Topic: I just picked up...

[zapsnaps]

Just checked - the projector lens will just fit over (not on) the R8 lens cap with <1mm play, so a bit of tape will make it light-tight.

I'm back in the game and ready to play...

[Francois]

Too large is never a problem.
Too short a focusing distance for infinity is.

Just to show that too big is never an issue, here's one of my monsters.

[zapsnaps]

That is a monster!

[Francois]

Definitely! 

[Kai-san]

I've been looking for an affordable M42 lens between 60 and 100mm, but for some reason these do not come cheap unlike other SLR lenses in that range. But finally I found this one in Germany, an Enna München Tele-Ennalyt 1:2.8/90mm in very good shape. And as a bonus it came in a beautiful box, although I don't think lens and box belongs together.

[Francois]

It sure is a nice box.
Though I'm quite surprised by the optical design on this one. Every M42 lens I have has the push rod for the aperture and the f/stop ring at the back while this one has a standard design with the aperture at the front. Not a common thing.

[Kai-san]

It sure is a nice box.
Though I'm quite surprised by the optical design on this one. Every M42 lens I have has the push rod for the aperture and the f/stop ring at the back while this one has a standard design with the aperture at the front. Not a common thing.

If that is so I have two more uncommon M42 lenses, the 37mm Mir-1B and the 50mm Industar 61 L/Z Macro. But these two are probably not the most common M42 lenses out there anyway.

[Phil Snaps]

I picked up a Lomo'Instant Automat Glass, second hand for cheap. It is functional so I will shoot two packs of Instax Mini with it, then one of two possible fates awaits it:
- Either I sell it
- Or I dismantle it then use the lens for my "Pocket Xpan" project. An Instax Mini image size is 46×62 mm, which means the lens easily covers 24×65. It is also a glass lens that seems a lot sharper than usual Lomo'Instant plastic ones. The donor body will be a Reto 3D because it is light and already has a 54 mm wide film gate, that can be widened to 65+ mm.

I also have a more serious "mechanical Xpan" project but that is a story for another day

[Kai-san]

I picked up a Lomo'Instant Automat Glass, second hand for cheap. It is functional so I will shoot two packs of Instax Mini with it, then one of two possible fates awaits it:
- Either I sell it
- Or I dismantle it then use the lens for my "Pocket Xpan" project. An Instax Mini image size is 46×62 mm, which means the lens easily covers 24×65. It is also a glass lens that seems a lot sharper than usual Lomo'Instant plastic ones. The donor body will be a Reto 3D because it is light and already has a 54 mm wide film gate, that can be widened to 65+ mm.

I also have a more serious "mechanical Xpan" project but that is a story for another day

I hope you will show us the finished contraptions, you can post it in the "I just made/fixed" thread. 

[Bryan]

Found this at an estate sale for $50.  Kodak Retina IIIC with a Schneider - Kreuznach Retina - Xenon f/2.0 50mm lens.  The lens in the case is a Schneider - Kreuznach Retina - Curtar - Xenon f/5.6 35mm.  Everything seams to function properly, including the light meter.  The lenses are clean and clear, the rangefinder patch looks great.  It also came with a case and the light meter incident diffuser.  Can't wait to get some film in this and try it out, seems like a really nice camera.  I have a Retina Automatic III that seems kind of cheap so I never got that excited about other Retina III models.  This is more like my Retina I which is a really well built camera.

Kodak Retina IIIC by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[Francois]

The retinas of the time were really good cameras with excellent lenses.
When my mom wanted to get a camera back in the early 60's, my grandpa helped her buy a Retinette 1A. It was a lot more expensive than other offerings but it came with a Schneider lens which was very far ahead from anything that Kodak, Ansco and Argus were making at the time.

[Phil Snaps]

I picked up a Lomo'Instant Automat Glass (…) is also a glass lens that seems a lot sharper than usual Lomo'Instant plastic ones.

