wmichaelb

Except for "Retina IIa"

Maybe the top deck's been replaced; there is absolutely nothing anywhere on it that even vaguely resembles an engraving of any sort.

I recently picked up a decent user Retina IIa on eBay, and I was

interested in figuring out exactly when it was manufactured. The

only serial number I can find anywhere on the camera is on the lens;

and it's clearly no. 3127917, which is too many digits. Can anyone

tell me where else to look? I've been over the camera with a fine

tooth comb inside and out, and can't find anything else anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

Has anyone found a good flash bracket that will fit the older Mamiya

645/J/1000S when equipped with the motor drive/winder? Newtons won't

work, and Stroboframe recommends the R2000, which seems a bit

awkward. Thanks!

Jerry, I don't know where you're located, I'm in Chicago, and I've

had excellent luck with:

 

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Camera Repair Service

6178 N. Northwest Highway

Chicago, IL 60631

773-763-0800

 

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Ed Tidd, the owner, used to work for Canon. He's worked on three

bodies and three lenses for me, and I've been very pleased. YMMV.

Folks, I recently found an old folder, unknown manufacturer, in a

camera shop near here. It seems to have a real rangefinder, and has a

lens marked "enna haponar 75mm f3.5". Internet searches have turned

up mostly web sites in German, and nothing in MF Digest. Has anyone

heard of such a lens, or know anything about such a camera?

 

Thanks!

Richard, I faced the same problem and bought one of each on eBay. You might have to wait for a while, but they do crop up.

 

As an alternative, there's a store here in the Chicago area called "ABC Camera Brokers" that has a large collection of cases and hardware. They're on the web; you might try them. "Goodwin Photo", another web source, also seems to have a great many bits and pieces for old TLR's. I have no financial interest in these companies, etc. etc. etc.

Folks, thanks for your responses. I've become convinced that the way

to handle this problem is to build a custom holder, perhaps by

modifying a 6X6 carrier. I'll repost when I get something working,

just as an update.

Folks, I inherited a suitcase full of old 127 negatives from my family that I'd love to try printing. I have a pair of Omega B66 enlargers, but that model doesn't have a negative carrier available for 127 film. Can anyone suggest an enlarger that has (or had) 127 format negative carriers available?

 

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Thanks!

David, try Columbus Camera Group, www.columbuscamera.com. I've visited their store, and they have a huge inventory of older enlarger equipment. They also sell a good bit on eBay. YMMV.

Folks, I recently picked up a 199A strobe for use with my AE1-P; it was a good price, and it works well, but I have a question. Can I use this strobe with other non-A-series bodies, like my F1 original or Canonet? The hot shoes on these cameras will short out the extra pins that provide signalling to the A-series bodies; will this damage the strobe? Are there other issues I should be aware of?

 

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Thanks in advance!

Friends, other than the obvious (breech mount vrs. new mount, F2.5 vrs. F2.8 maximum aperture), have any of you found any noticeable differences in the pictures taken with these two lenses? ABC Camera Brokers here in northwestern suburban Chicago has one of each. Bigoted, not very humble opinions are welcome.

 

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Thanks!

 

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- Michael B.

Friends, does anyone know what the upper limit is on the voltage that an A-series body (in this case, an AE1-Program) will tolerate from a strobe through the hot shoe?

 

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I presently own two shoe-mountable strobes, both Vivitars, a 283 and a 2500. The 283 puts about 285 volts onto the shoe, which is way too much for an electronic camera, but fine for my old F-1. The 2500 puts about 12 volts onto the shoe. Is that too much? Do I need a 199 or other newer strobe for this camera?

 

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Thanks!

Jim, I too buy my film from Calumet. It helps that I'm here in Chicago, but their website shows lower shipping prices than B&H or Adorama. And I will confirm what's been said before: their service is indeed superb!

I'm not a Rollei owner, but I've worked for Hewlett-Packard/Agilent for over 31 years, and I've spent a lot of time with international customers, and we used to have this problem. The issue for us, and I'll bet that the issue for Rollei, is compensation for the local distributor.

 

The situation was most extreme in the middle east. I once met a gentleman who worked for HP's distributor in Saudi Arabia; he claimed that they actually got paid for about 15% of what actually got imported into the country. The problem was that the markup was so high to accommodate his business that people would find ways to go around him. One military contractor that I called on used to fly their test equipment back to our repair facility in Chicago specifically so that they could avoid all the hassle of dealing with the issue.

 

We fixed this by going to a standard international price. It doesn't matter now where you take your test equipment for repair; Agilent will honor the warranty no matter where it was purchased and where it was repaired. Some equipment needs to be sent back to an American factory for repair, but that's because of the special test equipment needed to repair test equipment, e.g., cesium frequency standards.

