Kodak Retina iia, Kodak Portra 160, New to me, First Roll

[Brad Cloven]

<p>I recently purchased a trove of gear from the estate of a local gentleman. The cameras below were included with many other Pentax lenses, a Bogen 3221 with two heads, many filters, bags, non-functional shelf-ware cameras, a whole box of flashes, lots of off brand K-Mount lenses, and dozens of other odds and ends. You know how that goes.</p>

<p>Anyhow, this is the first roll from the oldest camera, the middle front one, a ~1952 Kodak Retina iia, Schneider Kreutznach 50mm f2.0. I metered with a nice Pentax spot meter, and found that the un-manipulated exposure from Walgreens was mostly spot-on. There was heavy flare when bright sky was included, so these shots exclude that issue.</p>

<p>The film advance jammed on the 30th shot, so if anyone know how to fix that, please let me know. It unfroze when I rewound and unloaded the film for developing.</p>

<p>Enjoy!<br /> x<br /> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870244-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="361" /></p>

<p>x</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870246-md.jpg" alt="" width="458" height="680" /></p>

<p>x</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870245-md.jpg" alt="" /><br /> This crop is probably <50% of the original frame.<br /> x</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870241-md.jpg" alt="" /> <br /> I focused on the flowers, and the narrow depth of field made the cat hazy. Kinda barely works.... <br /> x</p>

<p>x<br /> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870242-md.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>x</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17870243-md.jpg" alt="" />x</p>

[rod_larson]

<p>Hi Brad,<br>

Nice shots with the Retina. Very nice cameras. When the frame counter on Retina cameras counts down<br>

to "1" they lock up. This is intentional as I guess the Retina folks didn't want us to go beyond the number<br>

of exposures of the film cartridge. Simply reset the frame counter to any number but 1 and everthing <br>

will be OK. I usually set the frame counter to 27 when putting in a new roll of film.</p>

<p>Rod</p>

[Brad Cloven]

<p>Rod: Thanks!</p>

<p>The Frame Counter was stuck on 5 or 6. I tried moving it up or down a few clicks, and that didn't do the job, so I bailed out and rewound the film, losing only 6 shots or so. Next time, I'll try to reset that counter back up above 30.</p>

<p>If there are any other endemic jamming problems, please let me know.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

A Retina !!a was my favorite camera, used almost exclusively for 40 years, loaded with Kodachrome

99%of the time. Fairly light, and well protected against damage in hiking and skiing tumbles. Kodak made

a special line of thin filters that allow the camera to be folded with a filter in place. The jamming may

occur if you don't press the shutter release down all the way when making an exposure. Enjoy.

[Gus Lazzari]

<p>Apart from a decade or so routine of C L A, the self imposed & designed "jam" via the counter system,<br /> is important in protecting from a catastrophic jam of a force damaged "<a href="http://www.micro-tools.com/store/P-N5535/Retina-3c-Cocking-Rack.aspx">cocking rack</a>" <strong><em><<< click</em></strong><br /> <strong><em>AND</em></strong><br /> <strong><em>"<a href="http://retinarescue.com/cockingrackproblems.html">cocking rack failure</a>" <strong><em><<< click</em></strong></em></strong></p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Nice shots. Proof that you don't need all of today's bells and whistles to make good pictures. The Canonet GIII QL17 is one of my favorites. I've had two. Often called the poor man's Leica. :) And the Pentax K1000 is a classic. I have one in my basement that was given to me by a friend cleaning out his father's estate. It's on my list of toys to go play with when I find the time.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>Nice haul and great shots. </p>

[Brad Cloven]

<p>Mike: Thanks! $150, and they were VERY happy to be rid of it all.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Great color from a fine lens, and a great haul for the money! Well done.</p>

[Brad Cloven]

<p>Craig: The Canonet was one of the more challenging re-light-sealing jobs I've done. The original material had disintegrated and migrated substantially around the innards, excepting ... the lens! Getting the goo out took a good 2 hours.</p>

<p>That's my next roll: Daily carry of the Canonet until done. Loaded with Provia 100. Here goes another beautiful gem.</p>

[pmind]

<p>Thanks for the inspiration...just have to dig mine out now!</p>

[Argenticien]

<p>Brad, I enjoyed your "$10.00" and especially "Straw Bloom Corn" pictures. Your local blumenwalla's setup looks extremely like one at my local farmers' market, right down to the repurposed institutional food ingredient buckets. They do make for good photo opportunities, don't they? Classic glass + Portra = win. I suspect the flower colours could have been a bit over the top with Ektar or Velvia.<br>

<em>--Dave</em></p>

[Brad Cloven]

<p>Dave: Thanks! This was my first roll of Porta. It is particularly color neutral. I've been shooting Fuji slides (Velvia / Provia) so long, I forgot what pastel looked like. The greater dynamic range of print film is also nice to work with for a change.</p>

<p>I'm going to have to think through my choice of Velvia / Provia / Porta more closely in the future. I used to just shoot Velvia with all its glory (saturation and lavender shift) and warts (narrow dynamic range and lavender shift). Provia is much more accurate, but slightly more saturated than reality, I think.</p>

<p>This Portra stuff handles mid-tones beautifully. Check out the striped pastel bag in the background of the "$10.00" picture. Fuji just won't do that.</p>

<p>Then, I discovered recently that the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 makes a totally different looking picture than does a Nikon 50mm AIs f/1.8. Oh my goodness.</p>

<p>Good fun! How many lens / film combinations are there? Enough to keep me busy for years.....</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Not just a trove, a treasure trove.</p>

<p>Nice work.</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>Nice stuff. How come there aren't estate sales loaded with nice gear like you got? For 150 I think it's a steal not a purchase. Anyways, neat results you posted here. I personally like the napping cat shot. It reminds me of lazy Summer Sunday- just relaxing in rays of warm sunlight.</p>

[glen_h]

<p>For good cameras at low prices, when there aren't estate sales, I recommend www.shopgoodwill.com, especially if you find one nearby to avoid shipping charges.<br>

(Many might be donated by an estate.)</p>

[Gus Lazzari]

<blockquote>

<p>"I recommend www.shopgoodwill.com" <strong><em>glen h.</em></strong></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just keep in mind that many camera dealers are also monitoring the Goodwill site. So the "good stuff" gets bid up just like Ebay. <br /> The difference is that with Ebay, you can return the item back within 45 days including shipping ! <br /> Returning something to Goodwill is basically not allowed. (And with no exceptions, no S&H refunds)<br /> <br /> I find that the big difference between Goodwill & Ebay is that 98% of the Goodwill stuff, should have been "given away"; of the other 2% , half of those are so rough if purchased, they provide you with buyers remorse. So it's safe to state, that your carefully purchased 1%, requires at least some DIY repair skills.<br /> <br /> In other words with Goodwill, you'd better score a real <strong>BARGAIN !</strong> - There's a reason the stuff was <strong>"given away"...</strong></p>