michael_p2

<p>I went through this decision process about six months ago - looking at lots of Rolleiflex 3.5 E and F's. I ended up paying $700 for a 3.5F 'user' that was not in the best cosmetic condition but which had been given an overhaul by its owner - a former Rollei-trained camera store technician. It's the best purchasing decision I've made in a decade - I love the Rolleiflex and my shooting style has changed enormously. I love the way the Rolleiflex makes me think about composition more, and slows down the process of taking a picture. I love the images the Planar lens produces - especially wide open. I was never really interested in TLRs until a year ago - now I'm a convert.</p>

<p>Thanks for your helpful answers - problem solved! I dunked the opaque film back in some new fixer and it cleared up. It's great to have 'rescued' my lost images.</p>

<p>I am quite new to the B&W developing scene. I have settled on using Ilford chemicals - the LC29 developer and Ilford Fixer, and using Fuji Neopan Across 100 film. Today, I developed three rolls of film in this way. The first two came out really well, but the third came out as if only one side of the film had been developed. What I mean is that the negative image has developed well but the background, the edges, are all opaque greyish-white instead of transparent. This means that the negatives are unscannable - -it's like they are negative 'prints' on an opaque grey background. I can't understand what I have done wrong. I used exactly the same process, (LC29 1+19 with 10% extra developing time allowed for re-used developer). Is it some problem with the fixer, perhaps?</p>

<p>I don't favour one over the other, I see them as complementary. As others have said, the Contax (I have a IIa) is a beautifully engineered camera, and superior to the Barnack cameras, although I sense it is a little delicate compared to my solid Leica M2. I love the look of images with the Sonnar lens, and I alsoe enjoy using the Biogon 21mm lens. I must say though, that the Contax feels like a delightful antique, whereas my Leica M still feels like a modern day camera. It has the feel of a robust working camera, and one that I could imagine using day in and day out for years, without problems. I like using the Contax IIa, but I tend to prefer the Leica M because I can use it with flash (OK, with 50sec synch), and because it has a better viewfinder. Oh, and I much prefer the Summicron 35mm lens to the Biogon.</p>

<p>As I said, I used the 35Ti (and the Minilux before that) as a handy backup to my M2, especially for situations where I needed flash, quickly, such as at parties. I used to load it with Kodak Elite Chrome slide film and always got great exposures, never a bad one. I liked the Nikon 35Ti so much, I'm inclined to see if I can get it repaired. However, I suspect these P&S cameras are just much less robust and durable compared to their non-electronic counterparts. I've laready paid a lot of money out for these two top-line P&S cameras, only for them to give out after a year or two. This time around, I may just get an Olympus XA2, which is equally pocketable, but won't cost me as much.</p>

<p>Not really a Leica/rangefinder question, but my Nikon 35Ti P&S (which replaced a Leica Minilux) has now also died on me. The Minilux developed the dreaded shutter error after about two years service and now the 35Ti has just frozen and won't respond. While it worked, I thought it produced even better images than the Minilux. Alas, now it is stuck in "on" mode, but nothing happens when I press the shutter button. I am wondering whether it is worth the expense of a repair, given that it (and the Minilux) were really just backups for my M2 ... I am incllined to stick with mechanical cameras that don't thave these electronic errors.</p>

<p>Thanks for posting these. We lived in St Albans for a year and our son was born there. He's now 12 and suddenly taking an interest in this historic town, especially as nothing European in Australia goes back much more than 100 years! You should take some interior pictures of the St Albans pubs - they were also seriously old, if I remember rightly.</p>

<p>Interesting article that has popped up in Google's news archive about Leica choosing Midland Ontario for its new production facility - in 1952.</p>

<p>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,859749,00.html</p>

<p>There's a few Leica M retailers out at the 'camera plaza' about 1km north of Wukesong metro station. That would probably be your best bet. I know there are technicians who service Leicas in Beijing (I just sold my dud Minilux to one of them), but unless you can speak/read Chinese it may be hard to find them or work with them.</p>

<p>Thanks - I thought it might be some sort of zone focusing marker like the arrows on my Vito B. I won't be using infra red film ...</p>

<p>On the depth of field scale of my LTM Elmar 50/2.8 there is a tiny red R between the 5.6 and 8. Can anyone tell me what this is for?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>I use the 28-70mm with my R7 and the results are good. It is a very convenient lens, but I must admit that I still prefer to use my original Summicron 50mm and Elmarit 90mm lenses because the results with the zoom just don't look as good as those of the fixed length lenses.</p>

<p>I know it's been said before, but I just want to add a word of recommendation for Youxin Ye (<a href="mailto:wye7@yahoo.com">wye7@yahoo.com</a> ). I have just got my Leica IIIg back from him after a shutter repair, and I found it to be quicker and more convenient than having it repaired locally. In this day and age when so many companies promote themselves in glowing terms and yet deliver mediocre and impersonal service, it's a pleasant surprise to get absolutely top quality work and great personal communication at a bargain price. Highly recommended. And I'm now itching to put some film through my revitalised Leica.</p>

 

