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Post by belgiumreporter on Apr 9, 2020 4:05:32 GMT -5
Camera (shop) hunting in India has been a huge disappointement. My be'st chances on finding anything would have been in Dehli, but because of the heavy riots between muslims and hindu's ( with several deathts) Dehli was an occupied city in wich we couldn't freely move around in, streets were blocked and it was inpossible to get through the maze of little alleys to get to the place where the camera shops were supposed to be. Moving on to Jaipur this was the closest thing to a camera shop i've seen in that city. In Varanasi the nikon and panasonic signs weren't very encouraging and i suppose whatever was in store has been ritually burned and thrown in to the Ganges to get it out of their misery. In Jodpur there was this Nikon collect shop, they didn't sell anything camera wise, it was just a drop off point for nikon's in need of repair. Then at last when visiting some havelli's in Mandawa i found this basket of sorry excuses for a camera, i could easely resist the temptation of buying any thing here.
After that the corona curfew struck and we were locked up in our hotel in Rohet, a small village some 600Km from Dehli, for the remaining 14 days of our 5 week holiday in India.
Waiting for our flight to Paris in a deserted Dehli airport.
Complete lockdown in Paris, trying to catch a train to Brussels. No more distance adventures for a while, all camera buisness will be online untill things settle down...
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Post by belgiumreporter on Apr 7, 2020 10:40:28 GMT -5
With the corona troubles still going on i had some time to search my photo archive. One of the pics i found was of the first apartement i moved in after leaving my parents home. Exept from the orange bench seat (wich was quite fasionable in the seventies) one can see what is the start of my collection. Back then i had no real theme in mind so any "old" camera would do to expand the collection. Camera's that are now collectable still were in use or weren't even made yet. So the main part of collactables were mostly folders and some zorki's that looked old :-). As the collction grew over the years some theme's did emerge and for some time i was heavy in to polaroids, few of wich i still have today as the polaroid theme was abandonned years ago. The main theme then switched to nikon, but it took many years to come up with something more than 3 cameras.Somewhere shortly after the digital revolution i came up with the idea of an alphabet collection i would attempt to get everything from Alpa to Zenith, something i did succeed in.Still after a while with more interesting cameras coming on the market i got rid of the lesser cameras of the alphabet collection (just because petri has a P in it dosn't mean it is an interesting camera to name just one) so the next theme came up: slr's with interchangeable viewfinders/prisms. That went well and i think there's little i haven't got on that theme. Because i collect nikon-canon-olympus-minolta-pentax-miranda-leica slr's-TLR's,... the moment has come i've got to many cameras and i'm trying to get back to the essential cameras of these makes.The main goal being to eliminate everything that isn't mechanical or pro grade electronic/ digital (or just weird)... So how did you guys and girls started out collecting? did you have a theme in mind in the first place or did it evolve over the years?
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Post by belgiumreporter on Apr 4, 2020 15:00:45 GMT -5
Thanks to a lot of help from local indian people, the Belgium embassy in Dehli and the foreign affairs office we manged to get back home. Now 14 days of quarantine wich will allow me to sort out all the photo's i've made in india,work in the garden and sort out some boxes of cameras...
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Post by belgiumreporter on Mar 30, 2020 3:56:29 GMT -5
Hello everyone, some 5 weeks ago my wife and i went on a round trip of central and south India, due to the corona crisis we stranded half way in a little village called Rohet. My initial plan was to look for classic cameras and small camera businesses around India, but so far I haven't found much of interest. On top of that we are now "locked up" in our luxury hotel in the middle of nowhere. The Belgium embassy told us over the phone their trying to get us out, but it is unlikely this will be happening in the next 14 days. Anyway just to let you all now i wont be posting much in the coming days (weeks ?) but i will have some material ready to publish whenever i'll get home. Hope you all are safe and in good health regards Francois !
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 29, 2020 5:09:08 GMT -5
Thanks for your help. It's apparently not one made by Olympus, so probably not of much value. I'm looking for a reasonably priced lens. I do appreciate your input. The fiberoptic adapter isn't worth much indeed (price range +-25$ for an original olympus) It would have been a lot more interesting if the endoscope or fiber optics would have come along in the deal but these are mostly kept in a seperate case. You're lucky though as the F youv'e got isn't the "medical" F wich hasn't got the self timer and metering, making it less usable for everyday shooting.The lens situation is a bit of a problem as they are scavenged from the "old" bodies to start a new life on digital (wich tends to get the prices up).
