daniel rufer

<p>Hello Don<br>

I did indeed find a replacement 167MT for them last summer, and they are happy with it. It was a second-hand body from KEH in EX+ condition for a really acceptable price.<br>

But thanks a lot anyway for thinking about my post and letting me know! I wish you good luck selling them; shouldn't be too hard if they are in such a good condition.</p>

<p>Best wishes and all the best for 2010,<br>

Daniel</p>

<p>I had the same problem. Bought the lens over Easter in New York, used it there for a couple days (several hours a day), then used it back in Switzerland several times on hikes in the mountains etc. Never a problem.</p>

<p>Then, early june I used it the first time in warm weather and I only got a few minutes out of it before the ERR message appeared (Nikon D200). Eventually I gave up on it and tried it again in the evening. This time it worked fine for several minutes before the ERR appeared and after switching it off for a couple minutes I got another minute or so of use out of it. This hinted at a thermal problem. Cooling it down in the fridge indeed gave me almost an hour of operation before it was to warm again (if you try this be careful not to cool it to strongly and then expose it to moist air, or you get condensation).</p>

<p>I then sent it to THK (Tokina) and they confirmed that it was one of the "flexible cables" (these orange-brown, unshielded plastic ones) which had not enough clearance and when the barrel extended thermally, it contacted with the metal and short-circuited, causing the ERR. Cooling the lens down resolved the problem temporarily. They exchanged the part under warranty and since then it works fine.</p>

<p>This will unfortunately not help you for the trip to Texas.... But you might help you identify the problem.</p>

<p>Best of luck, and a nice trip nonetheless</p>

<p>Hello John<br>

I am using the 80-200 AF-D (the first version that came without collar) with the Burzynski collar. I am not entirely sure whether the collar is absolutely identical to the one for the AF-S, but it should be very close.</p>

<p>It's really a great piece of equipment! Operation is very smooth and locking/unlocking with the tightening screw is very well controllable and secure. The foot is very close to the lens (i.e. the whole assembly retains a small profile). I personally find this extremely agreable to handholding, as there is hardly anything "in the way". If you turn the foot to the top, you end up having something like a little "platform" on which you could mount e.g. a flash that then sits close to the front of the lens (for macrophotography stalking with a diopter [i have the Canon 500D]).<br>

The only minor drawback of the small profile might be, when mounted on a macro-rail for instance: the small clearance between lens and foot also means that the camera sits "lower", which might cause a problem when changing horizontal/vertical orientation. But when this is know, it is easily circumvented by placing the camera/lens far enough to the rear of the rail so that the body can turn freely.</p>

<p>Stability: it's rock solid! No flex, nothing. I guess the lens would be damaged before the collar starts to wobble...</p>

<p>Price: well.... I bought my lens second-hand with the collar for a price which was very good for the lens alone. When I discovered what the collar costs, my purchase had to be deemed fantastic! This collar is expensive, here in Europe its far over 200 US$ new.<br /> Whether it is worth that much in terms of what you need (e.g. how much do you gain in stability, how bad is your current collar, etc.) depends on your case.<br /> In terms of what you get for the money, I certainly think it is worth it (you could certainly spend your money on less useful accessories).<br>

I don't have my lens with me at the moment and will not get back to it before next week, but here is a link to a picture that I found on the net which shows the collar that I have: <a href="http://hannu.mallat.fi/opinions/images/bz_80_200.jpg">http://hannu.mallat.fi/opinions/images/bz_80_200.jpg</a></p>

<p>I hope this helps.<br>

Daniel</p>

 

<p>I second the suggestion of the film advance selector perhaps being set to Multiple Exposures. I once realized that exact mistake when I started wondering just how long that film must be.... :)</p>

<p>Wow! Thanks a lot for all the great answers!<br>

I do agree that a straight replacement is probably the best solution. I can always look on eBay for a 167MT, but we have a couple of photography fairs / second-hand markets / yard sales coming up in the next 2 months here in Switzerland, and I wanted to know about some alternatives in case I trip over something on one of these.<br>

Donnie: Thanks for the link, I have not yet looked on the US market, but that offer sure looks good. If I don't find anything locally (hands-on purchase), I guess that might be the way to go.<br>

So I will also keep an eye out for (cheap) Arias or 159s as well as look at Yashica FX-3s (I will take along the defective 167MT to compare the "handling").<br>

