adrian_twiss

I was not aware that any Pentacon Six had a mirror lock up as standard. I thought that was incorporated into the Exacta 66. Could it me that these cameras you refer to have been modified?

Please accept my apologies for the appalling spelling in my last contribution to this thread.

I emailed Kalimex about the differences between Hartblei and ordinary Kieve 88s as the price differentials were quick substantial. It would appear that the only difference between the Hartblei and Kiev is that the Hartblei will take Hasselblad backs whereas the Kiev will not. You should also be aware that if you buy Russian backs for a Hartblei they cost approx. twice as much as the Kiev backs. With regard to options both Hartbleis and Kievs come with optional interior flocking, optional cloth shutters and various two different types of mirror lock. I have no idea if Hartbleis undergo stricter quality control over modified Kievs. The response from Kalimex that I received did not suggest that this was the case. I suspect that Hartblei buyers do have that extra piece of mind regarding the reliability of Hasselblad backs. Kalimex are a very helpful company who try and respond to emails quickly (when their server lets them). Alex Pesarenko seems knowledgable and keen to give good service. However his grammar in his emails is rather prosaic.

Charles

 

You have a couple of options. The first is to buy lenses for the Pentacon Six. Some examples are 50mm Flektogon, 65mm Flektogon, 120mm Biometer and 180mm Sonnar. All these lenses are highly regarded. The other option is to look for Schnieder lenses manufactured for the Exacta 66. I understand that there are nearly 20 lenses available including zooms. They are also very highly regarded and very expensive. Pentacon 6 lenses in good condition will not disappoint and are a bit lighter on the pocket. With regard to Russian lenses, I have heard that they are quite good. I have a multi coated 120mm Vega and am more than satisfied with it.

 

Good Hunting

 

Adrian

A long time ago I had an old MPP Micropress 5X4 camera. I liked the

movements because I was interested in architectural photography.

These days I non longer have access to a 5x4 enlarger so large format

is out of the question.

 

I have noticed that Speed Graphic view cameras are readily available

and not too expensive in the US. However there seems to be a

bewildering selection to choose from.

 

What I am looking for is a 6X7 with roll film backs and ground glass

focussing. Does such a model exist. Also any other information on

the graphic range of cameras. I am looking for a practical usable

camera with movements but am not in a position to spend thousands of

pounds (I'm British. I would also like build a small lens collection.

 

I would be grateful for any advice.

 

Thank you

 

Adrian Twiss

I have spoken to Michael Fourman who is the proprietor of Kiev Camera. I am led to understand that he has colleagues in the Ukraine who modifies standard Kiev cameras. I asked him about his return policy and he told me that If I was not satisfied I was to send the camera back and he would give me another one. He also tells me that he has no repair facilities of his own which is why he simply replaces them. Having studies the wealth of material on Kiev cameras I have come to the conclusion that there are many small independants who conduct their business in an informal (but I must stress completely honest) way. The choice the customer must make is whether to accept the stability of an established company like Kiev USA or take a leap of faith and try one of the smaller (and less expensive) alternatives. I think that if you can be modarately sure that the smaller independants are worth a try only if you can be reasonably assured that they will still be around when you need them. With regard to Kalimex they can probably be regarded as the European equivalent of Kiev USA but with lower prices. I am still trying to decide who to do business with. On one hand Kalimex seem large and established with an excellent product range but can be very slow in getting back to me. Kiev Camera are quick responders but I have no idea of their structure. You Americans are quite lucky. At least you have one home grown repair facility. If you ask a British repair company to repair a Kiev the give you a bag and a small shovel and tell you to give it a decent burial. However take heart even unmodified Kiev 88s are better than the truly dreadful Zenith 80.

I own a Pentacon Six TL. I am by no means an expert on it but would advise the following. The weakest part of these cameras is the film transport mechanism, mainly the winder. You have to treat the winder very carefully. The thing you have to avoid at all costs is allowing the wind on lever to spring back after winding on. This will cause winder failure after a very short period.

