You might remember the Belfoca Junior I posted about earlier this (errr, last) year. It is an old bellow camera with a stunning 6×9 format (that’s centimeters, 60×90 mm !). It was the camera which still had an old exposed film inside which I got developed. The pictures which are from a funeral… back to the subject.

I took the Belfoca out into Aachen to test it. What a new experience: Measure with the light meter, set aperture, choose exposure time, compose the picture through a crude viewfinder (basically a small metal frame which pops up, no glass). After taking these actions: Push the button *click* and wind the film.

And this is where I screwed up. The Belfoca allows two different formats, 6×9 and 6×6. When you want to shoot 6×6 you have to put a mask inside the camera which shields 1.5 cm of film on each sides. I do not have that mask, so the Belfoca only does 6×9 for me. When you took a picture you have to transport the film so that the new picture can be taken. This is done manually by turning a knob. But how do you know that you have turned far enough ? The camera has two viewing spots on the back of the lid. When you wind the film, numbers which are printed on the back of the film appear in those viewing glasses and you know how far to wind and how many pictures you have taken. Following Murphy’s law precisely I chose the viewing glass indicating the 6×6 exposures. Since more 6×6 exposures fit on X meters of film roll the numbers are printed closer together.

So I turned the knob not far enough, creating wonderful double exposures on every picture:

Belfoca Belfoca_multiexposure Belfoca_AachenCathedral

Belfoca_AachenCathedral2The good news is, that the camera works well and produced a good image quality, judging from the bits which got exposed only once. Below you find the two shots of Aachen cathedral which are quite nice (remember, this is a section of the full frame. The vertical axis is 6 cm, the complete picture would be much wider).

Belfoca_blurrylightsThe last shot shows me messing with the settings. Accidental bulp action, but nice outcome !
For future Belfoca sessions I now know which viewing glass to look on when winding the film.

This is the Belfoca’s back – Use the bottom right viewing glass when shooting 6×9 (the one which is covered with a metal piece at the moment). The top left window (the one you see red now) is for 6×6 action.

BelfocaBack-1 View inside the camera back lid. From this perspective: Bottom left 6×9 indicator, top right 6×6 indicator.
BelfocaBack-2