Keith S in Arizona USA

kadir_kirisci - If you do somehow mess up and have problems with reassembly / helicoid indexing or any other servicing, David Odess of Randolph, Massachusetts (USA) can fix it all up for you. He is a factory trained Hasselblad technician and he does it all from bodies to lenses. He is also reasonably priced and very communicative too.

At AMAZON.COM, for around $7 in a one ounce tub (last time I bought it over a year ago), they have "HELIMAX-XP Optical and Instrument Helicoid Grease". It contains Lithium and PTFE, is white, NLGI #1, and is not supposed to creep or out-gas, and is good over a wide temperature range. If this does not do the trick I don't know of anything better to use. Before application, you need to make certain that your helicoid threads are scrubbed completely clean. ANY debris particles are going to be felt as the threads are usually very tight-fitting with low tolerances -- or SHOULD be, anyway. And use it S-P-A-R-I-N-G-L-Y! The finest, thinnest amount you can possibly apply is ALL that you want to do when lubing anything such as lens helicoids. (Wipe off excess, if any, with a NON-LINT cloth.) This stuff is pretty amazing.

At AMAZON.COM, for around $7 in a one ounce tub (last time I bought it over a year ago), they have "HELIMAX-XP Optical and Instrument Helicoid Grease". It contains Lithium and PTFE, is white, NLGI #1, and is not supposed to creep or out-gas, and is good over a wide temperature range. If this does not do the trick I don't know of anything better to use. Before application, you need too make certain that your helicoid threads are scrubbed completely clean. ANY debris particles are going to be felt as the threads are usually very tight-fitting with low tolerances -- or SHOULD be, anyway. And use it S-P-A-R-I-N-G-L-Y! The finest, thinnest amount you can possibly apply is ALL that you want to do when lubing anything such as lens helicoids. (Wipe off excess, if any, with a NON-LINT cloth.) This stuff is pretty amazing.

Hi Andrew. I have been using various types of film cameras since the mid-1960's, and still do to this day. (About 90% of my shooting.) With that extensive experience, I am certain the 'finger memory' I developed must have everything to do with the inability to operate the modern digital shutter buttons. With any old (35mm) film camera, my finger just seems to naturally fall into position. Geez I have a heck of a time FEELING one of those flush-mount digital buttons once I even find it!

Well, so far I am really liking the D850 which replaced my trade-in D300s and lenses, and the D700. And just like the two previous cameras (and many years' of use of them) I STILL cannot seem to train my finger to locate the shutter button. Ergonomically the Nikon's shutter button locations are a pain for me (haven't tried a Canon, so no comparison there for me.) My finger always "finds" the front-panel Sub-Command Dial instead. Oh if that were only where the shutter button was .. . ... :rolleyes:

I agree with tomspielman. Have some fun with it and give it a try.

Looking to buy a Kodak Medalist II that has been modified for 120mm.

Well, after a two year search I was finally able to find a working 133D. Now I have a complete CAT flash system for my collection, including the A2 and B2 auto-ring adjusters, a 133D case, and original instructions. It came from Japan, with an assurance that is was just tested on an FTb and F-1 camera. To my delight, upon receipt I found it to be 100% functional. This is after finding two others that were supposedly "tested and good" yet were dead. And yes, I did get my money back via Fleecebay's directive from one seller, and a voluntary refund from the other seller. It is all a pretty funky looking archaic setup, and for grins I will make a few test shots on my FTb with the next film test effort.

Thanks Alan! This gives me a much better feeling about the replacement 120 T-MAX that ALARIS sent to me a few days ago!

Year old thread, new info -- sort of? Now it is November, 2017. Somehow Kodak Alaris has my email and physical address. I may have complained here at PN some time back about getting imprinted info (re: this "imprint" subject material posted here/elsewhere at PN) on my T-MAX 120mm film. Well a few days back I received a surprise email that "replacement film is on its way." News to me, and a mystery. Any complaint I made would not have been directly to Kodak (I simply stopped using Kodak and switched to other brands for ALL my film needs.) So today 11-24-2017 I received from Kodak ALARIS a five-pack of T-MAX 120 - dated 05/2019. Well the truth is that I am afraid to use it as with all the other Kodak complaints I have read here at PN, I am unwilling to use it and discover that the imprinting problem still exists with the emulsion being compromised. Not worth the risk to me in light of the other brand films working out well. Comments?

AHA! It is suspicious that the lever was loose. This is a clue that someone may have been in there, and hence the meter issue. You might consider, if you don't mind spending a few dollars, to have Ken Oikawa in Sun City, CA have a look at it. He's a retied Canon factory tech and is an expert on the 1970's-80's Canons. His turn-around time is generally a week and his rates are extremely reasonable. He has worked a number of cameras for me. Give him a call at 951-246-9136

OOPS! CLARIFICATION! The ASA dial should always be difficult to lift, but WHEN ROTATING IT, if it is very loose (no resistance) THEN you know the string is broken. Sorry for the misinformation.

Good point, Ben. Willie, It is easy to tell of the string broke. Lifting the ASA dial to rotate/set it has always been difficult on the AE-1; it requires a bit of force. If the dial lifts with no force required, the string is obviously broken.

