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Post by yashica1943 on Oct 19, 2020 5:39:02 GMT -5
I have just purchased a Miranda Sensomat RS with 50mm f 1.8 lens off ebay. I had just lost a Miranda with an f1.4 50mm lens by not bidding high enough but this came along and I put a modest first bid on it.
Apparently it is a stripped down Sensomat RE and is quite rare and it has been difficult to find many details. Bought as a non-operating unit but externally looks quite good. So quite happy. Will report further when it arrives. I now have a Miranda FV, a Miranda Sensorex 2 MC?, a Soligor TM and a spare pentaprism & two waist level viewfinders.
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Post by yashica1943 on Oct 9, 2020 9:56:50 GMT -5
The Vitessa has returned, shutter working and has been CLA'd for £70. Well worth it and I couldn't have taken it to the repairer's workshop, he is 'no callers'.
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Post by yashica1943 on Sept 29, 2020 11:18:01 GMT -5
The 'mushroom' effect is due to the timing of the drops. The first drop hits the surface enters the liquid and a spike comes back up. If the second drop is timed correctly it will hit the spike and flatten it. If it is too late the spike and the no.2 drop can cause unpredictable shapes. So, in the top photo the 2nd drop seems to be too early. I like ff milk because it forms the drop slower. I have also used water and Xanthan gum (very little required) Belgiumreporter, what are you using to form the drops? Also, the height of drop and the depth and shape of the 'bowl' or glass at the bottom affect the shape of the splash. After a while you can find a combination of height, splash timing and shutter timing, it just takes a lot of practice. I reckon I made about 16,000 exposure with a less than 10% success of really nice images! But my splashArt device often sent down a 3rd drip! Plenty of other video on YouTube for advice.
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Post by yashica1943 on Sept 19, 2020 12:42:21 GMT -5
Arrived one Voigtlander Vitessa L with f2 Ultron lens. in leather ERC absolutely immaculate, even the meter works Unfortunately the shutter does not work at any speed. It appears to get cocked with the film wind plunger but nothing happens.
Any suggestions for a Synchro Compur repairer in the UK? I have tried a few repairers, mostly they do not touch film cameras. Or I cannot get an answer.
An interesting result, one repairer wanted £269 this I assume is because they don't want the work, (how much does a camera mechanic earn for goodness sake?) I could buy two good working Vitessas for that price, another wanted £169 and the third who is about 6 miles away wants £65 so it is going off to him, if it wasn't for the virus I would take it there. I thought that companies would welcome any sort of work these days.
Now had a definite quote from the local person for shutter repair & CLA of the Vitessa for £70 - sounds good to me.
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Post by yashica1943 on Sept 4, 2020 9:52:12 GMT -5
I have just had an email from Photobucket stating that I haven't looked in for over a year and requesting that I reactivate my account or it will be closed. I have not looked into it but I assume that they still want payment and have still hijacked my images without permission? Luckily most of them are copies. Best left alone I think.
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Post by yashica1943 on Sept 2, 2020 10:13:59 GMT -5
I just bought off ebay a working Yashica FX-3 with Yashica 50mm f2 lens, with a Tamron Adaptall 28mm f2.5 wide angle and a Tokina SZ-X 210 70-210 zoom, instructions and boxes for the lenses. All glass is clean. The camera body suffers from the usual covering problem and I have taken that off & cleaned it ready for a new skin. Not bad for £15.01 and it was close enought to have been collected personally except that I an still self-isolating. I have seen varying reports on the quality of the Tokina, has anyone experience of this lens which seems rare in C/Y mount?
I have now bought a C/Y manual adapter for the Tokina and tried it out on my Sony a7 - result - very good.
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Post by yashica1943 on Aug 19, 2020 16:54:39 GMT -5
Camera arrived, very clean but the shutter does not operate. The mirror works and the viewfinder and lenses are very clear and the exposure meter needle moves. A keeper but not a user. The box only has the 90mm lens and an instruction leaflet inside.
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Post by yashica1943 on Aug 15, 2020 11:54:51 GMT -5
I have just won on auction an Agfa Ambiflex (2 ?) with the 50mm Color Solinar lens and a 90mm Color Telinear. Clean looking and with the front panels intact (they often seem to peel off.) With them is shown a box for the Color Telinear 135mm, probably an empty box, but who knows?
