Author Topic: I just picked up... (Read 847847 times)

Kai-san · « **Reply #3550 on:** July 21, 2018, 05:20:02 PM »

Tack så mycket, Francois! Jag har länge önskat mig en sån här, så nu var det dags.

Francois · « **Reply #3551 on:** July 21, 2018, 08:46:56 PM »

Synd att de inte säljer dem på Ikea ... hade nog varit billigare.

Don't you just love Google Translate

Kai-san · « **Reply #3552 on:** July 21, 2018, 09:24:20 PM »

I don't need it.........

Francois · « **Reply #3553 on:** July 21, 2018, 10:17:00 PM »

When your knowledge of Swedish is limited to the Ikea catalog, you do

MiguelCampano · « **Reply #3554 on:** July 23, 2018, 02:21:07 PM »

I just picked up a bottle of Arista Premium liquid developer (rebranded Clayton F76+). Has anyone used it? Supposed to be a cheaper alternative to Ilfotec DD-X

Bryan · « **Reply #3555 on:** July 24, 2018, 03:46:53 PM »

I've always wanted a Contax but I don't think it would replace my LTM leicas as a something I would use on a regular basis, that's why I went with a Kiev 4 to feed my GAS. As the Russian seller said, everything functions properly and that appears to be the case. The light meter seems to work but I need to check it more to see how accurate it is. There's a few reasons why I don't like it as much as a Leica. The lens doesn't collapse and it's just bigger and heavier than a Leica. I also don't like how the Contax focuses, the focus wheel is in an awkward place and is slow to focus, I prefer the little post on the Leitz lenses. I know you can use the ring on the lens after it's released from infinity but then you're doing two things to focus. Otherwise it's fells like the best built FSU camera I've ever held. We'll see how I feel after I run a roll of film through it.

Kiev 4 by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

KevinAllan · « **Reply #3556 on:** July 27, 2018, 08:16:19 AM »

I've been looking for an enlarger that can do 4*5 since getting my Intrepid camera. Finally one came up on eBay at a reasonable price and within 2 hours drive - it weighs about 120 pounds so not easy to post ...

It's a Durst Laborator 1200.

zapsnaps · « **Reply #3557 on:** July 27, 2018, 02:22:12 PM »

Nice rig, Kevin!

Francois · « **Reply #3558 on:** July 27, 2018, 02:51:15 PM »

You are so going to love it!
I have a small Durst and it's possibly one of the best I've seen when it comes to light quality.

MiguelCampano · « **Reply #3559 on:** July 30, 2018, 01:01:25 PM »

Picked this up for $5, including the ColorPlus roll, at the Philly Italian Market last Saturday. Everything works, and it has a new battery. Shot a test roll yesterday during a stroll by the park and after scanning it, no light leaks or issues are visible. Yay!

cs1 · « **Reply #3560 on:** July 30, 2018, 01:28:08 PM »

That is an excellent find, Miguel. I own one, too. The lens is superb and adapters to use modern batteries are easily available. The only weakness that this camera has, is the "pad of death" which is a small rubber pad that is part of the shutter release mechanism and which wears down after some time. It's fixable though. You'll love this camera. How's the viewfinder? Is it clear? In any case, 5 US$ is way below what you'd normally have to pay for this camera.

MiguelCampano · « **Reply #3561 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:00:27 PM »

It's very nice. I am amazed at how accurate the light meter is, considering its age. The viewfinder is relatively clear, the patch is very easy to see and free of dust, but this being my first "full size" rangefinder (my previous experience with a RF was using the Olympus XA from Satish for s couple of weeks), I don't have a comparison. But yes, very easy to use and operate. Focus rings is smooth and so is the aperture ring.

Francois · « **Reply #3562 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:06:46 PM »

Ok my electro I use a hand made battery adapter. I made it out of wood that I turned on the bandsaw using a drill and a bolt. The contact is just a big screw that I adjusted using the Dremel.

Bryan · « **Reply #3563 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:32:12 PM »

Yashica Guy has a lot of great information on that camera. He makes a battery adapter, I bought one from him several years ago. He also has instructions for repairing the "Pad of Death" among other things. I've been thinking about selling my Electro 35 since I don't use it much anymore but it is a nice camera.

http://www.yashica-guy.com/

cs1 · « **Reply #3564 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:34:31 PM »

The Electro doesn't have the best viewfinder in the world, but it's still OK enough. I agree with you that the meter is really good, it's one of the highlights of the camera. Apart from that, the design of the Electro is simply gorgeous.

François, good job. I've also seen adaptors using a PVC tube with a piece of wood as a "cork" with a screw going all the way through.

cs1 · « **Reply #3565 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:35:52 PM »

Bryan, I also almost sold Electro 35 GSN but when I shot it "one last time" I decided to keep it.

