christopher_engeler

Just to correct the spelling in several posts above: Dr. Walter Mandler (May 10, 1922 - April 21, 2005), former V.P., Director of Research and Development of Leitz Canada. Midland, Ontario. Erwin Puts wrote <a href="http://www.imx.nl/photosite/comments/c008.html">this</a> about him.

I recently bought a Contax S2 from Ken. He seems like avery fine gentleman as described above. My full recommendation! I believe he has some interesting photographic gear in stock and is of course an experienced resource. I wish he had a more detailed and up to date website.

Thank you all for taking the time and giving the thoughtful answers. You are right about the R8/R9, I will take your advice on that. Tony, I have concentrated only on the last generation of manual focus SLR's, but may eventually try a Leicaflex. With rangefinders I have had no hesitation to try older Leicas or Nikon on Canons, but with SLR's there are some technical issues and reliability which have prevented me from the use of older cameras than say a Canon F1 original or a Nikon F2 (I wouldn't hesitate to use a F, though). Thanks again, -CE

I have collected and used almost every notable manual focus SLR of the

last generation (and a small number of Canon autofocus SLR's), and the

R9 is the most ergonomic, solid, and overall most satisfying camera to

use. And what a great viewfinder (it's not just the lenses - I have

the 28-90mm and the 100 APO Macro in addition to a set of 3cam older

lenses). Now I am thinking of getting a second body, and it should be

smaller and lighter than the R9. There are two sets of cameras, and I

haven't made up my mind about either set: R6 vs. R6.2 is the first

question. What is the real-life difference between the two (specs and

literature suggest a more accurate shutter if higher top speed of

1/2000). The other choice would be an R5 vs. R7. Again, what

useability choice would I be making between one of these automatic

cameras? I have all the relevant technical data on these four cameras

but would like to know of problems, reliability, useability as a

backup. As I mentioned, I haven't made up my mind about a manual or

automatic camera. Also, can my (two, so far) ROM lenses be used on

these bodies, particularly the zoom?

Mark, I took a picture of the build code and sent it to you via eMail. I should have used a magnifying glass, as the macro photo shows a build code of UC0604 for the lens 20752. I'll get the build code on the other TS later this week. From the serial number, this is still the youngest in your list. Thanks for your work, - Christopher

Mark, you may be right about the first letter. It seems a bit different in style from the next five. The next two could be the letter "O" or a zero, or one of each (but they do appear the same). The very first letter is rounded at the bottom, therefore I interpreted it to be a "U" and not a "V", but sometimes these are hard to tell apart. I have a dozen or more Canon FD cameras, but the type on this mount is the most legible of all, not smudged. In a few days, if there is still a question, I could email you macro photos of the the numbers on this lens.

Mark, my information would lead me to believe this lens was built in 1980, not 1981. T = 1979, U = 1980, V = 1981, etc.

Mark, for the newer lens, #20752 the build code is U00604. I will get the data on the other lens late next week.

35/2.8 TS #20752 with BW-58 and 35/2.8 TS #16235 with BW-58. Don't ask me why I have two mint examples. Build codes aren't available right now.

Reading the specs of the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED I see Digital

Ice Professional advertised to work with Kodachromes. Has anybody had

experience with this? Until now, Kodachromes could not be reliably

scanned with Digital Ice to remove dust. The risk of artifacts was

very high and I always turned it off on my 4000 ED scanner. For

selected slides (and in addition to medium format), I am therefore

considering this new scanner. Has anybody here used this capability

succesfully on the new Super Coolscan 9000 ED?

Indeed very, very nice. Both the lens and electronics appear to function beautifully together! How heavy is this camera compared with other professional level DSLR's? Was it still ergonomically satisfying, did the back hinder access to the viewfinder?

I now have four Minolta XK AE finder cameras, and none of them appear

to work properly. The two nicest ones are almost completely as new but

have the following identical problems: 1. Shutter set at manual sounds

like speed varies, sometimes slower, sometimes appropriate for

selected speed. 2. Set on automatic, the shutter stays open for many

seconds, or may not close at all. 3. The viewfinder display on the

right, the scale with needle and shutter speeds, is very dark, as if

obscured by something. Diagnosis? Remedy? Recommended shop for CLA?

