rod_larson

<p>Great photos, August. I liked "Rain Comming" and "Path". I have had the same thing happen<br>

where you buy somthing for parts only to find it is a perfectly usable item with a little help.</p>

<p>You might look for an Agfa Isolette. They are usually inexpensive but have and excellent lens<br>

and shutter. Be prepared to plug up some pin hole in the bellows though. Another thought<br>

is a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta. They are a little more expensive but the bellows are made of better<br>

material.</p>

<p>Like all older cameras the one you get may have been in storage for 30 or more years and<br>

may have sticky shutter blades or frozen focusing rings, etc.</p>

<p>Another relic of old technology brought back to life. Great work and I really enjoy seeing your<br>

photos of an emerging economy.</p>

<p>Great pictures, August. Especially the P51B. I always thought that was the coolest prop<br>

airplane ever. Your Praktica looks pretty cool too.</p>

<p>I picked up Sears TLS a couple of years ago at a garage sale run by a very cute, little blond<br>

who's boyfriend had skipped out on her and she was selling his stuff. It came with an Auto<br>

Sears 50mm/f1.7 and an Auto Sears 28mm/f2.8 lens. Here is a snapshot with the 50mm lens.</p><div></div>

<p>Rick, if my wife saw those photos we would be on the next plane to Ireland. I especially liked<br>

the cemetery at Monasterboice. The more recent graves in the foreground make a nice<br>

connection between past and present.</p>

<p>Everytime I tell myself no more cameras I come across old, unloved, and forgotten for many<br>

years that is just begging to be put back in service. It's impossible to resist.</p>

<p>Great subject and photos. Several years ago I was doing a survey on a railroad through<br>

central Texas and went through a town that at one time had a very active business district<br>

but all that was left were bocks of empty stores. Spooky.</p>

<p>You might try putting a piece of ground glass or tape over the film opening and see if you can<br>

get a sharp image. You never know if someone took the focusing element apart and didn't<br>

get it started on the right threads again.</p>

<p>Today, after getting everything cleaned up I mounted the shutter blades and the shutter<br>

plate to the diaphram frame and everything is working smoothly so far. I still have to get the<br>

front lens cell and focusing mechanism cleaned up. Should be interesting to see how much<br>

touble I have getting everything to focus properly. I'll post some pics of the finished camera<br>

and some photos when it's finished.</p><div></div>

<p>Last spring I saw another Contina advertised on the auction site, again advertised with a<br>

stuck shutter and available for not very much. This one had some water damage but other-<br>

wise was in pretty good shape. I used the shutter blades from the first Contina because<br>

there was rust and pits on the "new" shutter blades.</p><div></div>

<p>Further inspection also showed the focusing ring was a little cockeyed on its mount and this<br>

is what was jamming the shutter. There is also a hairline crack between the focusing barrel<br>

and the flange.</p><div></div>

<p>Last year I bought a Zeiss Ikon Contina II off the auction site. It was advertised as the shutter not work-<br>

ing but in good cosmetic condition. The shutter sounded like the usual problem with leaf shutters and a<br>

good cleaning would fix it up so I bought it for a song.</p>

<p>When it arrived it looked like it had never been used so I eagerly dismantled it but found there was a<br>

chunk of metal missing from the shutter plate.</p><div></div>

<p>JDM's advice on worth of the camera is very sound. I have purchased some cameras that I<br>

knew were slightly overpriced but I have enjoyed using them so they were worth it.</p>

<p>Secondly I have never purchased a classic camera that was working 100 percent. Some only<br>

needed light seals and others needed a complete teardown to clean out the old dried up<br>

lubricants that were making all the moving parts stick together.</p>

<p>Do not buy a camera that cannot work independantly of the metering system. A lot of older<br>

cameras used selenium as the sensing element and selenium degrades over time . Cameras<br>

using selenium can be identified by a plastic window with "bumps" on it.</p>

<p>Nice looking camera, Rick. I've never owned a Spotmatic but I do have an ME and a MX. Some-<br>

day hopefully I will run across one.</p>