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PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2023 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kansalliskala wrote:
Is that selenium cell cover original?

Yes, that came as a surprise.
Slides off upwards and reveals a working metering circuit which seems to be reading a stop low.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2023 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A real SLR, even with interchangeable lenses, but a really tiny one - the Pentax Auto 110 super:



While they are readily available here in Sitzerland, I never bothered to actually get one. Recently a local photo store did offer me this nice set with three lenses (a 24mm normal, a 18mm wideangle and a 50mm tele) for free, and I happily accepted Wink

The camera and even more so the lenses (especially the 2.8/24mm normal lens) really are tiny - much smaller than I had anticipated from photos seen in the internet!

S


PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2024 8:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Argus Seventy-Five TLR. Not really sure if it qualifies as it is fixed focus.



It takes 620 film. There's an exposed roll of Kodacolor-X film in it...



... which is C-22 processing.



Finder in closed position...



... and opened here showing it's dust collector status.

First 620 I've seen with the take-up spool still in it.
The single speed spring powered blade shutter still works. Approximately 1/80 sec by my eye at the "INST" position, and locked open at the "TIME" position. Turning the film advance knob closes the shutter in that position.

Body is made out of Bakelite, and has a bit of reassuring weight to it.
The mirror for the viewing lens has a bit of silver flaking, but is still usable.

Daughter left it here while I was out. Either a Thrift shop or alley find...

-D.S.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2024 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I get a new Nikon FM3a with Batteriegrip today in perfect Condition.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
starbucklover69 wrote:
I get a new Nikon FM3a


A very good read from Nikon insiders about the development of the FM3A:
https://imaging.nikon.com/imaging/information/chronicle/history-fm3a/


S


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Pentax SV with Super Takumar 1.4/50mm [7L]:



And a much older camera, an early Plaubel Makina from around 1930:



S


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Nikon F.



PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
starbucklover69 wrote:
I get a new Nikon FM3a with Batteriegrip today in perfect Condition.


The MD-12 is actually a motor drive, and one of the more user friendly nikon offerings.
Not incredibly fast by today's standards, but fast enough for it's time period for a pro-sumer drive.
I carried one for a couple of years of heavy use on an FE camera, and it stood up very well with good reliability.
It wasn't too badly marked up when I let it go a couple of years ago.

The FM series was not really an interest for me, so little comment there. Plenty on line about them though.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 3:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
Pentax SV with Super Takumar 1.4/50mm [7L]:


And a much older camera, an early Plaubel Makina from around 1930:


S


You seem to be coming into some interesting glass lately. That 1.4 Takumar looks interesting.

Is that a range finding system on the Plaubel? The "optical" finder front glass section appears to have scribed line cross-hair?

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
HansMoleman wrote:
My Nikon F.


Those 135 2.8 "Q" lenses are surprisingly good on short extension tubes.
Mine did fairly well on tubes in the 12-22mm range.

Nice F showing a bit of normal wear.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2024 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:

You seem to be coming into some interesting glass lately.

Yep. However there's much more on the market than I ever can afford Laugh 1


Doc Sharptail wrote:
That 1.4 Takumar looks interesting.

I have a dozen or so of the most common M42 Takumars/Super-Takumars/S-M-C Takumars that came here for little money. A few from flea markets, years ago, usually for CHF 5.-- each; a few from a photo store near Zurich, for 10.-- each or CHF 40 .- each (3.5/24, 4/150), and one - the very first I bought - was more expensive at CHF 150.-- (2.3/35). All those lenses are very well made, most are pretty small and lightweight, and most of them inferior to the later MC/MD Minoltas for my kind of photograohy (landscape/architecture). In addition the more uncommon ones are pretty rare in Switzerland (e. g. superwides, 2/35, 1.8/85, 1.9/85, ...) and therefore I never paid too much attention to them. But that may change as someone here offered me to help building a Pentax M42 section on artaphot Wink.


Doc Sharptail wrote:
Is that a range finding system on the Plaubel? The "optical" finder front glass section appears to have scribed line cross-hair?

-D.S.


No, no range finder (later models had a rangefinder; this one is pretty early). The cross-hair lines are pretty useful to keep the camera straight: The single negative lens of course has a strong barrel distortion (inherent to negative lenses) which makes it difficult to keep the camera horizontally.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Contax RTS with Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm (left) and Contax RTS II with Vario-Sonnar 3.3-4/28-85mm (right)



It's a shame - but I've never really used any of these cameras! Those few Zeiss CY lense I have are rather good though, and they certainly were among the best back in their days. While the older computations (such as the 4/18mm, the 2.8/25mm, the 2.8/28mm, 1.4/50mm) aren't really better than their Minolta MC/MD counterparts, some of the newer computations (e. g. 2/100mm, 3.5/100mm and 2.8/21mm) have an excellent reputation.