Oh wow I just read this is the same lens as in the Lomo LC-A 120! I didn't know but this is good news for my pano project, it means I can get really decent pictures

[collodion]

Wow, what a beauty Bryan!!  I have the same camera and I love it...Takes great pics and will fit in a jacket pocket :-)I think your going to enjoy shooting with it!!
Chris Sherlock has some really helpful information on YouTube should you need to repair it.https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSherlock
Cheers

[Bryan]

Wow, what a beauty Bryan!!  I have the same camera and I love it...Takes great pics and will fit in a jacket pocket :-)I think your going to enjoy shooting with it!!
Chris Sherlock has some really helpful information on YouTube should you need to repair it.https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSherlock
Cheers

It is a really nice camera, I'm still trying to get familiar with it.  I don't think it will replace my Leica's, but it will get some use.  This one is in mint condition, hopefully it doesn't need any servicing for a while.  I'm not a big fan of the exposure index value lever, but I guess that works best with the attached light meter.  Also, focusing the wide angle lens is a bit of a pain.  The 35, 50 and 80mm frame lines in the viewfinder are a bit too busy for me, that will take some getting used to. 

I did find in my bin of Kodak filter adapter rings two of the screw in series VI adapters.  Not sure when or where I picked those up but that will help since the screw in filters seem to be quite rare. 

[Francois]

I did find in my bin of Kodak filter adapter rings two of the screw in series VI adapters.  Not sure when or where I picked those up but that will help since the screw in filters seem to be quite rare.

I had a similar problem with a Graflex lens. In the end I made an adapter to take regular filters by sanding a step-down adapter to fit in the adapter ring, adding a small UV filter as a spacer and then finishing thing with a step-up ring to 52mm.

[collodion]

Hi Bryan,  I havent had the camera out in quite a while  But here's a shot from 2018 I took with the standard lens, I think it was Fuji Acros 100.   I found the camera to be the most "user friendly" with just the 50mm 
Cheers

[Francois]

My birthday gift just arrived from China!
And I must say that it's one of the most lovely little pieces of gear I've got.
It's one of those small TT Artisan light meters and I must say I'm really impressed by the quality.
It's got a full brass body with some heft to it. It's not flimsy in any way but is small enough to be unobtrusive.
I compared it with my Sekonic and it's less than 1/3 stop off, so no worry there.

[Kai-san]

Congrats Francois and Happy Birthday! So you got the expensive version, looking good! The battery in mine is still going strong, but I usually just meter once when I'm out shooting. I just adjust a step up or down if the weather changes or in the shades.

[Francois]

Thanks!
At that shop it actually was the same price for the aluminum one.
I was tempted by the shiny model but I figured that the text would be easier to read on the black one. And besides, the paint will eventually wear out on the corners and look at least a thousand times better.

I do the same as you, I just meter once and then adjust when it's required.
So now I won't have to carry around that big Sekonic when using the FED or the YashicaMat. 😎

[astrobeck]

Happy birthday Francois and great score on that meter.
It's quite nice looking and I had never seen one before.
I think choosing the black one was a good idea.
 

[Francois]

Thanks Becky!
I think Joe VanCleave has one too... though I can't remember if his version is silver or not.

I must say that the build quality on this thing is very unlike what we're used to see coming from China. Now I understand why they make lenses for Leicas too.
The meter wouldn't be out of place on top of one of those.

I read somewhere that it's a modernized copy of a Voigtländer model. so that's a good start.

[Kai-san]

It looks like a Voigtländer VC meter, the cheapest I found on evilbay is $100, and that's second hand. The TTArtisan meter is good value for money.

[Francois]

The big major difference I can see with the Voigtländer is that mine has smaller wheels (with smaller text) and the reference dots are in between with lines indicating the plus/minus 1 stop.

[astrobeck]

an "as-is" Super Takumar f/1.4 50mm found its way to my mailbox today.
It has radiation browning, oil on one blade and the aperture closes a bit slow, but it works and I'm super happy to have it on my S1a.
I will be of course wasting some film with it this weekend.

[Francois]

Cool!
Get ready for some boh-keh!

[mikec]

I have the similar H3v which also came with the 1.4 lens and which is incompatible with the camera as the big rear element protrudes too far toward the mirror. My camera has a green"R" on the rewind knob which is an indicator of the incompatibility.  From what I have found online, later models with an orange "R" will work with the 1.4 lens, and it is also fine on my Spotmatics.

[Bryan]

an "as-is" Super Takumar f/1.4 50mm found its way to my mailbox today.
It has radiation browning, oil on one blade and the aperture closes a bit slow, but it works and I'm super happy to have it on my S1a.
I will be of course wasting some film with it this weekend.

I have the same lens, definitely radioactive, I checked it with a radiation meter at work.  Mine didn’t have any yellowing, but I believe you can fix that with UV light.   