SLVR · « **Reply #3566 on:** July 30, 2018, 03:52:03 PM »

snagged a pentax auto110 full kit with box for a decent price over the weekend.

Pete_R · « **Reply #3567 on:** July 30, 2018, 04:36:23 PM »

Quote from: Bryan on July 30, 2018, 03:32:12 PM

Yashica Guy has a lot of great information on that camera. He makes a battery adapter, I bought one from him several years ago. He also has instructions for repairing the "Pad of Death" among other things. I've been thinking about selling my Electro 35 since I don't use it much anymore but it is a nice camera.

http://www.yashica-guy.com/

I bought an adaptor off Yashica Guy some years ago and it didn't work, or, at least, the battery he supplied didn't work. He sent me another but that didn't work either so I did some research on the battery he was supplying and found it was unsuitable. We had a 'discussion' about it and it became obvious he was no electronic engineer and couldn't understand anything beyond volts so I gave up.

Here's what I wrote at the time. I can't guarantee current availability though (you'll get that pun if you read it).

https://sites.google.com/site/k8019416/electro-35-batteries

cs1 · « **Reply #3568 on:** July 30, 2018, 04:51:40 PM »

There's a very good adapter by a Spanish seller on a well known auction site which works really well and doesn't cost a lot. Even the battery that comes with the adapter works really well.

Bryan · « **Reply #3569 on:** July 30, 2018, 05:08:23 PM »

Quote from: PeterR on July 30, 2018, 04:36:23 PM

Quote from: Bryan on July 30, 2018, 03:32:12 PM
Yashica Guy has a lot of great information on that camera. He makes a battery adapter, I bought one from him several years ago. He also has instructions for repairing the "Pad of Death" among other things. I've been thinking about selling my Electro 35 since I don't use it much anymore but it is a nice camera.

http://www.yashica-guy.com/

I bought an adaptor off Yashica Guy some years ago and it didn't work, or, at least, the battery he supplied didn't work. He sent me another but that didn't work either so I did some research on the battery he was supplying and found it was unsuitable. We had a 'discussion' about it and it became obvious he was no electronic engineer and couldn't understand anything beyond volts so I gave up.

Here's what I wrote at the time. I can't guarantee current availability though (you'll get that pun if you read it).

https://sites.google.com/site/k8019416/electro-35-batteries

Mine has worked fine, I can't remember what battery I used in it. I've had it since around 2013.

Kai-san · « **Reply #3570 on:** July 30, 2018, 06:00:33 PM »

For those of us living in Europe I recommend the Small Battery Company in London. They have a good selection of adapters and the service is excellent. Never had a problem with their adapters.

Marty Tuff · « **Reply #3571 on:** August 19, 2018, 08:57:33 AM »

I've had this very lovely GEM enlarger with multi grade head sitting around for ages and I just don't think I'll get around to installing it. It has an electronic timer and a load of darkroom equipment with it. I'm away from home for the next week but if anyone is interested, I can post up some pictures? It's currently in Suffolk UK....

Francois · « **Reply #3572 on:** August 19, 2018, 02:50:55 PM »

You're welcome to do so.
But maybe you should post it in a separate thread.
And don't forget to include the region or city where it's located. Since it's going to be pick-up only, it's going to be an important thing to know

Bryan · « **Reply #3573 on:** August 24, 2018, 09:35:53 PM »

Found these at an Estate Sale. I need the flip flash for my Instamatic and the flash bars work with the Polaroid SX-70. One of the flash bars is partially shot. The Rollei P350A slide projector is really nice and everything seems to function properly. One nice thing about this projector is that the bulbs are still readily available and cheap. I also got three of the Gepe slide tray boxes, each has two trays that hold 50 slides each. I'm ready for some Ektachrome now!

Bryan · « **Reply #3574 on:** September 03, 2018, 12:30:12 AM »

My mother past away last year so my father has been going thru stuff to downsize so he can move into a smaller place soon. He found a bunch of stuff that he thought I might want to have which included a bunch of cameras, a box of M-2B flash bulbs, a slide projector and a slide viewer. Most of the cameras are junk, a few plastic fantastic point and shoot and a 2MP digital cameras, those will probably end up being donated to charity. The camera in the photo below belonged to my mother. I have a vague recollection of seeing this camera but I don't remember her ever using it in my lifetime. I mostly remember her using her Polaroid One-Step. This camera was made from 1940 to 1942 so she probably got it used, she would have been too young to use it when it was new. I cleaned it up, there was so much dust in the viewfinder and on the mirror that you could barely see through it. It did clean up well and the shutter is working good so I'll definitely be shooting some film with it.

Kodak Brownie Reflex by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Francois · « **Reply #3575 on:** September 03, 2018, 03:19:18 PM »

I'm very sorry to hear about your mom...

