Hit Me!

A while back I picked up a Crystar-branded Hit-type 16mm camera. These are fun little cameras from Japan that were popular in the 1950s as Christmas tree ornaments here in the U.S. And you know what, they work as cameras!

So I picked up some metal spools (very hard to find) and paper backings (EXTREMELY hard to find) and set about re-spooling some film. Well, the paper was cheap 60 years ago and the original paper backing I tried tore. So I used my spare one as a template and cut new backings from some 120 paper backings I had lying around. It took three tries, but I finally managed a roll with something resembling an image.

I don't expect to ever take a prize-winning photo with one of these, but I do plan to see what I can make these do. A plastic lens, very poor manufacturing quality control, and age all combine to make this a very unpreditcable camera.