What camera(s) are you using this weekend?

Take some pictures of your toes!! Speedy recovery . . Bill

Thanks, Bill.

Hmm... Vincent already has

thousands of toe photos...

http://bayouline.com/o2.gif

A shot of the 400mm preset that I mentioned earlier in the thread.

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For those not familiar with this lens, the preset 400 is long, but lightweight. I usually just stop it down to f 32 and use the open/close ring to continuously vary the aperture until I get what I want. If you want a bit more reach there is also a 500mm f 8 version .

That's a new one on me. If the normal aperture ring opens and closes the aperture in the normal fashion, what does the open/close ring do?

An old favourite, the Konica Autoreflex T with it's 57mm Hexanon AR f/1.4 lens. It came back from a CLA a few days ago and I'll post a few samples from a test film, over on the current weekly thread. Weather permitting, I'll take it out again in the weekend. It really is a nice old thing.

Konica Autoreflex T

davecaz- with preset lenses one would set the aperture ring to the desired aperture first. For example f 11 could be selected. The turn the o/c ring to open for easy focusing. The turning ring to closed stops the lens down to the aperture that you preset. Before this development you would just simply use the aperture ring. Was this a significant convenience? Maybe or maybe not, depending on photographer. When automatic diaphragm lenses became available the older preset lenses (like 35, 135, etc) were often bundled with cameras in an attempt to move them. If an outfit included a 135mm that was not labeled "auto" it was likely preset.

Lots of cool vintage glass in preset mounts that can often be found cheap.

I have a 50mm f 3.5 Rokkor QF that is preset. Same formula as later Rokkor and Celtic 50 macro lenses, but less sophisticated coating.

davecaz- with preset lenses one would set the aperture ring to the desired aperture first. For example f 11 could be selected. The turn the o/c ring to open for easy focusing. The turning ring to closed stops the lens down to the aperture that you preset. Before this development you would just simply use the aperture ring. Was this a significant convenience? Maybe or maybe not, depending on photographer. When automatic diaphragm lenses became available the older preset lenses (like 35, 135, etc) were often bundled with cameras in an attempt to move them. If an outfit included a 135mm that was not labeled "auto" it was likely preset.

Lots of cool vintage glass in preset mounts that can often be found cheap.

I have a 50mm f 3.5 Rokkor QF that is preset. Same formula as later Rokkor and Celtic 50 macro lenses, but less sophisticated coating.

Oohhhh, okay. Seems like an unnecessary complication, to me, but I can see why some folks might like it. I'm used to preset lenses that do not have that feature, but I've never seen one that has it (in person, that is).

My fave camera, Nikon SP rangefinder with 50mm F1.4

Tried a Leica M7 but enjoy using the Nikon more. Not sure why. As soon as I pick it up I want to take photos.

Back again. I have a huge backlog, but if I can, I'm going out with my "new"Leica M3 and Summicron 50mm f/2

A shot of the 400mm preset that I mentioned earlier in the thread.

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For those not familiar with this lens, the preset 400 is long, but lightweight. I usually just stop it down to f 32 and use the open/close ring to continuously vary the aperture until I get what I want. If you want a bit more reach there is also a 500mm f 8 version .

Reminds me of a Soligor 450 (?) f8.0 preset that I had for a Minolta SR1s. For cheap, it gave me fairly good results. Back then I also had a 28 and 135 - both Soligor presets. It seemed like second nature to use lenses that way. For the life of me I can't remember what I did with those lenses, but the camera was stolen and replace by a 101. I can't remember what I did with that camera either.

But today it's an EF Canon. Might get a good sunset or two what with all the smoke in the air from Canadian forest fires.

Sitting in my office here on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, I just got a good whiff of the smoke.

I think some of the short to medium tele preset lenses might have had more aperture blades than the auto aperture versions. Some of the "dream SLR kits" of the 70's and 80's might include a preset 35 and 135 but only one T-ring so you had to move the ring over to the lens you wanted to use. Also, if I may use the dreaded "digital" word here, some systems seem to accept preset lenses better than some manual auto aperture. For example, the "so called crippled K mount" for Pentax requires "A" series or higher K mount for the camera's metering to know what apertures are available. So an ordinary M or early SMC K mount doesn't fully communicate with meter unless stopped down. Presets work great since the camera doesn't need a DOF to meter with these lenses My old Pentax *ist is happier with present lenses than early K mount types. Same true of my ZX-M film SLR.

I hope to see more posts about these modest, but still capable preset lenses.

Mike Gammill said:

I hope to see more posts about these modest, but still capable preset lenses.

I'm going to attempt just this, as the days warm up and draw out, Mike. I have a fair selection of pre-set lenses, mostly of the variety that have the two rings, one of which is used to pre-set the aperture required, and the other which opens and closes the iris to enable focusing and/or exposure. One of my reasons for buying into the Sony full-frame mirrorless system was to use these lenses, as the excellent electronic viewfinders will not only magnify the image in several stages, but can retain constant levels of brightness no matter what aperture setting is in use, greatly assisting in focusing.

This weekend I'm using a rather unusual Pentaflex SL, a budget SLR produced for a period of only about a year circa 1987 by VEB Pentacon. It's a sort of modified Praktica Nova with fewer shutter speeds, and the 50mm Pentaflex-Color f/2.8 lens is the ubiquitous Domiplan in disguise.

Pentaflex SL

Very nice example of Pentaflex SL, Rick. I look forward to seeing your results with it and with the preset lenses.

From what I have read from photo magazines dating back to the late 50's through early 70's, Lens makers (including the camera makers) initially offered longer focal lengths as presets. Also, early macro lenses were often preset. I have an early 60's Minolta Rokkor QF 50 mm f 3.5 macro preset. I believe Canon (for Canonflex) offered one as well. I might be in error, but I think Yashica offered one in the M42 mount as well. I have a 1965 issue of Popular Photography that has a complete lens listing (arranged by focal length) that I will refer to later.

Took the new S3 2K out for a spin this morning. First roll, we’ll see how it went. New to this rangefinder stuff, and I like it. I have to get used to the colored filter thing, dumping the orange when C-41 goes in. The little Pilot works nicely. The shutter is a tiny, quiet, instant “click”. Much different from the SLRs I’ve used for so many years. The tiny lens is beautiful, though I didn’t take any time to show that in the snapshot above.

I shot a local old timer day event in my home town with my Leica M3 DS,

Got a few frames of Double-X left on it. Probably won't get round to filling it up until next weekend (at the Doesburg Open-Air Fotografica Fair)