john_robison3

Wow, a lot of votes for the CV 35 f2.5, I have the M mount version on a M4-2 and it is delightfully small. I also have the CV vented hood but don't use it. I prefer a small metal hood that fits a 46mm lens cap when I put the camera away. I picked up the hood from some Hong Kong vendor on eBay for a pittance and for my use it is ideal.

"...but I'll be using the self timer if it's not mounted just in case" Don't quite understand. Do you mean that if useing the camera "not mounted" on the tripod i.e. handheld, you intend to release the shutter with the self timer? If so why not just use the shutter release? I don't think this is a prerelease self-timer so there should be no more mirror slap either way. Just make sure you use the ball of your finger and take up the shutter release free play before squeezing that last 1/2mm to take the shot. For a period of time I had a Vivitar SL220 that I think was about the same camera under a different label. Yeah, it's got quite a snap when releasing the shutter. Don't remember what battery mine took but the meter was dead anyway. I know my exposures and don't use a meter unless the light is difficult.

The smallest and lightest, if it ever gets into regular production, is the TravelWide 90 that was a Kickstarter project. They have started to ship them to backers (I received mine) and, according to Ben they want to make them to sell for $150 each. They are set up specifically for the Angulon 90mm f6.8 which you buy separately. I had to smooth some mold flashing in the helical valleys to get mine to focus smoothly. Keep in mind that this is a very light camera and that with any lens it is very front heavy. It will also take a variety of 90 mm lenses such as the Super Angulon f8, some Nikkors, Fujis, and Wollensaks. The creators of this project have a strong interest in producing these for sale because of spending a lot of their own money, well past the KS funding, to complete it and get rewards shipped. They would like to recover some of those losses. They have a website, Wonderlust Cameras.

<p>What are you looking for size wise? If I'm not mistaken the Sp has a GN lens so that any small manual flash will work fine. If looking for a correct period flash sold at the same time as the 35Sp then look on ebay for a Vivitar 252, plentiful and cheap. </p>

<p>Amazing for an 8X11 negative. I'm shooting a IIIs acquired in April. So far the only film I developed was some slit down Ilford Pan F. It has taken me a while to build a film slitter, cut down and modify some Yankee plastic reels, and obtain and work out how to load Minox cartridges. I still have to run some 120 Clear File neg holders through a sewing machine to make neg holders for the Minox size film. One thing I have not tried is enlarging. I have a Mamiya 16 enlahead with a holder for 10X14mm negs and a built in 25mm lens that I intend to press into service for that task. I think I'll keep the enlargements small, 4X5.5 inches on 5X7 paper. That is still almost a 13X enlargement!</p>

<p>How very long a time has gone by. However update #31 has just posted and here is the nub of it;<br> On 8-23-15, Sunday, there will be a pick-up party in Chicago for those who live nearby. I guess the rest of the backers will have their cameras shipped out shortly after that. </p> <p>At least one would hope it won't take too much time to assemble, box and ship the rewards.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing. That decade seems only yesterday yet so far away. Fall 1975 I was 26 and married 6 months. Not much money but what fun we had. I had bought a used OM-1 a year earlier and had only the 50 f1.8 to shoot with and yet felt no need for another lens. Simple times. Now I have way too much stuff and never know what to pick up from the camera shelf next.</p>

<p>You should consider a OM-1n also. A true classic and not expensive, at least here in the US. KEH has bargain grade bodies for well under $100<br> The OM-1 is all mechanical and does not need the rather scarce manual adapter for manual operation. It's battery only operates the meter and I've used the #675 zinc air batteries very successfully as a substitute for the now unobtainable mercury PX13 meter battery. I buy them in cheap in 12 packs from Walgreens. </p>

<p>ISO 120? Probably depends on the color of the light. They have a sample photo exposed in sunlight that is f22 @ 1/30 so effective speed of about 64 I would guess. Still 1.5 to 2.5 stops faster than any other paper I've used and opens up the possibility of hand held 4X5 shooting with the convenience of material that can be handled, loaded and processed under dim red safe light.</p>

