barry_cochran

<p>Since I favor wide angles, my favorite is the 28mm and is my first choice for a walk around lens. My second favorite is the 20mm. Third is a 90-105mm for street photography.</p>

<p>Although not used much, regretfully, Kodak Technical Pan film.</p>

<p>Ditto to what Charles Becker wrote.</p>

<p>An article in my local paper today written by a Bree Fowler of the Associated Press says that Kodak is shedding photo operations and puts focus on printing technology. Quoting her "Kodak emerged from bankruptcy protection Tuesday vastly different from the company of old and gone are the cameras and film that made it famous."</p>

<p>The Fe2 and I presume the FM3 which I think has the same body have tight eye relief. I preferred the F3 and of course the F3HP has good eye relief. I wear fairly thick glasses and didn't like the FE2 because of its limited eye relief.</p>

<p>I have owned/used both. As I am a big fan of the square format, the Mamiya 6 and 50mm lens was probably my favorite camera and lens combination. Unfortunately, the winding mechanism broke and couldn't be repaired by Mamiya(no parts). I sold the lens as I didn't want to buy another body since the system didn't seem to be supported by Mamiya. I now own a 501CM with 60 and 100mm lenses. I am happy with it, but also miss the Mamiya 6.</p>

<p>The leica m lens price guide on antiquecameras.net gives a price of $6000 to $8000 for the lens. The date for the lens is 1968.</p>

<p>According to the R7 manual, the winder takes six AA batteries, the motor drive requires ten AA batteries so the winder is lighter, a good thing. I have the winder with my R7 and am quite happy with it. It is fast enough but I don't shoot any fast action sports. The winder does up to 2 fps while the drive can also do 4 fps.</p>

<p>I have been using the Nikon HN-1 shade which fits the Nikkor 24 f2.8 among others for my 18-55mm lens and it seems to be working okay.</p>

<p>Some additional thoughts. Bundles like this should involve less money than the value of the individual items. On the other hand some time you get items you don't really want. Do you really want the 35 when you get the 28. Do you really want the 135 when you get the 90. My little dream outfit for the Leica R system is the 28mm(latest but not ROM version) and the 90mm Elmarit or Summicron. I have never owned the R3 but I do remember it is a bit heavy. You may be able to get one off Ebay for less than $200. I think I got my 90mm elmarit for a little over $300. The earlier version of the 28mm might be available for $300 to $400.</p>

<p>Maybe $1300 to $1700 if the lenses are 3 cam and the cameras are in good shape and working. That is a ball park figure. You can check antiquecameras.net, KEH, and Ebay also. Antiquecameras.net is a good price guide source for the different versions of the lens. KEH is not selling alot of R gear so items they have may not fit the condition of the cameras you are looking at. Completed transactions on Ebay might be a good guide for the cameras.</p>

<p>You might want to check Erwin Puts review of the zoom where he compares it to fixed focal length R lenses in its range. I believe he said the zoom was better than the 21, 24, and 35mm lenses but not the 28mm. In the comparison I believe he was talking about the most recent 28mm Elmarit-R with built in hood. I have that lens and have been very pleased with the results I get with it. If I could afford it, I would love to have the zoom.</p>

<p>"average" If this is average, then average is good! Paul, I think you also have done a very good job with the exposure too for a scene with high contrast. While it is a matter of taste or preference, when I am shooting with color film a scene with shadow like this, I expose only for the part of the scene which is sunlit. Of course, this renders the shadow area pretty much black. While, it might be interesting to see your shot in that way, I am not sure it would be any better than the results you got.</p>

<p>Barry</p>

<p>Alberto,</p>

<p>I have been shooting chromogenic B&W films (both XP2 and the Kodak versions) for nearly 20 years. Based on my experience, the films are low grain, low contrast, and have good exposure latitude. I always shoot them at 200 ISO. However, I have never scanned them. While I have been quite happy with the sharpness-I never enlarge greater than 4by6 inches-other films such as TMAX, which I have not used, may be sharper with more resolution. </p>

<p>Alan,</p>

<p>I picked up used 90 Summicron-R and 90 Elmarit-R lenses off Ebay last fall. Since I was only able to shoot one roll of film using each of the lenses before cold weather set in, I only have initial impressions about the two. I mainly went to my cities downtown area and shot sections of buildings and some autos and trucks. Some were relative closeups(5-7 feet) and many were more distant views(100-150 feet). Bear in mind, I don't usually make big enlargements with 35mm, so I took them to a local pro lab for 4by6 prints.</p>

<p>I used f/5.6 for both the summicron and the elmarit. That will probably be my default f stop to get a high shutter speed for hand held shots which what I usually do. The prints from both lenses were excellent and I would not say one was better than the other. A shot of a side of a old train boxcar at about 5-7 feet with the summicron was excellent. Of course, keep in mind that they were small enlargements and had been shot handheld. </p>

