super-8 Does anyone have information on the Chinon Dart 'Super'?

Jack Thomas · April 18

I'm looking for anyone who has information on this specific model, or who has knowledge of the components which I suppose should probably have been reused across the Chinon line. I was recently gifted this camera and I'm keen to understand as much as I can about it, to hopefully replace some parts but also to better shoot some tapes on it.

There are two things I'm mainly curious about:

1) It has a selector to switch between auto and manual, but no controls to actually manipulate exposure with, that I can see anyway... It also simply says in the manual that exposure is selected automatically and refuses to elaborate!

2) The viewfinder is really interesting, what I originally thought was a missing part seems to in-fact be the default rubber eye (rest?) which is tiny with the internal diameter at just 11mm and the external diameter at 22mm. I thought it had perhaps originally come with a larger eye cup which slid over the attached one but all the promotional images and the front of the manual don't reflect that. I want to identify a replacement eye cup or some kid of attachment which would make looking through the viewfinder more comfortable, but also I want to understand how the assembly works, it appears to be a lens inside a long tube that screws into the camera body, with threading that runs the entire length of it, with a small rubber cup on the end that protrudes. This small rubber cup (which you should be able to see if you look at an image of the camera online) appears to have been attached but I think due to age the rubber has degraded and while it does slip on to the tube part, nothing is holding it in place.

If anyone has experience with this camera (or I suppose any of the other Chinon Dart line as I would assume there would be similarities), I'd love to learn more about it, I don't have the camera with me at the moment but I'll take some photos of the parts and upload them when I get a chance.

Thanks!

Joerg Polzfusz · April 19

Hi!

Your Chinon looks like several other „Darts“, but it completely differs from the two „Dart 70“-models and the „Dart“ without any numbers:

https://www.filmkorn.org/super8data/database/cameras_list/cameras_chinon/cameras_chinon.htm

However, all of them are film cameras, so they can’t be used to shoot tapes.

Not really sure about the manual exposure. I would assume that you simply turn the dial 1 and control position of the needle at 2.

Good luck!

Joerg Polzfusz · April 19

BTW: Sometimes, Chinon is a little bit too „optimistic“ about their products‘ features. So it could be that the „manual exposure“ is only an „exposure lock“.

Jack Thomas · April 22

@Joerg Polzfusz Apologies it took some time to reply! Thanks for the info, I had another look and it seems like you were correct and the manual/auto dial does in fact change the needle position, so it looks like I could potentially manually control exposure if I was feeling confident enough.

Out of curiosity, as this is all new to me, what do you mean by 'they are film cameras so they can't be used to shoot tapes'? Edit: AH! I see I referred to the film 'cartridge'? as a 'tape' my mistake 😅

Also, any advice on tracking down a solution for the eye cup or more info on the viewfinder assembly?

Cheers

Edited April 22 by Jack Thomas

Mark Dunn · April 22

It has reflex viewing, but there's no focussing aid such as ground glass, split screen or microprism- you have to estimate or measure subject distance, then set the distance according to the lens barrel markings- so the position of your eye isn't important for correct focus. You might be able to make an eyecup out of foam or something similar to make it a bit easier to use.

The button cell for the exposure meter may be an obsolete type so you may have to meter manually anyway.

Jack Thomas · April 22

@Mark Dunn Interestingly I already worked out the button cell issue (at least I think I have, the meter appears to be functioning and reacting to light). There is an independent seller nearby that makes 1.35v converters/adapters for silver oxide batteries and I got one and although I have yet to put any film through it yet I'm hopeful it should work ok!

re: the viewfinder, that's interesting, I'll look into how to set the distance properly as I think I had just assumed because everything was all in focus no matter where the 'zoom' was set to through the viewfinder, it would be so when actually recording to the film.

I have seen some people suggest you could make your own eye cup out of various materials but I wanted to see if there was some universal language I could use to buy something of better quality, sadly '11mm threaded rubber eye cup' doesn't seem to turn up much, and to be honest even if it did because of the construction of the threaded segment I think an ill fitting part might cause damage. Annoyingly there are ones for larger thread sizes, and some of the slip on ones match the 22mm outer edge of the current rubber piece, I just don't want to shell out money for something that's unlikely to work without looking in to it first.

Mark Dunn · April 22

45 minutes ago, Jack Thomas said:

because everything was all in focus no matter where the 'zoom' was set to through the viewfinder, it would be so when actually recording to the film.

Very much not. Super-8 has plenty of depth of field at the short end of the zoom in good light when the aperture is small, but if you do a search on super-8 depth of field tables you'll see it is much more limited when zoomed in. You don't really have control over the aperture with a given stock and a non- adjustable shutter angle.

You only need the eyecup to keep out stray light and for comfort. I'd be thinking of making something out of cardboard and one of the scrap bits of leather I keep for repairs. And some glue.

Edited April 22 by Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn · April 22

BTW you'll find DoF tables on this very site.

Jack Thomas · April 22

I'll look up the tables on this site, I'm only just starting out with this stuff so appreciate the detail, thanks.

I think I'm mostly planning not to pan or zoom too much, but I'll definitely research a bit further in case or I guess so I'm prepared to if a shot I want requires it!

For the eye cup, yes absolutely just for better viewing and I'm aware it has no impact on the film or image being captured haha, I wear glasses and have found that it's a little uncomfortable and challenging to view through the viewfinder for more than a few seconds due to the size of the port being so small, so not only an alignment issue (as it's along a tube) but having to get my eye almost pressed against a flat surface to rest on the basic rubber attachment is really uncomfortable.

Although, if I can't find any information about what sort of fixture the camera uses, I'll just order some online and play about with possibly modifying an aftermarket one from somewhere like amazon. I don't really have scrap stuff lying around to make one of any usable quality and I think it would cost me more to get tools to make something like that than it would to just buy some cheap ones online and modify them. I think I just always prefer to get something that fits the use properly, made by people who understand the problem.

Joerg Polzfusz · April 23

I once bought a cheap Chinese eyecup that was compatible to the original Nikon DK-19. It also fit onto my Elmo Super 103T. So, it also had a tiny inner diameter (11mm, 13mm, … I don’t recall, I am currently away from my cameras and can’t find any details online, sorry.).