What Jim said. I have been looking for the 3-switch version for quite a while and so far after three units, I have yet to find a functional one. I hope yours works, Dominik.

I have that 28 f2.8 AIS along with several other AIS's. All of mine when shaken (even violently) make ZERO noise. Seems you may have sheared or otherwise broken something in the lens. That means it is time for evaluation and repair.

If you really do need service on the A12, a great factory-trained Hassy tech is David Odess in Massachusetts.

At least making a few complaints to the seller, the auction, PayPal, and on forums, is good. Perhaps he has or will have other complaints, and that is likely to begin attracting unwanted attention concerning his attitude.

So gordon --- I just tried one of my FDn lenses to compare against your lens video. At full clockwise rotation of the lens unit (as yours appears to do in your lens video), the button should pop out and lock with a distinct CLICK. The fact that yours does not would indicate to me that perhaps a spring or such at the lock button area is defective. Perhaps someone who is more familiar with the lens construction will pop in with more info. Bueller? . . . Bueller? . . . Ferris Bueller? . . .

MARK Z --- try calling Canon film camera repair specialist Ken Oikawa. He is (in California U.S.) at 951-246-9136.

My assumption: Your focus issues are "most likely" occurring at a wide-opening aperture (e.g. f1.8.) This is due to the focus circuitry "hunting" to find good focus within a shallow depth of field. This effect is even more pronounced with larger aperture lenses such as f1.4 and f1.2, when they, too, are being used at their widest openings. The shallower the depth of field, the more difficulty the focus circuit has in deciding "where is the best focus in this image." The camera eventually decides to focus on "something" within that shallow depth of field, and often this focal point is NOT what the photographer wants. I get around this annoyance by "usually" using my cameras (I"m 95% a film guy and 5% a digital guy) in the manual mode and focusing my shots manually. At smaller aperture openings, for example f8, f11, etc., the depth of field increases much. So at smaller apertures, your auto-focus will have more in focus and thus the camera can focus more easily and quickly, with more of your photo in focus. With the smaller apertures (and resultant greater depth of field,) the camera does not have to "hunt" so much to find / recognize a suitable focus that it is "happy" with.

Hey Jazlyn. Welcome! Here is some additional information concerning image quality versus film speed. The smaller/lower the ISO the ‘slower’ the film is (more light is needed to expose the film at lower ISO’s.) Low ISO films would be 25, 50, 100. Higher ISO films would be used for dimly lit situations, where you have less light and need more film sensitivity. Higher ISO film is more responsive to light. For use in these situations, you could use ISO 400, 800, 1600, 3200 films. Also, the slower the film speed, typically you will have better color reproduction (that is, more saturated, in general, compared to faster films,) and finer/smaller ‘grain.’ If you are unfamiliar with ‘grain,’ think of ‘grain’ as grains of sand. Finer grain film shows very little to none of a ‘graininess’ to it, and higher grain films would show much more. Think of this you seeing from very tiny to very large grains of sand in your photos. Grain size is often used in B&W film as a desired effect. Kodak 400 Tri-X for example can show much in the way of grain. Typically, low ISO color films will show none to little, and with very fast color films, for example ISO 800, you may see some graininess.

Hey dominik_m. I really like the child in the field photo, the way the two closest subjects seem to be sizing up each other. The AE-1 PROGRAM (one of my favorites) has always done a great job - no fuss, just compose and shoot.

RaymondC if you ever want to divest of frozen Velvia 50, give me a shout

Hey again Ric. I see from the photos that the meter takes the old PX13 1.35 volt Mercury battery, long since obsolete. Do you know that there are two battery types available today to use? One is the WEIN 1.35 volt air-cell. It works OK, but does not last very long, and will get a surface corrosion of sorts rather easily. The other method is to use a Duracell 301/386 cell that you put into a ~$22 "MR-9" battery voltage-drop converter that you can get from China through ebay. It has a Schottky diode in it that drops the battery voltage (under circuit loading) to 1.35 volts. Using a 1.35 volt power, the meter does not require recalibration. You could also use (without any adapter) a 625 type Alkaline cell, but you would likely want to have the meter recalibrated for accuracy, plus the metering may change somewhat as this battery type's voltage depletes. The Duracell 301/386 will pretty much maintain its voltage close to the point where it dies. Hope this information helps make up a bit for my earlier fiasco. (I have about 8 of these $22 voltage converters for use with some older Canon cameras that originally had the 1.35 volt PX13 battery. Even though they are expensive, they are far better than the short life of the WEIN cells. The WEIN cells are very cheap, however.) Also - you may want to check the meter internally around the battery contacts and into the meter body for wetness / corrosion from the old PX-13's. This is almost a certainty from those cells. Where did you get a battery for the meter, and what type is it? Just curious.

Keith, you do realize the OP is asking about a movie camera and not a SLR film camera? Ooops! Thanks all posters above for the point made and correction; that is what I get for reading too fast. Sorry Ric,I apologize. Of course many MOVIE cameras are going to change the exposure with camera speed changes. I'll be more careful in the future about reading more carefully! (so embarrassing)