talk to me about this beauty...by canter

[dragonx]

so i had the itchy trigger finger on ebay the last three weeks. 12 camera later (cheapies,) i now have to deal with the aftermath. i ordered the light seal kit from jon goodman and now must decide which cameras are worthy of the efforts. most are old yashica RFs, but additionally there is this adorable little Rf called a "Beauty Canter."

the rangefinder seems pretty accurate, everythng is clean in and out. have not run film through it yet because the timing is so wacky. i would appreciate info about this camera and a little direction about what to do about the timing being very off. 1/2 second sounds more like 3 seconds. is this something i can easily fix myself?

the lens is a 45mm f1.9. this seems pretty good to me. and i like the way the camera feels in my hands. it has a nicer feel than the yashica electro. but of course, there is no meter and it needs to be guestimate zone focused.

it looks almost exactly like the camera at the link below, except: some parts are black on my camera which are metal on the other. plus the difference of the f1.9 and the f2.8 and, of course, the serial number.
http://www.pbase.com/wau/image/67343939

the serial number is very low, this interests me: 4673

so what do i have? what should i expect to be wrong with it? is it worth opening up and working on? or worth taking to my trusted repair guy? or should i just put it on the shelf and pull it down for fondling sessions?

[dazedgonebye]

I don't know this brand...
I can tell you that I have a similar afliction in that I love those 1950s vintage consumer rangefinder cameras. In my case it's cameras made by Balda.
My bet is that you'll find it's a reasonably good, but not inspiring, picture taker...best enjoyed for the experience rather than for the output. Too good for Lomo'ish work.

I don't understand why you say it must be zone focused if the rangefinder looks good.

In any case, go shoot it at the higher shutter speeds and see what it can do. If they are cheap and common, take it apart and see if you can work the shutter yourself.

[dragonx]

i just passed up an auction for a bald last week. kicking myself for it too. it was a baldessa with the cutest little leather film canisters still attached to the case strap.

you know, you are right about the zone focusing. i had read about the ones without the meter being zone focus, but did not even think about the fact that i had tested a rangefinder function.

oops.

now that the focus issue is attended to, how can i find out how to rework the shutter to time correctly?

[dazedgonebye]

i just passed up an auction for a bald last week. kicking myself for it too. it was a baldessa with the cutest little leather film canisters still attached to the case strap.

you know, you are right about the zone focusing. i had read about the ones without the meter being zone focus, but did not even think about the fact that i had tested a rangefinder function.

oops.

now that the focus issue is attended to, how can i find out how to rework the shutter to time correctly?

Although I am seriously the wrong guy for this sort of advice...I think the standard first approach is to exercise the heck out of it for awhile. Many old shutters are simply stiff because of old lubricant.
So, shoot it at slow speeds at few dozen times at least and see if it doesn't improve. Failing that, google and find a camera repair site. Someone may be able to give you specific guidance on that camera.
Otherwise, I'd be hesitant to spend much additional money.

[dragonx]

i got restless and went to my favorite repair guy and asked him to look at it. he spoke highly of the camera, he used one when he was younger.
he told me there is some kind of division between the speeds (i assume something in the hardware) and that i should be able to use it at speeds above 1/10 sec.
i plan to try this week.
though i promise you, one of these auction cameras is getting ripped apart this weekend. i have seals on the way, qtips, rubbing alcohol, lighter fluid and dental tools ready to go.
i will avoid matches surely. i'm accident prone at full speed.