ken_munn

Matt - why? There are other, newer alternatives like the Fuji GW670 which are excellent cameras, new, under warranty, don't have the potential problems of a bellows, lens panels going out of parallel, or meters being off. And they are half the price of a 30 year Plaubel. Much as I'm an admirer of classic kit, buying something like a Plaubel as a 'user', when there are good modern alternatives, seems to make no sense. Of, course, if you want to put it on a shelf and admire it, different criteria apply.

Not only is there the manufacturer's profit to consider. There is also the dealer and the retailer. Without being rude about Mamiya's US dealer which seems to have a totally different profit expectation from everyone else, the dealer has to make enough profit to subsidise expert staff, repair facilities, warranty repair costs, stock holding and spare parts inventory, plus local marketing/promo costs. Similarly the retailer needs to pay expert staff - a pro won't accept advice from a spotty school-leaver when shopping for a multi-thousand $ purchase - good stocks and many accessories, all for relatively slow selling items. So there are at least three profit margins compounded into the end price, plus, of course state and central sales taxes and maybe import duties. It's entirely possible that the body and lens you want did only cost the manufacturer $500 to make, but your plastic gets hit for $2000 because of 'distribution chain' costs.

Test a roll of Kodak Porta 160NC. It's advertised as a portrait film, but I've found it very reliable for landscapes. Or, as has been said recently around here, decide which lab you want to use for process and printing, then ask their printer which film he or she would recommend.

Scott - Ten Top Tips

 

I have faced a similar dilemma many times. If you are a neophyte sailor there are several things you may not realise.

 

1) Pictures of your boat taken on your boat are almost always boring. Exception � happy crew in cockpit, or aerial view taken from up the mast.

 

2) Pictures of other boats taken from your boat are much more interesting.

 

3) Pictures of boats always look best in bright, sparkly weather when there is little chance of your camera getting unexpectedly doused.

 

4) Boats move constantly and tripods are no good. So use a camera which you can handhold (one handed if necessary) AND keep steady.

 

5) In rough weather you will be too pre-occupied/cold/sick/frightened/uncomfortable to take pictures. Even if you are not you will only have one hand available for picture taking as you will be hanging on to something with the other.

 

6) In rough weather 'downstairs' in a yacht turns into something resembling a cross between a pillow fight in a dormitory, an exploded washing machine and a demolition derby. Your camera is most likely to be below in rough weather, which is where it may be impacted by a flying soup can/snatch block/pair of dividers/hand-held GPS/binoculars/kettle, etc.

 

7) Nearly all pro 'on board' photographers shoot one form or another of 35mm. Only boat portraitists (see www.beken.co.uk) use medium format regularly.

 

8) Wide angle is better than standard.

 

9) Flash and saltwater can be exciting, even shocking.

 

10) Other crew members may not appreciate you calling time out for pix just when they want to drop a kite, pull a reef, or throw a quick tack. Cameras should therefore be a)robust enough or b)cheap enough to be thrown down a hatch/dropped in a cockpit locker/stuffed in to a pocket which may contain a shackle key, a sodden necktowel and a half eaten chocolate bar.

 

My default sailing camera was a Nikon AW/AF 35 compact. Robust, rubberised, waterproof to a meter or two of submersion, autofocus, one-handed operation, sharp 35mm f/2.8 lens, flotation strap. Unfortunately it swallowed some Mediterranean during a film change a couple of years back. It has been replaced by a Pentax something or other waterproof zoom compact which is only half as good.

 

Don't let me dissuade you from taking your Fudgy, but don't expect to use it to often, and make sure it is somewhere very secure and well wedged if it comes up rough.

Best way to up contrast is to push the film a stop or two.

Try Oldtimer Cameras. e-mail otc@f22.co.uk

Try http://www.meopta.cz./history/

Hearsay on my part because I've never even been near one, but I believe the Rollei SL66 has movements.

Usually - though there are no hard and fast rules in the world of old cameras - 2.8s cost more than 3.5s. But unless you are a low light specialist, you'll never need that expensive extra stop. For most subjects you'll want to shoot at f8 or f11 for optimum performance plus d-o-f. So go for the best 3.5 your money will stretch to. And hurry, the prices for good Rolleiflexes seem to be going up every month - in the UK at least.

