Three more Rapid film cameras (this time bought just for the cassettes)

Three more Rapid film cameras (this time bought just for the cassettes)

I'm getting quite into using Rapid cassettes just lately. So much so that I was dreaming about it the other night. I've chosen a half-frame Rapid camera, the Welta Penti II, as my camera of choice for the Frugal Film Project, and I have enough cassettes for that, but I think I need a few more cassettes so that I can have several films being used in several cameras at the same time.

Including the expired film Rapid cassette I have five in total, but I'm keen to get more. First of all I checked out that popular auction site, eBay,  but getting individual cassettes is quite expensive, from 18€ upwards, including shipping. That was a little too steep for me, so I took a different tack.

I obtained my original Agfa Iso-Rapid IF cameras from the Kamerastore website for the princely sum of 8€ apiece, and among these collected four Rapid cassettes. I therefore took a look at the other Rapid cameras on the website and found three more that were advertised as having cassettes, a Ricoh 35 K Rapid, which included two cassettes, and two more Agfa Iso-Rapid IFs, which had one cassette each. Thus I could get some cheap cameras to play with for a lower price than going to eBay.

Of course,  all the cameras were in the 'Not Passed' category,  they were, 'Untested ... and found to have flaws that will affect typical use.' For example, in the Ricoh 35 K Rapid, 'The bulb doesn't work and there is some oil on the aperture blades,' but it came with two Rapid canisters, and 'otherwise it is in good working condition!' The Agfa Iso-Rapid IFs had some haze on the lens and viewfinder, but otherwise were also in working condition. Both came with one Rapid canister each.

The Agfa Iso-Rapid IF cameras are basic little fixed focus point and shoot cameras from the 60s and 70s, a bit like an updated Agfa Clack but with that typical boxy 60s styling. They have two shutter speeds, 1/40s for cloudy  weather or flash sync, and 1/80s for sunny conditions, and three apertures of f8, f11, and f16. 

The Agfas were in nice condition, though the viewfinder was hazy in one and the other had a hazy lens. I removed the lens assembly from the hazy lens camera to reveal a primitive looking aperture/shutter assembly, very close to the Agfa Clack in design. The lens was a single-element lens and was very easy to clean with a cotton bud.

The Ricoh 35 K Rapid is a different type of camera altogether to the Iso-Rapid cameras, although it still uses the Rapid film system. It's a manual focus compact camera made by Ricoh in 1964, and it's heavy. It's made of a lot of metal and features a glass three-element 40mm f2.8 lens. A much more sophisticated camera than the Iso-Rapid cameras, it has shutter speeds from 1/25s to 1/200s (plus B, although this doesn't work), and an iris aperture ffrom f6,3-f32. 

It also features primitive DX coding, which will show the speed of film loaded. Agfa Rapid cassettes featured a little metal tab, and depending on the design of this tab could tell the camera the type of film loaded. In the wind-on side of the camera is a small metal pin that sticks out and when the Rapid cassette is inserted connects with this tab. On the top of the Ricoh is a little wheel which shows the ISO and DIN of the film, and the aperture that you should be using.

One pleasant discovery with the Ricoh was the 'found film'. I nearly missed it when I first checked out the camera, but sticking just 1-2mm out of one of the Rapid canisters was a little tab of film. Clearly a roll left behind by its last owner, this is always a wonderful find in any new camera, and one that doesn't happen very often with products from the Kamerastore. 

Actually, you can see the tab of film in the item photos on the Kamerastore website, but if you're not familiar with what you're looking at it's easy to miss. Guessing from my expired Rapid film that this was taken any time up until the 90s, I'm hoping that the roll hasn't been used for practising with and has remained untouched. I've transferred the film to a 35mm cassette, and next time I'm in Aveiro I'll pop into the lab and see if they can develop it. 

I also spent an hour or so this week decanting (I read that term somewhere and just liked it) some Harman Phoenix film from 35mm to Rapid cassettes. I had pre-planned my technique but it was much easier than I had expected. With a little force the films generally slide smoothly into the Rapid cassettes. Of course, I had to Redscale a couple of the film strips, too.

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