bob_miller4

<p>I'm aware of two optical designs for the breechlock FD 135mm/3.5 lenses, the former 4 elements in 3 groups like the earlier Canon FL lens and Carl Zeiss Jena M42 Sonnar lens, and the latter 4 in 4. The change may have been to reduce weight and eliminate cement.</p>

<p>Someone could do all right making a cheap digital SLR taking M42 lenses.</p>

<p>I've used loops of synthetic plastic clothesline (braided nylon, polyester) as effective if not aesthetic camera straps. The double width created by the loop makes the strap reasonably comfortable.</p>

<p>When I was a kid, my father used a folding 35mm Kodak much like the pictured Retina. His Kodachrome slides of my childhood were very colorful and sharp.</p>

<p>Polyester or nylon clothesline from the hardware store works fine for me. I make a full loop, anchored securely to one metal ring on the camera and passing through the other ring. This makes the "strap" two strands wide for comfort. </p>

<p>Don't try an old silk tie, though! I did that once with my Canon TL-QL camera with FL 50mm/3.5 macro lens, and the tie suddenly snapped, sending the camera down onto an asphalt parking lot. However, the rugged equipment sustained only minor dents.</p>

<p>The way people typically held the 110 film cameras while shooting made camera shake almost automatic. </p>

<p>Maybe the sensitive reader can be warned about certain shots ahead of time: "Banal Content! Prepare to Sleep!"</p>

<p>I've used this lens on other M42 cameras and it's very good.</p>

<p>This comment thread is attracting negativity, making other threads more positive.</p>

<p>I included some negative space...</p>

<p>...above this line</p>

<p>Latest CVS film is Fuji, too. I don't see any Kodak High Definition film at CVS lately. Last year, they were closing this out at low prices. Typically scanning/printing at Target using the Kodak Perfect Touch option gives good snapshots and photo CD's (often including both low and higher resolution files for each frame). Note that not all Target photo staff are equally skilled in their art; I learned this by trial and error.</p>

<p>The arm was the tone arm, holding a cartridge which included the stylus. Before the stylus got fancy, it was the needle.</p>

<p>As a college freshman in 1966, I had two roommates (one a sound system dealer with a store next to the campus) who obsessed over high-end turntables, especially about minimizing wear of the precious vinyl record grooves by the stylus. At one point, they each bought a Marantz turntable with special linear tracking tone arm, as shown here:<br>

http://www.thevintageknob.org/marantz-SLT-12.html</p>

<p>Looks like my very first camera!</p>

<p>We view any kind of picture through our analog eyeballs.</p>

<p>I've used a clean cotton undershirt moistened (but not sopping wet) with isopropyl alcohol from the drugstore.</p>

<p>The Canon SLRs (such as FT, FTb, TL, TLb, TX) that used button batteries had the screw-in battery lid facing sideways from the left-hand end of the body. This kept corrosion from freezing the lid.</p>

<p>I have a Yashica SLR and a Pentax SLR with a frozen lid located on the bottom. Why were these companies so oblivious?</p>

<p>What business is it of ours if some cheap camera yearns to be a Hasselblad?</p>

<p>I once bought an SP500 (similar, minus 1/1000 sec speed) on eBay. It came with a battery cover that had been marinated in WD-40 (judging by the odor) and pin wrenched, all to no avail. Some corrosion is too much to overcome. Heating, even localized, would probably cause damage to the camera itself.</p>

<p>It's easy enough to use a meterless camera.</p>

<p>I also found some slower speeds hanging up, which mostly stopped happening after releasing the shutter many times. Lubrication would help.</p>

<p>I would still appreciate a factual answer to my original question.</p>

<p>The ambiguity in pronunciation and meaning is part of this word's charm. Since it relates somehow to out of focus stuff, it should be ambiguous!</p>

<p>I don't see any sign that my own Mamiya Sekor 55mm/1.4 lens (Serial Number 12x,xxx, black, bought used with 1000DTL camera) has yellowed.</p>

<p>I know of other lenses (e.g., certain M42 Takumars) that were measured to be radioactive by people competent to do it. Thorium oxide can enhance some properties of optical glass. Sorry if I was unclear about that.</p>

<p>I have both these camera models. Both are solid and still work great.</p>

<p>I've seen postings here and there claiming that the Mamiya Sekor 55mm/1.4 lenses (pre-SX) made for the TL and DTL series cameras contain some glass with radioactive thorium and are therefore subject to yellowing.<br /><br />Has this radioactivity and yellowing been substantiated by anyone who has credibility in these matters? (As opposed to the kind of people who broadcast their own and each other's guesses and errors) This is about the glass itself; yellowish lens coatings are another matter.<br /><br />What about the situation with 55mm/1.8 and 50mm/2 Mamiya Sekor lenses of that era?</p>

<p>Please provide Ken's contact info, for those of us who don't have it. Thanks!</p>