polka

Are you sure that you would have shot 10000 images on film in the meantime ? Me too, when I am playing tourist I use digital (and small sensors actually) and I snap hundreds of pictures. But when I do "photgraphy", I shoot film (very more sparingly) and MF mostly. Since I had (first) a 6Mpix digital, (a Kodak DX7630) and (after) a 18Mpix (Sony) that I find not being sharper (but more convenient because stabilized), I am satisfied with my A4 and A3 prints, because for me "sharpness" is not a critical issue. And my pictures (also analog) that I like most are sometimes not at all sharp. Polka

I did it this way with my Pentax6x7 : I went to my optician (the shop who sells me my presbyt glasses) with my camera and had him test the exact correction that I needed. Then I ordered him the lens with the correct diameter to be placed in the eyepiece of the camera. This costed me less than to look for corrective lenses by the camera builder and could be adjusted to a fraction of dioptre. Polka

When I saw the title of this thread, I didn't think first that "best" was meaning "smooth", I would have found more important comments about "regularity" of frame spacing. This may be more problematic in MF, but the problems may also arise in 35mm cameras and then yield even more unpleasant issues (like impossible automated framing of slides for instance). So here are some personnal experiences : In 1979, I bought (new) a Minox35 EL, that is still working very well and has fairly regular frame spacing. When Minox stopped their range of 35 models, I decided (why not ?) to buy their latest Minox35 GT-S, and was very disappointed with its very irregular frame spacing. Apart this bad experience, my 35mm cameras generally have rather fairly regular film advance. Concerning MF, the cameras I have show very diverse regularity of frame spacing, but none catastrophic except from Pentacon Six. My best camera with equal frame spacing (to a fraction of mm !) is a Flexaret I bought on a flee market in Praha ; even better than my Rolleiflex T. One peculiar camera I like very much is a little very old 645 folder : a Rodenstock Citonette with red peeping windows to control the film advance. Its problem with frame spacing is that the frame window is so large that equally spaced pictures are less than 2mm apart. So I had to put marks on the red windows so that I may be able to group four pictures without any spacing to get a little more than 5mm space every four pictures for cutting the film. Polka

The only digicam that I have is a Kodak DX7630 bought new in 2004 for $300. It has a 6Mp CCD (aspect ratio 3/4) and a modest 3x but excellent zoom. And I am not a "pro", that is : I am not paid for my pictures. But I don't believe that because they are taken with a tiny sensor they are "flat" ; after all, our eyes sport tiny sensors too. Polka

Before the death of APS (assassinated by digital), by pure curiosity, I bought a little Konica and used it a lot with pleasure. Then I found a Canon-IX body, ridiculously cheap, and tried it with my EOS lenses. Of course, I got fair results, and finally adapted also the standard zoom of my Canon 300D to it. Although said to be fit only for the digital sensor of the 300D, it did not vignet with the APS. Here two pictures : the camera with this lens : and an example of the result : Polka

Yes, the 35EL was the first of their line and for me, the best (I still use it occasionnally). When they sold out their last model, the GT-S, I decided to have one, but was very disappointed : out of the box, the aperture setting did not work ; I repaired this, but having developped the first film, I noticed that the view spacing was very irregular and I could not do anything about it. So I decided that I would not use it again (moreover, I disliked that the ISO setting was only possible through DX code).

Adding that if you look for a P&S having good reputation on the forums, you will pay 20% cam and 80% (disputable !) reputation, whereas in a garage sale, you may only pay 10%. Paul

Go for "garage sales", there, people are getting rid of their latest analog cams, because they switched to digital, and most of them had cams like you are looking for. Paul

This WE, I try my "new" Bronica GS-1, but I just noticed a problem : all speeds are seemingly OK except 1/500 (which - the manual says - is the only speed not controlled electronically, but mechanically). Instead of remaining open 1/500sec it more or less stays open about 1/4sec. Any idea about that ? Paul

You are right, in the "bible of early bronica collectors" by Tony Hilton, it is said page 62 describing S2a : * meaning the metal parts On all their early cameras, Hilton believes that they often made "incremental" :) modifications

Yes, I have a Bronica (S2) and a friend of mine has an Hasslebad (spelling intended !) IMO the bronica is way more foolproof when changing backs, lenses, etc. But it has a lower "reputation" ? I often wondered what part of the price of Hassies or Leicas was only justified by good marketing of reputation ? Paul

