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Post by alanegreen on Jan 20, 2017 9:47:28 GMT -5
I think the mystery lens in an f-series Topcor, which pre-dates the RE series. I think there is a reference to the fact that Topcon introduced this incompatibility is the aperture linkage in the book 'Topcon Story: Topcon Enigma' by Marco Antonetto.
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Post by alanegreen on Aug 25, 2016 4:52:08 GMT -5
Thanks Rachel - I tried for a while to find out how to get the image to appear in the post, but had to give up (as I was posting from work, and had to get on...!)
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Post by alanegreen on Aug 24, 2016 9:54:43 GMT -5
s1380.photobucket.com/user/alangreen1963/media/Leicamicroscope_zpsgmqzhp90.jpg.htmlAt work, we needed to get more magnification on our Leica fluorescence microscope. So I set this up to magnify the intermediate image Bottom to top: Leica microscope Home made adapter to BPM bellows BPM bellows BPM Canon FD adapter Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 Canon FD 52mm revering ring Canon Bellows FL Canon FD to EOS adapter (no internal optics) Canon DSLR And it all work a treat! I love using old equipment to solve 21st century problems. Alan
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Post by alanegreen on Aug 24, 2016 9:32:19 GMT -5
I have my collection of ~200 (mixture of 35mm SLR and medium format) housed is two Ikea double width 'Billy' bookcases, in light oak finish. These come with solid shelves, but Ikea sell replacement glass shelves, as well as glass doors, both of which I fitted. I also fitted some Ikea halogen lighting, which does a good job - assisted by the glass shelves. The shelves can be adjusted on a peg system, and I have a few more shelves than would originally have been supplied. They are beginning to look a bit crowded, but at the moment space prevents me from adding a third!
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Post by alanegreen on May 11, 2016 5:01:02 GMT -5
Agree totally. I have recently upgraded my Canon F-1 to overcome the mercury battery issue.
Conventional approach is to use a series Schottky diode with a Silver Oxide cell. The diode drop the battery 1.55V to ~1.35V( mercury battery voltage). The trouble is, the diode drop is dependant on current, and hence light level. Also the Silver oxide cell is not as voltage stable over discharge as Mercury was. I have overcome this by using a 3V Lithium cell (CR1632) and a low dropout low quiescent current voltage regulator to provide exactly 1.35V to the meter. The regulator gives a constant 1.35V right down to the 2V where the battery dies. I've put the regulator on the 'load' side of the on switch, so no battery drain when the camera is off. This also means that the battery check connects straight to the battery - due to the higher voltage I needed to insert a 10k resistor is series with the battery check.
The circuit is on a small PCB I made, and tucks away under the top plate next to the main switch.
I've made a similar modification to my Canon FTb. Both cameras work a treat and the meters are very accurate.
Would be interested if anyone else would be interested in modifying their cameras in this way - in which case I could supply the necessary circuits?
Alan
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 28, 2013 9:39:45 GMT -5
Recently acquired a Topcon Super DM at a good price due to a couple of issues: 1. Dead meter 2. Cracked prism
The first fault turned out to be dirty switch contacts - which responded to a strip and clean. I bought an RE Super/Super D prism head on fleabay thinking I would swap the prisms over, but this doesn't quite work - the RE super prism is a bit shallower and doesn't have the cut out in the silverining that allows the 'judas window' (by which you can see the lens aperture setting) to work. I tried removing a bit of silvering from the RE super prism, but whilst I can now see the aperture it appears very high up in the viewfinder. This is obviously why the original Super DM prism is a bit taller.
So - here's the really long shot - anyone have a Super DM prism or prism head they'd be willing to sell to me?
Alan
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 28, 2013 9:21:02 GMT -5
Only regret ever was when I sold my Mamiya 6 outfit - two bodies and all three lenses. I got over this my buying replacements about a year later!
