PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Jun 6, 2006 5:41:10 GMT -5
Hi all, Last Sunday, as is my usual wont, I was poking around the stalls in our local boot sale cum flea market. There were a couple of cameras at stupid prices - like £50 for a jammed OM10, and £20 for a Pentax with a missing wind-on lever and a 2x converter in place of a lens - and I was about to call it a day. Then I spotted under a stall a box containing several cameras still in their cases/purses and started digging. Before I'd got very far the stallholder said "£5 the lot if you're interested". I know I said I wasn't going to get any more 'ordinary' cameras but ... oh heck, I weakened and took a 'lucky dip' chance When I got home and unpacked everything I found an Ensign Ful-Vue, an Ilford Envoy, an Olympus Trip 35, a plastic Canon P&S Sure Shot with AF and AE, a plastic Olympus P&S Trip with AF and AE. a Centon electronic flash unit with 'computer control', a National flash gun for small bulbs, a Soligor CdS hand held meter and a short cable release. All in working order; the Centon flash was even in its box with instructions. Now I've got them, the question is, where do I keep them? I've run out of display shelves! Peter
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Post by heath on Jun 6, 2006 8:04:56 GMT -5
NIce haul there Peter. That Ful-Vue looks nice. Are you going to put a film through it? I will put a film through mine if you put one through yours. Could be interesting to see what we come up with using the same camera, and possibly the same film too. I have one of those Soligor CDS's. Problem is they use mercury cells. I am envious of your area with it's car boot sales. They don't have them here. If I wanted to go to one, I would have to travel a few hours to get there.
Heath
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Jun 6, 2006 8:58:52 GMT -5
Hi Heath, OK mate, you're on. I haven't got any 120 suitable for it in stock, only some 400 Fujichrome and a couple of HP 5s, both a shade fast I feel for what's basically a fixed speed fixed aperture box camera. I don't think I can get any locally now the only remaining camera shop, Jessops, has gone entirely digital . But when I go to Canterbury or Chatham, both about three quarters of an hour's drive, I'll get some 100 ASA 120. If I can get it I'll try Fujicolor. The Ilford Envoy is similar in spec with fixed aperture and single speed, but it's 6x9, 8 exposures, Bakelite, eye level and it's got a curved film plane to help keep aberrations from the simple lens in check. I may try a roll through that as well. May be a week or two though. Re the Ashford car boot sale cum flea market, yes, I'm fortunate in having one only 10 minutes drive away. It's held every Sunday morning and in the summer there are about 150+ stalls, about half of them dealers and half of them people turning out their junk. A few years ago it used to be great for cameras. I've bought Canon, OM, Mamiya and Zenit SLRS there very cheaply, as well as quite a few 1930s 6x9 folders. Recently, though, the cameras worth having have been few and far between. Maybe things will buck up now the better weather's here and people turn out their cupboards and drawers full of 'junk'. Hope so! Peter
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Post by Randy on Jun 6, 2006 22:52:29 GMT -5
You'll have to truss up the first floor like me Peter. Every time I buy a camera or a diecast car the floors groan. (so does Freda) ;D
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Post by heath on Jun 7, 2006 0:51:49 GMT -5
Peter, I think we have a challenge. I will get some 100 Fujifilm tomorrow when I take my Ensign Selfix 16-20 in for a CLA. I may even shoot in the City with the Ful-Vue when I am in there, weather dependant.
Anyone else have an Ensign Ful-Vue and interested in joining in on the challenge? You are more than welcome. IN fact, the more the merrier, as they say.
Heath
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Jun 18, 2006 15:57:58 GMT -5
Hi Heath. I got a 120 Fujicolor Superior 100 for the Ful-Vue yesterday. I did my local Jessops a dis-service. They do still stock a small amount of film, but it's tucked away behind the counter where you can't see it easily. All being well, and if I can find the time, I'll load it into the Ful-Vue, put it's lead on and take it for a walk one bright morning next week to see if I can do something creative with it. Creative?? Me?? Yeah, all pigs fuelled and ready to fly! ;D I thought at first that the lens was fixed focus. But on the website of an Ensign enthusiast I found that it should push in and pull out for distance and close-ups. Out for faces, in for places, as Ilford used to put it on some of their cheap cameras. But however hard I pushed or pulled mine didn't want to budge. Obviously seized from lack of use. The shutter release was also rather stiff, and the inside of the lens was dusty, so I thought I'd kill three birds with one stone, take the lens panel off, free the lens barrel, clean and adjust (bend) the release and clean the lens. Taking it apart was easy enough, just three screws, and after a tiny spot of oil and a lot of pushing from both sides the lens barrel eventually came free and pulled out and pushed in just as Ensign said it would. The lens cleaned up very well with no scratch marks. So far, so good. But would it go together. It would NOT. The decorative plate on the front, the lens panel and the shutter plate are all held to the camera body by the same three screws, with tiny tubular spacers between the lens panel and the shutter plate. I must have tried a dozen times, but at least one of the spacers insisted on falling out. I was geting frustrated! I've reassembled some tricky cameras, but for sheer cussedness and awkwardness this took the cake. But I decided that if the girls on the assembly line at the Walthamstow factory back in the 1940s could put togther probably a couple of dozen or more complete cameras before their morning tea break I wasn't going to be beaten by one miserable lens panel and its spacers. In the end I cheated. I put just the tiniest smear of Blu-Tak on the screw shanks, just enough to hold the spacers and stop them falling off. Then it went together as good as gold and the shutter clicks away happily. There was no sign of Blu-Tak or anything similar when I took it apart, so my hat comes off to those Walthamstow girls - but maybe they had a simple little assembly jig or a clip of some sort to hold things together while they did the screws up. I could have devised one, but Blu-Tak was quicker . I toyed with the idea of taking the reflex housing off to clean the inside of the viewing lenses, But when I saw how it was held - just one long spring clip to hold it all thgether and hold it to the camera body I chickened out and decided a clean on the outside would do. I still don't know how near 'close-up' is, but I'm going to guess at 4 to 5 feet. With a fixed f/11 aperture there should be a decent depth of field. We'll see. Look forward to comparing pics, Heath. Good luck with your Ful-Vue. Peter W
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Post by John Parry on Jun 18, 2006 16:07:28 GMT -5
Peter/Heath
The set of Ensign/ Ross Ensign Ful-vues I've got struck me as one of the best designed post-war pieces of kit I'd seen - until I investigated the focussing arrangements, Yes - they're as primitive as push it a bit/pull it a bit. Good luck with the contest - anything could come out!!
Regards - John
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Post by kamera on Jun 18, 2006 18:28:30 GMT -5
Peter,
Oh yes...you seem to have the knack for finding those tucked away beauties and this looks like a nice lot.
You might want to consider 'skyhooks'... ;D ;D
Ron Head Kalamazoo, MI
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Post by heath on Jun 19, 2006 2:33:34 GMT -5
Peter, I still haven't been able to get some film (100 Fuji) so you don't have to rush.
With my Ful-Vue, the focusing is different to yours. To focus mine you actually turn the front elemnt, not push or pull it. There are three markings around the bezel, which are 2, 3-5 and 6-infinity. I guess yours would focus to those as well. Now I also take it that the markings would have been in the old imperial measurement, and not metres that are used today.
Mine also had a shutter problem when I got it. The thing just refused to fire. So I did as you did and removed the front plate. I bent a couple of bits slightly, trying it as I did each bend and when all was working, I reassembled it. I didn't have any trouble putting mine back together.
I can't wait to see what we can do with these old beauties.
Heath
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