These infos really help me widen the search, and having more alternatives increases the chance of finding something for a fair price (this kind of equipment is rather expensive over here in Europe).</p>

<p>Again, thank you all for the swift and excellent responses!<br>

Daniel</p>

<p>Hello everybody<br>

My parents-in-law used a Contax 167MT for probably as long as the camera exists. Unfortunately the camera broke due to a fall and there appear to be broken parts (rattling of loose bits inside the camera) affecting the shutter and winding mechanism. A local camera repair shop expressed little hope of fixing it for less than I would have to spend for a "new" second-hand one.<br>

So, looking to get them a replacement, I realized that the following points are important:</p>

<ul>

<li>as identical as possible in terms of operation! This is crucial. Being well in their seventies, they still enjoy taking pictures, but might have a rather hard time learning how to operate a camera "with far to many buttons" (as they refer to my DSLR :)</li>

<li>Not much heavier than the 167MT </li>

<li>Compatibility with their lenses, flash etc.</li>

</ul>

<p>The obvious choice would be to get them another 167MT. But then I saw that models like the Aria, NX or RTS II / III might be alternatives (based on their weight and that they look similar, I know that's hardly an argument, but I really know nothing about Contax). If there was a body that meets the criteria above, it might facilitate finding a replacement (perhaps even a better one).<br>

So my question goes to people that have experience with the 167MT and other Contax bodies: If I need a body that requires almost no re-learning / adjusting in terms of operation, what are my options?</p>

<p>Thank you all in advance!</p>

<p>The same happened to me on my 24-85 f/2.8-4, my mainstay travel-lens (read: lots of exposure to sunlight, heat, cold, sweat, dust etc). When it came totally loose in the field I had to fix the problem with cable-binders...<br>

Anyway: Nikon replaced the rubber and now I have a very well-used and scuffed looking lens with a shiny new rubber grip. Cost me about 30 dollars (though here in Switzerland such things are pretty expensive).<br>

You could reglue it yourself, but most often there are screws hidden bebeath the rubber grips, which need to be accessed in case of a repair. That's why the rubber grips are glued on in a way so that they can be taken off again. If you glue it on with superglue it will hold forever, but you will have problems having your lens repaired (at least by Nikon).</p>

<p>Shawn - Do the filters still "hold" when they should with the silicone applied (meaning: do they not come lose by themselves too much)?</p>

The main problem is the lens-flange to film-plane distance: Nikon has 46.50mm, while Canon has 44.00mm (EOS) or 42.00mm (FD). SO: Nikon lenses are designed to have 46.50mm available, meaning that when you want to put a Nikon lens on a Canon body, you have 4.50mm of thickness available (on an EOS mount) for the adapter.<br>

BUT: when you want to put a Canon lens (designed to have 44.00 or 42.00mm between lens flange and film) on a Nikon body (where this lens can impossibly be closer than 46.50mm to the film) you have the problem of always having the lens to far away from the film.<br>

This gives you the same result as when you would put an extension ring inbetween, meaning you at least lose infinity focus).<br>

You might not need inifity focus with the macro applications you intend, but I have no idea whether it will not pose other optical problems as well. And last but not least, due to these limitations there are - as far as I know - no adapters available for Canon lenses on Nikon mounts.<p>

Good luck,<br>

Daniel

hehe... glad to hear it worked! My solution was simply born out of the fact that I usually have neither a filter wrench nor masking tape with me.... :)

This happens to me more often than I would like with my slim polarizers for various wide-angle lenses... <br>

You could either purchase a set of filter wrenches (e.g. <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/251749-REG/General_Brand_Filter_Wrench_Set_of.html" >these</a>), or simply use a thin leather strap like one of the original nikon straps: wrap it around the filter, so that the edge of the strap lies on the thin part where you are supposed to gript the filter in order to screw it in/out. Then "tighten" the strap and twist. DO NOT FORCE IT OVERMUCH! But I usually get mine free after a minute or so.<br>

There are other methods involving cooling the filter etc, but - at least to me - these things always happen in the field.<p>

Good luck!

The apertures are:<p>

- 35mm: f/3.2 - f/25<br>

- 50mm: f/3.5 - f/29<br>

- 60mm: f/3.8 - f/32<br>

- 70mm: f/4 - f/32 (identical to 85mm... not exactly sure why.)<p>

This is really a nice little and very versatile lens. It is one of my primary "travel" lenses. Have fun with it!