Not a direct answer, but have you tried a Rolleifix. This is a proprietary tripod mounting which slides over the round plate on the base of the camera and locates firmly in place by latching into two small sockets on the bottom front of the body, then locks using an over-centre lever. Effectively, this spreads the tripod load over three points of contact, reducing the possibility of damage to the camera back. Mine cost GBP 29 used. They often appear in dealer's lists and on e-bay.

Rolleiflexes have a clever bit of deign. As you focus closer so a mask under the viewfinder moves to compensate for the parallax change. This only works at normal focussing distances - adding a diopter would change things.

 

Take a close look at your Minolta, it may have the same function.

There were lots of Japanese knock-offs of the Rolleiflex style German TLR's, post war. Yashicamat, Minolta Autocord and Mamiya 220/330 made it through to global recognition. Many others didn't. Sounds like Zenoflex may have one of many that fell on stony ground.

 

Why not ask the store if you can put a film through it, to see if it is worth owning?

Hey Pall,

 

You can't hide in cyberspace. We know who you are and you can anticipate lots of questions about photographing glaciers, waterfalls, volcanos, retired killer whales, aliminium smelter construction sites, etc. Not to mention 4x4 super trucks, coming as you do from their ancestral home.

 

Congrats on your work.

The best Rollei you can buy. Reason: these are both old machines. The Rollei has a reputation for carved-from-solid construction and there is a small industry dedicated to keeping them in service. Being polite about the Yashica, it doesn't have as good as reputation, and it is more difficult to get fixed.

Find a rich, foolish person who is disposing of an Alpa or Silvestri outfit at a fire sale price.

 

http://www.alpa.ch/alpa/alpa12.html

 

http://www.silvestricamera.com/intro.htm

I'd second David's suggestion, but go further by suggesting that you buy a 5x4 view camera and use it with a roll film back. This would give you all the movements you'll ever need, offer the economy of shooting on 120 stock, the possibility of shooting 5x4 if you ever need to, and will probably work out to be cheaper than looking for a new MF view camera.

 

If you want to investigate further, directing a suitable question at the LF forum (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=Large%20format%20photography) will generate model suggestions.

This is an area of photogrpahy where my knowledge is limited - so please help if you can.

 

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I recently bought a 6x9 (cm) monorail camera. It came with a 65mm Angulon, a 135 SK Xenar, and a 105 Zeiss Planar. The Xenar & Planar are in Compur shutters. Of these three lenses, the Zeiss is in the worst condition, and because it is only 30mm different from the Schneider, my thinking is to replace it with a third, longer lens.

 

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The main purpose for a longer lens would be portraiture. On 35mm I like to shoot portraits at the 135-150mm range, so according to my shaky maths the 6x9 equivalent would be approx 330mm.

 

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My questions are: firstly, what older but repectable performers are there around at that sort of focal length, and would such be a sensible addition to a 6x9 outfit? Secondly, am I likely to run into any problems with length of bellows draw? Thirdly, if such a lens were used in a non-portrait application, would it throw an image circle big enough to allow some use of movements?

 

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TIA for any help.

 

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Ken (UK)

All the machines you quote are high precision instruments, use many custom components, are manufactured in very small numbers (relative to cheaper SLRs or P&Ss) and are consequently inherently expensive to produce.

 

Then the dealers for them have to carry stocks of bodies, lenses, accessories, with a relatively slow rate of sale, making for low stock turn. They have to employ expert staff. Therefore they have high overheads and demand a reasonable profit margin. Many governments regard photographic gear as non-essential luxuries, and whack them for tax. And on top of that there are national, state or city sales taxes.

 

Result - expensive gear. But in the real world I see no linkage with the price of rice. Banning hi-end kit, or mandatorily halving its price would not put more food on more tables. It's your choice, feed a family in Bangladesh, or buy a 'blad.

Reinforcing Sergio's last comments, I wouldn't worry too much about exactly which model and age, rather more about condition.