The RTS II shown here was part of a huge pile of old cameras destined for waste disposal. Luckily I was allowed to through the stuff before the remaining cameras would be drilled through to prevent them from being re-used ...

S


PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2024 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought that 1.4 50mm Planar looked familiar.



There's a pic (not mine) of the camera and lens I was a gnat's hair away from buying in 1980. That close to down the then expensive Zeiss rabbit hole...

Do let us know how your copy performs. Something caught my eye about that lens that long ago, and I still haven't forgotten it.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2024 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
I thought that 1.4 50mm Planar looked familiar.

There's a pic (not mine) of the camera and lens I was a gnat's hair away from buying in 1980. That close to down the then expensive Zeiss rabbit hole...

Do let us know how your copy performs. Something caught my eye about that lens that long ago, and I still haven't forgotten it.

-D.S.


As you may have noticed I never paid too much attention to comparing normal lenses. Of course those pre-1960 (and even more so those pre-WWII) are performing quite differently from the typical Japanese normal lenses in the 1965-2000 time frame.

For landscape as well as for portrait purposes I didn't find really big differences when looking at a bunch of well known 1.4/50mm lenses (e. g. Canon FD/nFD 1.4/50, Konica AR 1.4/50, Mamiya CS and EF 1.4/50, Minolta MC-X, MD-I and MD-II/III 1.4/50, Nikkor-K 1.4/50 ... you name it).

Sure, the Mamiya EF is maybe 1 EV "better" than the typical Canon/Minolta/Nikon 1.4/50, and the Pentax Super-Takumar 1.4/50 is clearly inferior to the others, but these are exceptions. Yashica ML too is visible inferior to the Zeiss CY Planar 1.4/50mm, in spite of what some say (always talking about landscape use!).

If you are pixelpeeping the Zeiss Planar 1.4/50mm may be slightly better than the Canon FD or the Nikkor-K, but in my opinion its main advantage is handling. Focusing is smooth and precise (many Nikkors have dried up or are completely stuck). Its aperture ring has the right size and is easy to use as well (full stops only, easy to count while stopping down). Since I've never used a AiS Nikkor 1.4/50mm, I can't compare it to that one. Personally I also like very much the Minolta MC-X 1.4/50mm. Optically it may be a tad inferior to the Planar, but its haptics really are Leica-R like. Focuing and aperture ring are operating smoother than the planar, also at low tempertarures (-5°C). And at 310g it feels even sturdier than the Planar (270g) ...

The big differences when using different normal lenses come from speed and focal length. Portraits (taken at f1.4) from a Minolta MC 1.4/58mm (in reality a 60mm lens) look quite different from 1.4/50mm portraits. And the MC 1.2/58mm results in a completely different background blur than the MD 2/45mm ...

S


PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 2:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Another Chinese SLR, made by the same company that produced the Pearl River SLR, this is a later model. They were forced to stop using the Pearl River name because another Chinese company owned the trademark, so initially the Pearl River SLR was released badged as Mingca, it featured the same removable pentaprism and 58mm Biotar derived lens. Following that, this Huaxi S-80 was released, with the removable pentaprism dispensed with. The top and bottom plate are now made of some composite material. The well made all metal and glass 58mm lens is still used.

edit: Interesting historical discussion on Chinese website (use browser with translate function) https://bbs.camgle.com/thread-472150-1-1.html


PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cool detail that golden sticker Very Happy


PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


The latest in my collection of Chinese cameras. At some point in the late 80's/early 90's or so the Chinese Pearl River company in Guangdong province went out of business. At that point, one of the companies involved in the original Pearl River S-201 camera bought the rights to the name back for a fair sum of money. In the between time they had been making cameras sold under the Mingca/Mingjia brand name. By now the camera was not a Minolta style camera, it was a version of the Pentax K1000 right down to the 50mm F2 Pentax lens. I believe they bought the assembly line from Pentax. I'm not 100% sure of every entity involved, or the exact timing of when this camera came out. I know the K1000 was made in China, either by this company or another. Whether this camera came out before or after production of the K1000 ceased I'm not sure.

This camera is slightly different to the somewhat frowned upon Chinese K1000 versions. It doesn't have a plastic top and bottom cover, or rewind shaft. The focusing screen has a split rangefinder style focusing aid, as well as a microprism circle surrounding it. Metering is now by 3 LEDs, a green for good, and two red LEDs for over and under, which are activated by a half press at any time.

edit- It also has the timer that the K1000 lacked.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Taken a bit of a beating somewhere along the line.
Is it still functional?
Interesting that they had no compunctions in taking the model name from the original.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Everything is in working order, the shutter needed a touch of lubricant in a couple of places to make sure the slower speeds worked correctly, which is relatively normal. I think it's just the prism housing gasket which has perished or separated somehow along the line. The curtains are rubberised and look good. I would imagine they were given licence to use the design domestically, as long as it wasn't represented as a Pentax camera.
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