[Kai-san]

Got this one for a tenner, very nice shape and everything works. Had to fix the strap, but that's all. Looks plasticky, but the body is metal. It's got a 40mm Triplet lens, a welcome change from the standard 50mm on all compacts. And it's got filter threads so you can mount a hood. Let's see how bad it can be.

[Francois]

And in the end, you'll probably end-up concluding that it's not horrible.

[Phil Snaps]

Remember that Konica WaiWai I found a few months ago? I wanted to use it during my holidays but… it turned out the battery was badly oxidized, and had leaked everywhere as it seems the camera had been stored upside down. I couldn't even wind and the shutter was stuck. So I took it apart, threw the flash board away as it was completely corroded, and cleaned every part under running water. I now own a functional flashless WaiWai, reloaded with Ultramax 400

[Francois]

You're gonna so love the lens on it 

[astrobeck]

Remember that Konica WaiWai I found a few months ago? I wanted to use it during my holidays but… it turned out the battery was badly oxidized, and had leaked everywhere as it seems the camera had been stored upside down. I couldn't even wind and the shutter was stuck. So I took it apart, threw the flash board away as it was completely corroded, and cleaned every part under running water. I now own a functional flashless WaiWai, reloaded with Ultramax 400

That's like finding the holy Grail of disposable cameras!
Hope you share some photos from it soon.

[Francois]

Well, it's definitely been a bad summer when it comes down to photography here.
But on the other hand it's been a fantastic year for book sales!
Every summer I go to a few book sales in the hope of finding something. Most years it's pretty average. But this year was just plain WOW!
At the biggest one of the region, they had tons of art and photography books... and I obviously had to go to the bank as I wasn't expecting to get that many.
Here is just a part of the photo books I got. And that's not counting all the other art books I got. I still haven't cleaned all of them.

Lets just say that when you see one next to the other Walker Evans, Robert Doisneau, Man Ray, a bunch of more technical books and more, you just can't help but get them all.

[Kai-san]

Nice haul, Francois! Is that one of the Time/Life series on photography in the top row? I used to collect those in the early seventies.

[Francois]

Yep, this one is an annual issue for 1981-1982.
Not exactly fresh material, but considering that they had put it in a pile of freebies, it's going to make for some nice reading material.

And I still have a bunch of bags full that need to be cleaned after I put them in the freezer for a few days (In the area there are some places that have bedbugs and freezing them in a sealed zip bag is the best way to prevent problems).
I have some on the zone system, photographing artwork, Dilbert...

And they were all much cheaper than a magazine (4$ for a large paperback, 5$ for a large hard cover). Can't say no to that!

[Francois]

My passing the word around is starting to bear fruits!
Look at that 10$ beauty.
I also got a 3$ digicam (Nikon Coolpix S8100) that was untested but turned out to be much better than what I have been using for years.

[Kai-san]

Francois, that's a very nice catch for a tenner! The only Minolta I've got is the Autocord, but there seems to be a lot of fans of the SRT series. But beware, now comes the GAS for matching lenses! 

[Francois]

But beware, now comes the GAS for matching lenses! 

I know... they have a lot of good glass, some of them even made their way to the Leica R system...
But luckily, since it's not as popular a system as Nikon, the lenses tend to be a bit cheaper.
I'm keeping my eyes peeled for locally sourced deals. Like I say: Ya never know what ya can find 😀

[Phil Snaps]

I picked up a Beirette Electronic. I was looking for a small aperture priority camera for a long time, and there are surprisingly few of them. From the lightest I know: Minox 35, Oly XA, Beirette Electronic, Yashica Electro 35 MC. Beyond, they become too heavy (more than 400g) and too big. I prefer a forty-ish field of view to 35, so I was happy to find a Beirette.
It doesn't scream quality, feels very plasticky, but the lens is supposed to be decent. For 9 € I can't complain!

[Francois]

I once read that the Beirette was the most Holga-esque camera in the 35mm format.
So if what was written in the magazine is true, you're bound to have something special in your hands.

[Kai-san]

Just picked up this one for a tenner, a spot attachment for my Lunasix 3 meter. You can choose between 7.5 and 15 degrees. Nice to have in some tricky situations.

[Francois]

This is the type of thing that I feel like once you get the hang of it, you just can't live without 😀

[Francois]

Like I said in the weekend thread, I've been on a camera acquisition spree!
For the last two weekends, the city allowed fall garage sales. So like any good Filmwaster, I asked if people still had old cameras.
And boy was I surprised!
A friend I hadn't seen for a long time called to let me know that he had two free cameras for me.
And when I went last Friday to the place where I volunteer as a librarian, they still had more!

