reinier_de_vlaam

Hey

I have an old Hensel 500W compact-B flash unit...recently one of the main capacitors blew and I want to replace it

 

Now Hensel wants 85euro (inc shipping) for it, which I think is an amazing amount for a capacitor and I question if the unit is worth that amount

 

Does anyone know the nominal voltage and capacity of these capacitors (Type V.1 or newer version type 8.3) and can I replace it with a "normal" capacitor

<p>Over the years the organisation reporters sans frontiers has published many excellent photo books.<br>

<br />Now I thought I had all but it seems one is missing. I can trace back untill Marc Riboud in 1998<br>

(100 photo's pour defendre la liberte de la presse)</p>

<p>then I have publications from 1998, 1997, 1996 1995, 1994 en an undated (1993?)<br>

However if I count back from the numbering that starts with the issue of jean dieuzaide, which is number 18 I have 16 books. This means either the numbering is wrong or one book is missing. But no-where I find a complere list of the RSF photo books. I have been searching the net. Does anyone have a list?</p>

 

<p>No, that adapter is for leica M<br>

but as I understand there are issues with focussing at infinity...or better that is not possible apperently ;-)<br>

So at least your the first that gets "sharp at infinity" images with a FF and Leica M glass :D</p>

<p>btw<br>

I do hope you're not the first one that puth M glass on a FF sensor<br>

There is an adapter for canon that allows you to connect it to the 5D etc<br>

;-)</p>

<p>It is a long time since I was on photonet but now I flabbergasted and need to express my respect for your little expiriment...lets just say "wow" that must be so much fun to do that I'm tempted to also buy a random digital back..</p>

You can not be serious calling this severe water damage. These are single drops that apperantly occured on the wrong place. There was discussion on another forum on why this happens specifically on one place while other places are super-clean and the agreement was that these parts must have been under power to form this kind of corrosion. I ofcourse dried the camera as good as I could, but on several occasions used the battery to check if there was life again. And ofcourse it took us 3 weeks to get home and into civilisation again after this occurence, time enough for corrosion to grow even after removing the battery.

Looking at the situation and treatment this should not accor to any camera, if it was nikon/canon/or others. The insurance company has the same opinion, that is much saying, more than Leica haters that are present, more than Leicophilias, which are also present.

 

This means that if you take this camera into similar circumstances you are playing russian roulette. As long as the drops form on places where there is no power, you are lucky. And that I call bad design.

 

If I buy another M8 is still doubtfull, I had some offers for demo's/2nd hands but I'm very reluctant to buy one again knowing I can not rely on it (and not insure). And I'm reluctant to give up on RF.

 

I now know the qualities but also the troubles.

the critics on my post do have a point in some way...You always have to take care of your equipment. I got

sympathy mails from people who share their story that Leica did not pay up when their camera fell from the tripod on

the concrete floor and died. Sorry but I can live with that. An M6 of mine dropped from 1mtr high on the concrete and

the rewinder was broken. I went boohoo and had it repaired, no swearing at Leica or whatever, sh$t happens (for

those who doubt, wanna see the repairbill?).

If my camera would have dropped into the river and died on me, indeed I would also have gone boohoo en gone to

the insurance company. For those who doubt the story once more: I take any bet that I can not come up with written

statements from tour members on this case.

 

Point is, if it would have been submerged into water or rain, the pictures (here is another one) would have looked

very different from the ones I received. Then it would have been a mess inside. As you can see it is not. These

clearly have been drops of water at different points. Yes, I try do dry it as good as I could before trying to use it, Yes,

I took very good care of it by putting it the the backback between dry clothes when it started to rain (and the

backpack had a raincover). And NO this is not what you can expect from a 4K camera of which the own

representatives state that they make a camera of highest quality and that can withstand worse conditions.<div></div>

////////the hell would you do that. You must love disappointment. If you have a problem once or twice, that's one thing,

but you're saying that you are willing to spend a lot of money to set yourself up for likely problems in the future

/////////////

 

 

 

very simple, I love rangefinder, I love they way they give me control over DOF and make me think about exposure and

composition. And the fact that they are compact compared to DSLR. I owned a few digi compacts like GX-100, they

were never satisfying. Just the time it takes to control it in MF is horrid, together with the non-existing DOF due to

the small teeny-weeny sensor. And I love the image quality of the M8 compared to digi-compacts. And again, I

impressed a 5D owner with the M8's image quality in lower iso. There is no argue in that.

