chris_henry1

The 35SE gets you the last regular version made with the f2.8 lens and the most advanced lens coatings before the later collector edition models (Royal, Gold, Platinum, Japanese lacquer)were produced. I have had at least five of these cameras at different times; I think it is fair to say that they are an acquired taste. I liked the 35SE; others feel differently. The distinction between the German and Singapore produced cameras in the Rollei 35 models is of interest to collectors only. Both have the same build quality, and there is no significant difference now as most examples are used anyway. All of the late production 35s, all of the 35SE and 35S models with Sonnar HFT lenses came from Singapore.

The collector editions, which are different in some other ways, including topside placement of a hotshoe (versus underside placement of a cold shoe on all earlier models)were made with Sonnar lenses and in Europe. They also had huge prices, targeted at limited-edition collector markets.

They are fun to use, but coat, not shirt-pocketable.

"Leaked"?

It is a little late for that, I think. Every other major manufacturer has models on

the shelves. Canon and Nikon are past their second generation of digital

bodies. Minolta ought to be doing more than leaking information, IMHO.

Leaking is what their Maxxum customer base is doing as competing brands

woo away previously committed Maxxum owners. They need to commit

themselves to their loyal customers and announce what they have ready to

launch, and say exactly when it will be ready and what if anything it will

feature that will have made the delay worthwhile. Pentax has beaten them.

A point-and-shoot camera is a camera with autofocus, automatic film handling

(DX, counting, winding and rewinding) programmed auto-exposure, and an

integral flash, whatever else it might have. DOF has nothing to do with it.

The competetion has been set for Minolta as concerns a DSLR. They will

have to produce a body with a feature set and price point at the level of the

6MP DSLRs of Canon, Nikon and Pentax. Anything less will send new

business elsewhere and result in further defection of existing Maxxum owners

to other brands. They don't have the privilege of defining the market,

pipesmoke products with integral vibration reduction notwithstanding.

What Bill said. The settings on the slide scale are to avoid vignetting by setting the

bellows too far forward. But 150 is 150.

I wouldn't worry about the moneygram being safe; the real issue is whether the

recipient will send you the goods. I would ask the seller for more photos, a street

address and telephone number (landline, no cellphones) that you can cross-check

with the seller's name and address in a phone directory. Also, I would use the fact

that the seller has zero feedback to demand an escrow arrangement, using the eBay

service. In all fairness, you should be willing to pay for that. Likewise, you should be

willing to provide name and address and phone number to the seller. If you get

refusal to those requests, then don't bid.

Maybe he just likes the look of a well-painted camera. Whoever said anything

about counterfeiting a collectible? Lighten up.

Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.

Nikon and Canon people have their own biases, don't expect them to hype other

brands.

Some places don't carry any used stuff; it may not move well, so it may have to be

bought and priced accordingly, discouraging trading. Alternatively, ebay offers a

larger market for these things than any brick and mortar shop, and affords the

opportunity to sell at near retail. Many shops are dropping all used gear.

The merger was done as much to fortify Minolta's position in the copier market as it

was to improve its photography business. I doubt that this will be the only merger

of companies whose brands we all know in this industry.

Minolta makes great products, but don't take that as cheerleading; they will have to

sell them, too. If they can't do that, then it hardly matters how good I or anyone

thinks they are. For what it is worth, Ritz carries their new gear--the only kind that

matters when it comes to company survival--and I doubt they would do that if they

thought they couldn't sell the stuff (and for some reason, they don't carry Olympus

anymore, so go figure).

Your post was as much a lament as a question. I hope I addressed the question part.

This is a troll, but what the heck ;-)

What does Minolta do well?

They make nice consumer cameras, even digital ones.

They make very nice 35mm film cameras, SLRs, (even the TC1, rare as is, stands out

as to what the designers at Minolta can do). Their consumer end of the SLR body

range is nicely engineered, gives great value for money, and competes well with

Canon and Nikon's offerings at the same price points. At the mid range, the Maxxum

7 beats out all the rest, IMHO.

They make the most convenient to use 35mm camera flash system.

They make excellent professional light meters.

They make very good lenses, although many not with the most advanced autofocus

technologies, which is a fault, but overall with solid construction, superb glass, and

thoughtful ergonomics.

The only thing they lack, for the interest of the serious photography amateur is an

affordable digital camera body product that will allow use of Maxxum 35mm SLR

lenses. I can understand the hesitation they might have to produce one at this point:

the numbers sold relative to film SLR bodies will be small, as is also true for Canon

and Nikon with their 10D and D100 bodies, and even more so with the costlier D30/

D60/D1 professional bodies. Why build a body that can't be sold at a price and in

numbers that would make a profit? They haven't cultivated a professional market

with the Maxxum line that will justify the cost of such a body as a business expense.

They may know their customer base better than the contributors here give them

credit for knowing: most Minolta Maxxum owners probably own one body, at most

three lenses and one flash unit, and are happy with that, and they don't want to own

several bodies and large numbers of lenses that might be typical for professionals or

dedicated and well-heeled amateurs. Why produce something most people won't buy

anyway?

