Olympia Carina 2

Sent from my Olympia Carina 2 SN 48116741

Left alignment screws.

Right alignment screws.

This is just a macro of the screws.  Top most is for UPPER and bottom most is for lower case.

Before a Zep bath.

After a quick washing in Zep

Olympia Carina 2, Made in Japan by Nakajima

This is the second Japanese Olympia I've had in my collection.  The first one was B12 and it is no longer in the collection.  I did not like its action or tinny sound.
This one is a bit flimsy, reminds me of my Brother which is also a flimsy machine.  The Carina 2 is a nicer typer than my B12 and it does not have the tinny sound.  It is all plastic except for the paper tray and the major machine components.  To rate the machine compared to the B12 I would say the B12 is an ok typer and the Carina 2 is a fairly good typer.

The Carina 2 is a nice travel typewriter as far as weight and size, but with the large blow molded case it is quite large, about the size of a big brief case where a Skyriter, Baby or Montana is much more suited to travel as they are all much smaller when in their case.

The Carina 2, being a Nakajima machine has no information on line about its history or date of manufacture.  None of the serial number databases have it or any serial numbers close to it listed.

Here is the link to my earlier article when I first got the Carina 2.

The Olympia B12 is here.

Mamiya Super 23 Press Camera

Super 23 with 100mm flat field lens.  This lens is required to tilt the back.

150mm lens, Super 23, sheet film back with ground glass, 100mm lens and 50mm lens.

6 x 9 and 6 x 7 back. Note 120 or 220 film can be used in the same back by changing the film plane inside the back making it easy to change film lengths.

Tilt-swing back.  Loosening the 4 thumb screws enables the bellows to be extended and back movements to be set. Normally the bellows is collapsed and the back is fully against the camera.

This is the Nikkormat Ft.  Rugged, but not as nice as similar Minolta and German cameras of the same era.

Carina 2 before getting a ZEP bath

Carina 2 after its bath

Linkages after all the white grime was washed away

Easy to see why 35mm took the place of medium format cameras for many photographers.

I also cleaned all the lenses for the enlarger.

Live and Direct From....Well, At Least I am in Pennsylvania

This is kind of a hybrid post/typecast.
I'm actually in East Pennsboro Township, but by Google Maps I am in Mechanicsburg (which I know is wrong.  I grew up in the area and Google Maps are wrong 99% of the time.  I would only trust Google maps if I were giving them to an enemy)  Or I am in Enola according to Yahoo! maps which are usually 90% correct.  Now the other map services are about on par with Google.  The address here is probably Enola since I can toss a stone on Wirtzville and Enola is just over the hill.  Earlier in my life this area was farms and East Pennsboro Twp.

So far this typewriter:

Crappy lighting and no tripod.  Sorry for being out of focus.

From the Carina 2.  Needs a bit of aligning.

Surprisingly clean.

Nice typer for a Nakajima.  Quiet, soft platen too.

I did not record and look up the serial number.  Presently the typewriter is back out in the car.

I've not gone typewriter hunting yet today as the snow is now freezing rain. Once it changes back to snow or to rain I may head out again.

I planned on using a Skyriter for my posts, but Mrs. is sleeping and the lobby is quite small and there are a few people out there so I resort to the digital realm.  I like snow and if it were only snow coming down from the clouds I would commandeer one of the tables in the closed pool area and type.

Back to the Carina 2.  I find this a nice typing little typewriter.  It is made by Nakajima from all I can find.  The platen is quite nice as it is soft and quiet. It reminds me of my recently used SM9 or my Skyriters.  The typewriter is fully featured with a tabulator, paper guide, pop-up paper prop, famous Japanese automatic, but I have yet to find anything but uselsess, automatic spacer, 1, 2, or 3 line spacing and variable, a nice touch and nicely built machine for being a later plastic machine. It seems to be more substantial than my Brother.  I will need to compare them when I get home.

This typewriter does not have the cheap tinny sound of the Olympia B12 that I used to have.  The B12 was also a nice typer, but neither the B12 or the Carina 2 come close to the touch or quality of any of the early typewriters in my collection.

Typecast from my Carina 2.  Post from my Dell XPS running elementaryOS