<p>Again, my results are preliminary and how I shoot-handheld, probably at f/5.6, small enlargement- may differ from your methods. But, I think the summicron would be good for coastal scenes and maybe even industrial archaeology, whatever that is, as well as street festivals. As far as wasting film is concerned, I would be more worried about what I chose to shoot than any limitations of the lens. I may have a difficult time choosing between the two. I really like the way the summicron handles but if I plan to shoot near the closest focus of the lenses I probably would choose the elmarit as it is supposed to be more flat field. Or I would use my Nikon 105mm F2.5 another excellent flat field lens. </p>

<p>To all who responded to my post, I just heard from the camera repairman. He said the lens was swimming in oil which gummed up the works. It was just a coincidence that the problem appeared when I put it on the N80. It had been several months or more since I had last used it. He is to fix that.</p>

<p>As to the camera, it needs a new prism which would be a $85 bill. He is to show and explain to me what he is seeing and going in the camera when I pick up my lens. I am not going to have it repaired. I don't know what action I will take with the seller. He has not responded to my email that I sent right after I got the camera. </p>

 

<p>Thanks Lil for the information.  I dropped off the camera and my lens to a local repairman.  He doesn't think that the camera could have caused my lens problem.  Maybe just a coincident but the diaphragm blades have locked up.  The lens had not given me any problems until now.  But this happens.  As to the camera, he remarked that it had a unusual/funny focusing screen which he will replace.  Whether that and the problem with my lens suddenly not functioning are the cause of the camera problems-I will see.  </p>

<p>Rick, thanks for your response.  I have mostly had good experiences with ebay purchases, but recently there have been a few problems with my purchases.  I do think it is a bit of crapshoot and you have to not only look at their feedback but consider what they say or don't say about the item .  I think you are right about purchasing from KEH especially if it a big bucks item.  And I always look to see what KEH wants for a lens or camera before I bid on Ebay. In this case KEH didn't even have a N80 for sale, but I won the camera for only $28.</p>

 

<p>Thanks Ian, Eric, and Ronald for your responses.  There is a tiny lever on the lens which is in a middle position, which could have something to do with the aperture control function.  I am going to let the repairman advise me on this.  I don't want to try to move it myself since I don't know what I am doing.  </p>

<p>I have not heard anything from the seller.  It will be interesting to see if he responds and what he might say.  I know he didn't take much care in the packing of the camera, just crumpled newspaper and hardly any of that under the camera.  Maybe there will be simply explanation as to what is going on.  I did use good batteries which were in my N70.<br>

Thanks again, Barry </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hello,<br>

I still shoot film and have recently purchased serveral film bodies including the N80 on Ebay.  It arrived yesterday and, although the packing was very poor, the camera looked okay.  However, when I looked through the viewfinder it was very dim.  I put new batteries in it, but the autofocus of my 20mm AF Nikkor was limited.  While I had some misgivings, I thought I should at least try the shutter before I emailed the person I bought it from and tell him about my experience with the camera.  The seller had said in his auction that the camera worked fine.<br>

The camera did seem to work, but when I removed my 20mm lens I could not rotate the aperture ring below f/4.  It would, however, go beyond f/2.8.  My 20mm has been one of my favorite lens and I have had no previous trouble with it on my N70.  I am going to take it tomorrow to a local repairman and see what he says.  <br>

I guess you could say I am really bummed out about this experience.  Although I got the camera ridiculously cheap, I wasted that money and may have ruined one of my favorite lenses in the process.  I guess my only question, apart from venting my frustration, is what could have been happened to my lens?  Well, also what could be wrong with the camera?<br>

Thanks in advance, Barry</p>

Thanks Ronald for your response. I called a local camera repairman and will take the lens and my R7 to him next week.

Thanks John for the information. I will contact a local camera repairman and see what he can do. Other than the focus

issue, the lens looks really good. I did take some shots, both distant and close up, but will not get the prints until Monday

afternoon. Barry

Today I received a 90mm Elmarit R I purchased on Ebay. The lens looks great, but when I tried to focus on a distant object, the lens

would not reach precise focus as indicated by my R7's split image rangefinder or microprism. That is, the barrel would not rotate far

enough to get the rangefinder or microprism in focus even though the indicator on the lens was at infinity.

 

I know it is not my R7 because an older Summicron easily reaches focus for the same distant objects. Has anybody ever experienced a

similar problem and if so, what needed to be done assuming you repaired it.

 

Thanks, Barry

Correction: The 28 Elmarit R I have is the Type 3 with built in lens hood.

My Leica R7 with 28mm Elmarit R(type 2) and 90mm Summicron R. I like slr's, the R7 has the features I like, and it is easy to use.

Thanks Ellis,I was hoping that was the case. I really appreciate your response. Barry