Have you considered the Meopta range on enlargers. You can pick up an Opemus 6 with colour head, transformer and mixing chamber for a very reasonable sum. The savings will then enable you to buy a top line lens such as Nikkor or Schneider Companon. I appreciate that these enlargers may be regarded as second class compared to more glamorous makes but I can personally say that they are very well built. They are an all metal construction with a good solid column and generous base board. Also the technicians at Meopta UK are very helpful. Their retail arm is RK Photographic in Ballards Lane, London. Their web site is www.meopta.uk. You can pick up a second hand Opemus 6 for well under #100.00. If you send the condenser head to RK Photographic they will sell you a colour head, transformer and mixing box for #140. For an extra #9.00 they will even collect it and send you the colour head. Whilst I would not consider myself an expert photographer by any means I am fussy about my equipment. I find my Opemus enlarger meets my expectations.

 

Good luck

Franz

 

Cokin have just brougth out a new range of pro filters which are

110 sq mm. I can't remember what they are called but your local camera store should be able to help.

 

 

Adrian

Andrew

 

I would suggest looking for 55mm and 180 lenses and a either a C220 or 330 body. You can still get C33 bodies but if they required repair you would have trouble finding parts. The 55mm lens equates to a 33mm in 35mm terms and the 180 is about 108mm. One other point, no matter how much of a bargain they seem to be don't buy chrome lenses. These are also very difficult to repair due to lack of spare parts.

 

Enjoy

Adrian

I have just purchased a very clean Pentacon Six with pentaprism and

would be please to hear from anyone who have used these cameras. I

am particularly interested in any do's and don'ts that are not

covered by the owners manual.

 

I want to build up a system for landscape photography and will use a

mixture of Zeiss and Kiev lenses. I would welcome opinions from

anyone who has used either brand.

 

Thank you.

 

Adrian Twiss

I have been a devotee of ilford developers for some time and would like to suggest Microphen for fast films. Microphen gives fine grain and an increase in speed.

 

For medium & slow speed films try ID11.

 

Both are sold in powder form.

 

For those who despise visible grain then Perceptol is for you (with a loss of film speed).

This is a most interesting guide but I would like to comment from the perspective of someone living in the UK (hopefully for the benefit of fellow 'Brits' who, like me, access this forum on a regular basis. I have given a lot of thought about buying a Kiev for similar reasons to Ed, i.e. a good variety of quality lenses at a reasonable price and the modular nature of the camera. However even giving favourable exchange rates British buyers still have to pay customs duty and VAT which narrows the price savings considerably. As far as I am aware there are no British dealers importing modified Kievs at the moment. When all is said and done we British may be better off looking for used Mamiyas or Bronicas. This is a shame really because I personally think that Kievs have quite a bit of charm and are fun to use. The other stumbling block is that we have long time delays and high shipping costs in the event of sending an item of equipment back under warranty. On a technical note I have never seen any mention of the Kiev users cardinal sin of changing the shutter speed before winding on. This would totally wreck the shutter on the onld Zenith 80 but does the same thing happen with the Kiev?

Whether you buy an AE prism finder or not you will come accross occasions where using a hand held meter may be more appropriate. As you are looking for a modestly priced hand held meter I would suggest that you look for a quality second hand meter. A spot meter although perhaps the best way, in my humble opinion, to take luminance readings may be out of your price ranges. Meters such as a second hand Weston Euromaster or one of the Gossen range would certainly be useful. The differences in how hand held meters are used compared to metered prisms are such that it would be useful to have both anyway. Used intelligently hand held meters are capable of producing as accurate an exposure as a metered prism. The metered prism is, of course more convenient and, if I remember correctly, has an angle of acceptance equal to the view of the lens you are using. A hand held meter has a fixed angle of acceptance. The angle of acceptance for Westons and similar types is between 20 and 30 degrees and spot meters are anything from 5 degrees to one degree. To summarise I would suggest that you get yourself a hand held meter first and then buy the AE prism when funds permit. An excellent discussion on meters and metering practice can be found in Ansel Adams' book "The Negative". I believe its chapter 3. Good luck and let me know how you get on. Regards Adrian Twiss