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 28, 2020 4:50:10 GMT -5
Looks a lot like the fiberscope adapter...My pen F both arms the shutter and advances the film in one stroke. Lenses can be found on the usual Ebay and second hand sites (not cheap though!)
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 24, 2020 10:08:19 GMT -5
Just curious about the diffrence between the old macro takumar 50mm 1:4 and a more recent pentax-M macro 100mm 1:4 i've decided to a quick side to side test of both lenses. The takumar macro is often hailed as one of the sharpest lenses ever made, while the pentax 100 macro is no slough either. I've found in real life situations sharpness wise there isn't any noticable diffrence, the 50 maybe is a bit more contrasty.The main diffrence lies in the magnification ratio and the angle of view.The takumar 50 here is the 1x version ( both a 1x and 0,5x versions exists) this is very handy as there's no need for additional spacer rings to get to the 1x magnification. The 100mm will "only" do 0,5x magnification.The 50's got a pre-selector diafragm while the 100's automatic. But to sum it all up in a simple conclusion: both these lenses are good performers wich these days can be had for little money. Because of the short focussing distance the 50 can in most cases only be used for non moving (live) subjects, the 100 will give you some more space between the camera and subject. The narrower field of view of the 100 is better for isolating the subject from the (disturbing) background. I do realise there's more to sharpness in a lens, light fall off, distortion, colour fringing... but with these lenses i wouldn't worry to much just go out and enjoy them, they are good enough for everyday use. Both these lenses will work without problems on modern pentax DSLR's or with a simple adaptor on just about anything with removable lenses. Btw, compared to the latest AF macro lenses in studio set ups, these oldies are a little less sharp, but then again in real life shooting you will find it hard to see any diffrence and it's more a lack of build in image stabilisation and AF that some may find frustrating. So maybe when you're not a "hard core" macro shooter with lots of money to spend, but still want something better than your kit gear for macro or close ups, these "old" macro lenses might be something to consider. I've got these lenses as part of my pentax collection, for my macro shooting i use nikkor 60/105 and 200mm macro lenses. Still it's nice to sometimes take out the oldies and use them just like a classic car enthousiast will take his classic on the road for a ride. Here's a few shots i made with the 50 at 1x and the 100 at 0.5x magnification both f11 on the pentax Kx.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 21, 2020 12:30:46 GMT -5
This Compartment Case Model FB5 came with a camera set i've bought. From initial research i've found out the FB5 would be suited to hold a F camera with F36 motor drive with cordless battery pack. After attempting to fit one in this dosn't seem to be the case and only the F with plain or photomic prism will fit. The FB5 could be used for some more modern gear like an FM or F3. These cases were very well made and rather expensive but one must be aware that they are not suited to keep gear locked up in them over a longer period of time as they seal moist wich could cause lenses to develop fungus. The FB5 has Bayonet lens mounts,holds one camera and four lenses up to 300 mm though the "modern" 300mm 4.5 ED will not fit as it's a bit to long. Three lenses are securely bayonetted to the lens mounts on the baseplate, and can be easily and quickly removed with one hand, while the fourth is attached to the camera which is fitted to the holder recess on the inner side of the case. Thepocket inside the case lid holds four filters, and two outside pockets provide additional space for sundries. The tilt-away front cover allows easy access to the contents. This is the case for those who require quick lens changes. Here's a few photo's of what it looks like with vintage and some more recent gear loaded.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 18, 2020 10:40:01 GMT -5
The Canon booster (maybe it should be called light metering booster) is by today's standards an odd looking camera accesoire. Back in the day when slr's didn't had a build in meter it wasn't uncommon camera makers made clip on lightmeters wich fitted on top of the camera. In a later stage slr's became equipped with build in metering. Canon however, decided to take it a step futher by introducing the "booster" wich extended the metering range of the build in meter dramaticly. It was made for use on the Ftb and the later version of the pellix. The main advantage of this device (apart from the extended metering range) is it's coupled to the internal meter (via a plug wich fits in a socket inside the battery chamber) making it a ttl meter. This in some cases could give an advantage over a hand held meter. However... the booster isn't coupled to the shutter dial and readings aren't visble in the view finder wich makes the device rather fiddely to use. Some tech specs: metering range is extended to EV11 1/2sec. at f22 and EV -3.5 15 seconds at f1.2 (100ASA). there's two battery chambers for type 625 mercury cells one for the metering the other for illumination of the dial. Little info is to be found on the booster, even the canon museum doesn't mention it, wich doesn't mean it's a rare item. Still i'm glad i've found one as it's a nice piece of vintage inginuity wich overcame some of the problems in early slr photography.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 14, 2020 6:29:22 GMT -5
