What camera(s) are you using this weekend?

I went to get some rapid fixer from a trusted local camera store, and came back with this baby Kodak Retina I. I should not have bought another 35mm cameras (let alone a zone focus folder), but two things caught my eyes.

• Firstly the lens is the high quality American made Kodak Ektar 50mm f/3.5, coated (lumenized) and build in 1947 (CAMEROSITY dating). I had great results from a similar Ektar 50/3.5 on the Kodak Signet 35. And to make it even better: the lens is unit focus instead of front cell focus.
  
• Secondly the rangefinder MIL-O (Japan), is compact, stylish and in high quality finish. I was looking for a good shoe mount rangefinder for a 6x9 folder, and this will work well. And best of all, both vertical and horizontal alignment can be adjusted easily.
  

The camera is really compact, and fits into my pants pocket when folded. Very simple and rugged. However the rangefinder interferes with shutter button on the Retina, so I won't be using it. I already developed one roll of Arista Ultra 100 and will post on the weekly once scanned. And in the future, this little guy will have a run for the money against my Rollei 35 TE with Tessar 40/3.5 lens.

I went to get some rapid fixer from a trusted local camera store, and came back with this baby Kodak Retina I. I should not have bought another 35mm cameras (let alone a zone focus folder), but two things caught my eyes.

• Firstly the lens is the high quality American made Kodak Ektar 50mm f/3.5, coated (lumenized) and build in 1947 (CAMEROSITY dating). I had great results from a similar Ektar 50/3.5 on the Kodak Signet 35. And to make it even better: the lens is unit focus instead of front cell focus.
  
• Secondly the rangefinder MIL-O (Japan), is compact, stylish and in high quality finish. I was looking for a good shoe mount rangefinder for a 6x9 folder, and this will work well. And best of all, both vertical and horizontal alignment can be adjusted easily.
  

The camera is really compact, and fits into my pants pocket when folded. Very simple and rugged. However the rangefinder interferes with shutter button on the Retina, so I won't be using it. I already developed one roll of Arista Ultra 100 and will post on the weekly once scanned. And in the future, this little guy will have a run for the money against my Rollei 35 TE with Tessar 40/3.5 lens.

 

[ATTACH=full]1439692[/ATTACH]

I have 36 exposures of FujiColor Superia loaded in my 1957 Kodak Retina 1b, think I will shoot this one this weekend. And join you in a moment of solidarity.

A bit after-the-fact perhaps and the cameras involved don't fit the forum category (but some of the lenses do), but last weekend I did rather more shooting than I've done all at one time for a very long while now.

My wife and I crossed the border and went up to Frankenmuth, MI where she went to high school for the wedding of one of her high school friends. I was given the task of "official photographer" and so brought along my Nikon D3/80-200 f2.8 and D750/24-70 f2.8 (for the wedding itself) and 50 f1.4 and 35 f2 AI-s Nikkors for some walkaround fun. I had planned on bringing the Hasselblad and doing part of the wedding shooting in B&W, but while it would have been fun it would really have been just a bit much! I did one walk with the D750 and 50 f1.4 and another with the D3 and 35 f2 and both were fun (of course). Decades later and I'm still in love with the results from the 35 f2.

672 frames and I'm almost done with the editing. It was all highly-variable available light and so a bit of work to get it all to mesh, but we're getting there!

Maybe one day someone will ask me to shoot a wedding in B&W medium format again like The Olde Days... one can wish!

Pentax ME Super w SMC Pentax-M 50/2.0.

Lovely tiny camera from the late 70’s/early 80's.

I have acquired a few Tamron Adaptall lenses for my Leica R3, and one of these lenses came with a Pentax K adapter. What better reason for buying my first K mount Pentax?

I have long admired the compact M series (ME, MX, MV-1 etc.) and my camera shop had this one collecting dust on the shelf.

I will familiarise myself with the accompanying 50mm lens before anything else.

Loaded with Fujifilm C200 for the weekend.

This weekend, I plan is to try out a few new to me 6x9 zone focus folders and decide which one I like most. Up first is an Agfa Record II with a coated Solinar 105mm f/4.5 lens set in a Synchro Compur shutter. The camera and lens appear to be in fine shape, and the shutter is dry and crisp. I did use black fabric paint to patch up a few pin holes at the corner of folds, a common problem for that era's synthetic bellows. The WATAMETER rangefinder does not work (cannot be adjusted properly), but does look cool on the camera. Hopefully photos later for the weekly.