<p>There is a Kickstarter project for this paper that just went live. For those who use paper negatives this paper can be developed as a direct positive and has a speed equivalent to an ISO of 64<br /> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/114183606/galaxy-hyper-speed-direct-positive-photo-paper<br> Well rats, the link didn't come out as clickable, sorry about that, product of a computer dummy trying to post.</p>

<p>Find a clean and sharp picture of the top of an OM-1, perhaps from an old Olympus ad for the camera. Download and size the picture so that a print will have the correct diameter (life size) of the ASA dial. Print off a couple of prints and cut out the dial part of the picture and paste it on the ASA dial. It should last for a while anyway?</p> <p>From the "crazy idea" file. </p>

<p>I suppose you mean the switch on the lens for auto or manual stop down. That switch is there because on some screw mount bodies there was no auto stop down lever on the camera or if the lens was used on manual extension tubes or a bellows, then you would switch the lens to manual.</p>

<p>My recommendation, based on experience, is that the Minolta 16II is the most useable of the 16mm cameras. The main bug in the 16II is the focus is fixed at 2.5MM (98 inches). For my use I found the aux lens set to be necessary, especially for long distance pictures. The set is three diopter lenses labeled #0, #1 and #2 that bring focus to;<br /> #0 10M (33 feet)<br /> #1 1.3M (51 inches)<br /> #2 .75M (30 inches)<br /> As usual depth of field can also be controlled with aperture. These cameras are quite reliable and are usually found in working condition for little money. The aforementioned lens sets are much harder to source and are often more expensive than the camera when found on e-bay. Kodak still list Eastman Double X, 16mm single perf in 100 ft. and 400 ft. length but the price of the film keeps going up. I think about paid about $38 with shipping for a 100 ft roll direct from EK about 3 years ago. The catalog number is 7222. That is enough for 60- 20exp rolls. You also have to be prepared to buy NOS film, dump the old film out of the cartridge and reload cartridges yourself. The film was discontinued in 1992 and there are no fresh factory loaded cartridges of film. The only practical way is to process the film yourself. B&H Photo still sells a Yankee brand tank with plastic reels that will adjust to 16mm, it's cheap but usually works well enough.</p> <p>This is not a format for the faint of heart or pocketbook. By the time you are all done setting up with camera, film, developing tank, chemicals, etc. your bill will probably be well north of $150 and if you are not used to doing your own B&W at home there will also be that learning curve to deal with as well. Just a heads up.</p>

<p>Could not afford a Spotmatic, went with a Fujica ST701. Nice camera with a brighter screen than the Spottie and the meter was really quick on responding to light. The f1.8 normal lens was no slouch either. Quality control however, at least on my sample could have been better. The mirror angle had an adjustment and mine was set a bit high rendering a disagreement between screen focus and film plane focus. This really showed up when I used a 200mm lens. It was easy to adjust but I wound up with some fuzzy photos before I caught on what the problem was. Other than that I really liked the camera.</p>

<p>Those look very professional, although I would imagine expensive to make. In just in the last couple of months I bought a IIIs, obtained film and modified a plastic reel to develop film. My home built film slitter is a traditional 'pull the film through the slot' type built with plywood and double edged razor blades. Not fancy but it produces two clean 9.2mm strips of film from 35mm with smooth edges and even width. The emulsion side touches nothing and the base side is sliding on a polished surface. So far I have seen no evidence of scratches. The next stem will be to stitch up Clear File sheets made for 120 negs into four 16mm wide slots for the developed negatives.</p> <p>This has been an interesting journey so far and I'm eager to see what T grain B&W film can do in this camera. So far my first roll of Ilford Pen F looks promising. </p>

<p>Yeah, and what a bust 'Al Capone's vault' turned out to be. I'll never trust Geraldo again.</p>

<p>Two Olympus Pen FV bodies and all the lenses and lens adapters I could lay my hands on before they were discontinued. Especially the 38mm f2.8 pancake. Wish I could time travel.</p>

