From Granpa's attic

[irvine.short]

<p>Two recent lucky finds from the attic of my wife's grandpa:</p>

<p>A Kodak Retina Reflex and a </p>

<p>Agfa Optima, the original version with the "Magic lever" to set the exposure.</p>

<p>The Kodak is in perfect working order, even the light meter. I am most of the way through a film. It has the Schneider Kreuznach F2.0 lens.</p>

<p>The Agfa was about to go on Freecycle but a little Googling revealed that it too was working. It just has a hazy viewfinder. Amazing that both light meters are fine after all these years in a very unkind climate.</p>

<p>Nice to have both cameras, one pretty much the first automatic exposure camera and the other one of the first SLRs.</p>

<p>What a pity nearly all of the 8mm movies have dissolved into a vinegar-ey mess.</p>

<p> </p>

[Mike Gammill]

Nice find. Can't wait to see pictures.

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Sorry about the movie cameras, but still, that's a very nice score. Indeed, you must post results... and perhaps, some camera porn...</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Sorry to hear that the movie films with family pics are shot. Unlike the cameras, those are irreplaceable. Sadly high heat aggravates "vinegar syndrome" of cellulose acetate film.</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>A nice find, look forward to seeing pictures of and by the cameras. Use the Retina Reflex sparingly. They are very complex mechanically and prone to failure, like many leaf shutter SLR's, and are very difficult to get fixed.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Pics please, both of and from the cameras. Great discovery !</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

<p>Joining the chorius.. pics of and from...! </p>

[gabor_szabo3]

<blockquote>

<p> Use the Retina Reflex sparingly. They are very complex mechanically and prone to failure, like many leaf shutter SLR's, and are very difficult to get fixed.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This is so true.<br>

Almost hard to believe your Retina Reflex is working , especially if the attic was not so kind to the 8mm film stock, even if it's cellulose triacetate. Surely the humidity and change in climates would've affected the mechanicals of the cameras... one would think.<br>

More than half of the leaf shutter SLRs I've come across have wonky shutters and/or lousy prisms with spots and crud. In my experience, Voigtlander Bessamatics and and Ultramatics hold up better than their Kodak and Agfa cousins.</p>