gunbu

Swinging in the choir here... All good choices to me too. I have used a Reillei 35 T for many many years on travels and it has nearly never dissapointed me. My other two favorite are the Yashica Electro 35 GN, Revue 400 SE, very underrated, a bit spotty quality. My experience with Japanese sellers was above average, keeping JDMs words in mind... However, custom fees and shipping cost will kill any smart deal.

Raj - that is funny, Look at my new arrival, which I was planning to shoot this weekend! Just noted, that I forgot to buy film, so will be next weekend... Btw, you can use a Contax spool.<div></div>

Na, wieder was dazu gelernt, danke! Interesting, nice ads! I wonder if Roth was a distributor, the camera in the last ad looks exactly like the Mentor II from Goltz & Breutmann, which often also come with Meyer lenses...

David, not sure if Kino-Plasmat referrs to cinema lenses, rather, a lens that was specifically made for 35mm film, as this was called in German "Kinofilm". AFAIK, they only made consumer lenses for 16mm film cameras. Before and early after the war they used to make a lot of large format lenses which are highly sought after due to their ability to render portraits really soft. They were the main supplier for the Primar-Reflex and Primarflex SLRs.

JDM - nice picture of the tower! I have a pre-Tchernobyl Helios too and I find the results as good as my Sonnars, maybe overall more sharpness. Wide open, I prefer the softness and overall look of the Sonnars. The Helois is a very wellmade lens and the click stops are a nice touch... Works also fine on the Nikon RFs. As the coating is more modern, mine too shoes less reflexions on the surface. Cheap and truly underrated lens!

<p>Once owned a Photavit with Cassar lens, Tessar type, and same way of focusing. Beautiful camera, congratulations, should also be a fine picture taker...</p>

<p>A lovely piece of machine! The last one I saw for sale was from the heritage of Ed Kaprelian some years ago...</p>

<p>Roger - As far as I know it is a little old-fashioned sign to tell you here is an interesting photographic spot.<br> John - Thanks for your information on the Agfas - how about starting a thread? Now as I read a little more on triplets, of course the Tessar is a triplet too, just has four lenses in contrast to a triple lens design like the Novars et alteri. On certain occasions I do like the softness of a Novar, always depends your subject and attitude. Sharpness is not everything... happy shooting!</p>

Oups, was totally wrong about the Rollop TLR... The name is Lipca for Lippische Kamerafabrik in Barntrup, which is between Bielefeld and Hannover, according to Wiki, Plaubel gave name rights to them. Really beautiful TLRs by the way... John, is it a triplet? I always thought it would be a Tessar-type like the other Anticomars... However, the Novar on my Ikonta 6x9 is indeed more soft in general, even starting at 6.3! Now, 2.8 is defenitly also quite a push for either lens design...

Thanks all for the nice responses. John (W), guess what? My smart phone is probably as sharp nowadays as your Agfa Silette ;) no, serious, I like my Agfa Silette (isn't it a 6x6?) too, but apart from picture taking I really enjoy the nice finish and workmanship displayed in the Roll-Op. And frankly, I also really like the softness of this Plaubel Anticomars wide open! There is a sort of "plastique" (don't find any other word, sorry) to the images that discerns them certainly from something like a meniscus lens. Maybe not everyones taste as I have heard this before, but to me this is a speciality I can also find in Hugo Meyer lenses, maybe a left-over from Pictorialism... And if I look at my slides, I find nothing to complain when stopped down. Unfortunatly, I don't know what is more of a problem here, my bad scanner or the fact that you can only post small sized pictures. I have tried a bigger one but it didn't load up, not even as link... John (S), yes there is a (beautiful) Rollop TLR, made by Lippische Kamerawerke, München (Lipka), not the same company, Plaubels were from Frankfurt a. M. Maybe that's why they called it Roll-Op instead of Rollop...

<p>2. Foto Wannack, one of the last old shops for photo gear and a good place to find many odd accessories...</p><div></div>

<p>1.</p><div></div>

<p>Two more from Hamburg and then I'm done...</p>

<p>La Tramontana, a spot where you are allowed to shoot with bellows cameras ;) - it is a breath taking National Park at the sea.</p><div></div>

<p>A close-up (as you can see on the right there is occasional frame-overlapping):</p><div></div>