lookupinwonder

<p>Recently bought a mountain of 2005 expired Fuji Superia 400. Storage unknown. Cost: 1 Euro per 3 rolls of 24. At 400 it is ugly and grainy but at 200 it is perfectly ok. Colors look fine too. So I just treat it as 200 and don't worry.</p>

<p>Enlighten us, what did the repair manual say about water pump repair?!<br>

(For the non-petrol heads, ALL VW's before 1970 or thereabouts are air cooled, hence do not have a water pump. VW only started with water cooling after they took over NSU).<br>

Anyway, even my 1963 M2 does not need to have a trimmed leader, so it's a fair bet a M7 does not need one either.</p>

<p>Leica users are really obsessed with perfect quality, but even from them I never heard a claim that an adapter would change anything, picture quality wise. There are some misguided individuals who seem to like the fact that a lot of CV lenses are now M mount only. As has been pointed out, screw mount lenses are much more versatile, as they will work on LTM Leicas, FEDs, Zorkies, LTM Canons, Niccas, you get the idea.<br>

I have several adapters myself, Leitz from the 60's, recent CV's and a no name one from China. I really can't tell the difference. But maybe I'm just lucky.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>In my lengthy scanning career (going from an Epson 1200 Perfction Photo to a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual II and a Nikon Coolscan V) I found out several things:<br>

Vuescan rocks. It is not easy to figure out, but if you do it will help to squeeze everything out of your scanner. Nikon Scan is easier to use, but not nearly as stable and eats your computer resources. Results are good though/<br>

All C41 scans well. You might need to tweak color a bit, but for me its easy. Even the cheapest old cr*p from the department store scans well.<br>

For traditional B/W I suggest you expose/develop a bit less than usual. B/W for wet printing is very forgiving (or so I'm told), but scanning is a bit more demanding. I agree btw that 'real' B/W looks better than converted C41 or E6.<br>

My old slides (pre-2000) scan exceptionally well today. The strange thing is that the film was cheap departement store stuff... The scans from recent slides (Agfa Precisa CT, Fuji Sensia) are very poor in comparison. I can only conclude the film I used was bad, but how can off-brand stuff be so good and Agfa and Fuji so bad???<br>

Anyway, scanning is a bit of an art. I am by no means an expert, but I scanned hundreds of rolls and I am pretty demanding. Good luck!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>As the others said, the M2 won't suffer. I am not int the EOS system so I can't help you there.<br>

I do however use Nikon SB-30 flash on my Canon Canonet and on my M2 (and my Nikons of course). The SB-30 has its own light sensor so within certain parameters it can determine exposure and does so very well. A great asset for manual cameras.<br>

My 'big' flash, a Sigma EF500 cannot do this, it has to be controlled by the camera.</p>

 

<p>My idea is a bit different:<br>

The Panasonic G1 is causing quite a stir. Excellent EVF based camera and very well though out and engineered.<br>

Almost all glass will work on it, including Leica M, but there's that 2x crop factor.<br>

But there is absolutely no reason why Leica can't use the G1 as a starting point for their own micro four thirds camera. For the conservative crowd they could also include an optical rangefinder.<br>

A traditionally styled well thought out camera like this would sell by the boatload.<br>

And the next step would be to make micro four thirds primes...</p>

<p>Sadly I don't have an original leather case, nor boxes/paperwork.<br>

My M2's shutter was way off. If I look at the negs from the first rolls it seems that the shutter was fixed at one speed. Will van Manen in the Netherlands did a fine job on it, it now works ok. Like Sherry he is a respected repair person.<br>

And yes, I really love the Summicron. The sheer construction quality is a joy in itself. But what amazes me the most is its sheer resolving power wide open. If you pixel peep a 4000dpi scan it really is amazing what this lens can capture. Nothing I have ever used comes close, and the lens is 45 years old!</p>

<p>Hi Charles,<br>

If you find out anything I'd be interested to know as well. It would be nice to determine where my M2 and DR Summicron (seperate purchases btw) come from. Bought the M2 from a collector. It has obviously been used extensively, I wonder where it has been and what it has seen!<br>

