Farside

Just taken delivery of a KEH LunaPro F, in 'as-is' condition. Cosmetically, it's like new, hardly a mark on it. Electrically, it had a broken battery connector, so I replaced that. After that done, a used-but-good battery was put in it and it started giving some readings, but pretty erratically. Stripped it down and cleaned the gold-plated triple pins that connect the two halves of the shell internally, also gave the push buttons a squirt of contact cleaner. Back together and it's reading within a third of a stop of my LunaPro SBC, so I'd call that a result. I'll set it up properly when I get a delivery of new batteries and can be sure of what I'm dealing with. It was a ten-dollar gamble, but it paid off.

Don't know where you were drinking but the first beer I bought for myself was 1/6d a pint. I recall the hoopla when the increased taxation brought the cost up to 1/8d, then 2/-. and you can imagine the outrage when it hit 2/6d! You could barely get drunk on a quid. 🙂 These rises happened within the space of two years, iirc. In the meantime, I'm happily buying bulk Foma 100 and rolling my own, and the prices aren't too bad. Last time I rolled my own was the early 80s, and it was cheaper in real terms (as another poster mentioned, probably was about a third of the cost of buying ready-mades). Locally, I can buy Kodak 120 Gold for about €12 and have it processed for around a fiver, which isn't too bad for occasional use. I can stand the cost of that even if I shoot colour MF at the giddy rate of one a week. It's enough to keep the old folders and other MF cams happy with a bit of exercise.

Holy Thread Revival! This is one of the bits of internet lore that prompted me to try it. I snagged an F3 K screen for 12 currency units, fitted it to the F4 frame and it's, quite simply, perfect. Focus is spot-on with the Nikon green spot and aligns perfectly with lens markings. Still got to shoot a roll with it, though.

It was brought up some time ago either here or another camera forum that dessicant packs, in doing their job, end up being moisture concentrators. I've usually kept the ones with indicator colour-change crystals as they're invaluable for tipping you off, provided you inspect them often enough.

I have a pair of selenium meters which both work perfectly well; a Hanimex Sekonic (identical to a Type L8, I believe) and a Horvex III. Both of them read to within half a stop of whatever's showing on the Luna-Pro or any camera meter I compare them against. I must admit I was quite surprised at this. However, even throwing one into a film camera bag I'd double check either with the camera, S16 or Luna, depending on the day. I suspect the selenium meters aren't totally reliable in lowering conditions. I have a Petri and a couple of Voigtlanders with working selenium meters, but other faults. There's a selenium one on my Bessamatic, and it moves the needle to where it should be but I've never put a film through it to make sure. Of course, it would be subject to verification beforehand. It seems to me that selenium cells of good quality that have been protected in cases for years, show very little sign of deterioration.

I have a Metz 45 CT-4 which had a very hard life before I bought it, I reckon it's probably 40 years old and still working fine, if just a little bit slow to initial charge. Got some way to go though, to rival the one in the advert. Otoh, I have every confidence the drawerful of Metzes will see me out. They're almost indestructible and right now are best bang for the buck in decent flashgear (not including the cheerful cheapies that have an indeterminate lifespan).

Yep, I recall being bored rigid watching relatives' slides of their holidays. With modern tech, there would be no more exquisite torture than load up a large flash drive with images and subject them to several years of dud pictures I'd rejected, via my 4K large TV.

I'll need to stop reading these ancient threads, this one re-awakened an urge to get a Leningrad 6 meter and now one is winging its way from Ukraine. It's not that I need one, I have a LunaPro SBC * and a couple of selenium meters that still work perfectly well, but I've always thought you can't have enough back-up when things go to pot. *Just repaired a broken battery connection on the SBC after forgetting about it for years. It was nice seeing it back in action. Of course, now the SBC is working again, I'll have to start getting some accessories for it.

One of these I bought recently has a firing shutter ok, but the annoying thing is the aperture opens wide before the shutter fires, so every shot is at f:2.8. The shutter button / pole is obviously well worn internally, and dragging on the aperture mechanism through a misplaced or worn linkage. Something to beware of, even when one of these looks good, it might be past it.

I, for one, as an ex-Brit am quite grateful for the sacrifices made by the American military over the years, in rescuing Europe from the pit of horrors that two maniacs had turned it into.

Just about to have a go at replacing light seals with foam string and velvet, when I found this article. I just found out how hard it is to find real wool nowadays - no shortage of acrylic, it seems. Anyway, I ended up getting some black wool/acrylic mix which I hope will do the job and shouldn't be affected by the UHU fabric glue I also found.

In the dying days of the Pola single loads, I picked up a 4x5 Pola back for a fiver. It sits on a shelf in company of another one that came with a bundle of stuff. Neither have ever been used by me. When the Impossible Project and the 55 venture started up, I entertained a notion that I might be able to use them. No way, no how, not at those prices. So, they just sit there... A better use was made of the 405 back I bought - there was still plenty of Fuji FP100 stock around and it wasn't actually discontinued at that point. I shot quite a few with that back and was reasonably happy with the running cost. It was more just to have a proof of something or other and just for personal satisfaction. I still have a couple of packs of FP100C in the fridge. Apparently I could now trade them for the Brooklyn Bridge.

I'll definitely be using a Zorki 4 this weekend, as it's been in my possession for a decade and never had a film in it. About time it got used.

Depends on who had it and how it was treated. My 1937-ish Technika, while needing a new set of bellows, is mechanically excellent (except where some monkey tried to turn the rise knob the wrong way by force and stripped its gear). I suspect that camera likely spent most, if not all of its existence in Germany as a personal possession. Otoh, my 1953-ish Technika III has definitely had a working life and even though it shows some signs of use, it's still mechanically very good. It came from a commercial background and doubtless was earning its keep for years before finally being retired to the back of a cupboard somewhere. I could say the same about my MPP MkIII - most definitely had a long and hard working life, and proudly bears a lot of battle scars on its outer shell, but inside the contents are virtually unscathed. A fiddle and a tweak here and there and it's good for another 60 years. You can hardly buy quality like that any more, and when you do it will cost an arm and a leg.