Some later S2A cameras (and backs) do not show "S2A" after the serial number (like in your example, Rick : I have a S2 body and corresponding back not engraved "S2A" but I have an extra back which has it whereas your body has it but your back does not - however, it is a later S2A back). The only two ways to tell S2 or S2A (apart internal gears) are - grey leatheret for S2 and black leatheret for S2A (I find grey more "sexy") - the size of the winding knob bigger and conical on the S2 Paul If you show me a top view of your camera, I will be able to tell you

I never understood this kind of point of view. If you have such a good digital camera, why not use it to shoot the pictures with it instead of using it to scan film. OK, I understand that one may want to digitize old slides or negs, and not bother buying a scanner especially for doing it. But when you shoot film, and either enlarge it in a "wet lab", or scan it with a dedicated scanner or a digital camera, the light always goes successively through two lenses, whereas if you shoot directly with your digital camera,it goes only through one lens. So it should be better ? I do film (especially BW, and enlarge "the wet way") for fun only, and anyway, I am not a sharpness freak. The mine pictures I like most were not sharp.

Me too, have a very nice (and rare) red camera :) Not for sale !

It's a disguised Kiev :rolleyes:

I load film often the same way as you did (without taking the back off). On the Bronica S2 when you push the slide in, it automatically unlocks the back, and only when you put back the back in place you can pull the slide off. So when I take my bronica on the road without the slide, I actually have to change films without taking off the back - like you.. What I may suggest you to do with your situation is : insert your slide and remove the back then try to turn the winding knob without the back thus completing the shutter tensionning cycle, and observe how it moves (tell me) if this seems to work OK, try to fire the shutter ; check that the shutter speed button (on the opposite side of the winding knob) is correctly cranked - not between two speed settings ! If it does not work, the camera of your friend is broken (but you did not do anything wrong) If it works, try several winding/firing at different shutter speeds. Then you may put the back back and remove the slide. Next when you wind the camera, don't bother if the film winding and the shutter tensionning were synchronised in any way, The camera should sort this out automatically (unlike Hasselblad or Kiev cameras). If this helps, tell me. If not, tell me too. Paul

I would not bother ! First, when the lens is fully closed, bokeh is rarely an issue. OK, maybe there is some small play in the closure mechanism of one blade which will indeed be most noticeable at very smal apertures. However, what you are showing us is aperture closed manually with the depth of field control lever ? But you should look at how the diaphragm is closed when all its blades are slammed together instantly when you shoot ; maybe it will be OK To test this, take a picture of a point light very far away, with your lens stopped down but with very unaccurate focusing (at minimal distance : 1m ?)

Hi, for Don : Under the pictures I named the camera : спутник meaning "spoutnik" This first test film that I did with it was an Ilford Delta 1OO developped with Ilfotec LC29. Now, you know everything ? Paul

This WE, I used my new : спутник cross-eyed viewing ! Paul

Alsaflex is a french 24x24 SLR designed by Lucien Dodin, the inventor of the stigometer (and a lot of other things). see : http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/appareil-10368-Alsaphot_Alsaflex.html Its technology preceded the architecture of the Olympus PenF half format SLR (using a porro prism instead of a pentaprism). Paul

Yes, merge ! Anyway, I was never shy about posting about my YashicaE35 (or others...) which are not manual at all, but old classics (dating 1967), because the way you use them is neverless with the manual spirit : sometimes when needed, you may alter the film speed in order to override their automaticity. Paul

<p>With the Bronica S2 (or S2a) you can only remove the back from the body by inserting "its own slide", this fact is well known. But what is not so well known is that there are two kinds of slides, which <strong>have to be matched with</strong> two different kinds of backs. The proof of this fact is here :<br> http://www.dirapon.be/images/collection/Bronica/volets_Bronica_S2.pdf<br> on a very interesting page about the Bronica S2 and S2a :<br> http://www.dirapon.be/bronica.htm<br> Maybe you did not buy a slide matched with your back.<br> Too bad that you lost the original slide going with your back.<br> Paul</p>

<p>Second picture :<br> The great thing about the minox was its very sensitive shutter release knob, and I had usually no problem to take this kind of pictures (several seconds exposure times) hand held without any support.</p><div></div>

<p>Some 12 years after my first Yashica E35, I got a Minox 35EL for the same reason : the electronic shutter ! (this camera was a rare occurence of Germany copying japanese technology :-).<br> Here I show you an equivalent couple of examples shot with this compact "scale focus" camera.</p><div></div>

<p>And this next one was taken with the lens very open (I don't remember exactly the f-stop) and an - automatic - exposure time longer than 30sec.<br> Thus 20 to 21 EV between the two shots !</p><div></div>