<p>Nice camera but not durable. I loved the images I got from my Bessa R and Voigtlander 35mm lens. After two years of regular (not heavy) use the rewind spool has snapped off and the thread for the lens has gone out of alignment. So I would say OK for occasional use, but somewhat flimsy. Meanwhile my 70-year old Leica IIIa is still going on and on ...</p>

<p>I found a lab next door to the Guangdong Phtographers Association on Zhongsan Lu at Angqi station. Take exit D and cross under the flyover to the west, it's on the first floor just after the small hospital on the northern side of the road. They do print film D&P for 0.70 a print plus 8 yuan developing. They also do E6 for 18 yuan a roll.<br>

Other labs include:<br /> "Hong Ze"Ad Ltd<br /> Add: Room 3,3F,Tower A,Heng-Fu-Ge Building,Heng-Fu Road No.288<br /> Tel: 8620-83592252 8620-83582517<br /> Pic: <a href="http://image.o.cn/upload/map/entity/1/20060830/1967698.JPG" target="_blank">http://image.o.cn/upload/map/entity/1/20060830/1967698.JPG</a><br>

<br /> "Jie Da Xin" Photo Services<br>

Add: 2F,Door 1,Zhong-Shan-Liu Road No.255<br /> (the entrance is next to a hair salon,near to B entrance of Xi-Men-Kou subway station)<br /> Tel: 8620-81303201</p>

<p>And if you want to buy very cheap film or rather expensive Leica/Nikon gear in Guangzhou there is a rather sad looking mall on Tianhe Lu between Tiyu Xilu and Shipai Qiao stations that looks to be half abandoned: look out for the Nikon/Scheider Kreuznach ads on the outside - the film supplier is on the second (British first) floor.</p>

<p>I am coming to the end of my China trip. Is there any good lab for E6 and 120 film developing in Guangzhou?<br>

thanks<br>

Michael</p>

Some interesting pictures of Rolleiflex cameras and users are now available from the Life magazine archive on

Google Image. Just type in the subject you want followed by source:life. Here's one of the Brunswick factory in 1949:<div></div>

Thanks for your replies - I think I will just leave the lens as it as it is. I'm not confident in my micro-mechanical skills and I don't want to make the problem any worse. The lens still works fine so I'll just keep using it without retracting it.

My otherwise wonderful Elmar 50/2.8 won't retract fully into the body of the IIIg. I've found out the reason: a

tiny screw is sticking out from the barrel about 1mm, blocking the retraction. I've never noticed this before and

can't think how it has worked loose. I've tried screwing it back in but it just won't turn that last quarter turn

to make it flush with the barrel and I don't want to damage the head by pressing too hard. So I now have a

semi-retractable Elmar - not a great problem, but ... I'm wondering what would happen if that screw came out

altogether. Is is holding anything important together within the lens barrel?

I tried adjusting the screw and this did nothing. Then I took it to a local camera repair guy who gave me a very technical explanation of why it was not worth the risk of adjusting to get rid of the loose play on the wind knob. He basically said "it ain't broke, live with it", and I will for now - it feels not half as bad when a film is loaded and takes up the tension on the wind knob. In all other respects my IIIg is a star performer.

Thanks - it's a user rather than a collector's camera and I don't really care too much about the resale value dropping if there's an easy fix for the annoying loose knob. Having said that I'm not about to open it up and do major surgery, not after wrecking a $30 Kiev 4 when I tried to fix a similar problem last year.

I am pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the IIIG - it really does feel like a different camera form the IIIa that I have used for years - perhaps not surprisingly given the 20-year time difference. The IIIg feels like a scaled-down M3 and is a bit heftier and bulkier than the IIIa. In operation it feels a lot sleeker and more assured than the IIIa, but the shutter is also noticeably louder.

I have just acquired a beautiful Leica IIIg from 1956. It is in great cosmetic condition and everything seems to

be working correctly except for one niggling point: the film winding knob feels slighty loose, with about 1mm of

play. This is very different to my Leica IIIa on which the film winder is rock solid steady. Can

anyone suggest how I can fix this?<div></div>

I have just developed my first B&W film, a roll of Ilford FP4 125 which I used

as a test. While I was thrilled to get usable images on my first attempt, they

are disappointingly grainy and low in contrast. Have I done something wrong or

is that the signature of the developer?

 

I used Ilford chemicals including Ilfotec LC29 developer, Ilfostop and Ilford

Rapid Fixer, all used according to the Ilford instructions ( a 1/19 dilution of

developer for 6.30 minutes at 22 degrees).

 

Some images are here:

 

Would welcome any suggestions ...<div></div>

I have been using a Leica IIIa for several years after buying it for a song on *bay. It worked wonderfully from the start and never needed a service. I prefer it to the M3 and Bessa R because it just feels right to me: simple, elegant and small enough to be pocketable when I use it with the Elmar lenses.

I have always wanted a IIIF or even IIIG but unless I win the lottery I will stick with the little wonder from 1937.

You can have my 28mm Voigtlander for free. For a year I got great results from this compact lens. Then it sustained some mysterious catastrophic alignment problem and I came back from a visit to Tibet to find the 12 rolls of Kodachrome I took came out hopelessly blurred. Now used as paperweight.