Recent Forum Posts

I will try my best Phil, thank you.

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Thu Feb 21, 2019 5:35 am

Sun is the great illumination in winter. And you've got the Rollie dialed in now, so enjoy it for a long time.

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Wed Feb 20, 2019 10:54 pm

Hi all,

Get ready your sunglasses, sun is here and we went to a new park (for you) Kuskovo (I was here 10 years ago).


Kuskovo park trimmed trees.


Kuskovo park palace.


Birds feeding point.


Kuskovo park museum.


Vera taking photo.


Imprisoner.


Strange thing.


Tree shade on white wall.

Full album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmAWJ3Ff

Rolleiflex is mostly finished, only mode B doesn't work due a broken parts, but now collimation is correct and lens is doing the job fine.

I'm jumping to the 10 years challenge:

I remembered I took a picture of this statue when I did it this morning, here it's 10 years younger.

Thank you for watching and comments/critics are welcome.
Alex

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:53 pm

A very good start there, Alex. And only one 35mm in the bunch (not counting the Contax IIa).

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:47 pm

alexvaras wrote:
PFMcFarland wrote:One of my favorite formats, Alex, and you have produced some fine images with the Weltur. It kind of reminds me of what the Weltini could have been if they'd have used a bit more fertilizer at the factory.

It also looks infinitely easier to handle than the Weltini, though the family resemblance stands out in the rangefinder.

PF

Thank you, Phil.
Now I have to ask about the fertilizer thing you wrote... what happened?

That's a euphemism, Alex, for saying the Weltini was just too small, i.e. that it didn't get enough nourishment on the assembly line.

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:40 pm

It is a good number, and an impressive collection!

I like the first image in the snow, the lens looks sharp. As usual, excellent portrait. Diffused light is better for portraits, anyway.

Statistics: Posted by Julio1fer — Thu Feb 14, 2019 8:11 pm

Time to test another Heliar, this time 13,5cm that I mounted in my Fotocord 1 for this test.

From the 3 photos only one is a portrait and it was sunny when I started to setup the camera but... next time.
The first photo I did it after a big wet snow storm, snow sticked to everything and it was most beautiful than in the only photo I could take from lesson to lesson

After wet snow storm.
Then the wind blew away mostly everything 1 hour later.

Today this portrait, with sun could have gone much better but I can see the lens is doing fine.

Ms. Irina.

And this one at home, I had one film holder loaded and not exposed so I set up my collection and tried to have some illumination, it didn't go as well as I could, few space in the room and many things to arrange the camera and the exact middle for perfect focus, even at f8 some cameras are not on focus (bad camera positioning surely). I hope next time I do this picture I will do it better.

Permanet collection.
Upper row from left to right:
Voigtlander Bessa RF - Skopar (soon Heliar 10,5cm f/3,5).
Nagel Vollenda 52 - Xenar 70mm f/3,5.
Demaria Lapierre Telka III - Sagittar 95mm f/3,5.
Welta Weltur - Xenar 10,5cm f/4,5.
Voigtlander Inos II - Skopar 10,5cm f/4,5.
Plaubel Makina II - Anticomar 10,5cm f/2,9.

Down row from left to right.
Hasselblad 500C/M - Planar 80mm f/2,8.
Voigtlander Superb - Skopar 75mm f/3,5.
Kodak Medalist II - Ektar 100mm f/3,5.
KW Pilot Super - Ennatar 70mm f/4,5.
Agfa Super Isolette - Solinar 75mm f/3,5.
Kodak Retina IIa - Xenon 50mm f/2.

Missing Contax IIa at school but it should be here, so far 12+1 cameras, I have to fix that number ASAP!

Thank you for watching.
Alex

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Thu Feb 14, 2019 3:10 pm

Thanks for the comments! It seems that I got lucky with the FG. Much more than I expected for a few yen.

I had not used my K-1000 for a long time. It was my main camera for more than 20 years, after a Zenit 3M and before getting the classic camera bug. One of only two cameras that I ever bought new (the other was a Vivitar VUSW).

Statistics: Posted by Julio1fer — Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:32 pm

Good for you, Alex, that is a nice folder with a worthy lens.

Indeed, never wind any folder when closed.

Statistics: Posted by Julio1fer — Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:46 am

PFMcFarland wrote:
One of my favorite formats, Alex, and you have produced some fine images with the Weltur. It kind of reminds me of what the Weltini could have been if they'd have used a bit more fertilizer at the factory.

It also looks infinitely easier to handle than the Weltini, though the family resemblance stands out in the rangefinder.

PF

Thank you, Phil.
Now I have to ask about the fertilizer thing you wrote... what happened?

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:22 am

Ooooh, Voigtlander did good on that one. Especially like the diamond pattern leather covering.

