The Chinese really love optical lenses. You'll find them on many Chinese cameras.

McLeown's actually lists The Babette. Apparently it comes in several colors and was also available as a bubble gum premium called "The Bazooka ."

I wonder how many chunks of pink gum you had to chew to get a Bazooka. That stuff'd break my teeth if I chewed it now.

The matching yellow strap shown in the first photograph disintegrated when I opened the package.  There's also some kind of chemical reaction going on between the camera plastic and the clear plastic  used  in the package.

That blurry chrome thing on the right is where you attach the strap. It also locks the camera back. It fell on the floor when I opened the package.



























Here's the original Babette take up spool. I'll bet this is a rare item. Note the fine finish work and the 3.75 degree flange offsets. The shaft deflection is a mere 3/16 of an inch. Despite the engineering, the spool doesn't really fit in the holders. It just rattles around. I loaded the camera with some Efke 100 which is certainly more valuable than the Babette itself. But, what the hell.











































Despite the small light leaks you can see that the Optical lens really is optical. That big white thing on the left is a church and the dark blob on the right is a tree. Reminds me of massive blowups I've seen from films shot on 11/22/63 in Dallas Texas.










































Poor lenses do not hold up well to significant enlargements. The Optical performed brilliantly here. I don't know what the hell that big black thing on the right is.