SHOW US YOUR CAMERAS!!

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

There were match needle metering finders for the Nikon F-2, which are by far the most common, and were slightly cheaper.
It is still my preferred nikon finder.

The M/D-4 for the F-3 may have been an ergonomic wonder, but it sure was not a fully thought-out design.
There was no such thing as taking the winder off mid-roll. It could be done with a changing bag- otherwise the film on the take up spool would be re-exposed. The thread-in motor drive cap on the camera body was a poorly conceived work-around.
Mine with full battery pack made for a heavy, and bulky camera.
I really don't miss the F-3 at all.

-D.S.

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

@ cooltouch:

Thanks a lot for - again! - sharing your vast experience. It's always a joy to read your stories, and I hope you'll continue Wink

.

Sadly, I'm too "young" to have real experience with these most beautiful SLRs from the 1970s and early 1980s. Back then when the New F-1 came out I was barely 12 years old, and using my father's Mamiya ZE ... the only "real" thing back then were the advertising brochures for the New F-1 and the Leica M6, which I both kept with me all the time (and especially during boring high school lessons)! The brochure for the Nikon F3 didn't really convince me, and so I never really thought of getting one when I was 16 (and considering buying my first professional SLR) ...

Of course these days I can play with all those nice SLRs, but your experience is way more profound - either having used them as a professional photographer, or having sold them as a camera dealer.

Thanks again!

S

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. Back in the 80s, when I was most heavily involved with Canon gear, my chosen cameras were 10 years old or more. My first F-1 was the first version, and I bought it because of positive experiences I had with an FTb. I bought it used, and it looked like it had seen hard duty as a hockey puck. But everything worked and continued to work for as long as I owned it. I bought my first F2 in 1989, and it was a "71", so it was almost 20 years old. I still own that camera, and like the F-1, it has never missed a lick. So I guess what I'm saying is, I wasn't playing with cutting-edge gear either. If anything, I was being intentionally anachronistic.

Doc, when I refer to "match needle metering" I'm referring to a specific metering type, where two needles are brought together to indicate correct exposure, such as is found on the Canon FTb, F-1, Pentax KX, Nikon FE, and others. I too own a couple of F2 DP-1 finders, but they have a single needle that is centered to indicate correct exposure. In the end, both systems accomplish the same thing. For me, I think it's what I got used to early on, and I just preferred to stick with it.

The F3 was hardly the only camera that couldn't have the motor removed mid-roll without exposing the film. With the original Canon F-1, the entire bottom plate of the camera had to be removed to mount the motor. And the New F-1 didn't fare much better. It's been quite a while since I've removed the drive from my New F-1, but as I dimly recall, there are at least three caps that must be removed to mount the drive, so chances are it wouldn't survive that test, either. But I don't recall ever having a situation where I needed to remove any drive mid-roll anyway, so that's been a non-issue for me. In terms of motor drives in general, when it comes to simplicity of use, I find the Nikon MD12 and I believe also the Minolta MD-1 to be really hard to beat. Just mount and go. Canon's MD MA (for the A-1 and AE-1 Program) is almost as easy, but it's a two-step process to mount and dismount that drive.

Heh, I've never regarded the F3 with MD4 as a heavyweight. Not after spending many a day with an old F-1 with motor slung around my neck.

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

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 628 Location: New Zealand

#1

#2

One of the lesser known DKL leaf shutter cameras, this one has a working shutter but a dead meter. I was thinking of trying a repair, but usually my nerves fail me on anything rare or valuable.

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

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 149 Location: State of Denial

I learned abut this camera in the early 2000s and was curious about it. The lines for 35-50-90mm lenses are bright and work great.

Here is with the 130/4 Telinear lens that needs a special viewfinder

Ambi-Silette and 130/4

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 149 Location: State of Denial

After several years of negotiating my father in law agreed to pass-on his SP-F
He bought it new in the mid70s and has used it a lot, has some lovely brassing
The 35/3.5 is a wonderful piece of glass!

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 223 Location: Austria

My OM-2N and the two silver noses I own.

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 223 Location: Austria

This OM-2SP ate batteries like candies, luckily of the LR-44 type. So supply is still good, I might try a color negative film with it once the Ilford in the OM-3 is spent. I bought this camera in the 90s, when everybody was keen on autofocus, for very little money.

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 223 Location: Austria

My Konica Autoreflex TC. It misses some of the features of the Autoreflex T and T3, but it is in weight and size comparable to an Olympus body. According to konicafiles.com, TC´s with capital written "KONICA" were the first version and produced from early 1976 until September 1977, and about serial number 380.000 the inscription on the viewfinder changed to small letters after the K. This camera has production number 378.324.

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

starbucklover69 · Joined: 27 Nov 2022 Posts: 42 Location: Swiss

This is my little Olympus Pen F Collection.
With Pen FT in Chrome and beauty Black Version and Lenses 20mm f3.5 , 25 f2.5 , 38 f1.8 , 40 f1.4 , 42 f1.2 , 60 f1.5 , 70 f2 , 100 f3.5 , 150 f4 , 250 f5 and the 50-90 f3.5 Zoom.

55 · Expire: 2022-06-15

starbucklover69 · Joined: 27 Nov 2022 Posts: 42 Location: Swiss

starbucklover69 · Joined: 27 Nov 2022 Posts: 42 Location: Swiss

55 · Expire: 2022-06-15

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 628 Location: New Zealand

These two cameras are both rebadged Petri cameras, marketed by Ihagee West, after they won a court case with the East German company of the same name. Their first release was the Exakta Real, using a new bayonet mount. Following that was the Twin TL, a Cosina Hi-Lite rebadge, still using the new mount. Then it was released in M42, and then following that, these two Petri cameras, based on the Petri 1/1000s M42 chassis, were released. The 55/1.8 lens on the left is a Petri made lens with a decent reputation. The one on the right looks to be made by Sankor, possibly based on previous 55/1.4 designs from other manufacturers.

