Andrew in Austin

I have both a FM2n and a Leica M2. The Leica is much quieter in use. No two ways about it. Yep, the shutter sound of the FM2n is definitely a head turner. With that said, since you already own it - take the FM2n along with a 28mm and 50mm Ai-S.

Pointed at the same location as above, but from further back. Texas Capitol from the UT Main Building

Back in July - I bought a Bessa II with a 105mm Color-Skopar, which was advertised as a parts camera. I was surprised that the seller accepted my first offer. Here are the test shots after servicing the gummed up shutter and removing what appear to be oil on the inner lens surfaces. First the near image, focused on the second fence post. "Capitol Fence"

Note: The voltage output of an alkaline varies during its use. The voltage of an alkaline cell output will return to normal after a rest. Hence, the reason to use a silver oxide, the voltage output should be nearly flat to until the end of the battery cell .

Tom, If you have a compact flash unit, take the camera into a darkened closet. Open the rear film door and insert the flash unit in the rear of the camera, so that it is facing the lens. Fire the flash to note if there are any light leaks from the edges of the bellows.

Just for reference, I did an all day soak in naptha, a.k.a Rosinol lighter fluid and the inner and front elements were still firmly adhered to each other. My guess, is when heated to below 100° C for couple of hours in an alcohol vessel, with a water bath, it is the long duration heating of the two metal surfaces over time that did the trick. When I said it finger loosened after the 2 hour soak, I do mean with just two fingers of each hand. It was that easy. No clamping tools or brute force were needed. Last but not least, my main concern in regards with heating the water bath for the alcohol jar, even at the electric stove's lowest setting, was the possibility to create an alcohol camp stove with the roughly 50mL of isopropanol - should it combust. I definitely would not use this technique with naptha - unless it could be done outside on a concrete surface using a low temp. warming pad as a heat source.

Tom, you're a gentleman and s scholar. I have had in possession for the past 15 years an old Billy Record II that someone in the past installed a 4.5 Solinar mated to a Synchro Compur shutter. Needless to say the front element has been firmly cemented within the helical of the middle element for all the years that I've owned it. I have tried soaking the focusing group in Rosinol and nothing. I tried your method with isopropanol inside a baby food jar. Set the electric stove set to the lowest setting. After two hours, I removed the two elements from the alcohol and they separated instantlyby just using my fingers to loosen them.

Bet the farm. Get Kanto MR-9 battery adapter, SALE Battery Adapter - http://www.kantocamera.com/english/adapter/adapter_en.html I believe that Kanto was the original source for CRIS in years past. The above adapter uses a Schlockly diode to bring down the voltage of the silver oxide. Avoid alkalines, unless it is just to test whether the meter comes to life.

Richard, which P&S did you use? It seems to focus quite well.

That my friend is an ABLON, which is used as a guide to properly trim a film leader. I prefer to use the tiny pair of scissors that are on my Swiss Army - stye pen knife. The scissors work much better on modern film that are coated on a polyester base as opposed to acetate.

For May 17th - Voigtländer Vito II - 50mm Color Skopar - Fujifilm C200 from Walmart The Gentily Stage at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Crowd at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz Fest - Voigtländer Vito II - Fujifilm C200

"Police Barrier" - New Orleans - Voigtländer Vito II - Fujifilm C200

For the 8th, one day late - "Residential high rises, meet the new neighbors" - Austin, Texas Voigtlander Bessa II - 105mm Heliar - Expired APX100 - Rodinal 1:100 Semi-stand

"Residential high rises from Lake Lady Bird taken at sunset." Voigtlander Bessa II - 105mm Heliar - Expired APX100 - Rodinal 1:100 Semi-stand - Taken on a hike and bike trail that is about a mile away from the tallest building.