The annoying thing is that about 5 years ago I was given a 135mm Telinear in perfect condition. I sold it and cannot remember how much for, probably what it was worth at the time but not as much as some people are asking in 2020.
I will add more detail when it arrives.............
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Post by yashica1943 on Aug 5, 2020 15:07:13 GMT -5
I owned a few motorcycles and scooters,including a NSU Quick 50, a Honda 400/4, the biggest owned was a Honda VT500, excellent bike, but I rode BMW 750's and 800's for a job for about 14 years. In that time I had tested several big Norton, Triumph, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Cagiva, Suzuki and Moto Guzzi. Favourite at the time was the original Kawasaki 900 - amazing. Later I tested a Cagiva 750 Elefant wonderful comfortable ride - still have the sales brochure, should have bought it.
One of the memorable rides was on the first Honda Gold Wing ever imported into Britain leading to my first ton down the M3 when it was a relatively quiet motorway. One of the unusual ones was a Moto Rumi Scooter and the rare BMW K1 (not at the same time). Oh, and I nearly forgot, several hundred miles on a Honda 750 automatic gearbox bike and the same on a Honda CB 400 auto! Ithink that the auto Hondas had been tuned for less speed and more torque, if I remember correctly they had two gears, you started off in first gear then top gear would be used nearly all the time, they seemed to be aimed at motorcycle couriers, not enthusiasts because the were not fun to ride, just efficient. I also used to borrow a Honda CX500, again better than expected and efficient. A short trip on a Kawasaki Turbo 650 - terrifying. My Yamaha 250 two stroke twin was interesting and thirsty.
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Post by yashica1943 on Jul 16, 2020 9:58:42 GMT -5
I think that several early ones will become collectible because they belong in the history of photography. I nominate my favourites, the Leica Digilux 3 and the similar Panasonic DMC LC-1.
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Post by yashica1943 on Jun 18, 2020 7:46:37 GMT -5
Mostly 1980's bridge type cameras 35mm with 3 APS intruders.
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Post by yashica1943 on Jun 18, 2020 7:41:17 GMT -5
The OP says it is also a lighter. It sounds as if it is the subminiature camera that was combined with a cigarette lighter in about 1950. If it is a PETIE with one T then it has considerable value.
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Post by yashica1943 on Jun 9, 2020 11:22:04 GMT -5
As I have been self isolating since early March I invested in a SplashArt liquid dropper. Taken loads of photos with my Sony a7 with a mf Leica Macro-Elmarit 60mm. Two flashes, one slave, other on hotshoe pointed up. Used water, soya milk and full fat milk. FF works best.
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Post by yashica1943 on Apr 28, 2020 4:44:26 GMT -5
I have now recovered the Yashica with a black leather skin and it looks and feels very nice. The above observations are very interesting. As a very skint amateur photographer in the early 80s my observations would have been similar but I looked on Leica and Nikon as being professional 35mm cameras and completely out of reach. My own estimation was that during the 70's Pentax was the desireable brand for an amateur but. I was left a Canon AE-1 and used that for several years, and would have gone on to buy Canon autofocus cameras when they came in because an insurance policy matured and I had budgeted £2000 to buy a new outfit. Due to lazy Canon salespersons I ended up with a Minolta 9000 AF and several lenses and an autowinder. Very good camera. I was aware of Yashica and the related Contax and they usually had good reviews in magazine tests early on. I am now in the position to have had and handled some of the different cameras from the 60', 70's and 80's. Including a couple of Yashica autofocus, weren't they just horrible!?
Having read that through again I now realise far too late that instead of the Minolta 9000 AF and lenses I should have bought a Leica M3 which would have retained all or most of its value. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
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Post by yashica1943 on Apr 25, 2020 11:41:33 GMT -5
As stated elsewhere I bought a Yashica FX-D Quartz together with an Argus/Mamiya Prismat. The Yashica is very good except for the usual dreadful covering material and the light seals. Unfortunately the lens has very slight fungus inside. Out of interest I compared it with my Contax 139 Quartz, which it is related to. If I had to use one or the other I would take the Yashica (with a good lens) it just feels right in the hand. I find it quite similar to my AE-1 which used to be my main (only) film camera 1980 onwards until auto focus came in.
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