The Quartz Zoom in details

Tonight I uploaded a video to YouTube about the details of the Quartz 3 Zoom. You can find the video at the end of this post, but if you have a Quartz Zoom without manual, I suggest to read the post first.  

Its viewfinder is a so called Newton-type viewfinder, which means that it has one single lens and a targeting aid near the viewer's eye. Its viewfinder is parallax-less only beyond the 3 meters distance. It means that closer than 3 meters the actual image on the film is located lower comparing to the image you can see in the viewfinder. The size of the parallax error can be measured in the percentage of the image that is missing from the top of the viewfinder 's image. It also must be compared to the actual focal length of the lens. 

            

Hereunder you can find a little chart about the parallax error of the Quartz 3 Zoom's viewfinder. (Note the source please downunder) 

                                                          

Focal lenght                               Distance of recording

                                    3m                                 2m                            1m

36mm                          20%                              30%                          60%

25mm                          15%                              20%                          45%

18mm                          -                                    15%                          30%

12.5mm                       -                                    -                                20%    

9mm                            -                                    -                                15%

The Quartz Zoom's eyepiece can be adjusted to the viewers eyesight by turning it. For that you have to set the focal lenght to 9mm and look for a bright white object, then adjust the eyepiece until you get a sharp image of the needles. Note that you can't trust the focus of the viewfinder image. It is always better to measure the distance to the object manually. The filmgate is marked on the Quartz Zoom outside. This is where you start measuring from.  

There is an in-built light meter in the camera, but it can only measure light correctly at 16 frame per second. The light meter also has a connected filmspeed knob. The camera is able to measure light at 16 fps between 12-100 ASA (ISO)

Just like other 8mm cameras, the Quartz Zoom has different shutter speeds at different frame rates.

12 fps – 1/24s

16 fps – 1/32s

24 fps – 1/48s

48 fps – 1/96s

Single frame – 1/15s

The Quartz 3 Zoom comes with Meteor-2 zoom lens. Its aperture can be set from 2,4 to 22, the focal length can be chosen between 9mm and 36 mm. Its distance adjustment varies between 1 m to infinity.

Finally about the close up lens. The Quartz Zoom came with 3 different diopter close up lens which modifies the distance adjustment system. The 1,5 diopter lens modifies the focus at one meter to 44,6 cm. Set it to inifinity and the focus is at 81,5 cm.The 2,5 diopter modifies the focus at one meter to 34,5 cm. At inifinity to 48,2 cm. The 9 diopter modifies the focus at one meter to 20 cm.  Inifinity is 21.3 cm. 

All data is from a book: Holló-Kun-Vásárhelyi: Amatőrfilmes Zsebkönyv, Műszaki Könyvkiadó Budapest, 1972. Page 168.