What camera(s) are you using this weekend?

[Niels - NHSN]

My battered Nikon F2 w DP1 finder and Nikkor-S Auto 50/1.4 will get another day out.

Film is Fomapan 200 but I am still not sure if I like it or not. I will rate it @100 today and see how things goes.

 

[Julio Fernandez]

A turn for the Retina IIIS, with Xenar 50/2.8 and Curtagon 35/2.8 Schneider lenses, Loaded with FP4+ from a dwindling bulk roll.

 

[gary green]

Going to exercise my Franka Solida III with its big, bold, and beautiful f2.9 Rodenstock Trinar scale focus lens. The weather in Ohio this week is alternating hourly between sunshine, rain, and snow squalls so it'll be a challenge.

 

[ralf_j.]

A 1983 attractive brick for me which was sold as parts camera. Some genius broke the self timer lever, and then glued it shot freezing the mechanism. Removed hardened glue, and helped the st mechanism back. Camera came back to life, flash and all. Loaded with Kodak Gold 200. Weather has not cooperated here in Northeast, but hoping that will change.

 

[Niels - NHSN]

Switching from a battered black F2 to a pristine chrome F2 over the Easter holidays.

HP5+ to ensure sufficiently high shutter speed to freeze my shaky old hand movements while shooting with this short tele lens: 10.5cm 1:2.5.

[Mike Gammill]

Another favorite. The 45mm lens is a good fit. Using HP5+.

[rick_drawbridge]

Time for my annual outing with the iconic Minolta 7000, still a fun camera to use.

 

[Mike Gammill]

Shooting with 7000 looks like fun, Rick. My first Maxxum was the 5000 which I purchased with the 28-85 f 3.5-4.5 Maxxum lens (both at dealer cost from family camera shop). I also had a Sigma 75-300 f 4.5-5.6. When I sold the camera to upgrade to an 8000i I kept the Maxxum lens but sold the Sigma as its reverse engineered AF would not work with the new Maxxums. It took me a while to decide to go with AF, but it really helped me get some photos I might have missed. I bought a 135mm f 2.8 that I would use with TMAX 3200 to shoot football under stadium lights. The AF worked surprisingly well.

[rick_drawbridge]

Mike Gammill said:

Shooting with 7000 looks like fun, Rick.

 

It's really a very well thought-out camera, Mike, and I do enjoy using it, which is more than I can say for many early AF cameras. Focus area is a small rectangle in the centre of the viewfinder and that's it, no other option. Still, focus locks upon a first pressure on the shutter release, and I get so much into the habit of using this technique that it becomes second nature. I prefer manual focus for most photography, but sometimes AF comes in useful, and I try to exercise the old dinosaurs every now and then. The kit lens, the 35-70mm f/4, is an exceptional performer, as I think you've remarked previously.

[Rick_van_Nooij]

Filled up a roll in a Leica IIIc and shot some Rerapan 400 with a KW Pilot Reflex over the weekend.

 

 

 

Got another roll in the Leica, but I'm probably transferring that to another camera.

[rick_drawbridge]

I picked up a lovely example of the Tamron Adaptall 135mm f/2.8 lens, Model CT-32. These early Tamron Adaptall lenses feature a superb build quality and excellent optical performance. This 135mm f/2.8 example is a joy to use, and displays an enhanced attention to finishing and detailing when compared to the later Adaptall II f/2.5 version, along with comparable performance. It's a pretty thing! I have it on the old faithful Canon A-1 as pictured, and I hope to post some results in the current weekly thread sometime this weekend.

 

[ralf_j.]

A revived super ratty Fujica st605

 

 

[Mike Gammill]

I remember that Tamron 135 very well, Rick. It was one of several that we stocked at the family camera shop. I have the later SP version which I believe is based on the Adaptall II version. Great performer. An added advantage to the Adaptall II series: those lenses have a sliding manual/auto switch so if one has a camera that doesn't meter properly at open aperture through older lenses (like "crippled K mount" in some later Pentax SLR) just switch to manual and metering is fine. I have the 200mm f 3.5 Adaptall and it meters accurately that way on my Pentax ZX-5.

By the way, another Adaptall worth getting is the 105mm f 2.5. A great performer and very compact.

[Mike Gammill]

Great job on the Fujica, Ralf. My family also sold Fujica at the camera shop. We stocked the ST 605 and a couple of other models. Later, when Fuji switched to X mount bayonet we stock some of them (AX series, I think). I have two ST 605s (one that works and another that survived a flooded basement and a customer rejected the repair estimate and told up we could dispose of it. I found in it storage some 15 or so years after we closed the shop. Shutter fires but viewfinder is dirty. I use it in teaching to demonstrate optics of cameras in my Physics class.

