Hey all, just got my new (to me) Chinon Bellami in the mail!!!! Gaze upon its tiny glory :)
Photo by 110isnotdead
Woohoo! It’s always a good day when I get a new camera, and today was no exception. My Chinon Bellami “Barn-door” camera just came in and I am amazed. It is even smaller than I had thought it would be; roughly the size of an LC-A when the Bellami doesn’t have its special flash mounted.
Photo by 110isnotdead
This little wonder is a travel-Lomographer’s dream. It is about the size of most cell-phones, it’s lens retracts in to the body of the camera, and, drum-roll please… it has a light meter too!!!! That means that it is an all-around great camera.
Photo by 110isnotdead
It is completely auto-exposure so all you have to do is open the barn-doors, wind it and focus. The focus is due to the relatively large 2.8f lens. The shutter is also electronically controlled and can go from 1/8 to 1/1000.
I did a little test to check the camera’s light meter against my trusty old Minolta X-370. I panned the room with the Bellami and saw where the little red “Slow Shutter” warning light went on (signalling a shutter speed under 1/60). Then I set my Minolta to 2.8f and ran the same pattern and voila! it hit under 1/60 at the same point.
Photo by 110isnotdead
Hooray, I didn’t get a clunker. lol
So stay tuned because I can’t wait to run some film through this little devil.
See ya next time,
Tim
46 comments
aanum
Cool
110isnotdead
@aanum thanks, I'll update this when I finally run some film through it. It was really gray and blah today so I'll try again tomorrow :)
neanderthalis
Looking forward to your review.
110isnotdead
@neanderthalis Hey, thanks. I am too. lol I'm hoping this can become my go-to, take everywhere camera. I mean you can see, compared to the size of the X-370, its slight in stature. Here's hoping :)
neanderthalis
I have an Olympus XA with the side flash like that, but it is Aperture priority. I like it because it is a hair smaller than the LC-A with flash off and It has a larger ISO range. It is a great pocket camera. Good luck with yours.
110isnotdead
@neanderthalis Cool. Ya know, I was looking for one of those too but all I could find was the stripped down XA2 version and then I stumbled upon this little beauty. Mine only goes from 25-400iso but I'll take the perceived limitations with the fact that, like you said, it is a great pocket camera, and a 35mm to boot.
nocturnal
I would love a review on this camera! It sounds amazing actually. You didn't mention how much you bought it for...?
110isnotdead
@nocturnal O yeah, I bought it from a guy on eBay for 30 bucks and free shipping. A little more than I wanted to spend but I didn't want to loose out on it.
110isnotdead
And here I thought everyone had questions/comments but I see we got a spammer... but no matter, he has been reported. grr... lol
Anyway, thanks so much @kleinerkaries, @sunshaman, @nocturnal, @gauthierdumonde, @alexyz, @frau_inga, @ricoinbrooklyn, @vicker313, @neanderthalis, @kneehigh85, @dollymixture, @rik041, and @aanum for liking my blog. I think this has placed it up into being one of the most popular at the moment. :))))
gauthierdumonde
I don't know what this guy is writing. I have never been spammed. I feel leftout ! :)
110isnotdead
@gauthierdumonde I guess its not all that bad, all those comments had vaulted this blog post up to 3rd most popular on the list. lol
illegaltender
Very nice man
110isnotdead
@illegaltender thanks alot, im glad the link worked this time :))
110isnotdead
Thank you all for making this post 2nd most popular right now :) I hope to have my next post up in the next couple days. and I will be running some film through the Bellami here today; it's actually not raining, woohoo!!! lol
superlighter
enjoy your Bellami! I have it too and I love it so much!
110isnotdead
@superlighter I know, right? I had been searching for a while for a compact camera that still gave me some quality and versatility.
superlighter
this little camera had an excellent lens, a great contrast and nice color saturation, If you need the (almost) same camera with a shutter time that go until 8 sec of exposure look for the Revue 35CC
110isnotdead
@superlighter I'll keep my eyes out for that. http://classicameras(…)e-35cc.html WHoa its like the same camera! I wonder if it was made in conjunction with the Bellami? I've seen wierder things happen. Learn something new everyday. lol
superlighter
on my Revue 35 CC I can read "made in japan" :) so I presume is from the same chinon factory, the main real difference is in the lens that is signed by Revue
110isnotdead
@superlighter yeah and from the pics I've seen it looks like the body design is a little tweaked too but for all intended purposes, looks like the same camera. Either way, it sure it sun. lol
aoizumi
Never heard of this camera before - thank you for showing it off to us!
110isnotdead
@aoizumi no problem, thanks for the like :) tell ya the truth, I had never heard of this camera either til I found it on eBay. I had been looking for half-frame cameras like the olympus Pen but I found this full-frame instead :) lol
aoizumi
@110isnotdead I was looking for half frame cameras too! The Pen EE I was bidding after got sniped under my nose, so I bought a Trip instead :p
110isnotdead
@aoizumi I've felt the sting of an eBay sniper before too. lol From what I've read though, the trip is a cool camera too :)) can't wait to see the results :)
mapix
this little thing looks really nice! thanks for the blog!
110isnotdead
@mapix thanks for the like :) And it could not be simpler to use. It is great for all around shooting and If ya got a steady arm, really good for low light too.
110isnotdead
Little update- I am about 18 shots into my first roll and everything seems to be going well so far, hope to finish it today :D
110isnotdead
Well, here it is, my first shots from the Bellami- http://www.lomograph(…)mi-1st-roll
110isnotdead
BTW- if you look at the ruler in the first couple pics, that was from my old elementary school- St. Mary's Catholic School in Massillon. Ahh the memories. lol
kneehigh85
Wow that is a lot of spam!
110isnotdead
@kneehigh85 I know, right? It is so annoying. This is not even the half of it either. I have reported all of them and most have gotten deleted already... But I can't complain, lol
kneehigh85
The spam on this site is just so strange - it isn't even camera related! Now if they were linking to a site like "Leicas available for $10" then that'd be a different story!
110isnotdead
I don't even think these spammers want me to buy anything. They are just being annoying, or maybe just really bad at what they do. lol
fncioffimario
fncioffimario
echeapevening
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wafflesaurus
What did you guys say? can't understand anything :/
Oh wait! Now i understand! Yeah, of course, i totally agree with you btourbeats,fncioffimatio and echeapevening! This article @110isnotdead wrote is awesome and i want a chinon bellami too ;) You are so right! :P
ryedrico
ryedrico
ryedrico
ryedrico
rlerodricgran
rlerodricgran
ryedrico
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