My Summicron is dirty but flawless. It has probably been stored for years. Both the lens and the camera are from 1963.</p>

<p>Non Leica film gear is dirt cheap everywhere.<br>

My rather bruised Leica M2 wasn't really expensive, but for what I paid for it + CLA I could easily have gotten a complete manual focus Nikon F kit.</p>

<p>There is nothing to it. Developed my first roll about a year ago. As others have said, stick to one film and developer and understand what happens. IMHO scanning is more difficult.<br>

This is from my very first roll:<br>

<img src="http://members.chello.nl/~r.hogenboom/temp/Image037_sb.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="672" /></p>

 

<p>"Anyway, no where did it explain how German military markings would get on a post WWII Soviet camera. "<br>

The answer is simple: Money.<br>

Authentic Leica's with militairy markings are worth a lot of money. Early Zorki's or FED's are plentiful and cheap, so it is tempting to create fake Leicas from them, because they are so similar.<br>

Truth be told, these 'conversions' are often quite kitschy so that they are very obvious as fakes. A Zorki or FED can be an attractive retro shooter though.<br>

Look on Stephan Gandy's site if you want to know more.</p>

 

<p>Yongfei, your are definitely on to something here.<br>

The only reason that Leica won't/can't do FF is that the traditional wide angles would suffer too much (corner vignetting) to be usable wide open. Or so it seems from your experiments. But normals work!<br>

But as you say, there would be no problem with retrofocus designs. If Leica purists would swallow that is debatable, but it COULD work.</p>

I'd stick with the D70 and buy nice stuff like lenses, flashes, studio equipment or a nice holiday.

 

I upgraded from a D70 to a D200. Of course the D200 is better. D300 will be better still.

 

But ask yourself the question: Will your photographs actually be better? Mine aren't. Not even slightly. Not even once.

 

Sure, you can print even bigger, but how often will you do that? Stick to the D70 and invest in photography, not a new camera.

Pre-CLA my M2 showed the same. My FED5 shows it too if I change lenses in bright light.

 

I tend to think the stray light comes from the front, not the back.

The Hasselblad 500 is high on my 'next camera' list. But to get a feel for MF I bought a nice Yashica Mat 124 first.

 

Anyway, lots of good stories about the Epsons. As it so happens, I still own the 1200 Perfection Photo. Did my first 35mm transparency scans with it 10 years ago. Probably won't do justice to what my Yashica can do, but at least I can scan my negs.

That's not a Vulcan on the A-10. It's the GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun.

 

The Vulcan is a 20mm gun, used in most US fighters (F-4, F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22).

 

The Avenger is a 30mm gun, firing depleted uranium shells. Ouch.

 

Nice shots anyway!

Thanks guys.

 

Time to burn some film then. I am aware of the 'oil' issue, but with the shutter stuck open in B and shining a light through it, it looks perfectly clear.

Last weekend I bought my first medium format camera, a very nice Yashica Mat 124.

 

I have a few questions about the film transport though:

 

As many have remarked, film transport is rather primitive. Just a gear on a small axle set at an angle. This

gear 'drives' the take up-spool directly. As a normal spool does not really 'mesh' with the driving gear, the whole affair

is noisy and jerky. But as long as it works I won't complain. Some sources claim frame spacing issues though, I

would like to hear experiences with that. I haven't run film though the camera yet.

 

When I open the back, the frame counter resets. Before I get to '1' on the counter I have to crank a few times, but for

every subsequent frame I have to crank about 270-300 degrees. It all seems ok, but I don't have any experience with

the cam. So my question is if all this is normal. I am familair with returning the crank to cock the shutter, my

question is solely about advancing the film.

 

The cam is obviously used, but in very nice shape, much better than my used Nikon FE and FM and my Leica M2.

All three of those still work very well, so I have high hopes for the Yashica.

 

Hope to shoot with it soon!

I have a Gossen Lunasix. Same problem.

 

I got a homemade adapter for it (two actually), that will take SR44 silver oxide batteries (DO NOT use the LR44 alkaline variant). Works perfectly.

