john_robison4

Four by five and five by seven pinhole and photo paper. Better than digital. (Well, cheaper anyway, and you can build your own camera.)

Missed this thread. Well, OM-1n I think. Dead simple camera, brilliant viewfinder (Always have the 1-10 screens in my OM's). Everything you need, a little thicker than my M4-2 and the prism peak is a few millimeters higher but it feels very compact in use, so much so that the Leica actually feels larger.

Sounds like a good idea. So far, just replacing the foam on the hinge side seems to have done the trick. I'll probably have to wait for the high summer sun at my 47N location to be sure no more foam is needed. But that sounds like a good trick for future projects when faced with narrow body channels. Thanks for the information.

There was a Kickstarter for dry plates but the creators went dark and disappeared on the backers. In my opinion Kickstarter needs to refuse to deal with any project creators without a physical and confirmed address. This address is published and available to all backers. The backers have a right to know where these jokers sleep and project creators need to be at least a little afraid of being confronted face to face with irate backers whose money they have taken on promise of a reward and then when things go wrong, refuse to own the problem and instead just slink off like cowards.

NO FOGGING on test exposures. This is with foam only at door hinge. I loaded a 36 exposure roll (72 exposures with half frame) and ran off 20 exposures (with leader 20 inches). Ran 2 more blanks, went in the darkroom, opened the back, snipped of the film and loaded it onto the reel. I'll cut a leader and reload the rest of the roll. HC-110, 1:60 as a one shot 70F, 10 min, agitate every 3 min. water stop, fix, rinse, photo flo, hang up to dry...and absolutely no sign of fogging or light leaks. Camera exposed to full (winter) sun and left on desk overnight with very bright LED lamps at about 18 inches. I think C Watson has it right, well at least with the Pen FV it appears the door channels are light tight as they are, without foam.

That is what I'm going to find out today or tomorrow. I only foamed the hinge area and loaded ISO 400 B&W. Will see what happens. We have some rare sun today.

But you see, in the very narrow channel of the Pen FV the gummed backing WAS the problem. No matter how carefully or slowly I introduced the foam strip to the groove the gummed back would 'grab' the side of the channel and twist the 1mm square piece sideways. I had very bright light, +6 reading glassed, and a narrow bamboo stick to press the foam into place. The groove in the body of the Pen FV is very narrow, and tapered slightly toward the bottom. At any rate, we have some rare sunlight in the pacific northwest yesterday and today. I've loaded some ISO 400 B&W and yesterday took the camera outside and made sure all surfaces had as much sunlight as I could. The camera has sat all night in bright desk light and today I'll go out and shoot some more. The only area I've foamed is the back hinge. The rest is bare. So this will be a test to see what we shall see. By the way, Aki-Asahi has been very helpful and has offered either a refund or to send another kit free. He is eager for a good customer experience and very understanding, offering any help he can.

Looking carefully at the camera, a Olympus Pen FV, I got to wondering if this could be the case. The channels in the body are very narrow and the folded metal lip on the door is a close fit. Think for now I'll just place a foam strip on the door hinge and at the closure side. We should have some sun the next few days and I'll load up some ISO 400 B&W, take the camera out and make sure all surfaces are exposed to sunlight. I'll run off a 10 or 20 exposures, and develop the film to see how it looks.

Thanks m42, The crochet yarn idea sounds viable.

I need to replace light seal foam but the groove is so small I cannot correctly position pregummed foam. I have seen black yarn used in some German cameras but don’t know how it is affixed to the metal. I’m thinking perhaps contact cement but appeal to the collective wisdom of CMC users.

One cheap and quick way to check out an old camera, for which film is not available, is to use photo paper, cut to size. If you are already set up to do wet darkroom work. If you don't do darkroom work, then buying paper, chemicals, a safe light and setting up a space than can be light tight would probably be too much cost and trouble. When I get an old camera, especially one film is no longer available for, or too expensive to buy, I use photo paper, as a negative, to check for light leaks and focus.

Therein lies the rub, about one on one mentoring that is. I have no idea how to set up databases or to do much on computers at all really. I live in Lacey, south Puget Sound, Washington state. So, any local film newby wanting a basic run through on classic manual cameras is welcome to PM me and set up some time to meet up. Come to think of it, does P-net have a provision for members to PM each other? I just find trying to find words to describe camera functions and how they interact to produce a photograph difficult. It is much easier to show than tell.

When I see questions such as these it just seems so sad that there is no one to mentor new folks in the technical aspect of photography. No way to connect CMC users to those just gaining a interest in photography using film cameras. Almost need a information clearing house so that new ones can meet up with experienced photographers for one on one instruction in the basics of camera operation. Nothing elaborate, just a few hours of teaching the use and function of a camera's exposure and focusing controls.