Thanks to both for answering.<p>

 

To Josh: the previous day's "daily samplings" would be nice... a day goes by quite quick :)<p>

 

To Peter: Of course I would have used the history, but I was at a computer that I do not have access to anymore, that's why I should have marked the person as interesting or emailed myself the link or... <br>

BUT: It is indeed that shot, thanks a lot for finding it!<p>

*goes off to bookmark the smoke portfolio and Mehmet Ozgur as interesting* ;-)

I would also suggest to check the possibility of a Kenko teleconverter. I have no idea concerning the usability of IS with them or how your 28-135mm will look through a 2x TC, as I come from the Nikon side.<br>

What I can say is that my 80-200/2.8 produces very nice results (only very slight image degradation or loss of sharpness) even with the 2x TC from Kenko (the Pro 300), my 70-300/4-5.6 is pretty much a soft watercolor picture at 300mm with the 2x.<p>

SO: it very much depends on the initial quality of the lens I guess.<br>

Obviously the degradation is less with the 1.4x (would give you up to 300mm).<p>

Concerning manual focus: while it can be argued that wildlife photography is easiest with a fast AF (USM in Canons case), I find that as soon as you are dealing with 300mm or more, handholding will not often be an option (especially with anything else but immensely expensive pro glass or massively cranking up the ISO), so your "shooting speed" will be limited by that anyway... and anything slow or stationary enough for normal beanbag or tripod work (without something like a wimberley sidekick etc) will also allow manual focussing. AF (unless with USM) will not be too fast with a TC anyway and if your lens gets above f/5.6 - f/8 (depending on the AF-module of you camera) with the loss in f/stop, you will have trouble with the AF anyway.<p>

If you want to check the TC's, make sure that you check the one you want to buy with YOUR lens and YOUR body to make sure everything works.<p>

Also, when down there, check if you come by a rearing station where they grow animals to be released into the wild. We visited a cheetah rearing station (can't remember right now where it was exactly), where it was possible to take pictures of cheetahs (even baby cheetahs) from rather close (though behind a fence, but this is not visible if shot with a tele lens and not too large DOF).<p>

Have fun on the trip!<p>

Daniel

Hello all<p>

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was intrigued by the smoke picture in

yesterday's "daily sampling" and wanted to bookmark the portfolio. Unfortunately

I didn't, as I was not on my computer and I stupidly didn't mark the person as

interesting or such, so I simply have no clue what he or the picture was called.

<p>

I tried searching the gallery for "smoke" but always get the "database busy"

error. I tried searching for portfolios with "smoke" but didn't find any. I also

remember that the photographer had a portfolio called "thin lines" but that

doesn't appear in the portfolio list either.

<p>

Is there any other way to search?<p>

 

Sorry for the trouble, and thanks for helping :)<p>

Daniel

Here are some links to sites about self-made high-speed triggers (the "bullet through watermelon" kind :)<p>

Sound-triggers that can possibly me made by someone with even a little skill in electronics:<br>

<a href=http://www.diyphotography.net/taxonomy_menu/1/15/2/22>http://www.diyphotography.net/taxonomy_menu/1/15/2/22</a> <p>

A laser-trigger that looks extremely well designed and accurate and fancy... and difficult to build! (No detailed building instructions, but it's interesting anyway. The site has many AMAZING projects on it, check it out!)<br>

<a href=http://bea.st/sight/doubleTrigger/index.shtml>http://bea.st/sight/doubleTrigger/index.shtml</a> <p>

From the same guy: a break-beam IR trigger (again, no detailed info, but looks nice)<br>

<a href=http://bea.st/sight/breakbeam/>http://bea.st/sight/breakbeam/</a><p>

And another site, with details:<br>

<a href=http://www.hiviz.com/tools/triggers/makeown.htm>http://www.hiviz.com/tools/triggers/makeown.htm</a><p>

Hope it helps, have fun<p>

Daniel

I have the round rubber eyecup on the D200 (I think it's the DK-3, held in place by the sqaure-to-round eyepiece adaptor and neutral eyepiece-glass for an FM, I don't remember the exact designations of these pieces right now). <br>

ANYWAY: that rubber eyecup (also the DK-6 for the F100 etc) has the right size for putting a rear lens cap over it, and I always have a spare one of these with me anyway. Putting it on and taking it off is a matter of a second and the cap is larger than the eyepiece cover (and thus less easily lost).

