arlen_c._elkins

<p>Brian,</p>

<p>The Compact Flash card reader is plugged into a USB slot on your computer, the Compact Flash memory card is removed from the camera and inserted into the card reader. The card reader acts as another drive on your computer and the files can be transfered directly to your hard drive from the card reader. Just navigate to the folders that are named 1xxCanon and your photos are stored there.</p>

<p>MUCH faster than transfering from the camera to the computer.</p>

 

<p>Paul,</p>

<p>Are you sure the Xenotar is a 240mm focal length? I have a 210mm F:2.8 Xenotar of which only 5 were made, and have never seen or heard of a 240mm Xenotar (other than possibly a projection lens ). The last 210mm Xenotar that was sold went for around $3000 so if you do have a 240mm Xenotar lens I would forget about the Arca and sell the lens if you are not using it!</p>

<p>My guess is that the lens is either a 240mm Xenar which is quite common or a 150mm Xenotar which is fairly rare but actually just as good a copy lens as the Componon when stopped down past F:5.6. Please check the lens again and if it is a 240mm F:2.8 Xenotar, please post a photo!</p>

<p>-A.C.Elkins</p>

<p> </p>

<p>If you do find a M42 lens that does not have the "auto/manual" switch that you would like to use with your Praktica it is possible to bend the pin slightly with a pair of needle nose pliers and then push the pin in to activate and it will turn the lens into a fully manual aperture. Would not try this with a rare or valuable lens, as it would reduce the value, but most M42 lenses are cheap and readily available.</p>

 

<p>The Original Box also adds to the value, as only a small percentage of the boxes have survived. I would suggest cleaning off the green oxidation before attempting to sell the camera. You might want to also post a photo and more detailed description of the extras, some items like filters are worth next to nothing, and could just be included with the sale of the camera. Other items might be fairly rare accessories which would be beneficial to sell or auction on their own.</p>

 

<p>Don't Forget that a large percentage of the responsability for safe shipping of an item is in the care you take packing the item in the first place. I have had some sellers simply put the item in a plastic bag and line a box with newspaper, when the item arrives I am often surprised that the item did not suffer more damage in transit.</p>

<p>The best way to pack an item like your Rolleiflex would be to wrap it in thin foam sheeting, then place inside a plastic bag which is then placed inside a box with bubble wrap taking up the open spaces. Then put that box inside of another larger box lined with thick sheets of foam, which will even more cushion the item during shipment. I have packed items like this and never had an item damaged in transit. It is often a good idea to shoot some photos of the item during the stages of packing and e-mail those to the purchaser to show them what to expect and to have just in case someone from the shipping carrier gets interested in what is inside the box, opens it and damages anything.</p>

<p>My favorite shipper is Fed-Ex, but have had good luck with UPS and USPS also. The only carrier that I would NOT suggest is DHL, as they seemed to go out of their way to damage items ( I lost a valuable antique poster to DHL's wrecking crew one time, the seller had packed it inside a tube, DHL unwrapped it and re-packed it in a simple bag, and folded in half ) Luckilly as far as I know DHL is out of business in the US, bought by UPS so hopefully the bad habits of DHL are not being transfered to UPS!</p>

 

<p>The information concerning the range of lenses in the Kowa Six manual is quite interesting - I never knew that Kowa made a 19mm Fisheye, 35mm Super Wide angle or a 500mm Telephoto for the Kowa Six. Might have never made it past the prototype stage as the widest lens for the Kowa I was aware of is the 55mm and the longest the 250mm Telephoto.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>A Pettifogger is an "Unethical Lawyer handling petty cases", assume there is a word for an Unethical Lawyer handling large settlement cases also.</p>

<p>So now I can joke with my more intellegent friends - "What is the difference bettween a dead elongate legless carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes on the road and a dead Pettifogger on the road? There are no skid marks before the body of the dead Pettifogger!"</p>

 

<p>I assume the lens was used for 8x10 or 10x12 format cameras, could have been used on a large format enlarger or process type camera for enlargment/reductions as the Xenar is normally not optimised for 1:1. The lens was made in the late 1920's according to the Schneider Website, so most likely not coated.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/vintage_lens_data/large_format_lenses/xenar/">http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/vintage_lens_data/large_format_lenses/xenar/</a></p>

