This is a so-called Focus Free or Toy Camera, a simple plastic camera. It
was quite common and a give-away for Life and Time magazine. It immitates
the appearance of a SLR Camera, but it's flimsy and worse: the ring around
the lens has aperture settings and moves, but it is all fake, it moves
nothing inside, there is only one (quite big) aperture.
Its
main features are:
50mm
plastic lens, F6, focus free
Shutter
~ 1/100
Double Exposure Prevention, hot shoe, lens cap
Size 125 x 85 x 69, Weight 144 gr.
Camera front closed.
The lens cap is cheap soft plastic.
Lens open.
Camera back. Viewer and film advance.
Camera top. Film rewind, hot shoe, shutter release and film counter. The
aperture settings on the lens tube are fake.
Camera bottom. A plastic only tripod socket, doesn't make sense with
1/100 single speed. Rewind release.
Film compartment. Note the curved film plane, it helps against the
vignetting of the simple plastic lens. You have to lift the film rewind
handle to open the camera. It's tricky and flimsy, the lid goes into the
housing, you have to pry it out with your fingernails
This
is the worst focus free camera I have seen yet. It has a single shutter
speed and about F6 fixed aperture. For me the fake aperture setting is an
absolute no-go. Time and Life magazines are known for their good
photographers, so I do not understand why the gave away such a flimsy
camera.
It's point and shoot only. If you choose the right film, ISO 200 in
general and ISO 100 on sunny days, you can shoot outside photos that look
OK, but will be soft, seen the aperture and lens. It will be "Lomo" style.
You
can attach a flash for interior photos.
