dean_williams

What others said, it's your lighting. Not your film.

Look at the shadows in the photos that you posted. There are hardly any at all. Then look at the shadows of the photo in the link you posted, (the snow scene). Nice long shadows in that shot mean the sun is not high in the sky, and you get nice side lighting like you see in the link of the snow scene. This light adds some texture or sculpturing to the shot and makes it look more natural.

 

Your shots of the wild flowers are shot when the sun is high, and thus the lighting is hard on your subject. Plenty of light, but the scene lacks some depth and texture. Kind of hard on colors, too.

 

For what it's worth, Kodak Gold 200 is not Kodak's portrait film. It's their general purpose film, like you find at Wal Mart. A good film, too. Kodak's portrait film is called Portra.

Nikon F/F2. Leica IIf/IIIf. Voigtlander Vitessa. As far as fit and finish, the Vitessa has it over just about anything.

A Retina II, which has been suggested, is probably the most reliable of the rangefinder Retinas. Very good camera. Also look for a Konica I, sometimes just simply called Konica. Sometimes you can find a good Vitomatic II at a good price.

If you would like to try another Argus, get a C4. They are quite a bit nicer than the C3, and have a big, bright VF/rangefinder.

If I was picking a camera for myself, though, using your criteria, I would choose an Olympus 35-S or a Yashica Minister D. Both usually run well below $50.

 

For the FSU cameras, the FED 2 is probably a good bet. They are very sturdy as long as you get one in decent shape. The Kiev is another good one, but are quite complicated to fix if they quit on you.

 

The Kodak Pony has no rangefinder. Just guess focus. But they are cheap enough.

Subbarayan Prasanna, the price is not for the curtains alone. The camera must be completely disassembled, curtains replaced, camera reassembled, adjusted and tested. Do you think the camera repairman works for free?

Would you replace the curtains in three cameras for just $15, all labor included? In just how many cameras have you replaced the curtains? One? Two? Five? 100?

I'd still be suspicious about this. If there was something wrong with the curtains that they need to be "restored", during an overhaul the first thing I would think of would be to replace them. If the curtains weren't replaced during a so called overhaul, just what was it that was overhauled? "Cleaning" doesn't count. That's simply cleaning. An overhaul is replacing defective parts and bringing the camera mechanicals into spec.

It will always be better to replace curtains than to patch them. Properly patched curtains can be perfectly light tight, but they will not last as long as new curtains, simply because they are older. As far as "chemically restored", this is the first time I have heard this term, and I imagine it's a nice way of saying that the owner smeared some liquid fabric compound on them. If this is the case, I would not accept this as a restoration in any sense of the word.

 

If this camera has the original Exakta curtains, it almost surely needs new ones by now, no matter what stop-gap has been applied.

 

Just as an aside, I'm not speaking as someone making a guess about this. I've replaced shutter curtains in many of these cameras. The price you have been quoted comes to about $113 USD, (I'm in the US), which is not overly expensive.

Quote David M:

"Steer clear of any Zenit or Praktica no matter what anyone says."

 

What, and the poster is supposed to take this advice because YOU said it? Do you have some credentials as an engineer, or maybe you are known as a repair person then, David?

"I am starting project to make some window in the back - to expose numbers on film back paper."

 

That's a little bit like buying a horse because your car ran out of gas.

 

If the film counter is at "0" or past "12", the camera is probably not loaded. If the film counter is showing a number from 1-11, and you are not sure if it is loaded, it is better to just advance the film knob all the way through the 12 exposures and then start with a new roll just to be safe.

David, the buttons could be for some type of flash control, as you suspect, but the few point and shoot cameras I have use the mountain symbol for an infinity lock, and flower symbols, typically a stylized tulip, is for engaging the camera's macro setting.

Everyone should try one of these cameras. They make you feel good, they make you look good, and they build character too.

:)

"All serious photographers need an accurate exposure meter and the knowledge of how to use it."

 

You don't think Matthew Brady was serious? I don't think he had a light meter.

 

 

OK then, how about Eugene Atget? Timothy O'Sullivan? Alfred Stieglitz, maybe? I figure they had some kind of sunny 16 knowledge. :)

"I'm wondering if the lens is original to the camera or if it is a replacement?"

 

If your camera is a Yashicamat, IOW, it has a wind crank, it must be a replacement. Yashicamats all had four element lenses. The Yashikor is a triplet.