<p>B&H Photo shows rolls of Ilford Multigrade IV RC for special order (2-4 weeks delivery time).<br /> They show it available in a size of 3.5 inch by 500 ft. for $165<br /> At about ISO 6 it would be a bit slow and the paper would not be able to be rolled as tight as film but it would probably be as viable a solution as coating some other substrate. <br /> You would still have to black out any red window and adjust framing by counting the turns of the winding key.</p>

<p>My first SLR was a Miranda G about 1971. This camera, with interchangeable screens, started my preference for plain matte screens, a type that I still use in my OM cameras to this day. The first accessories I bought were a WLF and a matte screen. Extra lenses cost money I didn't have much of, so the first extra lens I bought was a pre-set Soligor 135mm f2.8. That and the 50 f1.9 were it for a couple of years.</p>

Thanks for posting this link. Now I can show my wife I'm not so crazy after all. I only have maybe 30 or 40 cameras.

<p>I notice my OM-4Ti has 1/2000 with cloth curtains. This shutter is electronically timed though. Not a classic, quite modern and, at least officially, made up to 2002 although I doubt very few were made those last few of years of OM system production.</p>

<p>I agree Martin. Reloading amortizes the price per roll down to a reasonable amount. My rough, back of the envelope math indicates that just three 35mm T-Max 100 36exp would yield 12 re-loads so total total price per roll would be less than $3 a roll. Even if I include the materials cost for building my film stripper, less than $20, then that would be 13 rolls for a total price of $55, still well less than $5 a roll.</p>

<p>Since the missus wanted to visit an old friend in Portland today I also took the opportunity to visit Blue Moon Camera. This was my first chance to see the store. This place is a film lovers delight with a friendly and enthusiastic staff. Although I really didn't need the film I bought two rolls of Minox 8X11 Delta 100 36exp loads. There is no sales tax in Oregon so the total was $40. A bit steep but you have to understand they only get the raw cassettes and plastic boxes they come in from Minox. They have to felt the cassettes and load them with film. so all in all I think this is a fair price and the alternative is no supplier of 8X11 film at all in North America. I just felt I had to support that kind of dedication to keeping the format alive. The cassettes looked exactly like the ones I bought on e-bay that held color film and were over 25 years past date. </p> <p>As an interesting aside, there was a young couple in the store with their son, I say he was 9 or10 perhaps. The dad had a Hasselblad slung over his shoulder and the kid had an AE-1 around his neck. They were at the photofinishing desk ordering up some prints. I engaged the family in a brief conversation and congratulated the young man on using film. He just grinned from ear to ear.</p> <p>The whole store is film and paper and chemicals and a fairly good selection of used film cameras and lenses, the most I've seen in one location for a long time. (Not a digital camera in sight) It's too bad I live two hours away or I would make it a regular stop.</p>

<p>You are probably right Martin! But it is just one roll so I figured, why not, I could be surprised. I'll soup it in my standard developer, HC-110 at 1:60 @ 11 minutes at 20C. Halfway through the roll now. Now that I have my film cutter ready I'll load some Pan F for the next roll. I might go to Blue Moon Camera tomorrow. It is a 230 mile round trip but there is plenty of other things to do in Portland. I'm a rather eager to try the Delta 100, it could became my standard film with the Minox. I've also found I don't care for the chain on the camera. I just like to slip it into my shirt pocket, without the case either. I do think Ill look for a belt case with a velcro closure flap top.</p>

<p>Yeah! I found Donald Krehbiel's excellent site. Maybe I'm not good at what words to put into a search engine. Anyway, bookmarked now. Good grief, Minox cartridges are THIN! I mean really really thin. After I got the caps off I see these color negative carts have felt on one side with tiny ridges opposite the felt in both the feed and take up chamber. The 36 exp load was exactly 23.125 inches long, now I have a reference for length. I have one cartridge of Agfapan 400 that is *only* 25 years past exp. date. I shrugged and loaded it in the camera. What could possibly go wrong? I also notice this is the only film camera I've been able to carry in a shirt pocket. At 72g (2.5oz.) with film it is hardly noticeable.</p> <p> </p>