donaldgardner

Thanks for the info and suggestions. The diaphragm is acting up, so I'll have to clean that up again before I try out any film.

I just acquired my first Canonet QL17 with a 45mm f/1.7 lens. It appears to be in pretty good shape. The lens was a little dirty, so I took out the front element and, while I was in there, I touched up the diaphragm and shutter blades. Next I'll clean up the rangefinder a bit. Lastly, I noticed that the camera doesn't appear to have any light seals with the exception of one velvet strip on the door on the side opposite the hinge. From what I've read there should be other ones, but someone must have cleaned up the original deteriorated ones. My problem is that I don't know where they are supposed to be. I was planning to buy some foam or velvet to do it myself. I guess I could buy a kit, but I wondered if anyone had seen a link anywhere that shows where the seals are supposed to be.

I’ve thought about trying that too. Do you have any examples you could post?

My daughter and I were recently looking at some old family photos and found a shot of my dad from 1951 (he was around 22 years old). Since my daughter just turned 20, we decided it might be fun to re-create that photo as best we could. Has anyone else tried this or are we just weird (I guess they aren't mutually exclusive)?

Just trying out the "new" Hasselblad 500C with 50mm on Ilford Pan F+ 50

 

Thanks for that detailed overview. I have also read that you can't really rely on the odometer. Apparently they are very easy to turn back. Not sure how much people actually do that, but I guess if the overall condition doesn't seem to match a low odometer reading, then that could be suspected.

I have been reading a bunch about the Fuji GSW690III and am hoping to buy one if I can find a nice one. For anyone who has (or had) one, what are the issues that I should look out for? I see some posted online that have cracks in the plastic or some corrosion on the strap mounts. That makes me nervous, but I'm sure there are other things to look for. Any help would be appreciated.

Here's a shot of the lettering on the lens. Still waiting for my film order to arrive so I haven't tried it out yet. Everything else about the lens looked like I expected.

 

Thanks for the general history!

 

I just bought my first Hasselblad, a 500C. It came with one of the original chrome 80mm Zeiss Planar lenses. Everything looks great, but I noticed that all the lettering on the front of the lens is red. I have seen photos of this lens, or later generations, with a red "T" or maybe "T*", but never one with all the lettering in red. Has anyone seen such lettering? Does it mean that the lens is somehow different from the normal Planars of that vintage?