Well, I once managed to fling my photo-backpack back over one shoulder without noticing that it was not entirely closed. My 20-35 f/2.8 (at that time still a 2000+ Dollar lens) made a nice 2m trajectory but failed to attain orbit... resulting in a very ungraceful landing on concrete. <br>

After the initial cardiac arrest, I went to examine it and Lo and behold! the lens hood was broken into 3 parts but the damage to the lens itself was only a somewhat bent filter thread (which cost me around 30 bucks to have it perfectly repaired) and a few scratches on the outside of the barrel, no damage to the glass at all. That lens hood definitively saved my lens!<P>

Lesson: either you have brains, or you have lens hoods ;-)

Hmm... I don't think you have to spend 400 Euros for another camera...

Here in Switzerland, you can get F100's for 300 Euros or less and F80's for 90 Euros or such. And that is for Second hand bodies in very good to almost mint condition from reputable camera stores. I don't know where you live and what the current rates at your location are, but you should certainly not pay 400 Euros for an F80! <br>

I somehow doubt that you can get yours fixed for less than 90 Euros... so I would nonetheless consider a "new" F80.

A nice one, that might start you out can be found here:<p>

<a href="http://www.johnshawphoto.com/tips/presentation_frame.html">John Shaw: making a presentation frame</a>

I have both types of clamps from Really Right Stuff. While I like the fast handling of the lever-type clamp, I found that it (at least mine) is apparently slightly wider if fully closed than the screw-types.<br>

This does not pose problems with any of my RRS plates, but I have two lens collars made by Burzynski (for the first version 80-200 f/2.8 and the 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor) and the plates on these are slightly less wide than the RRS ones (we talk fractions of milimeters, but it is sufficient). While this works with the screw-type RRS clamps, they are not tight enough with the lever-type. I do not know if these plares are identical to the original Arca-Swiss plates, and the RRS are as a whole slightly wider. Anyway, with the screw-type everything is fine.

As Jeff said in his first post, there might be a problem of load. If the weight of Body + lens is not centered over the front standard, the resulting lever can cause the standard to "stick", making focusing difficult. I once had this problem when mounting an 80-200 f/2.8 on a similar looking bellows (can't remember the brand), the leverage of the lens made it stick. I solved the problem by using a PB6, which was sturdy enough.<p>

On another note: if you are going to buy a focusing rail, I would suggest to stay away from those types that focus with a worm drive like the one from <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=723&A=details&Q=&sku=162665&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation" >Manfrotto</a>. Turning a wheel on the side like on the bellows seems far more intuitive to me.<br>

The Manfrotto design on the other hand has the advantage of being able to hold (and not slip) a larger weight when pointed downward without tightening of the securing screw.

Having the focus mode on S WITHOUT setting the custom setting to release priority (so that it really only shoots when in focus) can sometimes be helpful if shooting macro hand held (usually with manual focusing). <br>

You set focusing distance (and thus the desired magnification), then gradually approach the object with the shutter pressed. It will then shoot when the object is in focus, acting like a "focus-trap-trigger".

Sometimes this is a bit easier than trying to focus and shoot at the almost same time so that you do not loose focus in between... <p>

Daniel

Another recommendation for the Gitzo G2220! By far the most versatile tripod I've ever seen.<p>

Concerning the head: While a pan & tilt head (or even a geared head) might be slightly easier to position precisely than a ballhead (at least if you do not buy a (very) high quality one), the latter might be more suitable for other types of photography you intend to do as well... think about that as well. <br>

If you look for a pan & tilt, consider one that does not have these long handles on all axes. While they make adjustments easier, they very easily get into the way when you are working close to the ground or close to your object.<p>

Last but not least (as said by others), a focusing rail is more or less a must! Look for one that does not have a dead-zone (meaning: if you change between forward/backward it should not lag, and in general it should not budge without turning the geared wheel), as this may cause some frustration when trying to find the exact focus.<br>

I found the combination of 2 focusing rails to be very practical: one for focusing and the other to move the whole setup left/right as this is otherwise only possible by adjusting or moving the tripod (which is hard to do in tiny increments). <p>

Have fun!

If you HAVE to travel light or are not allowed to use a tripod/monopod, a simple trick is to have a cord of a bit more length than the height of your eyelevel screwed into the base of your camera. <p>

Whenever there is no way to brace against anything, you simply attach the cord, step on it and draw it taut. This works somewhat like a monopod and is certainly better than nothing. And it is very lightweight and usually not frowned upon by museum guards.