new owner of a Koni-Omega Rapid M 6x7 rangefinder

[steve_fay]

<p>I just acquired a Rapid M from an elderly retired central Illinois pro. It was one of two "comparatively" lightweight Konis he used for wedding, portraits, etc, when he didn't want to cart his Linhof around. It came with 2 120 film backs and the 90mm Hexanon lens (f/3.5-32; 1/500-1 sec +Bulb shutter speeds). It was a bit dusty, but has cleaned up very well, and seems to be in perfect working order...as well as I can tell before running any film through it.<br>

I have used 35mm for years, but my MF experience is very slight. Thirty-five years ago I had a Yashica A TLR for a few years, but traded it in on an additional lens for my 35mm camera. As a kid I had a 127 Brownie Hawkeye. And many of my family's keepsake family snapshots are contact prints from the approx 6x7 120 negs shot in Mom's Kodak box camera, which I still have.<br>

Compared to a 35mm SLR, this Rapid M is a bit of a horse, but sometimes I think that the smaller and lighter a camera is, the harder it can be for a large person to hold it steady. I"m excited at the prospect of negatives that are 4.5 times the size of 35mm images. I want to try out this Koni on some landscape and scenic work, historic architecture, and other outdoor subject matter. <br>

It's been years since I've done any darkroom work, but thinking about shooting B&W with it has me planning a basement darkroom again.<br>

MY QUESTIONS:<br>

* Are there many Koni-Omega Rapid devotees participating in this forum? (I have found some older threads about these cameras here and on other forums but wonder who's still around.) If so, do you have some advice or encouragement for me?<br>

* Does anyone want to refer me to any particularly distinctive technical or inspirational internet sites related to this type of camera or about the 6x7 format or outdoor MF B&W photography? I have bookmarked several resources of this kind already, but no doubt some of you will know of much better info than I have found--perhaps websites, galleries, or blogs of members of this forum, for example.<br>

Thanks in advance!</p>

<p> </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>My intent, as soon a spring really comes, is to get out and do more shooting with my Rapid 100 ( http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00YatJ ). I have a few rolls of 220 saved up as well as having the 120 back.<br>

To paraphrase the Prairie Home Companion ad I hear all the time on my local NPR station:</p>

<p>"For its size and weight, it's really a very attractive camera."</p>

<p>Are there many of us? Maybe not, but we do have a really super RF camera, all the same.</p>

<p>Caution: the film advance sounds a lot like a cartridge being chambered in a rifle. Do not use this camera around secret service agents....</p>

[steve_fay]

<p>JDM, thanks for the link to your postings about your Rapid 100. It looks very like my Rapid M--the only obvious difference being that the opaque parts of the panel surrounding the front of the rangefinder and viewfinder windows on my model are white with a different name on them: Rapid M.<br /> The film advance/shutter cocking noise isn't quite as loud as some describers make it out to be, but it certainly isn't quiet. I don't have any 120 film right now (some is on the way to me), but I do have an old 120 spool with the backing paper from a roll of tri-X wound on it. Yesterday I was using that to practice loading and winding. It seemed that a brisk but steady pulling out of the advance knob engages the clutch better than a gentler pull. As near as I can tell, slamming the bar back in, as the old news photographers are said to have done, isn't necessary, if all that stroke is doing is cocking the shutter which doesn't need a lot of effort to do. What are your thoughts about that? I suspect that I was photographed with one of these at some wedding I went to back in the 1970s--I remember the sound and look of a photographer using that sort of advance-cocking mechanism after all these years!<br /> It's good to see those B&W pictures of yours. I am thinking first of exploring slower speed films, wider apertures, and the joys of blurry background planes...something I have never intentionally gone for before. Then a later project may be to shoot anything I can at f/32 on a tripod, something else I haven't had much opportunity to try.<br /> Do you like the 90mm angle of view. I read somewhere of a Koni-Omega user who felt it was too wide for him (would be equivalent to a 40mm lens on a 35mm film camera). He wanted to get one of the 135mm lenses, but they are rather rare.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Definitely, a smooth operation of the film advance is better than, as you say, "slamming it in".</p>

<p>The lens is nice. I don't quite do enough 120 shooting to justify the rather pricey full assemblage of lenses, but it's nice to know they are there.</p>