And won't spend extra money, just use the insurance money

 

If Nikon would have lived up the rumours and come with a RF with D3 sensor at the kina, there would have been no

doubt and I would have switched. At this moment there is no alternative for an M8, maybe that's why Leica can afford

to have this attitude...

 

I learned a bad lesson that it is not as rugged as the price and M history make you expect, and that Leica has a real

bad customer support. I'm however still considering

 

Oh, I did not use the phone number, that is correct, I used mail conversation instead.

oh BTW..thinks for the kind words about my website ;-)

Well, I'm sorry I not going to respond to all your comments individually...

 

a few points that I notices in most commenst

 

1) I will take any bet that I can not come up with written statements on how I treated the camera and when it failed by tour members, if needed. Condensation was they one and only cause for failure.

 

2) I was pised of by it breaking down in greenland. But as a clever guy ;-) I took a back-up camera (M6) with me. I realize those things can happen. As I read about the ruggedness of the M8 on other posting on the web I think I can safely asume this should be an exception and something wrong with my camera and thus waranty

 

3) I was totally pissed of when the came with the statement it wasn't waranty and even more pissed of by the fact that the bill was outragous. As stated, this is almost the price for a new one, including profit for leica, the importer and the seller.

 

4) I loved my m8, I impressed a 5D owner with its image quality (he took it for a week to India). For those who love working with RF, it is a great camera. That the reason I'm really considering buying another, eventhough a D700 may proffesionally be a better choice. And even though I know this camera does not live up to expectations and promisses of ruggedness and quality.

 

5) Yes, I will post this where-ever I can. Not everybody reads many fora and I'm going to share this expirience with as much people as possible. This is a real-life Leica expirience and ,as a shopowner with who was in contact yesterday stated, this is not a case on its own.

And I will put this story everywhere I can, not to whine, but so as much others can learn from my great expirience...

 

I'm an electronic engineer too, I know what IC's these days looks like and I also know it is pretty easy and cheap to protect them agains basic moisture. No not water, but certainly condensation. A 4K camera, instended for outdoor use, should be able to withstand this. As said, tourmenbers treated there much cheaper camera's far worse. One even took a dip, when falling over in a stream we were crossing. No problem at all.

 

I was a Leica fan. I loved there camera's, owned R4, R7, M6 and M8. Even the M8 is a great camera in its way. I'm even considering getting a used one to replace the M8, simply because I love to use RFs. But if there was an alternative, I'd be out this second after this expirience.

 

I kno leicophilias will protect there brand until death follows. I used to be one, though a critical one, but now I'm cured forever.

 

My insurance paid up, to give you an indication: they questioned me a lot and there conclusion was, you did nothing wrong, this should have been waranty, and we will kick the M8 out of our insurances (se above). So that is the response of real-world people ;-) to this case

 

and btw I have witnesses on how I treated the camera, I'm no winer about my loss, this is a true case. No salt water, no heavy rain. No when the first drops came I put it in the backpack between dry cloths to protect it. This is pure condensation water and should not have been a problem. It will happen here in holland as well so I would love keeping and M8 but would I ever trust it again...??

actually I loved the M8. It is digital rangefinder almost as it should be. Image quality is good, I stunned a pro with 5Ds

with them...

 

However I'm totally turned of by the fact that it went dead after a few drops of condense water and totally put of by the

behaviour of Leica in this case...

 

It is sad a reputed company comes to this low

 

Now I'm looking what to do, rangefinder in part of the way I work so I love it. Nikon failed to make the rumors of a

digital RF true at the kina so I think I have no other option that an M8 again. And I'm pissed of by that...

 

sure will not be a new one, not going to reward Leica for bad behavior...

And better protected against water...

 

an M8 has no weatherseals (for a street camera you can call that odd) so if water comes near it you have a big risk

Last summer I took my M8 to greenland. It took some amazing shoots in the first 5 days and I was quit happy. Then

came a day it started to rain. So wisely I decided to put the M8, that was in a side-pocket on the belt of my

backpack, inside the backpack, between dry cloths. When we came back to camp, it proved that some

condensation was present on the camera and the camera was dead. I tried to revive it by drying it in the sun the next

few days, but it remained dead. Luckely I also brought an M6 as back-up, just in case the batteries of the M8 would

have run out. I had to shoot the remaining 2 weeks with the M6. A guy with the 400D and kitlens who was less

carefull with his camera than I was had a smile on his face the rest of the tour

 

As the camera was only 8 months old I returned it to Leica when I came home, expecting waranty as other M8's

survided worse treatment I read on the web. I send it together with a well cared for, always filter mounted 50mm

summy to have it coded.

