polka

For cameras (like Rollei35 or Minox35) with 35mm focal lenses, guesstimation of focus distance is easy : as the width of the picture is 36mm so also approximately the same as the focal, you simply have to estimate the width of the subject framed in your viewfinder at focus distance and set this value on the focusing ring. Or else, as the height of the picture is 24mm (landscape oriented), multipy the height of your framed subject by 1.5 and that's it ! POLKa

Did you already sell all your equipment ? I would have kept the three Nikon lenses and bought a modern Nikon film body for them. Maybe, I would have kept also the Nikon digital body, in case some day in the future, you wanted to snap some digital again ?

Mine is a KodakDX7630 that I bought in 2004 ( 6Mpix on a 1/1.8" CCD modest zoom equFF : 39/117mm ). Never needed anything else digital for up to A4 prints. Plus : it has an optical viewfinder and is also very convenient for panoramics and proxi-photography (flowers and insects). But I still like to waste (B&W) film with MF (Zenza Bronica) cameras and print them pictures in a "wet" laboratory. POLKa

The question is : through how many lenses goes your picture : shooting analog is the first lens, then either you scan the film, the scanner is a second lens ; or you enlarge to paper in a wet laboratory, the enlarger lens is also a second lens, or else you scan it with a digital camera, thus also through a second lens, or you use a slide projector and you have also a second lens. In any case each second lens adds some convolution to your original picture on film and thus reduces somehow its resolution. 🙄So, doesn't the only way seem to shoot directly digital ?😉

I just noticed that the link I gave above does not display the picture essential for its illustration ; here it is ! POLKa

I have a FT, but I do not use the ttl cell at all (I did not put a battery in it), because there is no way to cut it off, and if you don't cover the lens it will drain the battery all the time. The semi silvered mirror is not the first big one, it is one of the smaller mirrors in the view finder. I had to reposition the main mirror to correct the focusing and i explain how to do it here : http://www.collection-appareils.fr/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=19399 The title is in english, but the text is in french (gogol translate is your friend). POLKa

I selected (a long time ago) a rolleiflex T like the one at left, because you could switch between 6x6 and 645. I used it 6x6 with negatives and 645 for slides (landscape oriented) because I found it most convenient for slide shows. After, I found a rolleikin device to use 135 film for portraits : because vertical framing and its 75mm was IMO an ideal portrait little tele lens. Besides, although there is not a big difference between 75mm and 80mm rolleiflex lenses, I personnally prefer the 75mm perspective framing. POLKa

Yes, the answer : Fill-in flash !

To my opinion, the Minox35 is smaller, lighter and more streamlined, so that when closed it slips better into any pocket. And it has an electronic shutter, which works OK between 1/500 ans several seconds (like the Yashica Electro35 - my first rangefinder). POLKa

My father had a very bad experience with his Contaflex Super B he bought in 1966. He had dreamed of this camera for years (at these times Zeiss was very reputed in Europe and the japanese camera imports were both rare and reputably not as good as the german). Finally, my father bought a Contaflex Super B when the better Super BC was replacing it and he got the last available Super B (because he insisted not to depend on a battery for the photo cell). Unfortunately, the camera he got had been exposed in the storefront for a long time and its selenium cell was almost dead. It was adjusted once when he bought it (without telling him), but finally, they could not re-adjust it once again after only a few months and thus simply deactivated the AE function... for a camera payed full price and still under warranty ! IMO, my father made two errors : 1/ not to buy a Super BC instead of a Super B 2/ not to buy a better japanese camera instead of a Zeiss. POLKa

Interesting question : how would you !measure! the focal length of one of your photographic lenses ? Let's say a retrofocus wide-angle lens to make it a little difficult. POLKa

My first Canon was an EOS630 (analog with autofocus), then I bought their 300D (6Mpix APS sensor), to use the same EF lenses. 6Mpix was something in those times, but after that, for playing tourist, I prefered compact digital cameras : the first, a kodak 7630 also 6Mpix with a rather modest but excellent zoom. Nowadays, i still prefer compact digital and almost never reuse my 300D. But lately I repaired my EOS630, which had the "excessive battery drain" syndrom and use it again with BW films (like all my MF cameras). POLKa

As I had an alkaline 625 batterie nearing the end of its life and giving only 1.35V, I tried to compare the measurements of my Gossen Sixtar equipped with it and with a new alkaline 625 that gives 1,65V : the difference in several situations (sunny, cloudy,very low light) is always around 1/2 to 2/3 f-stops. So to say, there is almost no need to correct the setting of this lightmeter. I have also another lightmeter, a Gossen Polysix, that uses ordinary AAA batteries and works by equalising two leds, and this meter is by design completely unaware of batterie tension.

A camera for masochists... that I have and like POLKa

My very first toy camera was a Mycro (14x14mm) which taught me photography (choose speed, aperture, guess distance - develop films - make BW slides on "safety film" by contact under red light etc.) Then, my first serious camera was a Yashica Electro35 bought in 1967, because of its revolutionnary (analog) electronic shutter. POLKa