I once used an old Pentacon Six that did not have a mirror lock up. The mirror does cause vibrations making hand held shots under 1/125 sec impractical. The other factor is the weight of the camera. I found that it was safer to use a tripod at 1/125 sec and below. Mirror lockup on a camera this large is a real benefit. As you say using the mirror lock up function precludes free shooting. If you want to work without mirror lock up I would recommend using an ISO 400 film. The large negative will take care of the extra granularity. If, like me, you prefer slow films and shoot mainly landscapes then you will have to use a tripod. I recommend the Benbo trekker which is suprisingly robust for its light weight and would cope with a Kiev 60. As to how mirror lock up works, once the image is composed and focussed the lock up lever is pressed and the mirror rises into the raised position and stays up. When the exposure is made only the shutter moves resulting in much less vibration. The mirror will remain locked up until you release it. I have MLU on two of my older Canon cameras (an FX and FTB) and can vouch for its usefulness for slow shutter speeds. The mirror on the Kiev is much larger and I would imagine would 'go off' with a hell of a bang when the shutter is released.

Two possible answers to this problem. One would be that the shutter timer is worn out. The other is lack of use. A possible solution to the second answer is to "exercise" the slow speeds by repeatedly cocking and firing the shutter. A word of warning, this will take a long time. I had a similar proplem with an 80mm Sekor lens and after a few hours in front of the television I got my slow speeds back. That said even if you manage to sort the problem out this way I would have the the lens stripped and cleaned. This is somewhat cheaper than having it fully overhalled. Compur shutters are quite robust.

Good luck.

The Yashicamat is a reasonable camera. I used a pair of them semi professionally for about 3 years and had no trouble with them. I would strongly recommend not bothering with the meter. A hand held meter is by far the more suitable alternative. I have a Soligor spot meter and find it so accurate and easy to use I don't bother using the meters on my 35mm cameras. One of your respondants mentioned the Minolta Autocord. I would agree with him. I replaced one of my Yasicas with one of these cameras and it was superiour. The only problem is that they are getting a bit old. If you are really serious about MF be patient and save up enough to by a Mamiyflex.

They open up a whole extra dimension in TLR photography.

Thank you to all those who were kind enough to respond to my question.

The problem has been traced to a deformation of the front lens panel which was preventing the bellows fully retracting. This is essential to correctly position wide angle lenses at infinity. As the panel is twisted it is highly likely that all lenses will suffer from inconsistent focus. I am putting the body in for repair.

I have recently purchased a Mamiya C33 together with a 65mm and 105mm.

Whilst doing some checks I noticed that the 65mm did not seem to be in

focus at infinity. I did an infinity check with both my 105mm and

80mm lenses and these were fine. I then mounted the 65mm lens on an

old C2 body I had lying around and dicovered that it was perfectly

sharp at infinity. This leaves me with the problem of not knowing

whether the lens or the body is at fault. I would welcome any

suggestions please. On another topic am I required to make an

exposure adjustment when using the 105mm. I notice that at infinity

the lens is racked out quite far. There is also a dial on the left

hand side of the body that gives a film speed of (for example) of

100ASA for a 105mm lens if the dial is set at 125ASA for an 80mm lens.

Please forgive me if this seems a little incoherent. I have just

finished a night shift at work.

One of the drawbacks with an extinction meter is that once the eye has acclimatised to the view it becomes increasingly difficult to operate. I noticed in the responses that someone mentioned that they owned a photometer. I have never used them but Michael Langford in his book Basic Photography says they can be extremely accurate if not somewhat easily damaged. I also suspect that they are expensive. My own preference is to use a spot meter or a Weston light meter depending on the situation. It is ironic that when shooting 35mm I no longer use the camera's built in meter.

As far as I am aware the MPP is no longer made althought there are a

large number of examples about. I don't think that they were intended

as a copy of the linhof, more like a view camera in their own right. As to build quality I suspect that they were not as well made as the Linhof nor did they have as many features. That is not to say that they were not a fine camera. I owned a MPP Micropress for a while. It was a very nice camera but I was lucky enough to have access to a 5x4 enlarger. Good luck and good hunting.