Just look at this poor thing. It may have a smile on its face but it doesn't have much to smile about. It's a crying shame because the Coronet Captain is a really lovely box camera. They went into production in 1955 and shoot eight 6x9 frames on 120 film. The meniscus lens has a 115mm focal length and focuses from 10 feet onwards, though with the close up lens pulled into place it will focus as close as 3 feet. There is also a pull in place green filter, a single aperture of f/16, and a single shutter speed of 1/40. There is a bulb mode too for longer exposures, as well as flash connectors. All in all a lovely camera and one I've had on my radar for a long time. I've never bought one before as they're usually out of my price range, though this one, for obvious reasons, was not.
So what happened? Well apparently it sustained water damage from a leaky garage roof. Now normally I wouldn't take my chances on a camera in this condition, but the Captain is a bit special and I didn't like the thought of this one being binned. It had done the rounds on eBay for a while and generated no interest. I have some re-covering leather so I took a chance.
Needless to say it needs cleaning up and re-covering. There is some corrosion to take care of and the lenses need a good clean. Its shutter isn't firing so needs some attention. Let's see if we can cheer the poor Captain up a bit. Updates on his progress soon!
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