After the past week or so of shooting huge numbers of frames (both digital and 35mm B&W) I feel like I need to slow down - Hasselblad and a couple of rolls of HP5 on tap.

One of these deserves some exercise, probably the Kiev 4-M at the front with the Helios 103 lens, as I think I've run only 1 film through it since acquiring it about 4 years ago.

There’s two F2’s on the front floor of my truck, on the road early in the morning. Who knows what I might see?

Rick H.

In my search for the "ideal" 6x9 folder, I got myself a Kodak Monitor Six-20 with Kodak Anastigmat 105mm f/4.5. And I'm starting to get the hang of rolling my own 620 film. This is a really well made and fully featured folder.

Kodak Monitor Six-20 by Zheng, on Flickr

One of these deserves some exercise, probably the Kiev 4-M at the front with the Helios 103 lens, as I think I've run only 1 film through it since acquiring it about 4 years ago.

 

[ATTACH=full]1440141[/ATTACH]

Once I have a take up spool in hand, plan on shooting my Kiev 4-A. I need to get me some Astrum Black & White, or some FomaPan and give it a taste of it's native film for the maiden roll. It has a 50 mm/F2 Jupiter. Got it for around $40 4 months ago.

Taking a break from the folders this week to play with my Kodak Reflex II.

I have long been curious but too cheap to try ACROS 100II - At twice the price of FP4+ it was a little too rich for my blood.

However, this week my camera shop had a brick of recently expired Acros for half price.

A perfect excuse and therefore the film I will use this weekend with my FE2 + 28mm 2.0 AiS.

I have long been curious but too cheap to try ACROS 100II - At twice the price of FP4+ it was a little too rich for my blood.

However, this week my camera shop had a brick of recently expired Acros for half price.

A perfect excuse and therefore the film I will use this weekend with my FE2 + 28mm 2.0 AiS.

I look forward to seeing the pictures.

A relatively unknown 6x6 folder with a very good lens, the Nishida Optical "Wester Autorol". I'm trying to exercise some of these older camera, rather than reaching for my usual favourites.

A relatively unknown 6x6 folder with a very good lens, the Nishida Optical "Wester Autorol". I'm trying to exercise some of these older camera, rather than reaching for my usual favourites.

Nice camera Rick ... I managed to acquire two parts/repair Autorols off ebay cheap and I'm combining the best parts from both to finish up with one good camera, so saving it from landfill. Before I run a test film, I'll post a pic of it in this "What Camera" thread.

So far I have a small collection of Westers, a Wester Model 11, a Super Wester, and the Autorol ... and then I have one of the odd brand cameras with an NKK Wester shutter/lens, an Apollo 6x4.5, very well designed with strong build quality, but it has a narrower than normal flash shoe, I can't figure that out.

That's good news, kmac! They are well-built cameras, as you say, and I'm pleased you saved a couple from oblivion. I posted some stuff on the Autorol some time ago, and I recall I really had to scratch around to find much in the way of history, or general information. Here's the link, if you haven't come across it.

The Uncommon Wester Autorol

Going "luxury" this weekend with the Pentax LX - I even pulled out the half-case. Loaded with HP5 Plus, but not sure what lenses I'll shoot. I have a few, but seem always to gravitate back to the 50 f1.2 as I love the results so much.

Loaded the old Rolleicord V for Heritage Weekend, let us see what comes out in a 9-months expired HP5+ roll. Weather looks promising.

Loaded up this Mimosa (first model) this weekend, but did not fill up the roll of expired Agfa APX 100.

Only a few scenes of autumn.

Will probably fill it up next weekend during 'The Island 1944' event.

A roll of Fujifilm C200 to capture some autumn colours with my Leica R3  & Tamron 28mm 1:2.5.

I'm liking the new format so far. So I'm gonna try posting a pic.my pheonix 35mm that uses k mount lenses

Hello everyone. Having FINALLY gotten back up on the site (Newbie ??), I realize very little work has been done with the various vintage cameras. Before I put my Fed-3 to bed for the Hawaii adventure, will finish the 18 odd frames and develop the roll. Perhaps some of it will appear before my Oct 25th flight. Enjoy & Aloha.   Bill

Nikon FE2 w. 28/2.8 AiS and SB-28

My local camera shop was selling out of used defective and damaged items.

This SB-28 flash looked  great, worked fine but had signs of battery leakage - not more than I could clean out. 

I don’t usually use flash with film, but use of flash during the fall season may add a pop in intensity of the already saturated seasonal colors (I hope).

The manual output functionality will allow me to use the unit with digital as well.

Camera loaded with Fuji C200.