eli_chartkoff1

<p>Well--I just inherited my grandfather's camera collection, and right now I'm staring at a Clarus MS-35 in its original box with its manual, hang tag, a guarantee card, and a Kodachrome exposure guide. This is the very camera that he used to shoot all of the family pictures in the 1950's-60's. <br>

It works--sort of--I need to run a roll of film through it. This one seems to have the afore-mentioned problem of firing at the same shutter speed no matter what it's set to (apart from B, obviously). I don't suppose there's a tech out there willing to work on something like this?</p>

<p>Sounds good--I'll check craigslist. Thanks again.</p>

<p>Leigh:</p>

<p>Thanks very much, this is very helpful--I saw that Taxo on ebay and considered bidding for it just for the holders, but then it occurred to me that those might all be plate holders--and I'm not sure I want to deal with tracking down a sheath to adapt them.</p>

<p>I think I'll just hold out for the Kodak holders, as you suggest. Would these be the Kodak Recomar 33 holders, like they're talking about <a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00D5xO">here?</a></p>

<p>I will also look out for the Jobo tank, yeah--I sort of assumed that I'd tray develop in the dark, but a tank would be great.</p>

<p>Yikes, okay. I believe (judging by the ground glass, anyway) that this takes the knife-edge type. Thanks, I'll keep an eye out.</p>

<p>Oh man, I haven't posted on this forum forever...</p>

<p>Recently I inherited a small collection of cameras from...let's see...I believe it was my parents' neighbor. Some interesting things in there--among them was a <a href="http://www.veland.com/cameras/images/D/Zeiss_Ikon_Taxo_126-7_9X12cm_Folding_Plate_Camera_1927-3%20%282%29.JPG">Zeiss Taxo 126/7</a>. This is a 9x12 cm camera with a f/6.3 Novar--nothing too fancy, but I've never owned a large(ish) format camera before, and it was free, so...naturally I want to try it.</p>

<p>I see that my local camera store carries Fomapan 9x12 film, so that's good. But--of course this thing came without film holders. I see <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fidelity-Elite-9X12-cm-4-piece-Sheet-Film-Holder-/220876057665?pt=US_Film_Backs_Holders&hash=item336d3d2c41">a</a> <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-9x12-CM-Premium-TOYO-film-holders-Best-World-Linhol-9x12-/330627813665?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item4cfaf41121">number</a> of 9x12 holders on the bay, but...is there any way to know if they will fit? Does anybody know which one(s) I should look for? I assume I don't want a plate holder. Yeah, I know I can get a rollfilm back, but I'd rather try sheet film...never had the chance before.</p>

<p>Thanks...</p>

 

Ah, okay. That makes sense then. Thanks!

Oh, huh--someone told me a Century Graphic was a later version of the Pacemaker. Well okay then.

 

I'll look at MPEX and KEH. Anyone else?

Hi--

 

I'm going to take the plunge and get a 4x5 Speed or Century Graphic. I hope to

spend somewhere in the $500 range, and I want one that's in good working order.

Can anyone recommend a vendor, ebay or otherwise, that I should look at?

 

Thanks.

Okay, great--I think either the Koni-Omega will work, probably the Mamiya too. I shall start saving the pennies then.

I fantasize about a camera that has a really bright coupled rangefinder (for

focusing in low light--my Autocord isn't quite bright enough) and shoots 120

film. And I love love love using the bulb flash on my wife's Polaroid 100, so

I'd like to be able to use bulb flash on my ideal camera. Oh and an automatic

frame counter.

 

What camera would you nominate with these qualities?

There's also an old Rickenbacker in there, and I see a Gibson ES-335 in the back, which, assuming this is from the early '60's, would run you a mere $20,000-30,000 on the "vintage" market today.

Sorry, that was a bit off-topic, but it seemed vaguely pertinent.

A friend of mine just had his computer's hard drive crash and he may have lost all of his photos of his year-old son. Granted, my house could burn down and I could lose all of my negs, but still, it's more likely they'll be around for a long time.

 

I wonder how many people regularly make multiple backups of their digital photos?

I put a piece of black electrical tape over the red window and only uncover it to advance the film.

Nice! Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

 

All right, I think the Autocord/35mm SLR combo makes a lot of sense.

Oh, and Bueh, you are right about the dimness of the viewfinder, and if those TTL prisms aren't a reasonable solution then I'll scratch that off my list.

