A surprise acquisition (Chinon CE 5)

[Slaphead]

While sitting in the bar last night a mate of mine came in and dumped a bag in front of me, and then said it's yours if you want it. Inside was a Chinon CE 5 with Chinon 50mm F/1.7 lens, a Chinon 75-150mm F/3.9 and a Sekonic L-8 light meter (what a confusing little device that is).

All of the kit looks to be in a really good condition, however the shutter release doesn't fire and the film advance lever doesn't move past a certain point. I suspect the problem is that the batteries are dead (corroded actually, but no damage to the camera from what I can see). I would imagine that the shutter is already cocked, which is why the film advance lever refuse to move, but it needs power to release the shutter. Well, I'll find out later today.

So, new batteries and film. Hmm film - I've got no idea. My first thought was to get some ASA400 B&W - would that be a good starting point?

 

[freecom2]

The L-8 looks like quite a nice little light meter, although apparently it's from the 50s so it will be nearly half a century old (and unlikely to be accurate). However, a lot of them can be calibrated, and if you shoot neg, it has a wide exposure latitude, so it might still be worth having a tinker with.

I find ISO400 film quite versatile for stuff like that, although if the weather is good where you are an ISO100 film should also be fine. The Chinon has a 1/2000s speed though, so it should be able to handle any exposure combination just fine.

 

[swanseamale47]

The camera won't fire without batteries, it might be worth checking if theres a film in there though, you'd be supprised how many old camera I have seen with a film still in.

 

[Slaphead]

Thanks for the advice. I've already confirmed that there's no film inside. Unfortunately I've had no time to really check it out, and with me popping back to Blighty for a few days today it's going to have to wait until I get back to Zürich.