Niels - NHSN

Just got the silver Nikkormat FT2 last week. It had some meter irregularities which I hope I have fixed, so I took it out for a spin this weekend loaded with HP5+. The lens is a <new>Nikkor 35/2. The black EL came along because it still had half a roll of Superia Xtra loaded. The lens is a silver nose 105/2.5.

I found it. It is my local currency, but adjusted for inflation and converted til US$, the equivalent price in 2024 would have been: Nikon F2 w. DP-1: $3,309 Nikkormat EL: $2,413 Nikon F w. FTN photomic: $2,375 Nikon F w. plain prism: $1,800 Nikkormat FTn: $1,345 (all in chrome finish) I think I paid around the same amount for my Nikon Z6ii body two years ago, so not unreasonable, but certainly not low enough to appeal to the average amateur I would think. My black pre-Ai collection as it looked last year. In the mid 70's, only the F2 to the left would have cost more than the EL.

Yes, they are cheap. I remember I was lusting for a F80 when they were new 20+ years ago, but couldn't really find room in my hobby budget. These days the F80 cost nothing, probably partly due to the gross stickiness they have developed by now, which is, as you note, easily removed with some alcohol and a little persistence.

Bees are beginning to wake up. I took out the Nikon F80 (N80) over the week-end loaded with Fuji Superia X-tra 400. The camera offers very good ergonomics, nice size, light but not too light, all the functions you need, and possibility for customisations, like compositional lines on the focusing screen and more. It has fairly quick AF, build in flash, quiet film advance and shutter. All in all a very well designed and competent photographic tool ...... except it isn't very charming for some reason. I feel almost bad for not loving it, as I am sure a lot of effort and consideration successfully have gone into designing this device. The lens (Nikkor AF 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G) is very good too. Yes it is plasticky and light and has only 6 elements, but very sharp and versatile due to a clever aspherical design. You'll have to forgive the barrel distortion at the wide end, which is easy when you look at the price tag; which was almost nothing back in the day and these days owners can't hardly give them away for free.

I wish I could find my 1974 Nikon price list - it is here somewhere. I recall that the Nikkormat EL cost the same or maybe even a little more than a Nikon F with the plain prism (1974 was the last year Nikon F was on the official price list). Just goes to show it was a certainly not inexpensive in its time, neither was the ELW or Nikon EL2 for that matter. On the other hand, The AE-1 @orsetto mentioned was very aggressively priced and produced to a noticeable lower standard - something you wouldn't know if looking at used prices today. I help checking used cameras in a brick-and-mortar camera shop, and Canon AE-1's easily sells for 3 times the price we can get for a EL or ELW and the AE-1 still moves much faster. Good for those in the know. On a side note, I notice that the EL/ELW as often as not come in with some dents on the top plate over the prism, something I rarely see on the Nikkormat FTn. I think the top plate may not have been designed for hard use in mind.

Intrepid’s backs rotate without removal. They are very light, but I don’t know if plywood would qualify as “wood” in your mind or if you are thinking about more precious wood types? https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/blogs/guides/setting-up-the-intrepid-4x5

This is a response to a very old post but I suppose people still use pol filters, so still relevant when it shows up in search results, I guess. A pol-filter test on a Polish site back in 2015 had Marumi in the top 3. https://www.lenstip.com/139.25-article-Polarizing_filters_test_2015_Results_and_summary.html It is also said that Leica uses Marumi for some of their filters (don’t let yourself be fooled by a Made in Germany label - “assembled” is more like it). I only own one Marumi filter (UV) but wouldn’t shy away from getting others if they were easily available- which they are not where I live.

I ended up buying the Pen FT I borrowed a few weeks back. The price was good and the camera nice. I have tentatively decided that half frame will be my format of choice for color film. Shooting color film is just getting too costly otherwise. I prefer BW when shooting film but it is nice to have room for a small camera with color in the bag. I ran half a roll of Fuji C200 through this one over the weekend.

I’d love to hear about anyone with the ability and not least willingness to repair a Nikon F Photomic meter, regardless of turnaround time. Please share. The often seen challenge is that if you have a functional meter, you’ll expect to get a functional meter back from the repair tech. Without parts this poses a serious risk for the tech. Since if diving into the Photomic meter unsuccessfully, any mistake will likely be un-recoverable and a liability for the repair technician. Luckily my FTn Photomic head works fine (with a zinc-air adapter or MR-9 Kanto converter) but if it wasn’t completely in alignment with a modern meter, I’d probably rather analyze the deviation and adjust, rather than opt for repair.

Or upload the images to flickr.com (if you use that) and simply paste the share links into a post. The photo.net forum software will parse it automatically and show your images.

That would be a strong indicator that your lens is a 7 element. The protrusion is cause by the 8th element - hard to imagine it could be an 8 element without it. But how about some pictures of your lens and perhaps a link to the video you mention? Here’s a site that seemingly has assembled quite a bit of data on how to ID those 8 element lenses. https://takumarguide.weebly.com/1--14--50-358-8-element.html

Rolleiflex 3.5E (Planar 75mm f/3.5) for the weekend. Loaded with a roll of Fujicolor Pro 400H from my last box. I will miss this film.

I am assuming those numbers are of the factory rolled films prior to use? I am thinking they may be rolled on different assembly lines that may not deliver the same exact tension, and I probably wouldn't give 0.5mm on the feeding spool too much importance. It I am guessing that differences in the backing paper tension you apply when you load the film onto the take-up spool will affect the final diameter and thus the final wind-on tension to some extend. Or/and as @kmac suggests; possible variations in thickness of backing paper and film and possible tension introduced by the friction/resistance of various film/backing-paper materials that occurs during film winding. Combined this may result in variations on the take-up spool diameter and potentially affect the total resistance you feel at the end of the film wind-up. Just speculations.

This weekend I will be trying out another camera that just returned from an overhaul: A Leica IIF Red Dial (1955) - "Red Dial" or RD is just a reference to the color of the flash sync dial numbers under the shutter dial and indicates it is the last IIF/IIIF model with minor improvements on the shutter and in flash capability. I have mounted a modern Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical LTM on the camera. A lens produced from 1999 and a few years forward. I bought in Japan around 2010. The accessory finder is a Leitz SBOOI 5cm brightline finder that improves the framing vastly over the build-in finder. I didn't quite finish the film in my Leica IA last weekend so I brought that along as well. I did a few side by side photos to see the differences between the two 50mm lenses manufactured almost a century apart.

My Leica I (A) from 1930 came back from a general overhaul yesterday. The shutter wasn't completely reliable and the camera scratched the film. I expect that to be fixed now and will take it out into the sun loaded with a roll of Fujifilm C200. The repair person could see that the 93 years old shutter curtains had never been replaced, and he claimed that they did not need replacement! Impressive. This is in contrast to my three Leica IIF and IIIF's from the 1950's which all have needed replacement of their deteriorating curtains. Another interesting piece of semi-related trivia: Also yesterday, I stumbled upon this quote in my copy of "Walker Evans at Work" (p.44). "That photo I sent you was made with Grotz' [Paul Grotz] little Leica camera, using a special close-grain film imported from Germany at a stiff price, but allowing enlargements to huge proportions if desired. We have thrown that one up to almost life size" The quote comes from a letter to his friend Hanns Skolle from May 1929. Given Leica only sold the Leica I (A) model with the 5cm/3.5 Elmar in the 1920's (with a few very rare exceptions) it is almost certain that Evans is referring to a camera just like the one below. The film he is talking about appears to be of the brand "Perutz", judging from the contact prints reproduced in the book.