 

The bottom line is that the world has changed, business is now all global whether the manufacturer wants to admit it or not, it's a Rollei policy issue that Rollei alone can fix. If Rollei compensated Marflex directly for warranty repairs so that the US distributor wasn't billed for it, and the US Rollei distributor got the same price for their goods to be sold as the British and European distributors such as Robert White, that would help "level the playing field" as the saying goes. That does not address the issues of any differences in customs duties, but that's another topic.

 

Yes, I would recommend sending the entire body of this thread to the current Rollei president/CEO and/or marketing VP. It's very difficult at that level to really understand what's going on in the market with one's customers, and I'm sure we'd all like to see a find old marque survive!

John: I don't know about the leaf shutter lens, but I bought a film wind crank for my 1000S directly from Mamiya after receiving the following email message:

 

"Dear Customer:

 

The part number for the film advance crank for the M645 is 210-509. The

price for this item is $ 45.00.

 

Please phone us or fax us directly at the numbers below, and ask for the

parts department.

 

Thank You.

 

Sincerely,

Julio Quintanilla

National Parts Manager

Mamiya America Corporation

8 Westchester Plaza

Elmsford, NY 10523

Phone (914)347-3300

Fax (914)347-3035

jquintan@mamiya.com"

 

It took a while, but it showed up, and it works fine. Install and handle it carefully, as it tends to fall off. One of the advantages of the winder is that the knob adaptor for that accessory is kept on by the winder itself.

I'm looking at obtaining a 150mm lens for portraits and scenics. I've

seen both f3.5 and f4.0 versions of the "C" lens for the Mamiya 645.

Can anyone elaborate on the differences? Are there any that are

significant?

 

Thanks!

Thanks, folks! I took a closer look and found what seems to be a

spring contact in a slot just above the foot. I assume this to be my

missing contact.

 

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As a result of this closer inspection, I also found that the foot had

cracked and been glued back together, something I understand is a

common occurrence with 283's. Has anyone tried one of the aluminum

aftermarket replacement feet?

 

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Thanks again!

Folks: I got a lucky break not long ago, and picked up a Vivitar 283 flash for $3 at a flea market. I then found a PC cord for it, and it seems to work well on my original F-1 when triggered off the PC cord. I also checked the output voltage between the tip and shield of the PC cord when it's charged up, and it'a around a volt. I understand this to be low enough not to damage my AE1-P, which I'd also like to use it with. My question is this: there's a single metal contact on the shoe, which is otherwise all plastic. How does this flash work with a hot shoe like the ones on the A-series? All my circuits classes taught me that it takes two connections to make a circuit!

 

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Thanks!

I currently own a Mamiya 645 1000S, and I'm looking for a short telephoto for it for both portraits and landscapes. I read with interest Moses' comments about vignetting when using a tube with the 200mm f4. Does the 150mm f4 have a similar problem? Does anyone on this august forum have experience using it even closer than portrait range?

 

Thanks!

I had the good fortune to pick up an original mechanical F1 for a good price; but the focusing screen is chipped. Does anyone know of a web site or document that lists the focusing screens that were made for the F1 so that I can figure out which one to replace it with?

 

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Thanks!

Folks, I feel that my next lens acquisition needs to be a long telephoto for wildlife. I don't have the bucks for one of the 400, 600, or 800 mm L lenses; so I've been thinking about the 500mm F8 mirror lens. It will obviously be a good bit darker, but are there other considerations? I've also read that mirror lenses in general aren't nearly as sharp as refractors. What about chromatic aberration, etc.? What about non-Canon lenses like the Sigma 600mm F8?

What have your experiences been?

 

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Thanks!

If we may, I'd like to continue this thread a bit. I've been considering this lens myself; if I wanted to go beyond 1:1 (given the ratio of 35mm to 645 negative sizes, say 1:3)in order to take full advantage of the MF negative size, would I therefore prefer using the bellows with the 80MM macro lens? Or ?

 

Thanks!

You folks were great with my first question, so I have a second. I've downloaded the AE1-P manual, but can find no explanation for the "exposure preview" button. It's separate from the depth of field preview, and seems to show no new information in the viewfinder. What does it do?

 

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Thanks!

I recently picked up a pretty clean AE-1 Program to use as a backup body. Is it compatible with the older conventional strobes like the Vivitar 283/285, or do I also need to pick up a Canon strobe from that same series? It has 3 pins on the hot shoe, instead of the 5 on the T-90 with its TTL flash compatibility. The older strobes only need one, and I don't want to fry anything.

 

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Thanks!