Do you prefer them big and heavy or svelte and light?

[stuart_pratt]

I'll look it up and post it. It is a little shop in London, UK. The only shortcoming is that they used aluminum rather than the original silver for the coating. I found reference to a place in Japan that does the silver, but nailing down contact info was elusive. Still, it looks good and the camera functions beautifully.

Did you find out where it was??

[Fiddlefye]

Did you find out where it was??

Ok, finally found their emaill address.

contact@vacuumcoatings.ltd.uk

Website

Welcome to VCSM

[stuart_pratt]

Ok, finally found their emaill address.

contact@vacuumcoatings.ltd.uk

Website

Welcome to VCSM

Thanks, that’s kind of you. I had a look at their web site and sent them a message. Did they carry out the camera dis-assembly and re-assembly as well? It struck me they might have just silvered the prism you sent them. Seems awfully cheap otherwise!

[Fiddlefye]

Thanks, that’s kind of you. I had a look at their web site and sent them a message. Did they carry out the camera dis-assembly and re-assembly as well? It struck me they might have just silvered the prism you sent them. Seems awfully cheap otherwise!

I had my tech remove the prism, I boxed it up and sent it. I'm fortunate in having a tech who is also a close friend. We actually stole a prism from a Pentax ME or something small-Pentaxish to use in the meantime. It almost worked, but was just a titch shy of showing the information band at the bottom. The Leicaflex prism is a bit out of the ordinary in terms of design apparently. Still, I had use of the camera in the meantime.

[mwmcbroom]

To me, what size and weight I would select is gonna depend entirely on the subject and situation I'll find myself in. But I'll say this much: I tend to pack the heavy stuff for the sorts of photo outings I prefer the most. Historically this has been motor racing and air shows. In both these situations, a longer lens is often necessary. Usually 300mm is a minimum focal length required. And because I'm shooting in the daylight where fast shutter speeds are not only not necessary, but to be avoided, slower lenses are okay to use. Or at least smaller apertures. I have found, through experience, that shutter speeds of 1/125 or lower are often the best when shooting propeller driven airplanes for a good amount of prop blur and that these same slow speeds work best in auto racing to blur the wheels. Blurring the props and the wheels are necessary to create the illusion of speed in a flat two-dimensional photograph. But the challenge that presents itself is getting an in-focus shot in which there is no appreciable camera shake. When shooting at 300mm or longer with a shutter speed of 1/125 or lower and with no IBIS, this can be a real challenge. For auto racing, I often used a monopod. I tried using a monopod for air shows, but it just didn't work because of the angle I was using my camera/lens at. In either situation, panning through a shot is essential. This can be done fairly easily with a monopod if a race car is moving across your field of view in a fairly horizontal motion. But at air shows, frequently the airplanes are passing overhead at sharp angles, in which case a monopod won't work because of the simple geometries involved. So at air shows, I rely on the mass of my gear to keep camera shake to a minimum, and I smoothly pan with my subject, which also minimizes blur caused by camera shake. I've frequently done the same at auto races, where I wasn't able to utilize my monopod.

 

Think of it like this -- a heavier system acts to dampen the jitters that may make it through to the image plane with a lighter system, simply because the greater mass of the heavy system is less responsive to the tiny movements that can be made with a lighter weight camera system.

 

So in my uses, often I find that a heavy system works better than a light system would -- or at least it works just as well and no worse.

[chuck_foreman1]

I liked very much the one comment.. "neither fish nor Fowl" If using a small camera, I offset it with a MF either a Speed or a folder. Not having any modern Fuji/Mamiya /Bronica etc.. the Speeds while bulky are manageable. I am often motivated by what hasn't been used lately or which one is older... Example I might want SLR, but then go for the Contax D or Bring the 6x9 BEssa and then have an OM10. Other times I don't want to be too encumbered then it'S discipline; one camera/lens...Exa with Flektogon or Kiev with Jupiter 8. I guess weight plays less of a role. Viva la difference!!