I would not conclude that Minolta has no future simply because they haven't released

a digital Maxxum body. They may still do so, and even do a very good job of it. But

they may also rightly recognize that the future, theirs and their competitors, lies with

digital technologies and camera designs that are different from the existing designs

for 35mm cameras.

Limited to only rollfilm? No, since many medium-format cameras accept digital and

Polaroid backs, too. I guess that one requirement might be that a medium format

camera must at least be able to accept 120 rollfilm, whatever else it can accept, but

that it may not also accept 4x5 sheet film or another large-format film size.

Even a view camera with a rollfilm back is a medium format camera; a Linhof 679 or

similar view camera designed specifically for either digital or rollfilm use is a

medium-format camera, too.

Today, it means cameras that use either size 120, 220 or 70mm rollfilm stock.

Exposure sizes vary by camera and back used: 6x4.5, 6x6, 6.6x4.4, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9,

6x12, 6x17, to name a few.

If you want an SLR, there are basically five systems: Contax 645 AF, Mamiya 645 AFD,

Pentax 645 AF, Hasselblad H1 (OK, Fuji) and Rollei 6008AF.

Three have USM-type AF drives: Contax, Hasselblad and Rollei.

Pentax does not have a removable back; maybe a problem if you want to buy or rent a

digital back.

Rollei offers either 6x6 or 645 options.

Contax allows use of MF Hasselblad Zeiss lenses with an adapter.

Hasselblad probably offers the fewest used lens purchase opportunities as the system

is new; Rollei can use all of the older non-autofocus Rollei-mount Carl Zeiss and

Schneider lenses while still giving focus confirmation.

Rollei and Hasselblad offer lens-shutters.

Rollei and Contax each offer at least one f2 lens in their line.

Here are some nice examples of stitched digital panoramics: http://www.photo.net/

photodb/folder?folder_id=231265

Luigi's (www.leicatime.com) half case with the leather strap should work; the strap

attaches by a leather lacing; there are no metal parts at all to rub. He also makes a

case where the strap attaches to the case and the unattached strap lugs are covered.

Kameraleder (www.kameraleder.com) has a half-case that does not use the body lugs,

and of course, you can always get a complete eveready case which would protect the

camera when not in use.

You might do a few test shots with the 17mm/10D to see how much barrel

distortion may affect your ability to overlap the horizontally stitched

exposures. You might do better with a standard focal length or short

telephoto instead.

8:1 is almost surely a LF crop or a stitch, although a Seitz Roundshot or one of

the rarer custom-made rotating panoramic cameras could also do the same in

one exposure. If you use a 10D at 17mm, you will get an effective 28mm lens

angle of view at your vertical axis and whatever you pan on the horizontal

when you make your multiple exposures. A pan tripod is a good idea, as is a

bubble level. The 1.6x reduction factor ought to eliminate the vignetting/

edge-falloff artifact that can sometimes affect stitch panoramics. I guess you

could smooth that out in post-processing.

TTL metering off the shutter curtain, right. The shutter is always cocked as

long as the camera has been turned on and the camera has advanced the

film to the next available frame.

You need an exposure meter or you need to rent a metered prism. Either way, you

will have to manually set the shutter speed and aperture.

Johann,

No apologies needed. There are plenty of photographers here who don't

shoot Leica but have made contributions that have definitely made this board

better. As much as I enjoy Leica, it is a tool, and best used when it is the right

tool for the job.

I am sure that Leica built the camera so that it was capable of taking a good

photograph in the right hands. But I can't help but think that the exercise of

building the O series camera was a little like building a car these days that

you have to crank start. What were they trying to prove and what does the

camera offer--save for the semblance of antiqueness--that other, better Leicas

haven't surpassed?

Matt,

Good luck finding a shop anywhere that has TLRs period, let alone a good stock from

which to choose. FWIW, when I lived in Detroit, in the late 90s, they had a pretty

good number of shops around town. There was one near the Institute of Art, and two

more on upper Woodward, Century being one of them. There was also an odd little

shop over in Grosse Pointe Woods that had a junk-shop atmosphere, but piles of old

cameras and accessories. They even had a website. Can't say if they are still there,

because it's been awhile, but the staff was friendly and well informed.

As for mailing costs, all I can say is that they have gone up. Insurance easily can

double the cost of sending a parcel by first-class or priority service, and the

difference between parcel post cost and first-class is often less than $1. Packaging

can easily cost $4, for a simple box and some packing peanuts, so a total of $15 for a

parcel is common and reasonable. Registered mail can double transit times, even

within the same city (I know that from experience). If you want tracking, ask for the

parcel to be sent FedEx or UPS, or ask the sender to add USPS Delivery Confirmation.

Most commercial shippers won't buy it if they already have insurance purchased, as

the package will already have an insurance identifier. (Why spend even more when it

doesn't get the package there any sooner?) The USPS ingeniously markets delivery

confirmation to make money, and to calm the nervous.

Yep, that Nokton is no good. You send that bad old lens to me and I'll make sure it

won't take any more bad pictures for you.