My camerapaedia: Kodak Instamatic 133X

What?
Small compact camera using 126 film cartridges that produces 26 × 26 pictures. It has a f/11, 43mm lens and shutter speeds of 1/40, 1/80. It has a Magicubes flash and a used bulb warning in the viewfinder. This model was manufactured in Spain between 1970 – 1971.

When?
1970 – 1971

How?
A friend gave it to me.

Well?
This camera sat on a shelf for ages because I didn’t have film for it. I got a lucky break when I found another Instamatic at the thrift store with a film inside. After shooting that film in three different cameras (including this 133x), I found out the film was extremely exposed and all my pictures were purple. No worries, Google quickly pointed me to all sorts of instructables for re-filling the cartridge with fresh film.
Advancing took some trial and error. Just once is not enough, you’ll get overlapping pictures. Twice is good, more is a waste of film. Still, the distance between frames seems to vary a bit. Probabaly something to do with more film winding on the spool, creating a thicker axis. (Does that make sense?) All part of the charm of this camera.
The results are promising. The slow setting is a bit icky, I just don’t have the steady hand needed for 1/40 sec. But the fast setting is more than adequate. It’s a fun little shooter.

written by stratski on 2013-10-22