So, I got them all...

In there you'll find a Pentax Espio 105G with it's obscene 38-105mm zoom (I will have to open it up as there is something rubbing inside...).
A Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 120ED AF in pristine condition. (38-120mm zoom).
A Minolta Freedom 100 with a bit of plastic missing. (Free)
A Pentax IQ Zoom EZY-80 with its 38-80mm zoom which looks like it just came out of the box! This thing probably had a single roll of film run through it and was put on a shelf. It looks that good. (Free)
A Minolta Maxxum 7000 that looks like it just came out of the store. Now this camera is special. It was released in 1983 (mine was purchased in 1986) and was a ground shaking release. It's the first camera with a built-in motor drive. The first SLR with autofocus. The first SLR to ditch the aperture ring. It's got some ergonomic features that I now dream all modern DSLR's and mirrorless would have. It's really something special. I had to replace the internal battery on this one as the lithium cell was the original one and for some mysterious reason was still working!
A Minolta XG-1 that is minty and absolutely lovely to use.
And a few digicams.
A Nikon Coolpix S8100 that has a pretty good zoom (10x).
An Olympus Pen with two lenses (my most expensive purchase).
A Sony Alpha 100 with two zooms that fit on my Minolta Maxxum (they share the same bayonet). Since this one is missing the battery, I want to use it to build a DSLR film scanning rig.

And if I said how much I paid for each of these, you'd fall from your chair!

[Bryan]

Wow, that’s a great haul Francois!  Can the Minolta Maxxum 7000 use older Minolta lenses?  I don’t understand how they ditched the aperture ring.  The XG-1 is one I would add to my Minolta lineup if I came across a good deal. 

I’ve been using the Olympus M4/3 cameras for scanning film for a long time.  I’m using a Pen-F now, great cameras. 

It’s strange to me that the city has to allow garage sales.  Where I live you can have a garage sale any time you want. 

[Francois]

Yeah, it's a city thing. We get 2 week-ends in spring and 2 weekends in the fall. But it has an upside as the city publishes a free map of the addresses, so we know where most of the sales take place. But in other neighboring cities, they sometimes have only one weekend a year...

As for the 7000, it takes a wholly different mount than the older lenses, so you have to switch to the new system entirely. The lenses work pretty much the same way as those on DSLR's now work. But on the 7000, they has the brains to have a set of buttons on the side of the camera for controlling the aperture. While handling the camera I found that it can comfortably replace the aperture ring. But all new DSLR's now need to have the exposure compensation button held while you use the jog wheel, or something like that in order to change the aperture. Much less convenient and instinctual for me.

[Francois]

The XG-1 is one I would add to my Minolta lineup if I came across a good deal. 

BTW, the XG-1 is one of the weirdest cameras I've come across lately.
It looks fantastic, it's ergonomics are top notch. But the exposure meter has got to be the strangest thing ever, as in the "WTF were they thinking" strange.
The camera is essentially designed to be used in automatic mode (aperture priority). You can select ±2 stops in auto mode and you see the shutter speed in the finder. But once you select the speed manually, all it does is light an M reminder and you lose the metering capability. Also, the display shows speeds only from 1/30 to 1/1000. Below that, you get just a vague indication of the shutter speed. You also have over-under arrows.

The meter is center weighted CDS cell based.

[Phil Snaps]

I just picked up an Agfa Isola. It seems to work fine, but has some rust on the film gate, and fungus in the lens. I will try sun light and Hydrogen Peroxide. If I can't save the lens, the body will become a pinhole camera (I just received laser-drilled pinholes from reality So Subtle) and I will save the shutter for another frankenthing.

[Francois]

Fungus removes just fine most of the time, so I have high hopes that you'll be able to save it.

[Kai-san]

I couldn't pass on this one, got it for a reasonable price. It came without lenses, but that just means I can choose freely among the 14 or more available sets. I'll probably go for a wide one first, 55 or 65mm. It's nice to have this as a long term project where you can acquire new parts when you feel like it. And there's a lot of accessories as well.

[Francois]

I know I've always lusted after one of those Mamiya twin-lens.
I know my dad's cousin has one gathering mold in his basement, but he's packed the place solid and doesn't know where it is.
I asked him to sell it to me, but he can't find it and told me that if he finds it, he wants top dollar for it... that's family for ya.