Seagull makes low-priced film cameras in imitation of high-end cameras.
Seagull has a long reputation as a copier of famous cameras. The company, based in Shanghai, has made its own versions of cameras such as the rangefinders made famous by Leica, the medium-format single-lens reflex models pioneered by Hasselblad and the twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) produced by Yashica and Rollei. The most commonly available Seagull camera is the TLR model that uses medium format 120 film to produce a 2.25-by-2.25 inch negative like the Seagull 4 or the far more recent WWSC. It is a basic TLR camera and can provide solid medium format photography. A twin-lens reflex camera employs two sane focal length objective lenses. One actually is the image "taking lens." The other is used as the "viewing lens," or viewfinder.
Instructions
1. Clean the entire camera if you have not used it lately, or if you bought it used. Use the compressed air to blow out any dust or debris in all the crevices on the outside and inside of the camera body. Use the lens cleaning tissue to clean the top or viewing lens gently as well as the lower or "taking" lens. You also need to clean the ground glass of the viewfinder. At the back of the camera near the top, push the top portion of the viewfinder cover upward. It will come up at a right angle and a magnifier will pop up. Push the magnifier down and clean the ground glass. Then clean the magnifier.
2. Load the 120 film in the camera. On the bottom of the Seagull TLR, push what the company calls the safety lever attached to the round locking disk. Then turn the disk to open. This releases the entire back cover. Raise the back cover on its hinge up and out of the way. If your Seagull TLR has an empty 120 reel in the bottom chamber, move it to the top chamber. You can release it by pulling out on the knob on the side of the camera. If there is no empty spool, you will need one. Place the film spool into the bottom chamber. Then pull the paper backing up pass the picture-taking area in the center. Thread it onto the empty spool. Then use the film winding knob or level on the right side of the camera to wind the film. Stop when the arrows on the paper film backing align with the red mark on the inside of the camera. Shut and lock the camera back, and wind the film to frame one.
3. Adjust the shutter speed and aperture settings according to your hand-held light meter readings taking into account the speed of your film. On older meters, the film speed will be in ASA or DIN, while on newer versions it will be ISO. ISO equals ASA, so if your film speed is 400 ISO, set the meter to 400 ASA. The light meter will give you options for shutter speeds and aperture settings. The shutter speeds on a Seagull TLR camera typically range from 1 second to 1/250th of a second, but this may vary according to the model. The standard 75 mm lens has apertures between f/3.5 and f/22. The bigger the number, the smaller the opening and the less light reaches the film. If, for example, you are shooting 400 ISO film in moderate sunlight, you would set the shutter speed to 1/250th of a second and the aperture to f/22. It is better to use the meter reading than to guess. In some older models, you need to cock the shutter with a small lever at the right of the taking lens. In newer versions, the shutter cocks automatically as you advance the film.
4. Hold the Seagull TLR at your waist level and look down into the viewfinder. The image appears reversed - right to left. Use the focusing knob on the left side of the camera body to sharpen the image. Alternatively, you can use the pop-up magnifier to focus more precisely. If you do this, hold the camera up to your eye. When the image is in focus, depress the shutter button at the lower right front to take the photo. Then wind the film advance knob.
5. Wind the film entirely onto the take-up spool after exposing the last frame on the roll. Open the camera back, remove the film and have it developed.
Tags: side camera, taking lens, wind film, 250th second, aperture settings, back cover