When going through some drawers filled with camera parafernalia, this Belora Bella 66 popped up. I have never given it a second glance as with so many of these "simple" cameras, it dosn't fit in my collection. But let's give it some credit. Simple it is with two shutter speeds and B, apperture 8 or 16 and a Rodenstock achromat lens wich dosn't state the actual focal lenght. Film transport is by thumb wheel, with double exposure prevention. I didn't shoot this camera myselve, but i've seen some great results achieved with it, sharp contrasty and fine tonal range B&W shots. These good results could be brought back to the large film format (120/6x6) and a decent lens with a small apperture. This Bilora still has the customs "lead" on it, this was a practice used untill the late sixties where portable goods neede to get this customs(douane) lead seal as proof it was inported in Belgium via the right channels and the taxes due on it were paid. With this seal on it the camera could leave the country and brought back in without having to pay the taxes once more. In those days and even today Belgium has a very punitive tax system and buying in neighbouring countries could save you (a lot of) money. All in all the bilora is a good looking camera and would make a nice asset to any vintage point and shoot collection.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 13, 2020 17:31:46 GMT -5
Here's two shots i've made with the coolpix 9900, my all round travel companion and snap shooter wich replaced the P600 .
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 13, 2020 10:17:30 GMT -5
When looking for anything Yashica Lynx 14 related on the camera collector forum, i was unable to find anyrhing on it. Time to put things right so here's some brief info and a pic of said camera. The Lynx 14 has some interesting features wich in my opinion make it one of the, if not the best fixed lens Yashica rangefinder camera of the era. It is fully mechanical, only needing the (obsolete) mercury battery to power the meter.The lens is a somewhat odd 45mm 1:1.4.wich focusses down to 0.8meters (2.6ft) The central shutter has a speed range from B to 1/500sec and it has a parralax controlled rangefinder. Film transport is smooth (enough) so what is there not to like? Well the first thing you notice when first picking up the camera is the weight and size, definatly not a camera to put in your pocket, then, in my opinion the shutter isn't all that quiet, not that it makes that much noice but it has a rather unpleasant metallic sound to it.The rangefinder spot is good, but not great and lastely on this brief summary, the diafragm ring has no click stops and can easely be moved accidently. this leaves us with a camera of wich i think is definatly worth checking out, there dosn't seem to be much love or hype for it on the net wich keeps prices low if you can find one. They are easy to test, no battery needed so either the shutter works or it dosn't wich means it is broken. Cheking the rangefinder is straightforward.With the shutter at B the aperture blades can be checked. Prices range from thrift store/garage sale low to 120$ Ebay and even this isn't outrageous if your into this kind of camera.I've sold all my "electro's" but keeping this one. (sadly no black version available )
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 13, 2020 7:12:12 GMT -5
For me the ultimate version is the "4" it's got the clean lines of the original design, interchangable lenses, coupled rangefinder with frames for all three available lenses, build in light meter and...it's green Here's one, gegenlichtblende and all...
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 11, 2020 10:03:44 GMT -5
Apparantly the Hasselblad prism could be easely adapted to the C33, this set up is lightyears better than the mamiya porro prism. However for focussing accuracy the loupe in the waist level finder is still hard to beat, but that still leaves you with the left-right switched image. Here's a shot of the work bench with the proof of concept set-up:
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Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 11, 2020 9:15:28 GMT -5
Here's another one in Esquel-Patagonia it's getting harder to find these shops, and once you found'em they are mostly converted to cell phone shops, still boasting the Kodak or Fuji colours of days gone by.
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