 

[martyn_oliver]

<p>Hi Steve</p>

<p>There's a very good forum on Flickr dedicated to the K-O series.</p>

<p>I have an M with the standard 90mm Hexanon lens. Like yours, it came from a retired professional photographer, and apparently they were real workhorses known for their robustness and reliability. I love the lens – somehow it seems to impart a sense of depth that is lacking in European optics of the same generation.</p>

<p>One problem that sometimes does seem to crop up from time to time is overlapping frames on the film, a consequence of mishandling the film advance mechanism. But it seems as if you've been well advised. However, if you should feel the need to delve into the works of the mechanism, there's a really good explanatory guide online here: <a href="http://randamteagarden.tripod.com/id31.htm" target="_blank">http://randamteagarden.tripod.com/id31.htm</a></p>

<p>Look online for Greg Weber, who has to be the number one authority on K-Os. He overhauled my lens for me last year and did a splendid job for a very reasonable fee (he can be a bit slow, though).</p>

<p>Good luck with MF.</p>

[steve_fay]

<p>Martin,<br>

Good to have hear from you, too. It will be interesting to discover whether I also see something special about this lens, once I am looking at some pictures from my K-O Rapid M. Other K-O users seem to remark about it's sharpness and even contrast. I hadn't thought of contrast as a lens quality before, so much as an aspect of a scene's lighting or how a negative or print turned out.<br>

I do like how you can span both the shutter speed and aperture rings with your thumb and turn them together, since the manuals says that once the exposure is set, all of the paired speeds and apertures give the same EV! Seems like it would make it easy to "bracket" different depth-of-field effects on the same scene.<br>

I turned up that link you posted only yesterday. I'm hoping I won't have to resort to major clutch servicing on either of my film backs, but it is good to know that someone has taken care to to explain it. Some of the frame overlapping people can have also seems to come from technique, too, if what I have read so far is correct--why it seems worth practicing before loading actual film. If I send out my first rolls to a lab, I think I will request that the negatives not be cut into sections, so I can see exactly what sort of spacing I'm getting more clearly.</p>

 

[steve_fay]

<p>Actually, I misspoke earlier when I said I didn't have any film yet to try in the K-O Rapid M. The fellow I bought it from threw in ten frozen rolls of Vericolor III that were about a decade old, which I promptly put in my freezer. Not knowing how well they have held up, I thought it would be better to use fresh film for my first test of the camera, so I ordered a few new rolls of B&W.<br>

While I know I'm capable (if very out of practice) of developing B&W if I set up a dark room again, I am mainly thinking of shooting Black and White, in this and other film cameras, as the digital age keeps enveloping us. Yet there might be a lot more color film around, including surplus color film turning up cheap on ebay and amazon, so that might keep me shooting some color. That some of that film, and my old Vericolor III, are especially balanced for portraits got me thinking about how useful such films are for non-portrait use. I started a different discussion thread about that question: http://www.photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00bTfq . Perhaps, some readers/responders here might have some thoughts about that. If so, please visit that other thread.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Although I got some 120 reels when I re-established a "dark space" (actually a changing bag and daylight developing tanks), I've only tackled 35mm B&W so far. So no useful advice there.</p>

<p>For my 120 work so far, I either used C-41 B&W or color negative.<br>

I'm not sure where things are going, however, since my local camera store just changed hands, and I don't know if they will continue to provide medium-format support. I don't think the only other processor in town does anything but "small film" work.</p>

<p>So I may be in the line of either doing it myself or sending it out of town. I don't know if I have the patience for the latter or not anymore.</p>

<p> </p>

[steve_fay]

<p>JDM, I have a changing bag packed away somewhere, but will probably add a daylight film tank first. I can get chemicals about 50 min away. If I really get a darkroom going I have an old enlarger I can dust off and a much older contact printer that needs some rubber strips scraped off and replaced: 6x7 contact prints might be very nice looking. I've been reading and comparing mail order labs for develop only and scan options, pricing, and shipping charges. One thing they have going, is that if I send them some rolls, they are going to process them right away, while my lab in the basement might procrastinate (ha, ha!).<br>

