matthew_rusbarsky

<p>Don't throw away your used wein cells. A hammer and a few appropriately sized nuts or washers can be used to tap the metal collar off the battery. The collar friction-fits very nicely onto the appropriate zinc air cell from your local drug store. Much cheaper, more likely to be fresh, and readily available.</p>

<p>A very fair price for a nice Vitessa. You might also want to look at Kodak Retina RFs. I have a cheap XA2. Smaller than a pack of cigarettes and almost bullet-proof. Great image quality. You can sit on it, drop it and bash it around with abandon and not think twice. </p>

<p>Hello SP,<br>

I have no idea, <a href="http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-133.html">but one of Rick's pages shows the stripped top deck of a Fed5.</a> Can't be that different. I looks like the post for the knob is threaded. Maybe the difficulty arises from removing the fork first? You usually take a pop-sickle stick (or you local equivalent) to hold the fork stationary while you spin the knob off it's stud in the opposite direction of take-up. Good luck and let us know how it goes.<br>

-Matthew</p>

<p>Juan, I do a bit of sea kayaking and I like to bring along a camera. I had an old Canon Rebel G that was eaten by salt water spray. More important than the camera is the logistics of the camera. I use an old 50mm ammo case that is small enough to fit in the cockpit. If I had the cash, I would buy a pellican case, but I'm not sure it would work any better. In the case is a camera, lens cloths, and a rag to wipe to salt water off of my hands before I handle the camera. From case to eye and back in case only takes a second or so. When I don't want to bother with the case, I carry a plastick-fantastic wrapped in a zip-lock and tucked into a pocket of my life vest. I'll be paddling this year with a trashed 4x5 crown graphic. Let us know how it goes. I'd love to see some of your photos.<br>

Regards,<br>

-Matthew</p>

<p>Danek, a few notes about Graflex backs. There are three; Graflex, Graphic, and Graflok. Graflex is the old version with the one slide on top (one to avoid), Graphic is the spring back (good for sheet film), and Graflok is the modern international back (good for sheet film and rollfilm) . Stay away from the Graflex (you only run into them on very old cameras and they are not compatible with the other two). The Graphic back is a pain in the ass with any rollfilm holder except for the aftermarket Adapt-A-Roll. The rollfilm backs are size specific; you cant use a back for a 2x3 camera for a 4x5 camera. You can certainly shoot 120 film in a 4x5 camera, but framing with the wire finder or the top mounted viewfinder will be more difficult unless you come up with some cropping masks or use your imagination. A 2x3 Graflex is not that much smaller than a 4x5 Graflex. A nice 2x3s with a Graflok back is almost the same money as a 4x5. Bush Pressmans are VERY nice cameras. Superior to Graflex in most ways, however the back on every one I have seen is a much nicer version of the Graphic spring back and like the Graphic, it's a PITA to switch between ground-glass and rollfilm back on the fly (unless you have an Adapt-A-Roll). You can use electronic flash on a Graflex. There are several ways to do it. How you go about it depends on your set-up (sync on the leaf shutter, sync on the focal plane shutter if you have a speed, or via a solenoid on the lensboard)</p>

<p>My first pinhole camera was an old box camera that took 120. I gently removed the lens using a hammer and a nail. Total cost was less than $10. </p>

<p>Good stuff from I great camera. I grew up not too far from there. I spent many nights surf fishing on the hook.</p>

<p>Double post</p>

 

<p>If you are in MD, check out BP-ES on Reisterstown road in Pikesville. He has worked on a few leaf shutters for me in the past.</p>

<p>That's the great thing about ebay. Every now and then you are tempted to gamble on a pig in a poke. You win some and you lose some. You lost this one, but you only had $10 in. Looking at the listing I don't believe that there was any mis-representation on the part of the seller, only ignorance. Check out his completed sales. He is clearly not a camera guy, but his photos represented the item very well. Take the $10 hit and move on. It's not even worth the return shipping or the bad blood. The next seller who lists an item that he does not have a clear understanding of might be of great benefit to you.</p>

<p>Do some searches for discussions on re-using the Wein cell. The battery should be about $5. Once it's toast, you can pop the zinc air cell out of the adapter ring. Instant adapter. Also, maybe someone here uses Wein cells and would send you a dead one?</p>

<p>Cool! My father just showed me the Kodak Mom gave him for a present before they were married. Must have been '47 or so? The shutter was running just a bit slow and it takes 620 film. I shoot quite a bit with a adapt-a-roll so I need to bring a roll or so next time I go up and visit.</p>

<p>Lots of this stuff going on these days, mostly for alt process. It can be as easy as scanning, then flipping, inverting and printing onto drafting vellum for contact prints. For better quality contact prints or enlarging, most are using Pictorico. <br />As the density of a digital negative differs from a film negative, a set of curves often need to be applied to the end result of your post processing. Software tools such as ChartThrob are available for this.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.kodakcollector.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=32">Here you go.</a> Scroll down to the 32/33 catalog. It looks like there were 3 lens/shutter options.</p>

