steve_snyder2

<p>I bought a new MJU II new about 10 years ago. Sold it a couple of years ago for about what I paid for it, around $70. Now I see they are going for well over $100! I wish I had held onto mine because I am shooting a lot more film these days... With luck you might find one at a thrift shop because people lump these in with all the other cheap throwaway film cameras.</p>

<p>What's not to love about this camera? It's sturdy and easy to use. I still have mine that I picked up used in the late 1980s. Had the squeal fixed back when there were camera repair places all over the place. Hasn't squeaked since. FD glass is the best bargain out there although prices are creeping up because the M4/3 crowd is slapping them on their cameras now. I shoot mostly BW with mine these days when I want to slow down. I wish I could find diopters for mine because I hate shooting with glasses on. I actually picked up a Canon Elan 7e like new for $30 and use that when I need to focus more quickly without glasses. To me the A-1 was the pinnacle of prosumer cameras in the 80s and are selling for peanuts now...</p>

<p>Is it obvious how to take off the top and the screen out? There isn't a lot of info on those Ricohflex cameras like there are others. I'll take it off (if I can figure it out easily) and clean and see if that makes a big difference. If not I'll get one of Rick's screens... Thanks!</p>

<p>I picked up a nice Ricohflex Dia (early model) that is almost mint. Everything seems to work well on it. Shutter cocks and fires at all speeds and focusing is smooth. Only problem is the the focusing screen is dirty, dirty! It also just seems plain dim. I scoured the internet and I couldn't find anything about cleaning the focusing screen. Has anyone out there pulled the screen and cleaned it? How hard can it be?</p>

<p>Let's get one thing straight, Lomography is a made up marketing thing to sell Toy Cameras or other cheap, flawed cameras. Good for them for making money on it! Toy cameras have been around almost as long as photography, but it wasn't until the 1970s that they were starting to be used by fine art photographers for serious work. The real toy camera craze started in the late 1990s and then got co-opted by the Lomography guys. I was using Holgas and Dianas back around 2000 for a couple of years. (frankly I got bored and now that's it's every where, I find the aesthetic overdone) I was published a couple of times in magazines and was a contributor to The Toy Camera Handbook back in 2006. It was fun to rise against the onslaught of digital with the lowest low tech cameras out there. I had a pretty good collection of cameras that I sold off but you really don't need to spend a lot of money on cameras to get that really good toy camera look. Probably the cheapest camera out there that gives Holga like images is the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. But I still like to use the Holga occasionally but people just think I'm posting something from my Instagram account these days! That's how ubiquitous those fuzzy, out of focus toy camera images have become. 13 years ago people thought we were nuts and now look at it...</p>

<p>I have done a thorough Google search on this subject and I found a couple of other people asking the same question but nobody has taken on this project as far as I can tell. I might have to get an old medium format lens/shutter assembly and some how mount it on the plastic lens barrel. It's like a super cheap Xpan...</p>

<p>Somehow I missed the release of the Holga 135 Pan camera last year. <a href="http://www.freestylephoto.biz/231135-Holga-135-Pan-35mm-Panoramic-Camera">http://www.freestylephoto.biz/231135-Holga-135-Pan-35mm-Panoramic-Camera</a><br>

I saw the Holga 120 Pan and think that's a great idea too, but missed the 35mm version. The 35mm version covers the whole frame vertically and does not seem to be a cropped down mask for faux panorama. 24x72mm coverage. It comes with two lenses a 55mm f8 lens and a f236 pinhole. The simple fact that you can exchange lenses seems to open a whole new world for adding your own lens that could be much sharper. I'm not optical geek, but does anyone know where I might look to find a lens that might cover this area if I was to try and craft a lens? </p>

<p>I've been holding on to this really nice Ansco Speedex with a Solinar lens for a while. The bellows are full of light leaks and I've tried the nail polish thing without success. Maybe the holes are too big. I might try the Plasti Dip stuff and see if that's any better, but my real goal is new bellows. I saw the instructions on line to make them, but I think I have 10 thumbs and would just waste my time. I've searched everywhere for someone that sells bellows but Google isn't bringing anything up. There was a guy a couple of years ago (Workmans or something like that) but he's gone. There is also a Chinese guy on eBay that sells them for $40 if you give him your dimensions. That might me my best route. Any good ideas beyond that? Thanks!</p>

<p>I've had an A-1 for about 23 years. It got the squeak problem about 15 years ago and I had it serviced (back when there was camera repair places down the street) and it's been fine since. I think (as do many here) the FD cameras are the most under valued cameras out there mainly because the high quality of the cameras and the fact that the lenses can't be used easily on digital bodies. Just means more of them for me!</p>