<br />Here, finally, a picture of my Rapid M, with its spare 120 back, manual, and taped repaired box. I had neck strap that seems to work and an old Vivitar Auto 252 that the K-O will fire.<br>

<img src="http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h437/steve_fay/Medium%20Format%20Photography/CIMG0317.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Nice. I think these are very handsome cameras, and wonderfully nice to use as well. Good to get the box too, mine came pretty much on its own.</p>

[cigardoc]

<p>hey steve,<br>

i have a koni-omega 100. the camera is a treat to use and the glass is razor sharp. i haven't used mine is quite a while due to the film transport jamming and a pretty consistent frame overlap problem, which i wasn't able to eliminate no matter what tips i followed. i miss using the camera and will probably resurrect the monster, one of these days. it's a great camera. i agree that greg weber is a very competent repairman. </p>

[ian_rose]

<p>I waon s looking on Kijiji Edmonton today and saw this for sale.<br>

<a href="http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cameras-camcorders-Koni-Omega-w-90mm-f3-5-Lens-W0QQAdIdZ466496374">http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cameras-camcorders-Koni-Omega-w-90mm-f3-5-Lens-W0QQAdIdZ466496374</a><br>

Ian R</p>

 

[ian_rose]

<p>I waon s looking on Kijiji Edmonton today and saw this for sale.<br>

<a href="http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cameras-camcorders-Koni-Omega-w-90mm-f3-5-Lens-W0QQAdIdZ466496374">http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-cameras-camcorders-Koni-Omega-w-90mm-f3-5-Lens-W0QQAdIdZ466496374</a><br>

Ian R</p>

 

[paul ron]

<p>So many wedding photographers made a great living off that camera.. I did.<br />I have one that I love playing with now n again.</p>

<p>Beautiful camera and lenses are top notch.</p>

<p> </p>

[steve_fay]

<p>paul RON and others responding to this discussion thread who have A LOT of K-O Rapid experience, did you ever have problems with frame overlap in your negatives?<br>

*<br>

You may have seen that I started a separate thread about testing my two film backs. It looks like possibly more people with K-O experience have responded to this thread, however, than to that thread--not to suggest people aren't trying to be very helpful based on solid related experience. They are.<br>

*<br>

I had read that sometimes the film backs will start advancing insufficiently, leading to frame overlaps. A link to how to service them was posted early in this thread. But an interesting theory for how an actually good film back might still have some overlapping was advanced on the other thread: 120 films and their backings are now thinner than they were when these mechanisms were designed. This could be the reason I have much closer spacing, risking possible touching if not overlap, between frames 1 & 2 in the tests I described in the other thread. <br>

*<br>

Did those of you with a lot of K-O Rapid experience see close-spacing or overlap suddenly appear between the first frames of rolls at some point when films you were using might have changed in packaging or design or some other way? And then alternately, if you had the advance mechanism in a film back definitely wear out, where did you start getting frame overlaps then: in certain parts of the rolls or all over? You might want to respond in the other thread: http://www.photo.net/medium-format-photography-forum/00bTy1 . Thanks!</p>

 

[martyn_oliver]

<p>I think it's probable that, if the back is working as it should do, the amount of film advance (and consequently the gaps between each frame) will be consistent. Using films of different thickness might vary that amount, albeit minimally, but it should not lead to variations between one pair of frames and another.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>While nothing like the Pentacon 6 or earlier Praktisix in unevenness of advance if not loaded very very carefully, I did notice a little variation in spacing on my Rapid 100 with both the 220 magazine and the 120 - no overlaps though.</p>

[steve_fay]

<p>Martyn and JDM, I go into more detail in what I just posted in the other thread about testing the film backs, but I just discovered that the spare film back I thought might have been grossly under-advancing film actually is working perfectly. With it I get even spacing of frames throughout the roll, and better positioning of the group of frames on the strip of film. The one I initially thought was working better advances too much film in the first few frames.</p>

<p>Last night I started a new thread asking for suggestions about testing the Koni with 3 different B&W films over in the Black and White Film and Developing sub-forum. Pop over there if you want to add some suggestions. Thanks! Thread title mentions testing "new" camera, with Koni mentioned in body of first post.</p>

[frank_wilson4]

<p>Gary Camera in Merrillville Indiana 46410, still develops 120 film inhouse</p>