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Post by alanegreen on Jul 14, 2011 10:55:05 GMT -5
These aircraft are A-36 Apaches, which was a ground attack version of the North American Mustang, that retained the Alison engine after the Mustang had adopted the Merlin. The tail and undercarriage of the P-40 are quite different.
The photo appears on the Wikipedia page for the A-36!
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Post by alanegreen on Jun 8, 2011 5:57:15 GMT -5
I attended Photographica this year too. The show was very busy, and it was very encouraging to see the number of under 30 year olds there. I urge anyone reading this in the UK and who is not alrready a member to join the PCCGB. Their Photographica World and Tailboard publications are always interesting - and you'll get in free to next year's photographica! www.nanites.co.uk/pccgb/Alan
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A 1
Mar 1, 2011 11:23:58 GMT -5
Post by alanegreen on Mar 1, 2011 11:23:58 GMT -5
In case any of you catch a lens flare from Tornado's LED headlamps - you can blame me - I designed and built them (well, have to have some other hobby as well...)!
Alan
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Post by alanegreen on Dec 1, 2010 7:14:32 GMT -5
I can confirm that there was bad press at the time concerning contamination of the pellicle affecting the iamges. This happens particularly if you are using small apertures (high f/numbers) - in this situation any particle on the pellicle casts a sharper shadow on the film. At large apertures the shadow just blurs out,
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Post by alanegreen on Dec 1, 2010 7:03:45 GMT -5
The HI Topcor 87-205 zoom will mount on the leaf shutter cameras (Uni Unirex etc) but becasue the exit pupil of the lens is bigger than the shutter opening of these cameras, it will vignette. The IC-1 is the only camera it will work properly on. The lens was a re-mounted version of the RE series lens.
The UNI series of cameras were quite nice, but limited by the unreliable shutter, and the fact that no independant lens maker offered lenses for them. This was not due to any bloody mindedness on their part - but due to the fact that the aperture ring on these cameras was part of the body, and hence adapting their lenses to cope with the long back focus would have been expensive.
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 7, 2010 8:11:00 GMT -5
Thanks for your welcome!
I have an RE-2 and an RE Super as well. My interest in the Uni series is largely because a Unirex EE was the first SLR I owned - bought new when I was a teenager back in the 1970s. The unreliable shutter had me swap it for a Canon AE-1 as soon as funds would allow, but I always quite liked the way it felt.
I recently bought a Ricoh Singlex TLS - mainly because it uses the same Copal Square shutter as the RE-2 and also brings the shutter speed dial out on the front panel (rather than coupling it to a ring around the lens, as Nikon did with the Nikkormats).
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 6, 2010 10:23:03 GMT -5
I have an SRT-101 which is very nice. Last week, I came across an SRT-303b in a second hand shop in Salisbury and went for it - the aperture follower ring was stuck and the meter switch was intermittent, but some dismantling and cleaning has sorted these out. The 50mm/f-1.4 MC Rokkor it came with is very attractive.
One interesting point - the 303b looks just like the 303, but they removed the mirror lock-up feature on the 303b - a cost saving measure??
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 6, 2010 10:12:44 GMT -5
I have most of the Topcon leaf shutter SLRs in my collection - the Wink-S (selenium meter) the Uni, Unirex, and Unirex EE. Also in the series in the IC-1 which is very similar to the Unirex EE but has an electronic focal plane shutter (Topcon did this when Seiko discontinued the SLV shutter).
I also have all of the lenses (28/f-4, 35/f-3.5, 50/f2.8, 50/f-2, 53/f2, 100/f-4, 135/f-4 (2 versions) and 200/f-4). There was a zoom made in this mount - an 87-205mm that was a re-mount of the RE series lens. However, this only works on the IC-1 - if mounted on one of the leaf shutter cameras it vignettes.
The early cameras (Wink-s and Uni) fell a bit cheap, but the later ones (Unirex onwards) feel much better made. All of them are a bit unreliable due to the complexity of the leaf shutter to mirror mechanism linkages. For reliability, go for an IC-1!
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