But on the other hand you have a nice set of cameras there.
Now the tinkerer in me will try to convince you to keep those other cameras for projects.
First is that 2MP digicam. I have two cheap ones which I modified by removing the infrared filter on them.
On the first one I replaced it with a couple of layers of C41 developed leaders to block all visible light. It gives me a wonderful little IR camera.
On the other, I didn't block all visible light but added a yellow filter in the optical path so that it gives me an aerochrome like look.
As for the plastic ones, you can hack the film gate and often flip the lens. If it's motorized and cheap enough you can strip out the shutter and make a slit aperture to convert it to a streaking camera.

I could probably think of a bunch of other more.......

Bryan · « **Reply #3576 on:** September 03, 2018, 03:40:50 PM »

Ok, I may have to do some damage to that digital camera to see if I can get the Aerochrome look. I did decide to keep one of the plastic fantastic cameras, it’s a Minolta. I could use it for things like snowboarding and not worry about destroying it.

Francois · « **Reply #3577 on:** September 03, 2018, 05:04:32 PM »

The way I look at those old cameras, if they get scrapped in the process it won't be much of a problem.

The camera I modified to give it an aerochrome look only has auto white balance, so the results are heavily corrected in camera. But this is one of the test shots I did with it.
I must admit I didn't do much but build and test it, but I'm keeping it since I feel it could be useful at some point.
The only thing I hated about doing this build is that the aperture was hooked-up to the thinnest wires I'd ever seen and I broke one. Took me a good hour to finally mend it. But that is more model related than anything. It was a Kodak Easyshare CX7310...

scouter · « **Reply #3578 on:** September 03, 2018, 07:13:06 PM »

found this in my local photo shop in Falmouth. It has a small crack in the prism but that's something I can live with otherwise it is in perfect condition.
Nikon F2 Photomic

Bryan · « **Reply #3579 on:** September 03, 2018, 07:55:19 PM »

Nice find with that Nikon scouter!

Quote from: Francois on September 03, 2018, 05:04:32 PM

The way I look at those old cameras, if they get scrapped in the process it won't be much of a problem.

The camera I modified to give it an aerochrome look only has auto white balance, so the results are heavily corrected in camera. But this is one of the test shots I did with it.
I must admit I didn't do much but build and test it, but I'm keeping it since I feel it could be useful at some point.
The only thing I hated about doing this build is that the aperture was hooked-up to the thinnest wires I'd ever seen and I broke one. Took me a good hour to finally mend it. But that is more model related than anything. It was a Kodak Easyshare CX7310...

I removed the infrared filter. I experimented with yellow, orange, red and no filter. Everything but the red filter gave vegetation a muddy brown color. This is with the red filter. Hopefully I don't get banned for sharing digital photos.

Francois · « **Reply #3580 on:** September 03, 2018, 08:12:39 PM »

Nah... you won't. You might get a flower foul but not much more.
Does your camera have a white balance adjust? It might be worth checking out.
Also, you might have to pass it through photoshop to tweak the colors.

On mine, I used a rosco or lee filter from their filter pack. I can't remember but I know it closely matched the recommended Wratten filter for aerochrome......
I can check which one it was if you want.

Bryan · « **Reply #3581 on:** September 03, 2018, 09:04:50 PM »

This is a very basic camera, no white balance. I glued a red filter to the front of the lens so for now I'm pretty much stuck with that. I think I buggered something up inside, the display keeps going wacky. For what it's worth I did pretty much destroy a digital camera so the moderators should be ok with that.

Francois · « **Reply #3582 on:** September 03, 2018, 10:16:53 PM »

I came close to doing the same but somehow managed to rescue it...
Isn't it crazy how much junk there is inside of those just to take pictures?
From experience, the cheaper the camera the easier it is to modify. The first one I modded was a Disney High School Musical themed camera I got for 50¢ at a garage sale. The resolution is aweful and it now needs a slight focus adjust, but it was a charm to work on. To change the batteries you have to remove the front sleeve and then you can see everything just behind a small plastic cover...

Bryan · « **Reply #3583 on:** September 15, 2018, 03:42:47 AM »

I went to an estate sale today because they had a nice looking Exakta kit, it was gone when I got there but they did have this very nice Kodak Retina I. This is the Type 126 made from 1936 to 1937. It has the un-coated Anastigmat Ektar lens. It also came with the B and C Portrait attachments, the manual and a case.I also got a Weston Master II light meter that's still giving accurate readings. I also got a box full of flash bulbs and Magiccubes.

Kodak Retina I Type 126 by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Francois · « **Reply #3584 on:** September 15, 2018, 03:36:29 PM »

Nice catch!
Does this one eat some 120?

Bryan · « **Reply #3585 on:** September 15, 2018, 04:19:05 PM »

Quote from: Francois on September 15, 2018, 03:36:29 PM

Nice catch!
Does this one eat some 120?