Keh Camera has a couple of used Minolta Maxxum 80-200 f4.5~ 5.6 lenses for your camera. They are bargain grade and are priced at $11 and $14 for the one that comes with the lens caps. It will probably cost more than that to ship them. Just search 'keh camera', they do a large mail order business on used stuff.

Now I don't feel so bad. Cameras loaded; Oly OM4Ti Oly 35RC Fujica ST605n Leica M4-2 Minolta 16Ps Minox IIIs

I was only repeating what they told me when I visited the store. I also thought it odd that they would get new cartridges from Minox that didn't have the felt applied. My impression was that they meant the cartridges were brand new, but empty. Although I have been into cameras for almost 50 years I came to Minox 8X11 only recently, about 4 years ago. I bought a IIIs at a photo show on a whim for $40. Of course I've spent far more on cartridges than that. I've got five NOS color films off of ebay and just discarded the film and reloaded with some slit down Pan F, I've also bought two preloaded cartridges from BMC. I almost always build all my own photo accessories due to either they are unavailable or I am too cheap to buy them premade. So I made a slitter and cut down and modified an old Yankee plastic reel to develop film. I usually carry the IIIs in the case but without the chain, fairly bare bones you might say. As I mentioned in a earlier post my pull through slitter has been fine for my limited use, in four years I've probably only cut film and loaded cartridges 25 to 30 times.

I wonder how Blue Moon Camera is cutting down film to fill Minox cartridges. They are the Minox 8X11 film distributor for No. America but told me all they get are the empty cartridges. They have to apply felt and load them.

I made my own "pull through" slitter for 35mm film. It involves fully dry hobby plywood, 2 double edge razor blades, two 6-32 machine screws, and a lot of cutting, drilling and sanding to get precise fits. Each blade has four tips and so can be repositioned four times for new cutting edges. To the limit of my measurement my slitter produces 9.2mm strips with smooth edges. There is a bit more waste as I have about 1.5 inches of film to discard for each pull through. I've thought about a 'gripper block' (my home made invention) that would reduce that to 1/2 inch of discard. The plywood was stock sheets, 6X12inchs, and 3/8in, 1/4in, and 1/8in, thick. Tools were an accurate table saw, drill press, clamps (for alignment while drilling) sandpaper in 100, 220, and 600 grit, and a caliper mike for measuring the slitting width blocks. There is a lot tedious work involved with making this but the results have been good with no scratching of the film and accurate edges.

I have an ultra modern M4-2 from the third batch, late 1978. Too pragmatic (and broke) to own any Leica lens I have a CV 35 f2.5 and a 52 f2.8 FSU lens.

Well, I think I would contact print first, then use a digital camera with a macro lens and extension tubes to photograph the resultant positive. I have a Olympus E-410 that can mount an adapted Vivitar 55mm f2.8 macro than can focus to 1:1, then just add a another 30mm of extension to get to about 1.6:1 which should be about right. That whole set up would be hard to hold steady though. I think I'd place a bean bag on the camera to damp vibration.

Wow, I must be way behind the curve (So far, I can't even see the curve) I'm considering an 'upgrade' from an E-410 to a E-PL1, just a body, something with a short register I can finally use my Pen F (film) Zuiko's on. Figured I'd make a hooded screen eyepiece that is held in place on a stick slipped into the accessory /flash shoe. We'll see how these old film lenses, designed in the 60's for half frame film, do with a 110 film size digital sensor.

Confused as to why you are calling it a 'web' cam. I thought a web cam was a small digital camera either incorporated into your monitor or used as a plug in via a port. Anyway, there is a write up about it with specs on submin.com Sounds like they are very uncommon. Speaking of rare cameras, have you come across a Minox AX? I've never even seen one.

This thread makes me realize I haven't had a camera out in months. Moving back into out house after 11 years, maintenance, repairs, painting etc. has consumed our summer. By the first of the year, even if it's only paper negatives out of a pinhole I've got to get in gear, (or even use some gear). Time to drag one of my cameras out of the packing cartons.

If I had to have just one it would be a late model OM-1n with a 1-10 screen (matt surface with grid) I have an older OM-1md but think about picking up another 1n body. Had a 2sp that had fast battery drain so I rigged a grip using 2 AAA batteries to feed the little beastie. Sold that one at a photo show with the grip. Picked up a OM4Ti that was 'jammed' for $35 at a second hand store. Walked home and 15 minutes later had a fully functioning camera after replacing the batteries. Still have the 4Ti but my favorite is still a basic OM-1.

No, not the only one Wouter. I once bought a winder, not even motor drive, just a winder for my OM-1n. (It was used and cheap) I'll tell you, the novelty wore off about halfway through the first roll. It sat in my camera junk box for years until I gave it away. Not a total loss though, Some previous owner had forgot the MD cover in it's storage clip in the battery compartment, so I got an extra MD cover out of the deal.