[Niels - NHSN]

Enjoying the smooth Nikon F3 with a 28mm/2.0AiS this weekend. HP5+ because I didn’t expect so much sun.

[rick_drawbridge]

Mike Gammill sad:

I remember that Tamron 135 very well, Rick.

 

Yes, this 135mm is a great performer and I've posted a few samples in the current weekly thread. I have the later Adaptall II 135/2.5 version, and the results from this older model seems to me to be be brighter and sharper. I have a copy of the esteemed 90mm f/2.5 Macro on its way, and I'll post something from that at a later date. Long live Tamron lenses!

[Fiddlefye]

Yesterday I finished a roll of HP5 in my beloved Contax IIa and then dropped the camera off to my tech of its once-in-four-decades lube/oil/filter/adjust. It is still working perfectly in every respect, but forty years is long enough between services I think. Just started a roll of Delta 100 in the Voigtlander Vito III (later version with Synchro-Compur). Quirky camera perhaps, but ever-so-smooth. I would use it a lot more if I had a case for it as there are unfortunately no strap lugs in the design.

[Kent T]

I shot some Fujicolor Superia in my Konica Auto S2. About mid way through the roll.

[rick_drawbridge]

Fiddlefyfe said:

I would use it a lot more if I had a case for it as there are unfortunately no strap lugs in the design.

 

I at least alleviate that problem with my Vito (and several similar elderly cameras) by using a wrist strap / lanyard attached to the tripod socket. It's not as practical as a neck strap but it does secure the camera. I never have a camera dangling from a neck strap, anyway; it's just there as a safety net.

 

That's a lovely example of the Vito III !

[Fiddlefye]

Fiddlefyfe said:

 

I at least alleviate that problem with my Vito (and several similar elderly cameras) by using a wrist strap / lanyard attached to the tripod socket. It's not as practical as a neck strap but it does secure the camera. I never have a camera dangling from a neck strap, anyway; it's just there as a safety net.

 

That's a lovely example of the Vito III !

I never carry a camera around my neck, either - just nice to hang on a shoulder. I've tried a wrist strap on my Canon IVS (seen in the background in the pic), but don't really care for it that much. There are some nice new half-cases available and maybe one fine day I'll treat myself (and the Vito) to one. It really is an incredibly smooth camera to shoot with and I actually really like the left hand knob focus set-up that some complain about.

 

I found my Vito about 25 years ago in a used book store, of all places. It came with the manual and nice little meter in a Crown Royal bag for $25. Ah, those were the days!

[Mike Gammill]

One I haven't used in several years.

Upsized from standard Fujinon f 2.2 to Pentax Takumar f 1.4. Film is Kentmere 100.

[Rick_van_Nooij]

 

Shot a test roll with this Leica III after giving it a clean and adjustment.

Still needed a slight tweak on the opening curtain roller spring, but at least 1/500th wasn't capping anymore.

[chuck_foreman1]

I actually like to have the "never-ready" cases as it adds a modicum of protection.. ie dust cover too. If the case is a half-case design then you do have a strap whether you wear it on your shoulder or neck.. it's a strap to free your hands when needed. oh and @Fiddlefye.. who services your Contax... mine (IIa color) ... need to consider getting the shutter adjusted correctly. I've owned it a while and and it basically works..but never to its potential... Edited April 26, 2022 by chuck_foreman|1

[Fiddlefye]

I actually like to have the "never-ready" cases as it adds a modicum of protection.. ie dust cover too. If the case is a half-case design then you do have a strap whether you wear it on your shoulder or neck.. it's a strap to free your hands when needed. oh and @Fiddlefye.. who services your Contax... mine (IIa color) ... need to consider getting the shutter adjusted correctly. I've owned it a while and and it basically works..but never to its potential...

My friend Adrian here in town (Windsor Photo Outfitters) services pretty much everything and he does just fine on Contax rangefinders (and Nikon etc.). My IIa is working just great - speeds all on the mark, rangefinder perfect etc. I just figured it was time for some preventative maintenance. These old dears weren't meant to go forever without being serviced.

[Rick_van_Nooij]

 

Got a couple of frames left of expired Shanghai GP3 in this Voigtländer Bessa II

Should be able to find something suitable to shoot this weekend.