They're very small. Smaller than most compact 35's with the lens retracted. Limited shutter speeds of 1/15 to 1/250. Match needle metering. No rangefinder. It's a fair performer, but I've not compared it to the Olympus. Not as sharp as my Rollei 35, assuming correct guessed focus, but nothing to sneeze at, either.

 

If you want something a little different in a small package, and the price is right, you'll probably enjoy it.

I'm in a similar position as Mark. The majority of my work is leaf shutter cameras, knob wind LTMs and earlier TLRs, and SLRs like Nikon F and Spotmatics.

 

I do have a few folks who send their cameras that are collectors, and just want all their gear in working condition, but the majority are real shooters. Many emails that I receive start out with "My trusty (Rollei 35, Zeiss folder, Canon III, etc) has finally started acting up after years of use", or something to that effect. It seems to me a lot of people are still shooting, and wanting service for their film cameras.

 

There could be fewer repair people, but who knows that for certain? From the looks of sites like KY Photo, it would seem that people still want to shoot their film cameras, in any case.

Quote David M:

"Pick up any Pentax Super Takumar though from the same period and they all still seem to function properly and focus as smoothly as silk."

 

One wouldn't be so quick to point this out if they had seen what comes in for repairs. I've had numerous Super Taks here for focus and aperture issues. It's not unusual for any mechanical thing to need service when it is pushing the 50+ year mark, as many CJZ lenses are now.

 

And this is not to say there is anything wrong with the Pentax product either. Well known to be a high quality product.

"I know some Taiwanese also have the same machine as Dean has. But it seems it is rather useless and used up a lot of space in your home when you are not using it."

 

I may be misreading this, Kevin, but I've made a number of camera parts, not to mention other mechanical items on that little lathe, so I don't see it as "useless". As far as taking up space, the lathe is less than 0.1 cubic meter in volume.

 

Regards,

 

Dean

I'm in the same boat as Rick Oleson. I like many cameras that are not especially valuable, but hold some attraction for me.<br>

I think that as long as the lens elements are in decent condition, there will be few items on the camera that cannot be made to order, if you really want it. <br>

A good case is my little Rollei 35. Some parts are getting hard to come by, (or I don't know where to look), so home fabrication is in order.

See this link for an example: <br>

<a href="http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/gearcutting/rolleigearnf.html">Rollei 35 Gear</a>

Great stuff, Luis. I'm also a fan of the first one, but I would be happy to have taken any one of them.

 

Dean

Neat color. Looks tasty.

I like what it does with you at the trigger.

Very nice, Gene.

Jeff, what parts of the 124G did you find to have too much plastic? I mean, it's a metal camera...

I don't know if it was Mihai's doing that caused the proplem with this camera. It could have been a previous user.

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The camera is rarely at fault, but since they are getting long in the tooth, there are few owners manuals to help the user. It's the Copal shutter that usually causes the problem. They aren't made to operate with the M sync and self timer engaged at the same time, and it's easy to bump the M sync lever. The shutter has a lockout to prevent this, but it's not hard to bypass it in use, and you can end up with a stuck shutter.

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When I was in high school, (early 70's) we had Yashica Mats in photo class too. Our teacher had put a small rubber band around the sync and self timer levers on all our photo class cameras to keep us kids from making problems for him. It worked.

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Chuck Foreman; I can re-set infinity to the focal plane, which will put all your focusing settings where they should be. If you haven't taken the lens mount board off the camera, it's not a hard job, and you may like to try it yourself. Or I can do it. If the lens mount board has been removed, and the shim washers messed with, it's a more difficult job, but I can do that too. Send me an email if you want to discuss it.

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Nice shots, Mihai!

Dean

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<a href=http://www.deansphotographica.com>deansphotographica.com</a>

The one shown in the picture is for IIc/IIIc.

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Dean

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http://www.deansphotographica.com

""the lenses on this camera are second to none" - a lot of research says different."

 

Feel free to site your sources, David. When a lens produces sharp results, corner to corner on the neg, with no vignetting, there's not a lot more to ask of it, no matter how many elements it has. If it consistently gives you a photo that looks as good as other top performers, isn't that "second to none"? Well, isn't it?

David M wrote:

"No Kodak camera is really worth it."

 

That's hilarious! Ridiculous, but hilarious.

 

"There is at least one place that will convert Medalists; expect to pay a LOT of money to have it done."

 

Well, that's true enough. Many people will pay more money just for a night on the town, though. It depends on what one wants.

 

They are a fine camera with an excellent lens.