The cameras are almost identical apart from the omission of the 1/1000s speed and the timer from the left hand camera. Actually there is a further difference, in the metering system. On the TL-500, the metering works anytime the stop down button is used, exactly the same as any other M42 stop down camera from that period. On the TL-1000, the meter turns on when the camera shutter is cocked, and off when the shutter is released. This setup was first featured on the Petriflex 7 camera, and is retained here. You still have to stop down manually with the same lever as on the TL-500.

This caused me some confusion when I received the TL-1000, I though the meter was defective. When I took the top cover off to try and fix the perceived 'fault', I noticed the camera is quite nicely made, despite the lowly reputation (not) enjoyed by Petri cameras.

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

Today I got another Minolta Dynax 7D, together with the iconic Minolta AF 2.8/28-70mm G lens (not shown here). The "D7D", as she was known in Europe, was Minoltas first "real" DSLR, and she sold in truckloads, at least here in Switzerland. At around CHF 3000.-- the camera was quite expensive, but that was kind of "normal" back then. Everyone was jumping on the DSLR bandwagon, including Minolta, finally. They were quite late since their the CEO had determined, in the mid-1990s, that "digital" would remain a niche market and APS would be the "next big thing". Of course the market wasn't inclined to obey him, but - to save face - he couldn't immediately change his assessment when "digital" became ubiquituous. The Minolta engineers were pretty upfront, but they were banned to put their high-tech into a decent SLR. First the very expensive digital stuff was put into one of the cheapest plastic Minolta bodies (instead of the beautiful Dynax/Alpha 9); later on they - at least - managed to put it into a excellent "bridge" camera with a 28-200mm (eqiv) fast zoom. Its last incarnation - the Minolta Dimage A2 and A200 - had a full metal body, 8 MP (quite a feat in early 2004), a 2.8-3.5/28-200mm (equiv) APO zoom lens and, last but not least, an integrated antishake mechanism.

Back to the Minolta Dynax 7D. Announced pretty early (remember: Minolta was late), it hit the market at the end of 2004. I got one of the first cameras then, and it had a HUGE flaw: The sensor was slightly tilted - which resulted in images either sharp at the top OR at the bottom, but not both (unless you stopped down to f16 or f22). Bummer ... turns out it wasn't Minoltas error, but Sonys: They had glued the sensor with uneven amounts of glue onto the base, thus resulting in a "tilted" sensor ... Apart from that issue (which was solved within a few weeks) the camera was an immediate success. Mine paid off completely with the very first assigment i had, and soon some nice lenses were following.

Here's an image of two samples of the Dynax (Maxxum) 7D - one with and one without the power grip. For a prosumer camera, the D7D was incredibly well made: Full metal body, and lots and lots and lots of dedicated buttons, sliders and switches. More on that later - first two more images of the camera itself:

Here it is shown with the Minolta 3.5-4.5/24-105mm standard zoom. It was a "analog" lens, but quite well suited for the 6MP sensor of the Dynax 7D.

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

The Konica/Minolta badging is seldom seen here.

Odd that there were problems mounting the Sony sensor- likely a manufacturing floor problem.
Still a bit strange for someone with Sony's long term video sensor experience to not specify mounting procedures.
I wonder how corporate relations were before Sony took over.

-D.S.

55 · Expire: 2022-06-15

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

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

Now the on/off switch and the +/- dial.

Again the first is as its is, but the +/- dial is pretty ingeniuous: The dial consists of two levels - upper dial for over-/underexposure of the ambient light, and the lower dial for over-/underexposure of the flash (built-in or external). In addition the dial for ambient light has two settings: either +/- 2 EV in 1/3EV steps, or+/- 3EV in 1/2 EV steps. To avoid unintentional shifting of the values, theres a small central "lock" button. Very well done. Compare this to the Nikon D2/D3/D4 ... or the Canon 1D series and you'll always prefer the Minolta solution ... !!

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

The Minolta Dynax (Maxxum) 7D was the first ever SLR with built-in image stabilisation. Combined with the relatively high sensitivity of the sensor I suddenly was able to take tack sharp images in "impossible" situations. The IS was working reliably right from the beginning; no issues with it at all. Incredibly useful for lenses such as the 2.8/20, the 2/28, the 1.4/50 and the 1.4/85mm, for sure.

And of course there was a dedicated slide switch for turning it on and off!

BTW the "MSET" button gives you direct access to programming the three programmable memory settings (once programmed, they are accessible via the main "1-2-3" knob on top of the camera)

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

Now the AF system! The AF itself is pretty slow copared to todays DSLRs, butit certainly was way faster than the first mirrorless AF systems (inclusding those from Sony). I am still puzzled that an A7II with dedicated Sony 1.8/85mm doesn't focus faster than a Minolta 9000 from 1986!! Anyway. The D7D AF was (is) noisy, not really precise and not really fast. AND for best performance you had to send your camera PLUS your lenses to Minolta Switzelrland, and have the stuff calibrated individually. Backfocus and frontfocus issues were pretty common back then, and the Minolta D7D had less issues with it than eg the contemprorary Canon prosumer DSLRs.

The AF "command center" had three levels:
1) a central button for activating the central f2.8 AF sensor
2) a toggle switch for accessing the outer AF sensors
3) and an outer rotary switch for selecting the AF mode (wide field, locked, or single sensors)

No unseen in other contemporary DSLRs, but quite good for a prosumer DSLR.