SHOW US YOUR CAMERAS!!

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 987 Location: Winnipeg Canada

A little late with this one.

Fairly pristine late run chrome F2.
Seller said he bought it for using in his high school photo club,
then gave up the whole idea after a matter of weeks.
He said he had put 5 or 6 rolls of b&w film through it,
and then it sat in storage for 43 years.

The pre-AI "K" 50mm f-2 is a nice lens I like it a lot.

It also came with a 200mm f-4 "Q.C." that I have yet to use.
Compared to my black "beater" F2, there's a huge difference.
Film advance is almost equal in smoothness to my F3.
My black F2 goes "Flap" (mirror up) and "clack" (shutter trip)
The new to me chrome version is more of "ping and ting" affair, and a bit quieter.
The only mark I can find on it is a tiny scratch in the chrome of the top plate at the front,
and it's barely discernible...

I am quite impressed with this!
The factory leather strap is still quite pliable after all this time.

-D.S.

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

New old stock found recently:-

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

What a beautiful XE!! Looks like new indeed!

And the Minolta 600si classic is a milestone in the Minolta Dynax lineage. After all these "computerized" user interfaces the "classic" user interface of the 600si was the beginning of a new aera. The Dynax 9 (and later the Dynax 7D and the Sony A900 which in reality was the "Dynax 9D") would become the culmination and terminus for those expensive and labor-intensive user interafces.

S

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

First roll done!

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

[quote="alex ph"]

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

A few days ago this little black Minolta AF-C caught my attention (she was in the waste bin of our local photo store awaiting destruction) - so I saved her Wink

. Back in its days (1982) the AF-C was pretty expensive - around 500 DM or half the price of a Minolta X-700 SLR including 1.7/50mm normal lens!

While the AF-C feels pretty cheap (it was made mainly from lightweight plastics), technologically it was top level: A miniaturized AF module, AF-Lock, program mode from 1/8s @ f2.8 to 1/500s @ f16, LEDs in the viewfinder, and - last but not least - a high quality 2.8/35mm [6/6] lens with rear focus (!).

Today, at the same shop, another AF-C was in the waste - this time a white one with its original flash. What a funny coincindence ... Wink

S

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

[quote="stevemark"]

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Here's another one - a quite common Minolta X-500 with the no-so-common MD 2/135mm lens:

I always felt the X-500 is more "professional" than the X-700, even though the X-700 officially was the higher rated camera, of course. The X-500 has no program mode (just A mode and M mode) which feels "cleaner", and its manual mode metering is better engineered (LED show both the recommended / measured shutter time and the time manually chosen on the camera). In addition the X-700 doesn't allow slow flash sync when using dedicated (TTL) flashes, even in manual mode the camera insists to have 1/60 s ... With the X-500 you can use slow sync combined with TTL measuring, at least in manual mode. This feature is quite important when shooting events, concerts and weddings.

Here are the X-500 (with MD 1.2/50mm) and the X-700 (with MD 2/135mm) together:

The viewfinder of these SLR is among the best (=brightest and largest) I know - by far larger than the OVF of the Nikon F5 or the Nikon D3, for instance. It's a real pity Minolta didn't put all that engineering of the X-700 into a rugged metal body, combining it with the metal shutter of the XD-7 (which went up to 1/2300s even though it was officially only 1/1000) and selling it as X-900 ...!!

S

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 987 Location: Winnipeg Canada

There are similar (un-substantiated) claims made for the shutter of the Nikon F-3, which I take with a healthy pinch of salt over the left shoulder.
I've been un-able to force my version to 1/4000th sec in "A" mode, no matter how hard I try. Wink

I still prefer the viewfinder of the F-2 over all others. It is the only finder that I am able to focus off the ground glass with, despite it's slight dimness.
The "E" screen in the F-3 comes close, but no cigar.
I suppose I have become some-what set in my ways over the years, but I really don't mind.

-D.S.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 987 Location: Winnipeg Canada

The claims I referred to are for the F-3, and not the Minolta.

I thought I was fairly clear with that point, but I suppose not. Wink

The top 1/2000 sec speed is impressive for the F-3's horizontally travelling shutter, and realistic expectations for it may have it a few 1/100 sec faster in A mode, but not a full stop faster in that vintage.

Hope this clears things up.

-D.S.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 987 Location: Winnipeg Canada

I've re-read my post, and it seems I am a bit at fault too.
I tend to type on discussion boards the way I speak, which can be a problem at times.
The vocal inflections don't quite make it to the typed digital screen...

-D.S.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Two not so common SLRs from Germany - the Rolleiflex SL35 and the later SL350, here shown with a "Singapur" (on the SLR 35) and a "Gremany" (on the SL350) Planar 1.8/50mm.

Both cameras have a prettty interesting history since I got them from an equally remarkable and slightly dubious Swiss/German entrepreneur. Grown up in poverty in northern Nazi Germany from Swiss parents, he had joined the Peenemünde rocket research facility (which had been built up by Wernher von Braun, later responsible for the giant Saturn V moon rocket) at a very young age, specialising in electronics and guidance systems. After the war - now being about twenty years old - he came back to Switzerland, establishing a radio (and later TV) business and making truckloads of money. Hearing first-hand stories about "V2" WWII rocket launches and their guidance systems these days certainly is extraordinary, especially since most of the Apollo / moon rocket astronauts sadly have passed away ... and this was 20-30 years before Apollo!

S

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Here's a recently acquired rare Konica AR 3.5/45-100m UC lens with a Konica T3 (new) camera.

Both the T3 (New) as well as the AR 3.5/45-100mm were a bit outdated even when new. The T3N was the last of the successfull Konica Autoreflex T series, comparable in size, functions, pricetag and manufacturing time to the Minolta SR-T series (although the Konita had a simple electromechanical auto exposure function). And the Konica AR 45-100mm, introduced in the late 1970s, was too expensive and to "moderate" (both in focal length and performance). Other manufacters had their 3.5/50-135mm zooms (notably the big three, Canon, Minolta and Nikon). The 35-105mm zooms were about to take off, soon to be followed by 28-96mm and 35-135mm constructions ... certainly a difficult time to sell an expensive 45-100mm ...

S

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

pentaxpete · Joined: 02 Dec 2011 Posts: 643 Location: BRENTWOOD England

one of our two 90 year-old Club Members is moving and had a 'clear-out' so I got some FREE NIKONS Used Professionally and the door foam seals were rotten but mirror-box ones still good, so i renewed the seals and cleaned all the camera bodies and lenses. Shown with the 55mm f2.8 Micro-Nikkor which came with it .

Nikon FM Manual exposure only, shutter 1-1/100th + 'B' , Double Exposure button, ASA range 12 -3200, flash synchs at 1/125th maximum, delayed action raises mirror first, PC flash synch port + hot shoe with single contact. . Wind lever acts as shutter lock when pushed in and turns off electric. Needs 1x3v or 2x1.5 v batteries for exposure by RED 'LED's in viewfinder.
Turn aperture opposite chosen shutter speed until only ONE Red LRD lights to balance exposure.

Nikon FE. both Manual and Auto Aperture priority exposure modes, shutter 8 secs - 1/1000th + 'B' and 1/90th non-electric speeds. Maximum flash synch 1/125th. Delayed action raises mirror first, PC synch port + Hot shoe with two contacts. Wind lever acts as shutter lock and turns off electric when pushed in. Needs 1x3v or 2x1.5v batteries. Exposure by Green marker in viewfinder against chosen shutter speed then turn lens aperture until a black marker matches in 'Manual Exposure' mode, In 'Auto Mode' the Black marker goes opposite the shutter speed to match the lens aperture chosen.