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:41 pm

One of my favorite formats, Alex, and you have produced some fine images with the Weltur. It kind of reminds me of what the Weltini could have been if they'd have used a bit more fertilizer at the factory.

It also looks infinitely easier to handle than the Weltini, though the family resemblance stands out in the rangefinder.

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:37 pm

The FG is a really nice camera, Julio. I thinks it's the best consumer grade camera Nikon ever made. It incorporates all the features of a pro model, albeit not quite at the same level of functionality. But it was a really good introduction for someone wanting to get into the Nikon system. It doesn't hurt that you can mount the same glass that goes on the pro models.

Your photos are great as usual. Shows what someone can do with an introductory camera.

PF

Statistics: Posted by PFMcFarland — Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:30 pm

Really like #4.

Robert

Statistics: Posted by Brazile — Mon Feb 11, 2019 6:49 am

I like more these two last.

I did/do myself a lot of re-spooling, maybe no to many as 20 photos. All went well if I could remember the number of frames

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Mon Feb 11, 2019 1:39 am

After a lot of phone calls and the usual Customs process, I finally was handed two items purchased last November, a 100/2.8 Pentax lens for K mount, which was what I wanted, and a faulty Nikon FG that cost peanuts, bought just to share the shipping costs from Japan. The FG was quickly repaired by the tech.

The Pentax 100/2.8 was tested on my trustiy K-1000. I found this lens a worthy competitor to the Nikkor 105/2.5, but much lighter and smaller.



I completed the test roll with this shot of our coming election season, using the 24-35 zoom.



The Nikon FG worked in all settings including A and P. For some reason I could not see the LED dots that show shutter speed in the viewfinder in bright daylight, so had to trust the electronics. The LEDs are, however, visible in low light. I thought that maybe the batteries were low, but changing them did not change LED intensity. Maybe I should change my eyes instead...

The FG is small for a Nikon, light and very usable. Should be handy for travel or as a backup to the F2. This model is not common here, I had never seen it before. A couple from the FG test.







Did a couple of unusual things. First, used a single roll for both cameras - exposed about 20 frames in the FG, rewound and loaded in the K-1000. Then shot blanks up to frame 21, and went on from there. Worked well, fortunately no scratches (I knew the K-1000 was OK, so any scratch would have come from the FG).

Second, an experiment in process temperature. We are enjoying a heat wave, the FP4+ / Beutler combo is rugged enough, let us see what happens with no ice. Developed, washed and fixed at liquid temperatures of 26-27 C (about 80 F) in a Rondinax daylight tank. 7.5 min dev time were enough (instead of my usual 11 min). A bit risky, but negatives came out fine, no harm to emulsion. Not planning to do this every day, but it is good to know that the combination works at these high temperatures.

Statistics: Posted by Julio1fer — Sun Feb 10, 2019 5:06 pm

Hi all,

A new arrival and with this one I can consider myself a 6x9 collector.

Already CLAd and ready to shoot, the camera is in pretty good condition, speed are awesome, congrats who serviced the camera 400 is 250!! and the rest after 100 are perfect, lens and rangefinder are perfectly collimated.













Only one issue, there is a design problem? on this camera, the lens goes 2mm back when closed making some marks on the film plane.
I will try to solve it eventually, so far the test roll went well but I wouldn't wind the camera closed, not on this or any folding camera.
What makes it goes so back are the two holders for the shutter plane that they push the shutter down, I will try to move the shutter 2mm to the left so they can avoid this but I'm afraid it can't be possible.
The workaround of this problem is to not leave the camera loaded long time and never ever wind it closed.

First roll, another "on the snow" theme and again Tsaritsyno Park, next weekend I hope I go to another park so you don't get bored with same subjects.


Haunting tree.


Tsaritsyno palace panorama.


The Tsaritsyno pine.


Tsaritsyno tower.


Giants.


Tsaritsyno towers.


Chilly wind day.

Conclusion is the camera is veeeery comfortable to hold, focus and shoot, I would like the have the ever-ready-case and I will start looking for it.
Not good was the choosing ASA100 roll for a dull day, all photos were from f/4.5 to f/6.3 with 1/100 or 1/50sec hand holding, so I can expect better results in a sunny day or higher speed films stoping down a bit more.

Thank you for watching.
Alex

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:28 pm

And the camera

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Sat Feb 09, 2019 6:32 am

Heliars are special, particularly good for portraits. Nice work.

Robert

Statistics: Posted by Brazile — Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:11 am

Thank you, Phil.

About the Contax IIa viewfinder yes, I miss the II viewfinder on the IIa model. When I have a Nikon S2 in my hand I will tell you

Statistics: Posted by alexvaras — Fri Feb 08, 2019 3:23 am