<p>I've gone through a few 6x9s, including an the oldest version of the Bessa, an Avus, a Moskva5, a few 6x9 box cameras, and a Crown Pacemaker 23. A few observations: Getting a nice one can be expensive. I love Voightlanders, but they can be expensive. 6x9 folders without ground glass focusing have VERY squinty viewfinders. Classic 6x9 rangefinders have some limitations. Old beam-splitters can be impossible to use in low light and tend to flare when it's bright. I love my Avus and Scopars are some of my favorite lenses. Unlike the Tessars, the older Skopars have barrels that are cemented together so it's almost impossible to get inside and clean the internal haze that the last 80 years have produced. My current favorite landscape camera is the Crown with an Ektar 105. It's a Heliar formula, and I could never afford a Voightlander Heliar. With careful searching, you can find a nice one for 1/4 the price of a Bessa II. the downside is that it's not a Voightlander, it's 5 times the size, and I miss the shift on the Avus. A few Voightlander photos. <br>

Original 1929 Bessa with the Voigtar: <br>

<img src="http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/Proteus617/29Bessa/img009a640x.jpg" alt="" width="427" height="640" /></p>

<p>Avus with Skopar in a dial-set Compur:<br>

<img src="http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/Proteus617/Avus/img002a640x-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>

I know it converts a "series 7" thread to a specified filter thread e.g. Series 7 to 58mm adapter ring etc. But what size and type is the series 7 thread?

<br>

A series VII filter (or V or whatever) has no thread. Itś a drop-in thatś held in place by a retaining ring that screws into the adapter.</p>

<p>¨I'm not sure how to take it apart, and I could really use some help here..¨<br>

Box cameras usually come apart in one of two ways. There are either clips on the back, or you pull out the winding key, or both. Once you free up the back, the assembly slides out or is exposed. The empty spool goes on the top, your film goes on the bottom, the paper backing faces the red window. The film goes OVER the pin rollers. Slip the tail of the backing paper through the slot of the top spool, turn it a bit so it catches. Put it all back together and advance until you see a number 1 in the red window.</p>

A little hole corresponding to the frame numbers you want to use covered with a red filter. Or you can search ebay for a 120 back.

<p>Two 100 sheet boxes of green-sensitive xray film. One box of 8x10, one box of 11x14. Looks like I'm getting into ULF and my rodinal consumption is about to go way up. Anyone want to sell me an old process lens in the 18" range?</p>

<p>Looks like the bay is a ghost town at the moment (8PM EST, xmas eve). There is a later model 6x6 Super Ikonta with no bids ending in 1 hour. Not a fantastic deal, but possible what the OP is looking for. Personally I'm partial to the earlier version with the flip-out rangefinder.</p>

<p>I have a Perkeo II 6x6 folder with the Color Skopar. It's one of the few cameras that I would never sell.</p>

<p>Lots of good flatbeds out there, new used and refurbished. The only reason why I recommended Epson is that they seem to do a better job releasing new drivers for older scanners. I've passed on many used scanners since I couldn't get a driver for my 64bit OS. If you go the used route and a driver is not available, you could pick one up from betterscanning.com. Supposedly the software is well worth the $ even for a new scanner but I can't speak from experience.</p>

<p>Dean-<br>

I've been developing my own B+W and scanning to digital for a few years now. All scanners scan B+W and color equally well, just stay away from the cheap optical scanners. Google "Ion Film Scanner" to get an idea of what they look like. Check out Epson Perfection Photo scanners. The V330 ($89) has better specs than my recently deceased Epson and I found it very adequate for the web. After that you are paying money for increased resolution and larger scanning areas for more negatives or larger formats. Less than $200 can get you a very nice machine. Might be worth it for you depending on your needs. Get ready for a steep learning curve. Good scanning is much more than pushing a button.<br>

An image processing program is essential for working with scanned negatives. Photoshop is very great and very expensive. GIMP is free and a good way to learn post-processing basics. Brace yourself for learning curve #2.<br>

I'm not sure that slides are the medium of choice for scanning. I really like Tri-X in Rodinal. Supposedly this is a poor choice for scanning, but that's the way I do it and I like the results. Have fun and develop your own preferences. There are infinite ways to skin this particular cat.</p>

<p>Ooooh. That is generous. The thrift store gods have already granted me a 99cent XA2, so I need to pass. </p>

<p>J Wong- My "darkroom" stuff (chemicals, tanks and changing bag) fits in a shoebox. I load film onto a reel and put it in the tank whenever I have time, and leave it there. Sometimes I leave it there for days. I try to develop late at night, but I often develop film while I'm cooking dinner. I hang the film to dry from the curtain rod in the shower. I wake up early before sunrise and cut and sleeve it.</p>