 

Look also at this link: http://www.buhla.de/Foto/eQuecksilber.html

 

There are several sources where you can get them if you don't trust your DIY skills. I can't find where I got mine though... but they were 15 euros each. Makes 25 for the meter + 30 = still only 55 euros for an excellent meter.

 

Please be aware that using 'equivalent' alkaline batteries in your meter, you will get readings, but they will be inaccurate. You MUST use silver oxide batteries.

Respected though Dante Stella is, I have to disagree with him on one point: Camera shake.

 

I am an available light photographer to the core and I really consistently can get better results at long handheld shutter speeds with my rangefinder (Leica M2), than I can get with my Nikon FM, all other things being the same.

 

Sure, there are IS/VR systems, which help a LOT, but in my case (Nikon) I would still be stuck with slowish lenses. There are no fast VR primes. In body stabilisation is better, but of course won't work with film based cameras.

 

Have a look at these:

 

http://ronald.krezipmedia.org/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=103&page=1&sort=na

 

Digital (with VR) would have worked here (sort of), but the contrast range is a bit too much for digital capture. The light was dim, so I needed speed one way or another (hi-ISO or fast lenses). A tripod would have worked, but isn't exactly inconspicuous. Most shots are 1/30th at f2 on Fuji Superia 400. I could not have done this with a film based SLR. Even with something like a Nikon F100 and a VR lens, my shutter speeds would be too long to freeze the people in the shots.

 

This situation is an exception of course. You could also say that my trampoline fashion shoot could not have been done with the M2, because of its antiquated 1/50th flash sync. And you would be right. But I could have done it with my Canonet... 1/500th flash sync, not even my D200 can match that ;-)

"The focus ring on the rangefinder lens will focus at exactly the same spot each and every time. The SLR ring, whether manually focused or with A/F engaged will not. It will be close, but it will deviate slightly each time it is refocused"

 

True. When I first tried my hand at digital HDR photography, quite a few shots were ruined because my camera refocused every shot. So I had to focus, put the thing to manual focus and shoot the HDR sequence.

Pity.

 

But the regular shows in my little country (the Netherlands) seem still as well attended as a few years ago. That having said, most of my second hand gear comes from eBay and similar. But it's just great to browse and see so many stuff.

The last few months have been comtemplating getting into medium format. For lots of reasons I won't go into the

Hasselblad 500 c/m looks like a good choice for me.

 

However, people warn me that when changing lenses, the body and the lens can get 'mismatched', with all sorts of

catastrophic results.

 

My question is not how to prevent this from happening, people already told me. My question is what to do when it

has happened.

 

Cheers,

 

Ronald

Ahh, a Hasselblad 500 C/M. Very high on my list of 'my next camera'.

 

Leica M2, Hasselblad 500 C/M, Nikon FM2.

 

Mechanical perfection that just suits me.

Just to add a bit to the other Ronald's remarks:

 

We live in a consumer society. If I buy a DVD recorder and the salesperson tries to talk me into an extended warranty, I just laugh at him. 'But Sir, what if it breaks down after thirteen months?'. The obvious answer is: 'I'll throw it away and buy a new one'.

 

It's the same really with cameras. My D200 is better in almost every way than my D70 was (which in itself already delivered fantastic results). A D700 is much better still. I am an availble light shooter so a camera like that is a dream come true. But I won't buy one. Why? In two years time a still better camera will come along. And then another, and another.And in a few short years they will be landfill

 

Even though cameras are getting better and better, my photographs aren't. That's one of the reasons I went back to film. A few old manual Nikons (dirt cheap of course) and I really was enjoying myself again. Then a Leica M2 came along. I never 'got' the mystique so I bought one. And then it indeed hit me. My Nikons are 25 years old and work flawlessly. Of how many things in your household can you say that?

 

My Leica is 45 years old and obviously has seen heavy use. It is in fact older than everything I own. But it still works and still can be serviced without any problem. In all probability it will outlive me. How good will digital be in 30 years? Will film still be made? Does it really matter? I intend to use the M2 until the day I die.