother action, but the Cassar is a superior lens. So ideally I would prefer to see a Cassar/Vario combination but I haven't come across one yet.

 

 

 

 

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