 

To my ashtonisment Leica came back to me: M8: waterdamage, cost 3340euro, yes your read correctly 3340euro.

My god, that is almost the price of a new one. What will they do, just screw the serial number on another body and

take a big profit??? I had some mail conversation with them, but got only 1 short mail. We see waterdamage (some

pictures attached of 2 components with green corrosion on them), we have no weatherseals, so no waranty. After

that no more responses. Even the importer (transcontinenta) was stunned by a) the price quote and b) the attitude of

Leica in this case.

 

Accoridng to Leica the summy was havily used with severe wear on the glass, over 500 euro's of cost. I had an

expert look at it and he told me that beside some paint wear the summi was in great condition.

 

Fortunaly I was insured and they paid for the camera. But they are so anoyed by Leica that anyone in the

Netherlands now wanting to insure an M8 can not cover it for waterdamage as they are "fed up with the way Leica

expects us to clean up their mess".

 

Now what is going on here. Does Leica need money fast? Over the backs of their existing users? Did the S2

development cost too much? I don't know but it is not what I expected from a reputed company<div></div>

ps I have some outdated 59 that gives bad colors but transfers work just fine and the emulsoin seems a lot thicker

I have a strange difference between 669 and 59 polaroid film. Both are

mentioned for doing image transfers...

 

Now I have two packs of 59 that seem to be troublesome (exp 9 and 10/06). The

emulsion seems to be much thinner compared to the 669 film and while 669

tranfers works just fine (wait 10sec, peel of, tranfer) with the 59 I get in

the same way no decent results...

 

can anyone give a cause???

thanks all

 

I will make a distance scale according pete's instructions for the 3 lenses I have and use different color per lens. That should do the trick. Probably I will make it in the computer and glue onto some strap of metal so I can screw it in place of the current scale.

 

Will ofcourse use 3 infinity points, one for 75mm, one for 150 and one for 210. Am I correct to asume that the distance of the infinity mark from the film plane is equal to the lens length (75mm)? In that case I have to check if the 210mm mark would fit on the wista without extension

 

I'm mainly planning to use the Wista from hand and shoot polaroids... I will use image transfers en cyano contact prints as postcards...

I have ordered a 75mm viewfinder for pointing. I will use front rise and tilt (estimating using scheimpflug(?) rules)

 

Another wista question. I found that the 2 stoppers cannot be moved aside (to use one for each different lens) like the can on a Graflex. Is that correct?

what I will do is buy a simple rangefinder, just to determine the distance to the subject. I would like to set the extension of the bellows to a scale on the camera so I don't have to verify the groundglass, which is less easy

PS it is a Wista 45-SP, the metal one

Hi

for my wista 45 I'm looking for metric distance scales for 75, 150 en 210mm

(have a 135 to trade-in). Can I use the scales for Graflexes, would they have

the same distances? Who sells these (for wista and others) scales and what

would they cost.

 

Problem that I also have is that it seems that the wista can hold only one

scale but I use 2 (75+210) sometimes 3 lenses. How to deal with that?

 

regards

Reinier

Lets talk pictures now...they look stunning, it looks like the waiting payed off.

 

Hope that soon more users post DMR pictures

Hi

I have a Rollei 6008 pro which always gives a shutter time of 30"

even when I set speeds between 30-1/500. 1/500 will give 15" en a

stop below 1000 will give 8". It are indeed the speeds when I press

the shutter. When I set the dial to A, the exposure is correct

 

I this an (easily solved) known problem?

I have an odd thing with a Tokina 28-80/2.8 ATX pro, when I turn it

from 28 towards 80 I have a clear 'click' at almost exactly 50mm.

According the seller it has always been there as far as he kan

remember.

 

Is this normal for this lens? If so, what is it for?

there use to be some problems with the R4, before serial number 16something, but in general all these have been solved so what you will find on the market today will all be the same Leica quality=solid as a rock.

 

If you have problems with the color I'd rather look at your scanner

BTW thanks for the links, the M6, 35 and 50 are from 1993, the 90mm I can't determine yet but according the seller a bit older (29xxxx).