Reverse Engineering a 1979 Camera's Spec

Summary

I bought a 1979 Chinon CM-4 film camera in Tijuana. Film is expensive, so before wasting a roll I decided to learn exactly how this machine works — by taking apart its specs, one line at a time.So here is my three step planUnderstand what I really have in my hands. Michael Butkus created a comprehensive document that covers the details and specifications of the Chinon CM 4. My main goal with this document (aside from knowing what every button does) is to understand the specs and know exactly how every aspect influences the photos captured.Make sense of the numbers on my lens. I was hoping that lenses would make sense by themselves—the only easy part is to make it focus and unfocus—so at least knowing what my lens in particular can do is a must. I’m also curious about how optics and the actual process of taking a picture work.Take photographs. I’m doing all of these steps just to know which technical skills I’m lacking. Once I have the theory, I can start putting everything into action by taking interesting photographs.My Camera#Here are some pictures of the camera I bought (they were taken with an iPhone, so chill).As you can see by the big labels at the front view of the camera, it is a Chinon CM-4. Chinon was a small Japanese maker of SLRs in the ’70s. In 2004 Kodak bought them, but in 1979 this was just another independent company making clever machines.This camera specifically started to be fabricated in 1979, and I wasn’t able to find much information on when it was discontinued.It has a brother called the CM-4S, which only differs by having a self-timer added. I don’t really know what it is, but I’m looking forward to finding out.And yeah, I think that is really all the history that we need to know about this camera.Specification#There is this guy called Michael Butkus who created a website for manuals for old cameras, and of course, he has a manual for the Chinon CM-4. This is right now the holy grail for understanding what I have in my hands.So let’s start b...