retina
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Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Oct 27, 2015 1:16:51 GMT -5
I always liked my Yashica Minister D. It was my first 35mm camera, and always returned great results. I bought one again a dozen years back and it was just as good as I remember.
Like similar Yashicas, the shutters often have a bent or broken coupling pin to the shutter speed setting cam inside. This was due to someone forcing the setting ring. The shutter uses a light-value setting system, and this prevents you selecting every possible combination of shutter speed and aperture from memory.
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jul 31, 2015 2:10:32 GMT -5
Very nice! Somehow, I've never found a black Spotmatic for myself, though I have plenty of other Pentaxes.
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Feb 14, 2015 0:41:52 GMT -5
A handy piece of software for aligning stereo images is StereoPhoto Maker. This allows you to adjust positions of images, swap from cross-eyes to parallel, or anaglyph. You can find it here.. stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/I have used a variety of Canon digital compacts over the last decade, but currently use a Fujifilm W3 stereo digital camera instead.
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Feb 5, 2015 3:02:04 GMT -5
Well, it would be nice if things never died, but that isn't the way the world works.
Selenium meters don't have many parts. The Selenium cell degrades over time and they lose their sensitivity to light, or at least their useful output. Apparently they are sensitive to moisture from what I was told.
The connections between the selenium cell and the movement are prone to problems, broken solder joints, corroded contacts etc.
The movement itself can suffer from physical damage from the meter having been dropped, this can pop a movement right off the pivots. Not uncommonly, tiny particles of metal are gathered up by the magnet from who knows where and these jam the movement.
Of course, a common cause of failure is simply that the coil on the movement goes open-circuit. The wire is incredibly fine, and it just breaks somewhere.
Probably other things I have overlooked...
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Feb 3, 2015 1:39:10 GMT -5
Nice to see one with the f/2.8 Xenar, most have the f/3.5 instead.
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 31, 2015 15:04:55 GMT -5
Nice cameras Phil!
I'd like a nice Zorki 3 for my collection, and a Leica IIIf wouldn't go amiss either.
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 29, 2015 19:38:13 GMT -5
If you have never dealt with dealt with cleaning a diaphragm assembly it can be difficult to believe just how well thin sheets of metal can stick together. Often all it takes is just the faintest hint of a haze of oil, and they stick like glue, remove the oil and the blades swing back and forth just fine.
Anyone who has worked in the sheet-metal trade will probably remember separating the top sheet from a stack, you have to peel up an end or a corner and give it a shake to break it free.
In an ideal world, a careful user would detect that the diaphragm setting ring was unusually stiff and take their camera to be repaired, but that doesn't always happen. A significant proportion of the population feel that if something is stuck, applying more force to 'free it up' is the right approach.
The diaphragm and shutter blades are very thin but are quite strong and rarely tear. More often the pivots are torn off. Once one blade is out of position, applying force to the diaphragm ring can easily damage other blades.
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 22, 2015 15:44:59 GMT -5
Well, there is always me dealing with Kodak Retinas and Retinettes mostly. Regards, Chris retinarescue.com
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 15, 2015 14:15:03 GMT -5
The material used for shutters traditionally was usually described as 'rubberised silk', but I don't know if was actually silk that was used, or what substitutes worked well enough.
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 12, 2015 22:27:00 GMT -5
G'day Rick,
Fancy meeting you here...
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Jan 9, 2015 1:24:44 GMT -5
My experience is mostly with the Kodak Retinas of course, since they are the cameras I commonly repair. The faults with the selenium meters on those particular cameras where the meter is completely unresponsive to light are caused in about ninety percent of cases by the meter movement being open-circuit. The wire in the coil of the meter is extremely fine, and a break develops somewhere.
In the remaining cases where the meter is completely unresponsive the fault has been a meter movement that has jumped off the pivots, and is therefore jammed, a poor connection between the selenium cell and the spring-loaded contact at the rear of the cell, or a broken solder connection.
When I repaired Weston Master meters forty years ago, meter movements in the dead meters coming for repair also often had an open-circuit movement coil. The break was often in the outside winding, and it was sometimes possible to pull the winding free by one turn and re-solder the wire.
Weston Masters with low sensitivity were usually dealt with by replacing the selenium cell, and cells with too high an output were dealt with by masking some of the cell area with a neutral-density filter.
Some generations of Weston-Master were more prone to problems with the cell, something to do with porosity in the coating allowing moisture to degrade the cell I think I was told.
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Dec 28, 2014 20:30:46 GMT -5
Good luck Stephen, the Retina IIa is a pleasant camera to use if working properly, all the controls fall easily to the hand.
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Dec 25, 2014 21:44:41 GMT -5
Wow, That must be a very rare Leica indeed!
Regards, Chris
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Dec 7, 2014 20:18:51 GMT -5
I've got one that seems to work too, but the films all come out fogged....still, it looks happy enough!
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retina
Senior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by retina on Dec 7, 2014 12:44:13 GMT -5
Thanks Stephen, I'll take note of that nugget of wisdom.
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