Argenticien

<p>M.C., which part of the world <em>do </em>you live in? (I could not derive a clue from last picture made by the Bessa, nor from the picture <em>of </em>the Bessa, where you've so blurred the background that I cannot see what language the books are in!) We have helpful people on this forum in UK, Europe, Australia, NZ, India, and scattered a few other places outside North America. Someone might know of a good repair-person near you. These old folder shutters (Compurs, Prontors, &c.) are somewhat standard, such that many competent technicians ("of a certain age," perhaps I should add) can work on them. It's not like some of the obscure camera models with bizarre proprietary designs, where you'll find that only one person in each hemisphere has specialised on it.<br> <br /><em>--Dave</em></p>

<p>Absolutely brilliant! I love Victorian-era (and slightly later) advert copy. Like "...without the impedimenta heretofore necessary"! Oh, for people still to write that way today! And the somewhat Yoda-like sentence construction ("A beautiful instrument is the Kodak..."; "Especially interesting is their work..."). I <em>do </em>have a problem with "Kodakery." Without a "c" before the "k," or two "k"s, I think it should rhyme with "bakery," but maybe that's just me.<br> Thanks for the walk down (pre-)memory lane, Kris and other contributors.<br> <em>--Dave</em></p>

<p>Nice post, Louis, with lovely pictures of <em>and </em>through the camera. Could I have found all this about the camera on Wikipedia or Camerapedia? <em>Maybe</em>, but this was more fun. I had not known the SR-1 was released so early; I thought it was mid-1960s. But as soon as I saw the scanned advert saying "New York 38," I thought "Aha! Pre-1962 since there's no ZIP code." (If memory serves me correctly that the ZIP code was born then.) And sure enough then you mentioned 1958. Also I had not seen pictures of this light meter before. I thought the Cyclops one for old Pentaxes (the SV, etc.) was cumbersome, but this one is ridiculous. Something about it being off-center perhaps makes it seem visually even more ungainly--like the Olympus OM shutter speed manualiser, but worse.<br> <br /><em>--Dave</em></p>

<p>@glen ... Strangely if you watch camera auctions for a long time on shopgoodwill.com, you will find that a plurality of the best classic cameras is listed by two Goodwill locations in the US Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Washington; and Columbia-Willamette [Hillsboro], Oregon). I'm not sure why that geographical bias obtains, but I'd love to know. And some Goodwill locations seem to sell no cameras online through any site (shopgoodwill.com or eBay). Put those factors together, and some of us in the Eastern US are stuck paying shipping fees rather than doing local pickup. It's too bad; otherwise I'd use shopgoodwill.com even more. Yes, as many have pointed out, its prices are not below eBay's anymore, but at least the proceeds go to a good cause.<br> <em>--Dave</em></p>

<p>I'll second Rick re: the Nikkor 50/3.5. I'm using it with an S2, but it should not matter which light-tight box it's bodged onto. Nice glass optically, and a good angle of view somewhat like a 30 - 35mm FL on 35mm film. Its downsides are all to do with size: it's the heaviest lens imaginable, has a big 82mm exposed front element that you'd want to protect with something, and so requires that those "somethings" (lens caps, filters, and hoods) be large and therefore potentially expensive.<br /><br />The Nikkor 75/2.8 is also very good despite being the "normal" lens--a category many people often consider boring. But if you have the Zenzanon 75 already, the Nikkor 75 would be purely for curiosity so probably not top priority to purchase.<br /><br /><em>--Dave</em><br /><br /></p>

<p>I found that the strap from my Mamiya C330 Professional S also attaches to my Bronica S2 properly. Quick Googling of some pictures online seems to indicate that the EC has the same strap-mounting posts as the S2, so the same may be true for your camera. That would enable you to search for straps on the basis of them listing the C330 Professional S among cameras that they fit. It is a more recent and more ubiquitous camera than the Bronica EC, which I'd expect no strap to list in its specifications.<br> <br />Be aware that other, earlier models of the C330 (plain or "Professional F" ones) had different strap attachment points, I think.<br> <em>--Dave</em></p>

<p>Not bad for its price class! If I'm being picky, then I'd say in 'Sculpture 3' and 'Sculpture 4' especially, the OOF areas (particularly in the corners) look a bit dodgy, rather more 'smeared' then 'swirly' to my eye. But the foreground and main subjects look crisp. Overall the price/performance trade-off seems entirely reasonable when the Rolleiflex 3.5F was around thrice the price of the Rollops. Nice resurrection job!<br> <em>--Dave</em></p>