"High rise residential buildings - home sweet home" Voigtlander Bessa II - 105mm Heliar - Expired APX100 - Rodinal 1:100 Semi-stand - A quick back story - I was on my bicycle and this exposure wasn't possible to do from street level. So, I rode over to a nearby parking garage and took an elevator to the top level. Fun, fun.

Retinas are lovely cameras when working properly. Their reputation on camera forums for dodgy winders and weak springs on film counter keeps prices affordable. Years ago, I had a IIIc, which gave me a couple of years of good service before selling it when acquiring my Leica gear. At the end of last summer, I put the only bid on a knob winder Retina II from the last year of production. It was produced during the final run in 1950 and must have seen very little use. It has since been gone through by Chris Sherlock. Even before the CLA I couldn't complain about the image quality on film. The Rodenstock Heligon is a real nice lens. While the II was being CLA'd - I purchased an early production Reitna IIa. Fingers crossed, the IIa that seems to have been serviced by someone within the last decade, judging by the clear viewfinder and the lack of any sluggishness on the RF patch. It ain't too shabby for a 68 year old camera. It sports the same 50mm Heligon - which like the Retina II is set in an old-school Compur Rapid. The Synchro Compur first appeared in mid 1951. Fair warning, a Retina II does not cock the shutter when the film is advanced. So, maybe it might be more reliable over the long run. Personally, I prefer the lever wind and self-cocking shutter as it appeared on the IIa. I was never too enamored with bottom winder of the later Retinas.

It's been about 7 years - but has anyone sent an email to Jon Goodman at jon_goodman@yahoo.com to see if he still sells a complete, pre-cut kit?

I'm going to New Orleans this weekend and rain is predicted for Saturday. So, decisions, decisions.................on which folder I to bring along. Currently I'm favoring the Vito II weekender edition, which fits into a zip lock bag.

Love it!

The Canonet QL 17 is a nice semi-pocketable 35mm RF. Go backwards in time by almost 20 years, a Canon VL2 LTM body, which was mentioned above, can sometimes be found for around $100 USD.

Bob, I'm not a fan of using zinc oxide cell, which have a short life, once the plastic is peeled off - mainly because there is a battery adapter for the old PX625 cell with a built-in Schottky diode that converts a modern 1.55 V silver oxide cell to near enough to the 1.35 V level. It's called an MR-9 and has been in production for a while, too. The one that works is a Kanto MR-9 - see the link below: MR-9 Battery Adapter - Japan Camera Hunter I've used a these for years on my Olympus 35 RC and Rollei 35S, with no problems. If you keep a lens cap on the camera to cover the metering cell when the camera is not in use - or - with the Rollei 35, keep the camera covered when not in use, one silver oxide cell will last a couple of years, at least.

I just want to add that Cosina-built, Voigtlander Bessa R does not have the build quality of the Canon P, that was mentioned above. The Bessa's rear film door, plus the top and bottom covers are plastic. The plastic covers and rear film door were replaced with metal on the Bessa R2 and onwards - but the on the Bessa is was more late seventies-like in comparison to the Canon. That said, to my eyes at least, the frame lines and rangefinder patch are brighter - hence easier to use - than on the 60 year old Canon.

The difficulty of migrating from the 35mm SLR world, is that the market is saturated with used SLR gear - which is cheap. With the exception of Soviet gear, this isn't true for 35mm RF cameras that are capable of using interchangeable lenses. With regards to Soviet gear, from my own experience, I was only happy with the reliability of their older Leica II clones - none of which have built-in light meters. If you opt for a fixed-lens compact 35mm RF from the seventies - be sure to use a Kanto MR-9 battery adapter - https://www.japancamerahunter.com/product/mr-9-battery-adapter/ - If you need TTL metering and the option of interchangeable lenses, the bottom rung is a Voigtlander Bessa R body, which sells for about $300 USD.

Voting at the Algiers Courthouse - for April 29th - Voigtländer Bessa II - 105mm Heliar - Expired Agfa APX100 - Rodinal 1:100, Semi Stand Dev.