kris-bochenek

<p># 2</p><div></div>

<p >Now we’re back in Mount Prospect, just few miles away. Here we have lots going on, in Summer, that is. We have activities for kids and adults. We also have train station and wait for it JDM, a water tower and pretty one too. Here are some shots. </p><div></div>

<p>#2</p><div></div>

<p >Here’s a street view of downtown Des Plaines. Right at the intersection of Miner and Pearson is a candy store for classic cameras lovers. I go there once in a while and even had two cameras repaired there. The owners are not the most open to questions and the place is always empty. Once I asked the owner for many years they’ve been there and she said 30, so I started asking more about cameras and how they ended up with so many cameras and bit of gear. She looked at me and said with heavy (Asian) accent “ You go now I don’t know cameras go go go” so I left, but even more intrigued came back for more looksies and questions. They must hate my guts, but I spent some $$ there. </p><div></div>

<p >Now here’s something sweet. Sugar Bowl family restaurant has been in Des Plaines since 1921 and its neon sign was fitted in 1957. They offer variety of homestyle dishes.</p><div></div>

<p >This picture here shows Eastern façade of what used to be a Masonic Temple. It was originally home for Lodge 890 and it was built in 1924 and designed by architect, Clarence Hatzfeld. The long gone temple housed a theatre and it’s now for rent. </p><div></div>

<p>I have recently acquired an Exacta VX. I have been looking for one for a while, but the ones out there usually had some kind of issues. This one here was looking in good shape and clean. Seller provided pictures of the shutter curtains and those looked good as well. Well, I took the plunge and clicked buy it now. Few days later I had a good looking camera with both, prism finder and waist level finder. All for 60 Washingtons. I had a Zeiss lens sitting around so I put in on and headed out. <br> I wanted to capture some scenes from my town and its neighbor, Des Plaines, IL. Both Mount Prospect and Des Plaines are rather historic cities, Des Plaines being older. It was incorporated in 1869 and now it is one of largest suburbs of Chicago. It originally was home for many German immigrants dating back to 1840’s. Here are some of the most interesting landmarks in the city. </p> <p >Des Plaines Theatre was built in 1925 and it still stands with its original façade, however, it does not run any shows. In early and mid 2000’s they projected Indian Bollywood movies and the placed was always packed to the brim. Then, one day, it was all gone, no more shows no more people. This place is now closed and seems to be pretty gutted inside. Shame that once viral place is now gone. </p> <p > <br> </p><div></div>

<p>I like Mark Hansen. He fixed 3 of my Rolleiflexes. Very good guy, good communication and good prices. Mark Hama is more for Yashica TLR, I think.</p>

<p>Nice find, John. Nice camera and it looks very similar to Zorki 4. Nice pictures. Like Stephen said, they do appear rather sharp. Thank you for sharing.</p>

<p>Very nice looking FED. The read covering matches its history quite well. One can't beat FED2 and its wide spread rangefinder. Speaking of bottom loaders, I once tried to load 3OPKNN C on 15 F Winter day - no fun.Thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>This is very cool, Mark, It seems that in 1929 average salary for 2/3 of families in the US was about 2500 USD. That puts the price of the camera $85 into perspective. Nice find. Thank you.</p>

I once embarked on a journey to purchase all yashica TLRs ever made. Thus far, I only got few models. The rare examples like gray B or Rookie are hard to find and quite pricey. I was considering sending the original Rollei to Mark for CLA but since he's working on my Automat now, the Original has to wait. Rolleis sure have some kind of magic about them.

<p>Robert, Portraits with this camera might be a good way to use it indoors with nice large window. It maybe something to think about.</p>

<p>I'm very happy with the performance of this camera and its Tessar. Outdoors shots were at f/5.6 and f/8, while the indoors were taken at f/4. I don't see myself using it much because it is already in rather delicate condition and given its rarity, I don't want to mess it up. I hope you enjoyed this short post.</p>

<p>Fourth</p><div></div>

<p>Third shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Second shot. This one is after the one that got overexposed with the back ajarred.</p><div></div>

<p>Now let's see some test shots.</p><div></div>

<p>I tell you what! This camera is quite a lady. First two shots and it showed it's delicate side. I had it on the tripod and I tried to rotate it by grabbing the body - OH NO! THE HORRORS! the unhinged back snapped loose, causing it to ajar a bit!. I thought it was over, but I still wanted to finish the roll. Turns out that only one shot got killed by the light, while the other one was injured a little.</p><div></div>

<p>It features Zeiss Tessar 75mm f/3.8. No hinged back on this camera and no crank advanced. F&H produced four sub models 611, 612, 613, 614. The early versions accepted 117 film while later versions (some of them) took 620 film. I found a 620 spool in my spool bag and re-combuburated some 120 Fuji Acros. I took it out and wanted to see what I can get from this 1929 beauty.</p><div></div>

<p>In my never ending search for more and more TLR cameras, I came across a camera that I thought it would add nicely to my TLR family. It was a little distressed and the seller wanted a lot for it. So I thought that I would email the seller and offer them half the price they were asking- it worked! few days later I got it. Its taking lens was not in register with the viewing lens, so after some cleaning I adjusted the top lens to sit true at infinity. I also noticed that the mirror was much thicker than the original one, so new one is on its way. Anyways, after some research, I have learned that what I have is a Rolleiflex Original model K1 612. There were only 820 produced.</p><div></div>

<p>I have been using Adonal (Rodinal) for years now, but I just purchased a new bottle and what came in is a bit different than what I had. I don't know if it's the same stuff. Any experience with the new stuff?<br> On the right - what I currently use <br> On the left - new stuff. </p><div></div>

<p>Rollei case is spoken for.</p>

<p>Nice, although the Vitessa is not the best looking, it does produce some neat images, Miranda is my fave here also because I long for a good working Miranda SLR.<br> Thank you for sharing. </p>

<p>Vivitar series 6 close up filters, Filter adapter is series 5 or V</p>