<p>I have a 240mm f:4.5 Xenar, of much later manufature, and find it to be a good all-around use lens.</p>

 

<p>The Original Nikon FM is a good choice also, it has an advantage over the newer FM2 in the ability to use all Nikon lenses, whereas the FM2 can only use the later AI lenses. The Auto Index Tab on the original FM is hinged to swing out of the way when the older Nikon Lenses are used. Being a fully manual camera the batteries are only used for the meter, my original FM is still going strong after many years of use.</p>

 

<p>Michael,</p>

<p>That Canon RF is a Beauty, congratulations on your "New" camera! Just curious as I am not that familiar with the Canon Rangefiders, what purpose does the lever underneath the Rewind knob serve? It is marked F, 1x and 1.5x, so I am thinking it has something to do with the viewfinder.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Jordan,</p>

<p>Something I never had thought about before, but I checked Two 50mm Zuiko lenses I have, a 50mm F:3.5 macro and a 50mm F:1.8. I put the camera on a tripod and aligned it with a bookshelf for the background. I then focused on 2 items at different distances in the foreground and then on the bookshelf itself and compared the coverage at the edges of the image for all 3 focus settings. I found the 50mm macro seems to "Breathe" quite a bit, whereas the 50mm F:1.8 "Breathes" considerably less and is probably usable for your purpose. Also have a 50mm F:1.2, will give it a test later to see how it compares.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Unless the camera itself has been modified to accept only this type of lensboard, you should be able to use a standard Toyo/Omega lensboard which should be available on internet auction sites at reasonable prices. You might check out Midwest Camera Exchange in Columbus Ohio, as they seem to have a good stock of used LF lensboards.</p>

<p>Apparently the photo I looked at is not your camera, do you have the measurment of the lensboard and perhaps could send a photograph of the front of your camera? The lensboard looks too thick to be able to fit a Toyo, but I could be wrong. Anyway this looks like it would be easy to make in your home workshop or have fabricated at a local machine shop. Still don't have a clue as to what the MC stands for, could be the name of whoever made the lensboard.</p>

 

<p>Somewhat difficult to tell from the photo, but it looks like you have a recessed lensboard on which the 90mm is mounted and can be replaced with any standard Toyo or Omega lensboard. The bellows in front of the lens is a "Compendium" type lenshade and would have to be removed in order to replace the lensboard. After that, simply slide the top locking bar to the side ( there may be a catch somewhere) and the lensboard can be removed by tilting outward.</p>

<p>This type of recessed lensboard is quite handy, as it accepts a smaller lenbaord from a different view camera, so if you own 2 LF cameras you can have lenses mounted on the smaller lensboard and use them on both cameras. I own a standard size Plaubel and a Plaubel "Jr." and have a similar lensboard that lets me use the lenses mounted on lensboards for the Jr. on both cameras.</p>

<p>And Yes, the 90mm angulon will cover 4x5 but needs to be stopped down a little and does not have much movement. Pick up a 150mm and a 210mm or 240mm lens in addtion to the 90 and those should round out your kit quite well.</p>

 

<p>"An M really isn't the most practical choice for macro anyway."</p>

<p>That is one of the reasons why the Digital M cameras would benefit from having Live View, it would make the camera much easier to use in a Macro or Studio setup, in fact Live View would seem to benefit a Rangefinder type camera more that it woud benefit a DSLR. Think of Live View as a 21st century Visoflex for the Digital M cameras!</p>

 

<p>One major drawback of the M9 ( and M8 ) is that they do not have a Live View option, so even with a R to M adapter there is no way to critical focus the R lenses. Even those adapters that have a focus ring on the adapter that you transfer the reading to the lens are not accurate enough for really detailed subjects. Lack of live view is why I do not even consider purchasing the M9, and a Visoflex is not an acceptable option. </p>

<p>I do however own a 1Ds Mk3, and my 2 most used lenses are the 100mm Apo-Macro-Elmarit and the 60mm Macro Elmarit, quality with either lens is superb on the 1Ds, and I do feel superior to the Canon lenses in the same focal length. I feel it odd that I can use these two Leica lenses on a Canon camera, but if the same lenses are mounted on a Leica M9 I can only guess at focus.</p>

<p>Although I do own a Leica M4p with several Leica lenses and use it for film work, I cannot give any direct comparison of a M to R lens as I cannot mount the M lens on the Canon and I cannot mount the R lens on a Leica M9 and have the ability to critical focus the lens. The only way to accurately compare R to M lenses would be to mount both on the same camera, which sad to say is not a viable option.</p>