Well...I think you all might be thinking of a different kind of club than what I'm talking about...in these places I can get right up to the performers, and since there usually isn't any kind of stage per se (or the stage is just a slightly raised platform) there's at most five or six feet between us. So, for shooting individual performers, the TLR design's actually fine, it's like using one to shoot any other kind of informal portrait--it's just the Autocord's tiny controls and lack of metering annoy me in the dark. I'm really looking for a refinement of what I already have, essentially, rather than an entirely different system.

 

Caleb, I'll take a look at the Fuji 645, thanks for the tip.

I'll take a look at those Nikons and the 35SP, thanks.

 

Also, I just saw this, which would require a Rolleiflex rather than an Autocord, but still interests me:

 

http://www.photographical.net/tlr_ttl.html

Brian:

 

Have you heard of The Smell? It's off of Hope (or is it Spring?), in a skid row alley. It's great, an all-ages club, believe it or not, but there are often dealers and hookers around the corner (I wonder how many parents would really like to have their teenage kids hanging out around there). They've never ever hassled me but, like I say, no point in taking a really expensive camera down there.

 

Let's see, there's Bordello near Little Tokyo, and The Cocaine in Little Tokyo itself (which is a pretty safe neighborhood, for the most part). Lots of unofficial venues in lofts and galleries and warehouse/factory spaces scattered through downtown, places that will be open for a year or so and then close down. My favorite at the moment is Pehrspace, next to a storefront church on Glendale Boulevard just outside Downtown--it's also a gallery. These are all great places to see bands and they're all very accomodating about people taking pictures (i.e., they don't care). I also like The Echo in Echo Park a lot, but that's a much bigger venue, and not in downtown for that matter.

 

Oh yeah--on Spring Street there's a semi-deserted hotel (whose name escapes me at the moment, but I can look it up) that is now a halfway home, but it's a wonderful place to do photo shoots--I can name a ton of bands that do their band pics there, and it's free, you just wander in--entire floors and ballrooms of this decaying turn-of-the-century luxury hotel are all just deserted. It's a great location--er, except that the last time I was there someone stumbled into the ballroom where we were and started shooting up in the corner. But apart from that...

 

So yeah--lots of places. In fact this very evening I will be at a place in Highland Park, on Figueroa, called Mr. T's Bowl, with the ol' Autocord.

Ha. I just developed 4 rolls of 127 last night.

 

Did Beseler ever make a vest pocket-format negative carrier for the 23c? I've seen 4x4 carriers but never the bigger one.

And Pat, thanks for your advice too. Very helpful.

Hey Brain, thanks for your response.

 

In fact I have a Mamiya/Sekor MSX 500 35mm SLR which I haven't used in, hmmm, years. It does have a built-in meter (which I've never used), so if I can get it to come to life I will give that a try.

 

I have a definite bias towards rollfilm but if a 35mm makes more sense, then that's fine. Although I'd think a rangefinder might have a brighter rangefinder than a SLR?

 

Skid Row here isn't really too bad, and it's where a lot of the clubs are...I play in bands myself and I've never had a problem, but I think it'd be stupid to bring a $1000+ camera down there.

Okay, I've asked similar questions to this before, but now I can get a little

more specific:

 

I have an autocord that I use for everyday photography. I've been fooling

around with flashbulbs but I really am only skilled at available light

photography, so forget flash for now.

 

I've been taking a lot of band photos lately in dark clubs with bad/uneven

lighting, so, say, one part of the (small) stage will be brightly lit in one

spot but very dark a few feet away. I've got a nice luna pro meter, but

obviously a spot meter would be useful for me. I've noticed that most 1-2

degree meters I've seen for sale are in the $200-300 range; that's fine, but I

just want to make sure that's what I should expect to pay for one. Can someone

comment on that?

 

Also, the problems with the Autocord: somewhat dim viewfinder (I'm sending it in

to be CLA'd, so that should help, but I dunno by how much), and it's very

difficult to read the teeny tiny aperture settings in the dark. The lens is

pretty slow but I can compensate by using very fast film, so that's not the end

of the world. I like that the Autocord is all-manual. I know I could get a

Hassleblad or something that can do all this, but it needs to be something I'd

be comfortable taking to clubs in skid row in Downtown LA.

 

Suggestions?

A press camera--yeah, I figured that would be the case. I do already have the Taxo, and it was free, so I'll try the diopter lenses first and see where that gets me. Thanks for the help.

These are very helpful responses, thanks! I will look for those diopter lenses and I will definitely look at that Kodak publication, that sounds very helpful.

 

I did think about replacing the lens, too--it'd be nice if I could modify the camera to accept different lenses on lensboards, but I'm not sure how difficult that would be.