Today's car boot sale camera haul

[stowpirate]

I guess you mean TMax film. Did you really mean two thousand films at 25p? Tmax is good film.

Be careful when fixing it to give it about twice as much time as ordinary film or the result is a pink stained negative. It contains a pink anti-halation dye that needs to be thoroughly removed and the fixer achieves this - along with the washing of course.

I won't suggest that you buy the special Tmax developer because I know you won't. It is very strange stuff and comes as a liquid, but it is a very thick liquid.

It was colour 35mm Kodak Max Versatility 400 film 24 exposure which worked out at 20p each I cannot do simple calculations in my head any more

Yes 2000 films at 20p each but I am sure I can get a bulk discount on that as well. I am going to make some further enquires next week and maybe sell a load on ebay

This is the stuff:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/e2330/e2330.shtml

Last week I got an in date Ilford FP4 125 35mm. Eight 35mm Agfa Vista 200 24 exposures which expired 12/2004. Two Fotostop VXS 200 35mm films including a 12 exposure expired 2005! Five 35mm Kodak Colourplus 200 36 exposure which expire 11/2011. This worked out at 33p a film. I was ripped-off

I have got loads of Tmax developer I bought at a car boot sale

 

[cybertect]

OK, probably not stowpirate bargain levels, but today I bought a Fed 5B for £15 from a Russian chap who told me it had been an 18th birthday present from his father. He seemed genuinely reluctant to sell it, but his wife was insistent that everything on the stall should go before they returned to Russia.

Of course it could have been a good double act Either way, I've been toying with the idea of a Russian rangefinder for some time now and the opportunity presented itself.

Focus mechanism looks like it needs adjustment, but apart from that it seems in very tidy condition.

In amongst a slew of Zenit Es on a different stall I found a Yashica J-3 SLR with a 50mm f/2 lens for £12.Non-TTL, uncoupled metering. A lovely bright finder and a reassuring sense of solidity convinced me to buy it.

I was tempted by a Retinette 1B for £3, but decided that two camera purchases was enough to be admitting to mrs c.

 

[stowpirate]

OK, probably not stowpirate bargain levels, but today I bought a Fed 5B for £15 from a Russian chap who told me it had been an 18th birthday present from his father. He seemed genuinely reluctant to sell it, but his wife was insistent that everything on the stall should go before they returned to Russia.

Of course it could have been a good double act Either way, I've been toying with the idea of a Russian rangefinder for some time now and the opportunity presented itself.

Focus mechanism looks like it needs adjustment, but apart from that it seems in very tidy condition.

In amongst a slew of Zenit Es on a different stall I found a Yashica J-3 SLR with a 50mm f/2 lens for £12.Non-TTL, uncoupled metering. A lovely bright finder and a reassuring sense of solidity convinced me to buy it.

I was tempted by a Retinette 1B for £3, but decided that two camera purchases was enough to be admitting to mrs c.

I got one of those Fed 5B's great camera if a tad on the ugly side. It is basically built around the Leica II shutter with a few Soviet detail design changes including a very odd none linear shutter curtain travel. Here is some info you might find interesting.

http://sovietcamera.110mb.com/fed4/

Yashica J-3 SLR for £12 is really cheap even by my standards. I want one

Retinette 1B for £3 is a good deal but not really the best Retinette. The earlier ones I think had more style and like you I would not have bought it.

 

[ViolentPanda]

OK, probably not stowpirate bargain levels, but today I bought a Fed 5B for £15 from a Russian chap who told me it had been an 18th birthday present from his father. He seemed genuinely reluctant to sell it, but his wife was insistent that everything on the stall should go before they returned to Russia.

Of course it could have been a good double act Either way, I've been toying with the idea of a Russian rangefinder for some time now and the opportunity presented itself.

Focus mechanism looks like it needs adjustment, but apart from that it seems in very tidy condition.

Rangefinder out of horizontal and/or vertical plane? If so, they're fairly easy to adjust.

In amongst a slew of Zenit Es on a different stall I found a Yashica J-3 SLR with a 50mm f/2 lens for £12.Non-TTL, uncoupled metering. A lovely bright finder and a reassuring sense of solidity convinced me to buy it.

I was tempted by a Retinette 1B for £3, but decided that two camera purchases was enough to be admitting to mrs c.

Chicken!!

 

[cybertect]

Rangefinder out of horizontal and/or vertical plane? If so, they're fairly easy to adjust.

Vertically, it's perfect. Horizontally it's way off. When I'm focused on an object about 20m away, the lens scale is reading about 4m and the finder doesn't seem to register lower than 1.4m on the lens, though the scale goes to 1m.

I found a couple of links on how to do it (one of them from stowpirate's site*) and it looks fairly straightforward.

e2a: * actually, the same one he posted up the thread

... and it also occurred to me that having an M42 body around might provide a convenient excuse to try out some M42 lenses on my Canon 5D.

 

[stowpirate]

This Retina 1a I bought a few weeks ago for £30 at a car boot sale. I know complete insanity

 

[stowpirate]

Vertically, it's perfect. Horizontally it's way off. When I'm focused on an object about 20m away, the lens scale is reading about 4m and the finder doesn't seem to register lower than 1.4m on the lens, though the scale goes to 1m.

I found a couple of links on how to do it (one of them from stowpirate's site*) and it looks fairly straightforward.

e2a: * actually, the same one he posted up the thread

... and it also occurred to me that having an M42 body around might provide a convenient excuse to try out some M42 lenses on my Canon 5D.