 

<p>Used a 5.7mm Kinoptik Tegea on 16mm film and 2/3" video cameras, great lens! I don't have any Micro 4/3 cameras, if there is a C or Arri mount to M4/3 you could mount the lens on the camera but I don't know if it would have enough coverage. Believe these do work for Super 16, so might have a chance of covering the M4/3 format.</p>

 

<p>What type of items are you trying to copy? Size of the Copy? Oil Paintings, Posters or Print?</p>

<p>Another benefit of purchasing any of the cameras mentioned is that the Battery and Charger ( if included as part of the sale ) are still the same on other cameras up to and including the 5D. So if you eventually upgrade to a used 5D or 20-30-40D you will have an extra battery and charger.</p>

 

<p>I would suggest just taking the lens in to a local camera store and trying some lenscaps they have in stock. Many camera stores have a box under the counter containing hundreds of orphan lencaps, adapters and filters that they sell for next to nothing. The lenscap doesn't have to be new or say Rodenstock to work, just has to fit snugly and not touch the front of the glass elements.</p>

 

<p>If the film plane is 1mm further back than where it should be, your focus will be slightly closer than what you intend it to be. The effect will be greater the shorter the focal length of the lens. So in other words if you had focused on the ground glass on an object or person 10 feet away then the focused image on the misaligned film plane might actually be at 9 feet or less.</p>

 

<p>It has mentioned in passing earlier in this thread, but IMHO the Fotron camera takes bottom marks for Design, Function and as the original poster mentioned is a camera "stupidly built to give the user a pain in the neck"</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotron">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotron</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>If you cannot replace the bellows then a recessed lensboard is the best way to go. You will probably have to build the lensboard locally, the size of the front opening will determine the shape of the recessed area. Suggest you do a web search for recessed lensboards to get an idea of the shape of the recessed area on different boards and see which will work best on your lensboard. If you can get 2 or 3 inches of depth, it will allow much greater movements in your camera.</p>

<p>On an aside note, the 90mm is used primarily as a 4x5 lens, if you are using 5x7 film, you might not get that much movement out of a 90mm grandagon before vignetting sets in. Rodenstock probably has some information posted as to the image circle of the lens and the movement available on different size films.</p>

 

<p>Joel,</p>

<p>After re-reading your post, I forgot to mention in my first reply that if you were focusing on the original screen and getting focus 6" off of what you focused on, the original Ground Glass may have been installed backwards, The matte surface should face the lens. Another possible fault may have been if the fresnel lens was mounted on the wrong side. I am not totally familiar with the system but if this is a 2 piece arrangement ( fresnel lens and GG ) perhaps someone had mounted the fresnel lens in front of the GG when it should have been mounted on the back side of the GG?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I own several Xenotars and can comment that they all have quite a bit of internal flare when used at F:2.8, which cuts down considerably on contrast and added to the fact that you have very little DOF at this setting makes for a soft image. Some portrait photographers like a soft image with litttle DOF, so if it suits your style use it. Stopping the Xenotar down to F:4 seems to get rid of most of the flare and adds to the contrast and sharpness of the lens, but the "Sweet Spot" of the Xenotars seem to be the settings bettween F:5.6 and F:11.</p>

<p>Two other items you might want to take under consideration are the film lying flat in the holders and checking to see if the ground glass is in the correct position. Other than having a vacuum back there is not a lot you can do about film lying flat, I remember there are some ways to store the film after loading to minimise buckling, perhaps other folks can add to the techniques to getting the film flat. However it is quite easy to check to see if the ground glass is correctly positioned and does not need shimming.</p>

<p>Remove the ground glass back section and check the depth of all 4 corners from the flat surface with a depth guage, then insert a film holder with film loaded and slide removed and check the depth of all four corners again. Hopefully the distance will be within a few thousanths of an inch, but if considerably different you can shim the ground glass to match the film plane. Don't be surprised if all of your film holders end up in a slightly different plane, as there are manufacturing tolerances which are different bettween different brands. The main thing you are trying to do here is to make sure that the plane of the ground glass is the same as the plane in which the film lies, so that when you focus on the ground glass you are focusing in the same plane as the film.</p>