 

Obviously F models replaced E's, so are younger. The F had a very long life span, starting in '58 and ending in '81. Essentially, the younger model you can find the better, but an young E might have been better cared for and less (ab)used than a young F.

 

Check everything very carefully, especially shutter speeds and film transport. Slow shutter speeds can become slower with age and lack of use. Often, just exercising the shutter (firing it a good few times) can loosen things up and put the speeds back online. The film transport system has a lot of cogs, cams, etc in it and these can wear with heavy, or heavy handed use. Shoot a film and look at the spacing between shots. A good one will give you almost even spacing. A bad one will jump all over the place, and frames may even overlap.

 

Problems with the lenses you can probably see on B or T setting by a close examination with the back open or removed (On my F the back latches off very easily, don't know if the same applies to the E).

 

Other common problems, apart from the obvious cosmetic ones, relate to twisting. Sometimes the back can have been twisted, meaning either (or both) the film pressure plate is out of parallel with the focus plane, making part or all of the shot o-o-f; or that there are light leaks and some fogging of the film. This should obvious with a careful examination. A common cause of back twist is use on a tripod without the proprietary Rolleifix accessory which transfers some of the stress caused by the tripod from the camera back into hard points in the camera chassis.

 

The lens panel can also get twisted meaning that what you see as in- focus through the viewing lens doesn't correspond with the focus achieved by the taking lens. This is fairly obvious if you wind the focus knob back to infinity. The gap between the lens panel and the camera body behind it should be uniform all the way around. If it's not, walk away or factor some repair dollars into the deal.

 

Another area to compare is the focus screen. These improved incrementally as the last century progressed, so younger is almost always brighter. However, this is still 30 year old glass (at least) and there is a thriving trade in supplying better focussing screens for these cameras. You'll find correspondence on this by using the search facility on photo.net.

 

By and large these machines were built to last, and you shouldn't worry about buying a 50 year old E if it looks better than a 30 year old F. Unless anything very peculiar is wrong, they are still repairable/refurbishable and you'll find correspondence on this by using the search facility on photo.net.

 

As to Planar vs Xenotar, it's an argument without resolution, some claim one, some claim the other, and the majority happily accept that either is an excellent performer. The Planar usually commands a higher price (all else in the cameras' conditions being equal) because it is more attractive to collectors. Just don't ask me why!

I'm no expert on this topic, but there is a dealer nearby whose window I look in sometimes, and who carries quite a lot of former beyond-the-iron curtain stuff. There's usually a Flexaret or two, but I'm not sure which models. Prices are around GBP 60 - 80, say US$100 - 150.

 

Hope it helps.

Can you buy/rent a polaroid?

 

Take a polaroid of the group first, then ask them to write their details on it. This gives you something to match with later. Failing this, for the first shot of each group ask them to hold a sheet of paper with their details in shot. Again, you can then match later.

Was there last summer and used both Velvia and Ektachrome 100VS -

preferred the latter.

 

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Echo the sentiment not to do too much (I did). I particularly liked

Zion canyon (especially in the river at the narrow end), Canyon de

Chelly for the Cottonwoods and the Anasazi remains, and would have

liked to get into at least one slot canyon (but there were storms

around when we were there). The most accessible are the upper and

lower Antelope Canyons near Page (? is that the right town - it's the

one near the Glen canyon dam at the downstream end of the Lake Powell

sewage lagoon.)

 

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Ken

Most TLR's are complete and entire in themselves. Blads are not, they are elements in a system.

 

Buy a TLR and that's it, transaction over.

 

Buy a Blad, and you immediately start thinking how nice it would be to have an extra back for mono, a meter prism, a portrait lens, a heavier tripod, a wide angle, a bellows for macro work, a third back for faster film, etc. Before long, you own a cupboard full of the bladdy stuff, while domestic harmony and the bank account suffer.

 

I say, keep it simple, sell the japanese and chinese TLR's, and buy the real thing - Rolleiflex.

Try Jessops Classic Collection 0207 831 3956.

 

They had it last time I was in there - about 6 months back.

Try

 

http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/glue.html

 

It will also navigate you into other useful Rollei info.