Any opinions on Mark Hama? I think I'll try to get at least two of

these back into shape to use with the as new/unused (with "Passed"

stickers) lenses I got: 18mm fisheye, 21mm, 24mm, 35mm/f1.8, 50mm and

58mm f1.4, 50mm macro, 100mm f2.5, 200mm f3.5, and 300mm f4.5.

Thanks to all for you anwers to my question. You appear to be a truly dedicated group of cinematographers. I have only had experience with 35mm Kodachrome. I am so glad I used Kodachrome II and 25 when I was younger. Now that I have scanned almost all my old slides, I also come to appreciated the qualities of this emulsion. I still have two rolls left. My parents shot regular 8 movies, I have had Mini DV recorders since the very first couple of Sony models. Perhaps I'll run into one of you at the Grand Canyon or elsewhere...

I am curious, I thought Super 8 had died a long time ago and am encouraged by the posts above. What has kept you from migrating to analog or digital taping, Skip, Scott, Mike and Robert?

My favorite: 80-200/f4L. Couldn't resist stocking up with three new/mint samples.

Has anybody here actually purchased a N75 for around $100 (after rebate)? It seems like a steal, given the undisputable capabilities of this camera. The more reputable sellers list higher.

Unlikely doomsdaty scenario, but.... Freeze your film now and buy prepaid (undated) mailers.

Toyota has Lexus, couldn't Canon have Contax and Nikon Leica (or the other way around?)...

If you've got the money to spend, this is a great time to pick up some really fantastic deals on very, very fine camera equipment. The newer N-series autofocus cameras and lenses have come down from the stratosphere and are now more or less competitive in price with Contax and Nikon professional level equipment. The Carl Zeiss lenses are fantastic (the 17-35mm/f2.8 may even be better than the correspondiong Nikkor and "L" lenses and the 85mm/f1.4 and 100mm/f2.8 Macro-Sonnar are legendary optics). The N1 and NX are very solidly built. I especially like the joystick autofocus selector and the ability to alternate easily between manual and autofocus plus all the customization options. Ergonomics of both cameras are superb. I just got started with this system at these bargain prices and am very favorably impressed with the "N" system. I don't worry about a technological dead end, I am very happy with what I got. I wonder what collectors will say 20-30 years from now. I am sure the volume of Contax N sales has been quite low since introduction just 3-4 years ago.

As much as I like Nikon glass, weight may also be a consideration. The Tamron 17-35mm/f2.8-4 is a new high performance lens which weighs all of 440g (14.4oz) compared with the Nikkor 17-35mm/f2.8 constant aperture at 745g (26.3oz). The Tamron is around one third the cost of the Nikkor. According to test results, it seems that performance of the new Tamron is really superb.

John, if you end up getting a FM3a back, it has the slight advantage of a small window to see the film you have in the camera, the older backs have a memo holder pocket. By the way, this is an interesting databack which I had never seen before. Apparently you can type in up to 30 characters on the keypad and have that imprinted on the film. It stores that sequence in volatile memory, but the 9V battery will be exhausted in 3 days. See <a href="http://www.butkus.org/chinon/infoback_2/infoback_2.htm">here</a>.

Jack, The Digital Rebel 6.3MP camera has already been superseded by a 8MP Digital Rebel XT. Late last year, the price you are seeing now was available on the original Digital Rebel as rebates were in effect. The $799 is not such a great deal as retailers are trying to clear stock. That said, the original Digital Rebel is a great camera. If you have the computer power and large hard drive and are willing to spend an extra $100 or so on memory cards, it would still be an excellent choice. But perhaps you'll find a better deal elsewhere. Amazon, for example has it for $739.94 including the kit lens (free shipping, no tax). The 8MP Digital Rebel XT is also less than $1000.

pssst!!! The Rollei AFM35 is a sleeper. It's out of production now.

Followup: I did the research myself here on the web and found: "The one exception is the 300TL flash unit. It was designed for the old Canon T90 camera, and its more advanced features (such as its versions of FEL and second-curtain sync) are not supported by EOS cameras. However it can be used with EOS cameras as a basic TTL flash unit even though it lacks an E designation." Here is the link with all the <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/">details</a>.

Canon T90 was the only FD camera offering TTL flash control (not even the professional F1N offered it). Cannot answer the question of compatibility, though. Perhaps a search of early EOS cameras may bring to light if those were compatible with the 300TL (I suspect yes). Then, check for compatibility between older and newer EOS cameras. Or call Canon.