jason_withers

<p>Welcome! :)</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for their response; very helpful information. I've posted a few links below to the pictures from this camera. The actual pictures were much clearer than the scans (I need a much better scanner) so they may not be that helpful. I don't think there was too much problem with the exposure, which leads me to believe that the camera shutter speed is ok at the 1/50 speed. The camera has the Anastar 80mm, which seems to be relatively sharp, although that is not very apparent from my scanned pictures.<br> I like the idea of the hand held grip, but I don't think it is possible with this type of camera, based on where the shutter release is located and the small hole where you can attach a cable release is awfully close to the chrome trim around the edge of the camera face. <br> http://i.imgur.com/yixjMHul.jpg[/img]<br> http://i.imgur.com/3qkgWZyl.jpg[/img]<br> http://i.imgur.com/AtDdpull.jpg[/img]</p>

Thanks Dave. Yeah, I think that I will use the tripod going forward. Hopefully my pictures will improve! I want to bring my camera with me on a trip to the grand canyon, but I am going to change to the tmax 100 to gain a bit of speed over the Pan F.

<p>Thanks Stephen, that is helpful to know.. maybe years ago people had steadier hands :) </p>

<p>Funny though....the Kodak Reflex II camera manual recommends most exposures at 1/50, based on the Verichrome and Panatomic films available at the time, thought I'm not sure what the films speeds were then.</p>

<p>Hi,<br> I recently got back from the processor a roll of Ilford Pan F Plus film in 120 size and was disappointed by the lack of sharpness in the photos/negatives (my own fault I believe). I used the Sunny 16 rule and set to a shutter speed that most approximated the speed of film (50 asa, 1/50 second shutter speed). I thought that I could hand hold the camera (Kodak Reflex II) at 1/50, but apparently I cannot. Most of the photos I took were during bright afternoon sun, with a yellow filter, approximately f/16 or f/8.<br> Is the general consensus that you should not hand hold the camera if you are using a shutter speed that is less than the focal length of the lens? My camera has an 80mm lens, so I guess that I should not try to hand hold less than 1/80 second (1/100 on my camera is the next available shutter speed)?<br> Thoughts?</p>

<p>Hi Louis.<br> I recently picked up the Signet 80, but the 50mm lens it came supplied with doesn't have the red index mark like it states in the manual. Instead, it has these brackets on the index ring like in the pictures of your camera you posted. Once you set the shutter speed on the speed dial, do you need to set the same speed in the bracket on the lens itself? <br> The manual states you would then get your exposure value (EV) from the meter and then turn the ring on the lens to set that same EV; if you cannot turn to the appropriate EV, you need to presumably change to a different shutter speed to allow you to obtain the correct EV. If you have to lower the shutter speed on the lens ring, I am guessing you also have to lower to the same shutter speed on the speed dial?<br> Maybe it is just me, but I think this is a bit of a complicated camera to use initially with these different settings. I wonder what potential customers thought in 1958 about these settings. This is my first rangefinder camera though, so I don't have too much to compare this to. The rest of the camera controls are really cool like the film injection loading system and the very bright viewfinder. Mine did not come supplied with a case and there are no eyelets on the camera itself to attach a strap, so I had to just carry the camera around in my hand. I've never seen a Kodak camera (other than some folders) that do not have eyelets on the camera body. </p>

<p>"They were about eight to ten times the price of some other perfectrly usable SLRs of the time."<br> Oh yeah, they were really expensive no doubt! But at the time, there weren't many cameras that had the engineering built in like this camera had. Quality and precision came at a price; unfortunately, they can be had for next to nothing now and are usually in need of a good cleaning. But, that's not unheard of for a very complex camera that is over 50 years old, especially with a leaf shutter.</p>

<p>Hi Donald.<br> This really was one of the best cameras available when it was released in 1961 and was quite expensive at about $230 bucks! The f1.9 50mm was one of the better lenses along with the 28mm wide angle. <br> Did you use expired film by chance. Looks like the colors are a bit off in the scans.<br> If you are thinking of getting the camera serviced, Chris Sherlock is about the most knowledgeable person I have dealt with when it comes to the Retina series cameras. I think he has stockpiled a lot of parts. He's in New Zealand I think, and you can find him by searching Retina Rescue on the web. <br> Anyways, the Retina Reflex III is my personal favorite among the series. The weight of the camera, the beautiful camera case and the controls are all at your fingertips and you really don't need to even take the camera down from your eye, provided the metering system is still in good working order. It's a real joy to use and a handsome camera really. I don't know of any other that has the nice weight and feel that the Retina Reflex does. </p>

<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7458/11864031535_8957172968_n.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="246" />Some of the older camera manufacturers (Kodak in particular) had a fix for that by providing a little white plastic piece that attached to the incident light meter. Pretty nifty!</p> <p> </p>

<p>From personal experience, my favorite current films for prints/slides are Agfa's Precisa CT100 and Kodak Ektar 100. Both have great colors!<br> http://www.agfaphoto.com/appc/content_manager/page.php?ID=193738&dbc=dda5a<br> I have never seen the Agfa film for sale locally, but I ordered some online and the colors were really great (very vivid); Its my next favorite film to Ektachrome Extra Color 100, which is sadly gone.<br> Kodak Ektar, of course, is a very fine film with softer colors that are more true to life in my opinion. </p>

<p>Wow Kris, that's great! The pics are very nice. At one time, Kodak had the best looking/performing cameras on the market, as your model camera attests to that! They were hands down better than everything else.</p>

<p>Marc, I loved seeing the Kodak Retina Reflex III ad. It seems Kodak was trying to unload those model cameras by 1964 to make way for the Reflex IV model released that same year :)</p>

<p>Has anyone seen this documentary yet? It wasn't showing at any venue within a couple hours driving distance of my home so I was curious if anyone saw it and what they thought. I came across the story of this photographer sometime last year and she seems very interesting!<br> Link below:<br> http://www.findingvivianmaier.com/#story</p> <p>-JW</p>

<p>Nice pictures Raymond, and a very nice example of the Retina Reflex. The lenses on the Reflex series of cameras were very good, just as good if not better than the Canon/Nikon lenses out in the late 1950s/early 1960s. They are a true testament to what a great company Kodak used to be, developing top notch cameras. <br> I'm curious though about the film you used; i've never tried it myself or seen it in a store. Is it similar to the Kodak Gold films?</p>

<p>So, I recently purchased a Mamiya ZE camera on a well known auction site. For about $30, I got the camera body, the mamiya sekor E f/2 lens, Mamiya auto film winder and Mamiyalite flash. I figured I would take a gamble on whether or not the camera was working. Well, wouldn't you know, it was not working correctly when it arrived. (Yeah, I know, I should have asked first). The film advance would not cock the shutter and thus, the shutter release would not do anything. Otherwise, the camera was in really good shape externally since it seemed to have been stored in the included case. All other included accessories worked without a hitch.<br> Anyways, I had heard about Garry's Camera Repair in Illinois on photo.net and thought I would give him a try. So, for $68.00 he completely overhauled the camera (repaired or replaced broken parts, CLA, checked/correctd timing, checked the light meter, etc.) and dismantled/cleaned/inspected the lens and put eveything back together. I this the price was pretty fair conidering what other places wanted to charge me when I called around. What do ya'll think? I haven't run any film through the camera yet but I plan to this weekend to see how it performs.<br> I found an online manual for the camera but no meaningful reviews so to speak. Does anyone have any experiene with the camera? I have never used a Mamiya branded camera before and thought I would ask.<br> Thanks!</p>