dietbrand

<p>Just noticed the flash doesn't fire with either setting (it does flash when connecting the cord to the socket though, so no faulty cord). Any ideas, or should i just use this lense as daylight only and get some others?</p>

<p>Hi everybody,</p>

<p>I just bought an RB, which works flawlessly except for 1 thing. The flash selector on the lens is missing and it's currently on M. I need it on X, that's all.</p>

<p>I tried sticking a screwdriver in the hole and depressing the underlying metal plate to turn it but that didn't work. Does anyone know how this mechanism work? I just need it to work once to turn to X and then it can remain there.</p>

Allow me to talk you back into it ;-)

 

I've been using my Salyut-S for a couple of years now and I've been amazed at how reliable this camera has been (despite all the bad press it's received).

Mine was serviced by Arax when I bought it. I had it CLA'd and a new black titanium shutter installed. Gevorg (owner of ARAX) is a pleasure to do business with and delivers excellent services (if only the cameras build at Arsenal started out with the same quality control).

 

If you're serious about using your salyut and you believe it's in need of the upgrade, by all means go for it. It will only benifit from it.

One word of advice though: you mention installing a cloth shutter. While the jury is still out on this one, think about this: the salyut-s was initially designed with a metal shutter which behaves differently to a cloth one. I believe that a metal shutter will provide you with better accuracy (mine doesn't produce banding even at 1/1000s), so I you do choose to go with ARAX I recommend you let him install a black titanium one. It will however make more noise than a cloth one.

 

You could off course always order a fresh ARAX (cm/mlu) body for about 350$ and use all your current accessories and lenses on that body.

 

DbVdb

The AA batteries are for the motor drive only, if you take off the drive you'll see a screw-in cap in the bottom of the camera that seals off the battery compartment. Replace the batteries in there (2x LR44 or -preferably- SR44 type button cells).

 

Hope this helps,

 

D. Vandenberghe

""When I was in my photography class I had my PS and I had also borrowed a family friend's camera.""

 

 

You really can't compare a PS to an manual SLR. And you really need to know your camera before you can concentrate on the getting the picture right.

 

As you might have guessed I'm partial to a manual focussing SLR as well. The reason is simple the camera will force you to learn the basics of light(measuring), depth of field (and how that changes with aperture),...

I do realise that a modern camera does have a manual setting but this is not the same.

 

A second reason is that 80% of the cases (my guess) you won't need all the bells and whisles of a modern slr, so why pay for them. Especially when your interest lies with portaits and landscapes. You'll be getting more trouble from a AF and auto-exposure than benefits in that line of photgraphy.

 

My advice would be to buy into a system (so that you can expand when needed).

Get a good (prosumer grade) mf slr (perhaps with the ability for a motor drive).

The only necessary exposure feature is IMHO aperture priority (although a spot meter is nice too). Perhaps get a second hand external meter (very handy for studio portaits, especially if it's a flash meter).

Begin with the basic lenses 50mm (everyone should have one, it's a great learning lens), 28mm (landscapes), 80 or 135 (portraits).

Buy the best tripod your budget will allow (trust me on this one).

Look for a light bag that feels comfortable (hiking for landscapes) and water/sandproof. If you've grown into your system and are ready to upgrade you'll know what bag you want

 

For film i recommend Fuji Velvia for landscapes (it's a classic). And Ilford HP5 (BW) for portraits.

 

If you were to ask me a specific brand and model: I'd say get the nikon F2, it won't fail you and is a pleasure to work with.

 

Good luck and happy shooting

Damn, my xg-m just stopped working today. I was shooting an action shot with my MD1 attached when it suddenly died.

The battery check light still lights up, and when I switched the batteries (there are two batt. stacked upon each other) the camera worked again for one shot. New batteries had no result.

Sigh so I guess the electronics must have a bad contact somewhere (perhaps the capacitator has given up).

 

Oh well, maybe it's time for a big overhaul (it has been more than twenty years of service).

 

Anyway, thanks to for the response.

 

To the repair shop it is!

 

D. Vandenberghe

Hi, Lately I've noticed that the lightmeter of my Minolta XG-M has

started to work slower. Let me explain, When you go from a dark

subject to a light (or vice versa) you can see the light meter go

from, let's say, 1/1s to 1/500s. Usually this goes very fast, almost

instantaneous. Yet, I've noticed that lately the meter will hang

between, for example, 1/250s and 1/500s, and after a couple of

seconds decide for one of the two. Second remark, though I'm not

sure of this, I believe the meter is also influenced by the clarity

of the previous subject. I for example I focus on a candle (1/1000s)

and after that I focus on a neutrally lit subject (1/60s) the meter

will indicate a higher value than if I would have focused on a dark

subject (1/1s), and vice versa. Now for my question. Is my light

meter defective, or is it a mere matter of battery power? Or perhaps

it's because the electronics need cleaning (bad contacts, power

draingin)? Thanks in advance for your help. D. Vandenberghe