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PostPosted: Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Topcon "Super D", the last iteration of the Topcon RE professional SLR with exchangeable viewfinders, along with a few of the famous Topcor RE lenses:



On the camera: Topcor RE 1.4/58mm. Lenses in the front row, from left to right: Topcor RE 4/20mm, Topcor RE 2.8/28mm, Topcor RE 2.8/35mm. Lenses in the second row: Topcor RE 2.8/100mm, Topcor RE 3.5/135mm, Topcor RE 5.6/200mm

Apart from the 2.8/35mm which I got only last year, the other lenses came around 2015 in two lots, with either an Topcon RE or a Topcon Super D SLR. The first lot, an Topcon RE with the 1.4/58 shown above came with the 4/20mm, the 3.5/58mm Macro and the 2.8/100mm. The 20mm was not sown in the sellers images, and thus the whole lot was reasonably priced at about CHF 280.--.

The second lot - which not only included the Super D, the 28mm, the 135mm and the 200mm, but also the 1.8/58mm, another 2.8/10cm and a 3.5/58mm Macro - came with some fancy macro stuff as well, among them the 3.5/30mm Micro lens for the bellows. I don't remember the exact price for the second lot, but is was around CHF 300.-- as well.

These days the whole stuff shown above would be slightly pricier - and I certainly wouldn't buy it any more Wink

S


PostPosted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 12:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Two of the most iconic SLRs ever - in my humble opinion.



Both working like a charm, and with the appropriate fast lenses (although a 1.2/50mm Nikkor might look better on the F3 ...).

S


PostPosted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 3:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Photo Central had the first version, or "old" Canon F1 at a very good price, and I was closely tempted into buying it.
I did get to examine it at length. Mr. Green
It was gone a day later- body and 3 lenses and motor drive.
Completely different ergonomics than my stand-by Nikon F2. The F3 I've commented on before.
For "glasses on" use, the F2 is my preferred, among other reasons.

No experience with the 55 Nikkor f1.2 at all.
If you could share some of your experience and use with it, it would be an interesting read. Wink

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
Photo Central had the first version, or "old" Canon F1 at a very good price, and I was closely tempted into buying it.
I did get to examine it at length. Mr. Green
It was gone a day later- body and 3 lenses and motor drive.

The "old" F-1 - wich I had depicted eralier on in this thread - is a massive beast, especiall with the large motor drive (there are several different drives though). I haven't really used my sample which is a pity of course, but the 1/2000s titanium blade shutter still works perfectly (interestinlgy both the Nikon F2 and the contemporary Minolta X-1/XM/XK have a very similar titanium foil shutter). I'll post a picture of the F-1 and the F2 later on.

Doc Sharptail wrote:
Completely different ergonomics than my stand-by Nikon F2.

To me, the general layout of the two cameras seems pretty comparable! Apart from the wrong direction of aperture ring and focusing grip on the Nikkors, of course Wink


Doc Sharptail wrote:
The F3 I've commented on before.
For "glasses on" use, the F2 is my preferred, among other reasons.

The F2 certainly is a masterpiece of engineering. No doubt about that. The Canon F-1, to me at least, feels more clumsy and less refined than the Nikon F2. I'm not sure about the exact timeline, but I think the Canon F-1 was a bit earlier than the Nikon F2.

That said, the absolute masterpiece in this segment - for me at least - is the Canon New F-1. Not only is it much more re-fined than the original F-1, but it combines the strengths of both the Nikon F2 and F3, and adds a few very useful features:

1) Less clumsy / big than the old Canon F-1 (and the Nikon F2, too)
2) Mechanical shutter 1/125 - 1/2000s, electronic shutter fo 1/60s and lower => reliable long exposure times
3) Aperture priority AE mode with AE viewfinder PLUS shutter priority AE mode with motor drive
4) Metering: Average, selective (12% of image area) and spot (3% of image area) available, depending on screen used
5) Special laser cut screens availabe for very bright viewfinder (comparable to the Minolta XD/X-700 & late Hasselblad screens)

Doc Sharptail wrote:
No experience with the 55 Nikkor f1.2 at all.
If you could share some of your experience and use with it, it would be an interesting read. Wink

-D.S.


That's a lens I have been using occasionally, but since I don't do that much portraits, I sadly have not too much experience with those f1.2 lenses I have here. That said, from my limited experience, I really like the two 1.2/55mm Nikoors I have (the pre-Ai and the Ai). Its rendering wide open is soft, of course, but in a very pleasing way without too much other distracting problems (thats why I like the Ai 2/50mm and the Minolta MD-III 2/50mm as well). I should use it a bit more, maybe just doing some street / people photography here in Lucerne!


PostPosted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
Completely different ergonomics than my stand-by Nikon F2.

Quote:
To me, the general layout of the two cameras seems pretty comparable! Apart from the wrong direction of aperture ring and focusing grip on the Nikkors, of course Wink


At eye level, the shutter wheel locations differ a bit- probably easily surmounted after a day or two's use.
I still single finger the shutter wheel on the F2 at eye level. The old Canon took two fingers though- could be the camera needed an internal cleaning.

