Universal Buccaneer

Universal Buccaneer

The Buccaneer was produced by the Universal Camera Corporation of America between 1945 and 1952 when the company went bankrupt. Unlike the vast majority of Universal’s cameras which used non-standard film types and which were only available from Universal, the Buccaneer uses standard 35mm which means that it can still be used and not just as a nice looking ornament. It was a contempory of the Argus C3, and is better featured, however it never gained the popularity of that camera.

Credits: philhale

Using the Buccaneer

The Buccaneer is a large camera with the body being made from Bakelite, the film door being made from metal and the top plate looking to be made from aluminium giving it some substantial weight when it’s being used. Prior to using it, the lens needs to be extended by turning the focusing ring anti-clockwise which pops the lens out. The shutter can not be fired without the lens being extended.

The shutter and aperture controls are mounted on the lens, with shutter speeds of 10, 25, 50, 100 and 300 provided by the Universal Chronomatic Shutter and also offers timed (T) and bulb (B) options.The lens itself is a 50mm Tricor, with aperture options from f3.5 to f16 which produce reasonable sharp and usable pictures.

Credits: philhale

The rangefinder is very bright and accurate due to the large gap between the two rangefinder windows with the only downside being that the viewfinder is quite small making it quite difficult to compose an image. The third of the three windows on the front of the camera is for an extinction meter which I never really got to grips with but allows camera speed and aperture settings to be calculated using the calculator dial that surronds the film door latch on the rear of the camera.

An unusual feature of the camera is that it has two winding knobs, one on the top plate and one on the bottom of the camera with either usable at any time. Other features include a shoe for accessories, a tripod mount, a little foot so it can be stood up free-standing and a thread in the shutter button so that a cable release can be used.

Credits: philhale

All in all, it’s a nice, usable camera, if a little large and heavy. I never get the hang of the extinction meter and ended up relying on the f16 rule instead. If you’re looking to shoot pictures with something a little bit different though, it’s worth a go.

Film used was Lucky SHD 100, processed in Ilford ID-11 in a Paterson tank in the kitchen.

written by philhale on 2014-08-14