Brassing - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

<p>Yes it is, so much porn that I had to have a long cold shower....something about 70's cameras in black...back to the shower!</p>

<p>B.J. ,</p>

<p>I wonder how many thousands of roll of film have gone through that Leica M?</p>

<p>Louis and JDM,</p>

<p>Thanks for posting your rangefinders. Don't tell B.J. but I like black rangefinders best.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>"even if most of them ARE Canon :-)"</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Rick,</p>

<p>You are right. Where are all the Minolta owners? Pull them out of your safety deposit boxes.</p>

<p>I will get you started.</p>

<div></div>

<p>OK, so's the classic output of the workers' and peasants' state is not left out of this back-in-black show, here are some very late, all black Prakticas.</p>

<p>And no brassing either. <br>

Doubtless, as they told me in the DDR back in 1972<br>

"The conditions for brassing have been eliminated in the German Democratic Republic."</p><div></div>

<p>Almost everything I have is brassed. It's a great benefit to those who like to collect cheap working cameras. My brassiest one is probably an old F that's out in the car and I'm too lazy to go get it. I got it for $39 from KEH, in ugly As-is condition, lacking back and prism, said to have a cracked casting and no wind lever. It had no cracked casting and a late model wind lever, and shows signs of hard use and a thorough overhaul, ugly and mechanically perfect. </p>

<p>I also got the pictured-below plain prism F, complete except for lens, from a local dealer's $5.00 junk bin. The shutter is a little wrinkled, and I had to open up the finder to retighten the loose and very slightly damaged prism. It also works perfectly. It's not heavily brassed but what it has it has all over and shows signs of a long traveling life which has not yet ended.</p><div></div>

<p>Another local dealer who also likes to sell stuff reasonably had a nice F3 a couple of years ago. I was happy with my F's but this thing just yelled at me, so I bought it for bottom dollar, somewhere in the vicinity of what KEH might get for an ugly one. This one was internally perfect and came with a warrantee, but some owner must have used one of those guitar straps on it, making it worthless to collectors. I have a brassed and dented Rollei 35, too, which has the additional advantage of having a rare but apparently uncollectible Schneider lens. It isn't very photogenic, but it looks rather shabby while, of course, working perfectly</p>

<p>Anyway, the nasty looking F3, a favorite for whose poor choice of straps I am thankful:</p><div></div>

<p>Matthew,</p>

<p>Your cameras just look fine. I like the fact that they are working models.</p>

<p>3 of my 4 XE-7s were parts only cameras. I managed to get them all working. They aren't the prettiest examples but I can put film through them.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Nice collection of black bodied Canons! I never knew the AV-1 and AL-1 came in black.</p>

<p>I sold/traded my Canons as I moved up through the line, never really regretting it. At least until a few years ago when I thought it might be neat to have copies of some of my former film cameras. </p>

<p>I've been able to obtain an A-1, AE-1, AE-1Program and an FTb. Also an AL-1 which I didn't own in the past, but the price was something I couldn't pass on - $5.00! All of these bodies are in excellent condition with almost no brassing. I attribute this to them coming with their original "never ready" cases, well worn and ragged looking. Looks like the cases kept the cameras in such good shape. The only real brassing is on the pentaprism of the A-1, it looks like the continual removal of the top part of the case may be the culprit.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I was hoping to see the "bad and the ugly", in this thread? I'm off on vacation or I'd be scaring you with pretty beat up, ex PJ Nikon F cameras. I have several with little finish still aboard. Friction and sweat have both long ago removed the black enamel finishes. They do look way cool though. Truth is these belonged to an old retired, long gone PJ I knew years ago. So if these could only talk. He went to hundreds of car crashes, fires, trials, crime scenes etc with these for many years.</p>

 

<p>Steve Levine , I also wish they could talk because you would be very busy writing their stories: </p>

<p>I also bought my F3 used. It has some wear on the edges from one of those disgusting hippie straps. That strap was the first item I threw away. Ever since then, I have used only straps with no or minimal amounts of metal buckles on them. Op Tech makes a few with all plastic hardware. Other straps such as the Leica strap do have some metal, but they are shielded with plastic guards.</p>

<p>My Walkin'-Around F2AS (w/35-105 Nikkor zoom)<br>

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7612485598_cb965fc307.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/diecastdeluxe/cameras/lcs1.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" /><br>

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/diecastdeluxe/cameras/lcs2.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" /><br>

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/diecastdeluxe/cameras/lcs3.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></p>

 

Leica II, 1932. From the first batch. With a Nikkor.C 35mm 2.5 lens from the early 1950s and a Voigtländer Minifinder from 2005.

Edited January 30, 2021 by johan_niels_kuiper

 

Guess what, it works fine. This is 1932, my favorite year in German camera making

 

Leicaflex SL with 35mm f2.8 Elmarit R lens.

<p>Geesh, you guys and your clean, untouched cameras. Brass showing through the black paint is not wear, it's patina! It shows that your camera was not some poncy little doctor's camera (only taken out once a year on vacation), but a true working camera with a farmer's tan and dirt under it's nails. Like this:</p><div>[ATTACH=full]1137774[/ATTACH]</div>

 

Yes, and Cerebral Palsied me, trips over his own feet, spastic street photograher brasses up enough cameras. Since I buy my cameras used, I buy them with brass and a even a ding or three. That way, I can take them out, run tons of film through them, and come back it do it again and again. They go places, they take pictures, they get used (and I try to take good care of them) and I don't suffer from emotional issues if they get some more brass from using them. I am the only person I know who loves some press corp ugly in cameras.

I appreciate the look of brassing, and if I can get a good price on a working example I'll take the bargain and accept the condition.

 

 

Here'S The Rolliflex'S brother!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for dredging this old thread up. I'd say the "bad" & the "ugly" have now been well represented!

 

Nkon F with Photomic TN meter.