About a week ago I attended a camera swap meet in Skokie, Illinois. There were hundreds of awesome cameras for sale, including a gold plated Leica. I couldn't afford the gold Leica, so I bought this little 35mm Perfex camera instead. The Perfex Speed Candid was made by the Candid Camera Corporation of America, based in Chicago, in 1938.
The camera definitely has a... unique look. I do like those nice art deco lines on the sides of the body, but WHY are there TEN huge exposed screws on the front of the body? Why?
The Perfex's biggest claim to fame is that it is the first camera manufactured in the United States to feature a focal plane shutter. Pretty cool! It has shutter speeds ranging from 1/25th to 1/500th, plus B. A pretty nice range for a consumer grade camera in 1938! This camera also probably has the best shutter sound out of any camera ever.
So yeah... the Perfex is a pretty cool little camera, but does it take decent pictures? NOOOOOPE! The negatives this camera produced were absolutely terrible. Everything turned out drastically underexposed for some reason. It could be because the shutter speeds are way off, or that there's a good amount of fungus and dust in the lens. The shutter also appears to be full of little holes, which is why there are white specks all over every shot. Here are some of my results:
I actually kind of like how these turned out, in a hipster sort of way. I especially like the shot of the pool. Looks pretty dream-like. Thanks for looking!