The step-less (!) mechanical shutter speeds of the F2 from 1/80-1/2000 sec. (Green numerals on the dial) have yet to be equalled by anyone, including Nikon. The F3 went to an electronic shutter that required "A" operation for step-less speeds. The camera obviously became almost a paper weight without batteries- a single "M" 1/90 speed only. There's a lot of other stuff, but it would become a bit on the overly repetitive side for me. The F3 without it's drive was indeed an ergonomic wonder. The Italian designer of the camera body obviously knew what he was doing.

I had been much captivated by the "Night Eyes" ads for the Nikkor 55 1.2 in the photo magazines.
Will keep watching for one to turn up at an affordable price point, but I seriously doubt it happening in this life-time.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:

At eye level, the shutter wheel locations differ a bit- probably easily surmounted after a day or two's use.
I still single finger the shutter wheel on the F2 at eye level. The old Canon took two fingers though- could be the camera needed an internal cleaning.

I see! Yes, that's true, especially if the F2 has AE viewfinder of course!

Doc Sharptail wrote:
The step-less (!) mechanical shutter speeds of the F2 from 1/80-1/2000 sec. (Green numerals on the dial) have yet to be equalled by anyone, including Nikon. The F3 went to an electronic shutter that required "A" operation for step-less speeds.

That's certainly a exquisite mechanical feature - but in real life I never ever would have missed it since any aperture priority AE SLR would allow for the same, at least as long as batteries are working. And frankly speaking: An F2 without batteries leaves you with estimating the shutter speed / aperture combinations, and therefore the exact adjustment of shutter speed ... well: isn't that relevant Wink


Doc Sharptail wrote:
The camera obviously became almost a paper weight without batteries- a single "M" 1/90 speed only.

Yep, that's why I consider the Canon New F-1 (and the Pentax LX, of course) a good compromise. Mechanical speeds from 1/125 to 1/2000, and precisely controlled "long" exposure times down to 8s (Canon New F-1) or even 125s (Pentax LX).


Doc Sharptail wrote:
The F3 without it's drive was indeed an ergonomic wonder. The Italian designer of the camera body obviously knew what he was doing.

Yep - the F3 (and the FE2/FM2) are really well designed and well made SLR indeed.

Doc Sharptail wrote:
I had been much captivated by the "Night Eyes" ads for the Nikkor 55 1.2 in the photo magazines.
Will keep watching for one to turn up at an affordable price point, but I seriously doubt it happening in this life-time.

-D.S.


I was lucky to get an Ai 1.2/55mm for free, and a second one for CHF 50.-- at a local thrift store. The pre-Ai was from a local photo store: CHF 256.-- inkluding the magnifying viewfinder for the Nikon F3.

S


PostPosted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 5:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
The step-less (!) mechanical shutter speeds of the F2 from 1/80-1/2000 sec. (Green numerals on the dial) have yet to be equalled by anyone, including Nikon. The F3 went to an electronic shutter that required "A" operation for step-less speeds.


Quote:
That's certainly a exquisite mechanical feature - but in real life I never ever would have missed it since any aperture priority AE SLR would allow for the same, at least as long as batteries are working. And frankly speaking: An F2 without batteries leaves you with estimating the shutter speed / aperture combinations, and therefore the exact adjustment of shutter speed ... well: isn't that relevant Wink


Actually getting into some pretty fine hair-splitting with this- which is entirely o.k.
The step-less thing became habit forming for me quite some time ago now. Using the feature is now second nature- to the point where I find myself reaching for the non-existent shutter wheel on the D-810 (in manual mode). Old ingrained methods die hard sometimes.
Interestingly enough, the digital move has been to step-less aperture operation, in "P" mode of course...
The camera likes selecting things like f10.1 Confused

-D.S.


PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here are a few more Wink

The first Yashicas with the then new Contax/Yashica (CY) bayonet mount were the FR, FR I and FR II SLRs. While they were intergrated into the Contax SLR system, these bodies were exceptionally clean and "no fringe" cameras, reduced to the max so to spealk. The FR was fully manual, the FR I had both a manual as well as an aperture priotity AE mode, and the FR II had only the AE mode (no manual exposure).





Both the FR and the FR I are shown here with the Yashica ML 1.4/50mm lens. This lens was part of the very first series of ML lenses (1975).


PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 3:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Both the FR as well as the FR I could be used with the corresponding Winders and even the Motor drive of the professional Conatx RTS. While this wasnt advertized by Yashica (the manufacturer also of the Contax RTS), it certainly wasn't "by chance" that the FR / FR I / FR II SLRs were equipped with the corresponding connections.



The left FR I is equipped with the Yashica ML 2.8/24mm while the one on the right has the rare Yashica ML 3.5/21mm lens.


Here's another image including the FR itself, the latter equipped with the Yashica ML 2.8/35mm. Like most 2.8/35mm from the late 1970s, this lens is a very good performer.



some more information on nearly 30 Yashica ML lenses will follow shortly on artaphot - I'm creating a new section about the Yashica lenses with CY bayonet mount (mostly ML, plus a few MC and DSB)

S


PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
Both the FR as well as the FR I could be used with the corresponding Winders and even the Motor drive of the professional Conatx RTS. While this wasnt advertized by Yashica (the manufacturer also of the Contax RTS), it certainly wasn't "by chance" that the FR / FR I / FR II SLRs were equipped with the corresponding connections.


I actually used a 139Q with Yashica winder,
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