a trip with revue 400se (I)

Last winter I was looking for a camera to use when traveling, something lighter than an SLR, but that can still be used in manual mode. So I remembered the Revue 400se I had on the shelf.  I bought it about 10 years ago mostly because I liked the look of it, shot 2 films and I must confess, kind of abandoned it shortly after.

So took it off the shelf, clean the thick layer of dust on top of it, clean the lens, and decided to try to finish the roll was inside of it. Which was actually a bad idea, because the film was stuck inside the roll, the camera gear sprockets broke the film, so I was actually shooting blank.

Even though I noticed that the little yellow spot inside the viewfinder that is used to focus was acting a bit weird, once again I ignored the signs, loaded a roll of Kodak Tmax 400, and over the course of one month or so, used it every time I got out of the city. In this time I visited friends and family in different places of the country, so it was easy to find interesting things to shoot.

Of course that shortly after the first roll, the little camera started to make weird sounds when loading the film. It was only then that I decided to give it a CLA (clean/lubricate/adjust). Now I would strongly advise that before using an old camera that was sitting on the shelf for a while, take it for a CLA.

Anyway I was nicely impressed with the Revue 400SE. It has few strengths such as the size, the weight, the silent leaf shutter that also prevents the camera from vibrating when using longer exposure times. This will allow you to shoot from hand with 1/8, even 1/4 and still get a clear image. The lens is good and it seems to me that it has a certain softness that I actually enjoy. The focusing race is really short, this allowing one to focus quite fast.

Because a rangefinder - it is not so easy to frame, but also not a big problem. The view however it is quite foggy and not really enjoyable. The loading mechanism feels like plastic, which I believe it's made of.

All in all it is was fun to use, and because of the size and the leaf shutter easier than an SLR. Also, winter is coming again, so I decided to make a stock of b&w film and be prepared for monochrome stories. Kodak TMax looks nice but since everybody praises the Ilford HP5 I decided to check it out.

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Romania, Ianuary 2019
Revue 400SE
Kodak TMAX 400