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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 4:20 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 4:20 pm
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titrisol70 wrote:
The Nerwin folders
Zeiss Ikon Contina II (524/24) - Contessa (533/24) and Ikonta 35 /Contina (522/24)
The only 3 post-war 35mm folders made by Zeiss and designed by Hubert Nerwin




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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 9:16 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 9:16 pm
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Not a rangefinder collection for sure, but three nice Yashica rangefinders - first the Yashica M rom around 1960:



Then the early Yashica Electro 35:



And a later Electro 35, the black "GT" version along with the early "ordinary" Electro 35:


S


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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 11:01 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 11:01 pm
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Used to have a decent collection a few years back including a Contax IIa (with Zeiss 50mm f1.5 lens), Leica IIIc, Leica M2 (which I really regret selling), Zeiss Super Ikonta and amongst others a Vitomatic (which I really liked) but these days the collection has just one remaining.



No idea how it survived the cull as I'd rather it hadn't and one of the others had.


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Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2024 7:24 pm
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Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2024 7:24 pm
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Vintage_Photographer wrote:
Used to have a decent collection a few years back including a Contax IIa (with Zeiss 50mm f1.5 lens), Leica IIIc, Leica M2 (which I really regret selling), Zeiss Super Ikonta and amongst others a Vitomatic (which I really liked) but these days the collection has just one remaining.


I used to have a completely defunct Contax IIIa, too, but threw it away when Henry Scherer - the famous Contax expert - said he wouldn't touch that body as it was so corroded ... But he did service an interesting Contax III for me which still is in working order, along with a super rare civilian coated war-time CZJ Sonnar 1.5/5cm ... And my mother had an early Leica III as well, inherited from her sister's husband. I used to take it to the highschool, to take images of my favourite girl Wink. But I never had a Leica M series camera, sadly! One day, I may get an M6 as I consider it the nicest of the heap. And a Super Ikonta 6x9cm stlll is here, equipped with the 3.5/10.5 cm Tessar. Nice an interesting camera as well!!


Vintage_Photographer wrote:
No idea how it survived the cull as I'd rather it hadn't and one of the others had.

I know, strange things happen ... !

S


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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 5:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 5:21 pm
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Vintage_Photographer wrote:
Used to have a decent collection a few years back including ... a Vitomatic (which I really liked) but these days the collection has just one remaining.


Two (slightly different!) cpopies of the Vitomatic II, both in non-working order and obtained from the wastebin of a local photo store. Nice looking they are nevertheless!



S


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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 10:25 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 10:25 pm
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Picked this up today from Skears after it had been in for a CLA.
It was my first camera given to me by my dad when I was 15.
Not a rangefinder but it deserves some love.




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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 2:44 pm
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 2:44 pm
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Vintage_Photographer wrote:
Picked this up today ...
It was my first camera given to me by my dad when I was 15.
Not a rangefinder but it deserves some love.


Certainly. The first camera I was using was dad's Mamiya ZE, a very simple SLR from the eraly 1980s. Not much later I replaced it with a Mamiya ZM which later on I gave to a friend from the highschool. Maybe ten years ago - for the same reasons as you mentioned - I acquired a ZE and a ZM again, together with some lenses. Now the collection basically is complete, and I have shared my experience with all those lenses on my webpage ...

S


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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 5:07 pm
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 5:07 pm
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stevemark wrote:
Vintage_Photographer wrote:
Picked this up today ...
It was my first camera given to me by my dad when I was 15.
Not a rangefinder but it deserves some love.


Certainly. The first camera I was using was dad's Mamiya ZE, a very simple SLR from the eraly 1980s. Not much later I replaced it with a Mamiya ZM which later on I gave to a friend from the highschool. Maybe ten years ago - for the same reasons as you mentioned - I acquired a ZE and a ZM again, together with some lenses. Now the collection basically is complete, and I have shared my experience with all those lenses on my webpage ...

S


My second camera was an SL35 Rolleiflex which was stolen two years after my uncle gave it to me (it was new and a 16th birthday present). I now have one in my collection that's identical and a raft of lenses for it too. I prefer it in many ways to my Minolta SRT even if it doesn't have a split microprism or aperture open metering.


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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2026 11:59 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2026 11:59 pm
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Even though I'm not really into rangefinders, occasionally I can't resist. That was the case a few months ago when I bought the Agfa Karat with a Rodenstock 2/50mm lens. A few days ago I got another Karat, this time with a Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 2/50mm. And today I got another Super Ikonta with a 2.8/8cm Tessar lens - the 533/16 model.




Both the Karat as well as the Super Ikonta need servicing - stuck focus (as usual) with the Karat, and several issues with the Super Ikonta: Shutter doesn't wort, aperture is misaligned, and the double exposure lock doesn't work properly. So quite a lot of work ...

S


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Posted: Sat May 09, 2026 1:35 pm
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2026 1:35 pm
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Not my camera (came here for servicing the lens, which had considerable fogging) - a really nice rangefinder with few but extremely good lenses: The Mamyia 7.





S


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2026 12:28 am
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2026 12:28 am
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Fifty years older than the above Mamiya 7, but with an even larger 6x9 film size is the Lumière Lumirex:



The camera was produced in slightly different version between 1934 and about 1957. The sample shown here is probably a "Lumirex II" produced shortly after WWII. Its lens is a triplet called "Lumière Anastigmat Spector 10mm 1:4.5".

S


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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2026 2:21 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2026 2:21 pm
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Another recent find - this Balda Bünde 6x6 folder:



This camera has a not very common Balde-Werk Bünde Baldanar 2.9/80mm lens - probably a triplet type since I can see four reflexes in front of the shutter and two reflexes behind it, indcating a [3/3] construction.

Balda was originally a Dresden company, but after WWII its founder Max Baldeweg re-established the company in Wester Germany since the original plant have been confiscated by the communist government of the "DDR" (GDR). The Dresden plant was renamed "VEB Bbelca Werk" in 1951.

S
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