Not just any old rubbish Dacora Digna...

[ChrisR]

I think I've mentioned this grotty old camera a couple of times, and how I was just dusting it over prior to handing it in for charity, when I found some evidence that it was in fact MY old rubbish Dacora Digna, from my early teenage years (before most of you except Brian were born ;-) ).







You lot conspired to get me to shoot a roll through it, and today I shot a roll of FP4. So here's a brief review...

TLR... don't bother with one of these! TBF, this is pretty much the base model, and it's sat in a converted cowshed for at least the last 20 years.

Things would probably have gone better if I'd put a spot of oil on the bearings of the wind-on knob! I've nearly worn the skin off my fingers winding the roll through, and I had to open the back after the last shot before the backing paper was fully wound in. It would turn a little, then jam up. Little red window in the back of course, how I hate those.

The view finder is tiny, and I don't expect it to be very accurate. Zone focus is pretty easy to forget about; at least one is going to be in completely the wrong zone. Two apertures, f/11 and... f/7.7! Why not f/8, I wonder? This rather hints at someone with a false sense of accuracy and maybe not too much photographic knowledge, designing this camera. I used a red filter held against the lens on some shots to give an extra stop; if I'd had a ND0.6 I should have taken that... but it's a bit rubbish having to use external filters to control exposure.

The leaf shutter isn't released by the shutter button, it's fired by it... the button travel compresses a spring and then trips the shutter. A second or so later the shutter resets somehow (not quite sure how, but I can hear it happening, and before that happens you can't fire the shutter again). The good and bad consequence of this is that you can take multiple exposures very easily. In fact, I think the first exposure I made was at least a triple, as I wasn't sure the shutter had fired (it is very quiet).

I can't see any way I would want to use this again, and I can't see anyone buying it from a charity shop. In fact, the only things stopping me from putting it out with the recycling today was that I want to see the pics first, and a smidgin of nostalgia for my first camera.

I was wondering about it as a donor camera for some mad project. One thing it does have going for it is the metal barrel, rather than a bellows. So if anyone fancies using it for such a project, do let me know. Pics next week...

 

[FishyFish]

I look forward to the results.

If you don't get any interest here, try donating it to Oxfam - they put a lot of their stuff online, so there's a fair chance that someone would buy it (as opposed to it just sitting on a shelf in an individual shop). Better than it going in a bin, certainly.

 

[joxby]

.....when I found some evidence that it was in fact MY old rubbish Dacora Digna, from my early teenage years (before most of you except Brian were born ;-) ).

...

Aww heck Chris

this is the best bit and like a right gearhead, you make no reference to it

its all about the story

 

[ChrisR]

Aww heck Chris

this is the best bit and like a right gearhead, you make no reference to it

its all about the story

Well, I think I mentioned it somewhere else. I got it down to clean up a bit before getting rid of it, and noticed my father's initial and surname scratched on the back. That's odd, I thought. I checked the Zeiss Ikon which I knew to be his, no name scratched there. The name was also inked into the inside of the leather case. Then it dawned on me... we share the same initial, it wasn't my father's name but mine. I had been on a couple of adventure holidays in the Norfolk Broads as a teenager, and I vaguely remember some unsatisfactory photos from there, which have vanished but I assumed to have been taken with a Box Brownie or something like that. But I'm guessing that this was my camera, bought for one of those holidays and kept by my parents after I abandoned it for the giddy heights of the Werra 1 after my 21st birthday. So, not much of a story really, just a little nostalgia trip.

Oh the camera was made in 1959 and I was off toUni in 1964, so I think the "before most of you were born" bit is probably pretty safe... although I know there are a few other vintage folk here, too!

 

[ChrisR]

So, first shot a double exposure as expected (I think the third exposure I put my hand over the lens). Second shot I forgot to change the focus from 5 feet. Another shot was a deliberate double exposure that just didn't work, One shot missing because I overshot the number in the red window. But a few were better than expected.







A bit of vignetting, and maybe a bit soft. The last one had a red filter held in front of the lens. Altogether I'm surprisingly pleased! That doesn't mean I want to use it again though...

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

for a bottom of the range camera not bad at all.
I remember they were both very cheap and popular in their day.
But by the time they came out I had had my Ensign selfix 16-20 ll with ross xpres lens for 4 years and had just bought my Agfa Solinette 2. for my adventures in Hong Kong while in the Army.
So even the top of the range Dignas were beneath me.....