February 12, 2013

Barclaycard Promotional Compact

This was another charity shop find that I bought for 75p. It is a promotional camera, but something (very) slightly more advanced than the simple point and click cameras often given away in the 80s and 90s.

About

This is a small compact viewfinder camera. It has no branding other than the Barclaycard Logo, though I assume it will be a rebrand of something else. It has a sliding lens cover, a flash, and a closeup control for shots between 0.6 and 1.2m which moves the lens away from the film plane (acting like a very simple extension tube).

Lens and focus

The lens is a 29mm aspherical lens with a basic waterhouse stop aperture apparently at f/5.6 – it seems this is applied for flash and is reduced to something slightly smaller for normal mode.

The focus is a fixed simple zone system. The close up switch is marked as 0.6m-1.2m. If we assume that without this engaged the close focus is 1.2m, with an aperture of f/5.6 this would only give a far limit of 2.26m. To get a Depth of Field from 1.2m to infinity at 29mm would need a much smaller aperture – around f/13 or so, which I do not believe this camera has. So this remains a bit of a mystery.

The 29mm lens gives a field of view of about 65° x 45°, you would need to stand about 2.5m away for a full length portrait. The lens is not brilliantly sharp, probably not glass, though if it is as stated an aspherical lens this is will have some effect on sharpness.

Exposure

The camera appears to have DX sensing. I would guess this may be from 100 to 200. Initial tests with ISO 200 film seem to expose reasonably accurately. This is all I can find out.

Gallery

Vital Statistics

Type: Compact Viewfinder Camera.
Focussing: Zone Focus (0.6-1.2m; 1.2m-∞).
Lens: 29mm apsherical lens, f/5.6.
Flash: Built in; Automatic.