My new Canon Demi

xwhatsit · 03-18-2010

Hi all,

Just picked up a Canon Demi, the original, with the selenium meter and f2.8 28mm lens.

What a cutie! Quite a handsome little thing too. Love the `Demi' script on the top plate. My example has had a hard life though. One of the set screws from around the shutter/aperture ring is missing, making the ring pretty sloppy, so I'll have to pick up one of those.

The VF is full of crap. Not really an issue but I'll clean it anyway.

I have a couple of questions about other issues. Firstly, the selenium meter seems very inconsistent. In what looks like identical situations I can get very different readings based rotating the camera very slightly. My Lynx 1000 with selenium meter is a little similar, although not so bad -- perhaps just a characteristic of selenium meters? Very different response when compared to the CdS meter on my Minister D. Also, meter rarely goes above 50%.

I want to calibrate the meter therefore. I gather the galvanometer can be adjusted. As it is match needle, I must know: is the shutter infinitely adjustable between 250 and 30? Or does it simply have two speeds, 250 and 30? Where is the crossover point, so I can get an idea of what shutter speed/aperture combination I have at any given time?

Also, the chrome is pretty dirty on the camera. There are green deposits in some places. It makes me wonder, this isn't an alloy camera like my Yashicas, is it simply painted/coated brass? Should I be very wary of trying to clean it then, for fear of peeling off the `chrome-look' coating? Is Brasso or similar much too harsh?

It's a lovely little thing. Nice light advance and quiet shutter. Quite looking forward to using it as a nice little snapshot camera for sunny days!

Thanks all.

Doug · 03-19-2010

Selenium cells have a limited useful lifespan. I'll bet yours has deteriorated due to age and needs to be replaced. I had a new one put in my Contax IIIa, so it can be done.

xwhatsit · 03-20-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug

Selenium cells have a limited useful lifespan. I'll bet yours has deteriorated due to age and needs to be replaced. I had a new one put in my Contax IIIa, so it can be done.

I saw somebody replacing it with a solar panel cut to size. Selenium meters really are a sort of solar panel, maybe a different sort to the modern ones. Even so, I'd still need to calibrate it, anybody any idea if the shutter ranges linearly between 250 and 30 or if it's just two-speed?

delible · 03-20-2010

There was an article in the HalfFramer (HFG located in England) some years ago that claimed, at least, to list the program on the Demi; that is, shutter speeds linked up with apertures. That would indicate linear. My experience in shooting the Demi supports that. Can't check for the article right now because we're going away for a few days; and can't sample the speeds on the Demi because it's loaded with film. If you want, let me know and I'll dig up the article in a week or so.

xwhatsit · 03-21-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by delible

There was an article in the HalfFramer (HFG located in England) some years ago that claimed, at least, to list the program on the Demi; that is, shutter speeds linked up with apertures. That would indicate linear. My experience in shooting the Demi supports that. Can't check for the article right now because we're going away for a few days; and can't sample the speeds on the Demi because it's loaded with film. If you want, let me know and I'll dig up the article in a week or so.

Aha! Wonderful, did some digging and turned up a post here on RFF (search function here not working for me, but Google did).

Table in this thread: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=70204

Reposted here for sake of searching:

Aperture Shutter
f/2.8 1/30
f/4 1/45
f/5.6 1/60
f/8 1/90
f/11 1/125
f/16 1/190
f/22 1/250

I tested it out, seems to be relatively close to what my Lynx 1000 is doing, so I'm going to assume the finicky nature of the thing is just the selenium cell's characteristic. Seems to have a very wide angle of sensitivity, much wider than the lens anyway.

The EV for the programme goes up in 1.5EV increments. Armed with this knowledge and Sunny 16 nothing can stop me now

In the meantime I've been stripping the thing completely down to clean it out. Plating/paint on the body is in very bad shape. Perhaps I'll repaint it, have the world's first black Demi?

Mark W · 04-25-2010

Are you talking a Demi S?

I have a Demi S and a Demi EE-17 I packed the S all over europe using it as a point and shoot everything with 400 ASA Superia and 400 ASA TriX and got quite a few really nice shots. Some OK many in places they didn't want photo's taken. But hey the only reason was slowing down the tour group and since they never knew I guess it wasn't a problem LOL

xwhatsit · 04-26-2010

Nup, just a low-end original Demi.

Still shooting the test roll! Been too busy with my other cameras and experimenting with developing to finish off the roll -- doesn't help that it's 72 shots long!

I must post up some pictures of the viewfinder dismantled. For a low-end consumer camera, it's got one hell of a lot of parts. I think there were at least 4 lenses, a very complicated prism, and a couple of mirrors I think. All to offset the eye-end from the input-end about 8mm... nuts!

metrognome · 05-17-2010

Hi folks,

First time posting here. I just picked up a canon demi as well and am having a heck of a time trying o figure out how to set the film speed. Your help is much appreciated.

delible · 05-17-2010

To set ISO/ASA on the original Canon Demi (2.8):

Set the black dot on the inner rim of the outer ring of lens assembly at the speed printed on the "readout" ring. If you want to change from a higher ISO to a lower ISO, turn the outer ring to the left; to the right to change from lower to higher. As you do this, you will be moving beyond the limits of the Shutter program; this may seem dangerous to do, but that is the way it is set up and it works.