It’s 35mm, the Retina was the first camera Kodak made for the standard 135 cassette that we still use today. I just figured out that this is type 141 made from 1937 to 1939. The difference is the shutter button wasn’t moved to the top of the camera on the 126.

Francois · « **Reply #3586 on:** September 15, 2018, 09:50:30 PM »

I thought this honor was left to the Kodak 35...
But looking at the release dates of both of them, it can be hard to figure out which one came first.

AJShepherd · « **Reply #3587 on:** September 16, 2018, 12:22:37 AM »

Bryan, that Retina just looks absolutely wonderful.

Aksel · « **Reply #3588 on:** September 19, 2018, 08:38:35 AM »

My name is Aksel and I have an addiction.

Francois · « **Reply #3589 on:** September 19, 2018, 02:21:57 PM »

Oly fanboy I can see...
I must say I too have a collection of stylus cameras..... Lovely little things and a joy to use.

Aksel · « **Reply #3590 on:** September 20, 2018, 10:12:49 AM »

Not really a fanboy but Oly do make some splendid small cameras! The fact that they can be found relatively cheap make it even more interesting

Not sure about the OM, but I`ll give it a new chance

astrobeck · « **Reply #3591 on:** September 20, 2018, 01:37:41 PM »

That's a nice suite of Olympus cams.
I always felt that Olympus kind of took a back seat to Nikon and Canon...and for no good reason really.
The Olympus has a certain sleekness in design the others lacked...just my nickels worth.

kentish cob · « **Reply #3592 on:** September 20, 2018, 03:08:31 PM »

would it be fair, Aksel, to call your little collection a Pantheon of Olympus cameras?

Francois · « **Reply #3593 on:** September 20, 2018, 08:18:48 PM »

I could be mistaken but I believe that the same designer is responsible for the Trip, XA and Mju/Stylus...

Aksel · « **Reply #3594 on:** September 21, 2018, 08:07:06 AM »

Thank you! I tend to agree when it comes to the slr´s but with compacts, Nikon and Canon never made anything good and affordable - the 28/35Ti has a great lens but the camera itself where overpriced and had a less than good ergonomy. Olympus, Yashica, Konica and a few others made great small gems, Contax and Ricoh where superb and Leica - as always, great lens but compact camera was not their thing.
I feel the OM system is a bit different than most other brands, not better or worse, just different. 21mm to 135mm all uses 49mm filters. Compact and with nice rendering. I used to have 2x OM4 21/35/50/85 as my only gear for years, loved the results but never bonded with the camera and I can't stand the shutter sound, it reminds me of a feeble handshake. Swapped the 50/1.4 for 9 rolls of Neopan and found the OM2 for cheap so… will give it a chance again.

Pantheon? Well, why not

As for design, I don't know who did it but they are really well designed, given their limitations in size. The finders are better than most of the competition and all delivers great results

jojonas~ · « **Reply #3595 on:** September 21, 2018, 09:44:16 PM »

aah, the oly lust... I've been struck by the pen kind hard. I have four cameras but only one working. they all have sticky shutters and/or apertures haha...

kentish cob · « **Reply #3596 on:** September 23, 2018, 11:48:20 AM »

Picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and have been trying to get the best out of it since...

Pretty tatty looking polaroid automatic 103... not the model I was looking for, but it was cheap, and included 2 unopened packs of fp100 plus 8 shots left in camera, so in my mind, I bought the film and the camera came free.

Exposures seem to be a bit hit and miss despite new batteries (modded to AAAs), so I'm not convinced the "electric eye" isn't suffering from age, but I'm enjoying tinkering with something I've never tried before, so if a better model comes my way at the right price I may well grab it... especially if the packfilm kickstarter is successful.

MiguelCampano · « **Reply #3597 on:** October 01, 2018, 07:36:03 PM »

Picked this little thing. It's a Rapidry Print Dryer. Not sure what year it was manufactured, but it works flawlessly. A little clean up to the ferrotype and perhaps the canvas as well, with baking soda and vinegar, and should be all set.

I'll try soaking some test prints in water, then squeegee them and re-dry on this and see how that comes out. Supposedly, 3-5 minutes per 8X10 should give very flat FB prints.

Untitled by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

Kai-san · « **Reply #3598 on:** October 01, 2018, 08:38:44 PM »

Nice, I like the "prints dry in a jiffy" bit. But that power cable looks a bit dodgy, maybe you should consider changing it? I'm always scared that old electrical equipment might cause a fire.

Francois · « **Reply #3599 on:** October 01, 2018, 09:45:22 PM »

Electrical is always a concern for me...
When I have a metal appliance without a ground, I always upgrade to a grounded cord.

BTW, be careful while cleaning the plate. The slightest scratch will show in the gelatin.