The Babette
I lost track of who sent me this wonderful “camera.” Please step up and remind me.
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.
Slipped by Q.C. at the Babette factory
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 film shot by Abraham Zapruder in Dallas Texas. I’m afraid that the Babette will see no further use from this photographer. It’s a fragile piece of photographic equipment and I’m afraid I might break it by doing something stupid like tripping the shutter.
You’ll likely never see another photo done with a Babette. It’s kind of sad, ain’t it ?