I do not know why camera designers make rangefinders so difficult to adjust. I have only ever seen one that was really easy but it was external screw with a movable lever on the edge of the rangefinder. Unfortunately it looked like a dogs dinner so that might explain the hidden screws and plastic cover over hidden holes

 

[cybertect]

... and it also occurred to me that having an M42 body around might provide a convenient excuse to try out some M42 lenses on my Canon 5D.

Well, it seems I can remove the Yashinon 50mm f/2 I now have from that experiment.

http://www.panoramaplanet.de/comp/#Yashinon

Mirror strike with the 5D

 

[stowpirate]

Well, it seems I can remove the Yashinon 50mm f/2 I now have from that experiment.

http://www.panoramaplanet.de/comp/#Yashinon

Mirror strike with the 5D

Those yashinon lenses will not mount properly on a few m42 camera bodies without mirror interference problems. I cannot remember which camera I attempted it on, but was probably a Zenit, Pentax or Praktica luckily no damage was done.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Vertically, it's perfect. Horizontally it's way off. When I'm focused on an object about 20m away, the lens scale is reading about 4m and the finder doesn't seem to register lower than 1.4m on the lens, though the scale goes to 1m.

I found a couple of links on how to do it (one of them from stowpirate's site*) and it looks fairly straightforward.

e2a: * actually, the same one he posted up the thread

It's a very good site.

... and it also occurred to me that having an M42 body around might provide a convenient excuse to try out some M42 lenses on my Canon 5D.

My gearhead mate used the same excuse with his wife to justify buying a Pentax Spotmatic F. Of course, he was a bit narked when I asked him why he was using 40-yr old glass on his super-duper digi-wonderthang. After all, wasn't the proprietary glass good enough?

 

[cybertect]

Rangefinder out of horizontal and/or vertical plane? If so, they're fairly easy to adjust.

And so it proved. The biggest hurdle was figuring how to get the name plate off to access the screws and where exactly the spring clip goes when you put it back on.

I'll admit first impressions of handling having put 36 exposures through it aren't hugely encouraging (though I haven't got the results processed yet). 'agricultural' is a word that springs to mind - trying to figure out exactly which speed you have selected on the dial being one of the issues, as the pointer isn't exactly accurate. I spent a lot of time trying to work out whether the click stop was closer to the 1/250 or 1/500 mark.

The thing that may be a killer for me is the eyepiece - the knurled metal ring round the outside has caused a couple of (admittedly small) scratches to appear on my glasses. Not something that I want to happen with any regularity. Diopter adjustment can just about bring it into range if I take them off, but with a fully manual camera it's yet another thing to have to do before I can take a shot - either that or wander round with the world as a fuzzy blur except when I'm looking through the viewfinder.

I suppose contact lenses might sort this out, but I've never really got on with them; I get the impression that most FSU rangefinders (Fed, Zorki, Kiev) all use similar eyepieces which has got me looking at Bessa Rs again - might be cheaper in the long run

The Yashica SLR is a real joy to use, however. Reminds me that I should take my 124G TLR out for a spin again soon.

 

[big eejit]

I found this in a 'help yourself' crate outside a house down the road. Still had a film in it.

 

[stowpirate]

I found this in a 'help yourself' crate outside a house down the road. Still had a film in it.

Is it an XA2? Nice camera I think these are better than the XA rangefinder version, albeit you are limited to zone focusing. Did the battery still have power in it? They are easy to test to see if they are working correctly.

 

[stowpirate]

I paid 20p for this extinction exposure meter. It took me ages to work out how to use it. Still not sure on the 1 to 6 number thingy. As you look through it if you can see say 3 and also a very dark 4 do you go with the 3? Maybe the only real test is to compare against a proper meter?

 

[big eejit]

Is it an XA2? Nice camera I think these are better than the XA rangefinder version, albeit you are limited to zone focusing. Did the battery still have power in it? They are easy to test to see if they are working correctly.

It is an XA2. I put a new battery in it and it seems to be working fine now. Tho I haven't had any of the films developed yet.

 

[ViolentPanda]

And so it proved. The biggest hurdle was figuring how to get the name plate off to access the screws and where exactly the spring clip goes when you put it back on.

I'll admit first impressions of handling having put 36 exposures through it aren't hugely encouraging (though I haven't got the results processed yet). 'agricultural' is a word that springs to mind - trying to figure out exactly which speed you have selected on the dial being one of the issues, as the pointer isn't exactly accurate. I spent a lot of time trying to work out whether the click stop was closer to the 1/250 or 1/500 mark.

The thing that may be a killer for me is the eyepiece - the knurled metal ring round the outside has caused a couple of (admittedly small) scratches to appear on my glasses. Not something that I want to happen with any regularity. Diopter adjustment can just about bring it into range if I take them off, but with a fully manual camera it's yet another thing to have to do before I can take a shot - either that or wander round with the world as a fuzzy blur except when I'm looking through the viewfinder.

I suppose contact lenses might sort this out, but I've never really got on with them; I get the impression that most FSU rangefinders (Fed, Zorki, Kiev) all use similar eyepieces which has got me looking at Bessa Rs again - might be cheaper in the long run

Diopter adjustment on the Zorkis (from model 2 onward) is by lever rater than twisty eyepiece, so no problems there.
Mind you, I also tend to use cloth punches to make small felt or foam "buffers" for the eyepieces of my cameras, held on by a tiny bead of silicone adhesive (so they come away clean) anyway, because I'm paranoid about scratching my specs.

The Yashica SLR is a real joy to use, however. Reminds me that I should take my 124G TLR out for a spin again soon.

Any excuse!