melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Dec 18, 2012 14:01:37 GMT -5
I have a Royerflex or Royaflex SLR, but it's in some boxes at some friends' house (temporary storage), while I relocate.
I'll retrieve it over the holidays. It was part of my French camera thing. I think that I stopped after getting the Focaflex. I can't recall what I paid for the Focaflex, but I think it was less than $200.
I'll get the little SLR back next week. It's an odd thing. Very heavy. Left-hand wind, as I recall.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Dec 17, 2012 21:39:37 GMT -5
I just saw this thread.
A few years back I picked up a Focaflex Automatic, which is the Focaflex with an autoexposure system tied to a selenium meter. The camera also has full manual exposure.
I'll post some photos of the camera. Somewhat large and sturdy.
This is a fixed-lens model.
I had a Foca thing for a while, so I have a Foca Sport II, the Focafex Automatic and two Foca rangefinders.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Dec 15, 2012 16:11:02 GMT -5
Randy, what did you use to re-cover your Contax 139 Quartz? Or is your covering still intact?
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Dec 7, 2012 19:37:36 GMT -5
I have a 9d, and some photos that I shot with it had a 3D quality - something that I've never seen before in my photos.
They're exquisitely made, and the lenses can really focus closely.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Nov 27, 2012 19:23:23 GMT -5
Those are both nice cameras, and I like the memory attached to the first.
I try not to loan things to people anymore. Some people don't treat your belongings with the same care that you show them. Very aggravating, for sure.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Nov 27, 2012 19:19:36 GMT -5
I bought a black one last year. Body covering was in the same condition. I thought I would have some fun with this, so I got a special yellow lizard covering from Aki-Asahi.
By the way, this is the Yashica sibling to the Contax 139 Quartz. Features are identical, and most controls are nearly the same.
Plus, they can use the same winder. The Contax 139 winder is nice, because it has a shutter release on it when shooting a vertical photo.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Oct 21, 2012 10:11:51 GMT -5
Voigtlander Prominent -- a handsome camera but for me one of the least satisfying to use. That's a great lens. I have the Ultron, also a very nice lens.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Oct 21, 2012 10:07:13 GMT -5
Stephen, excellent writeup on a rather obscure camera. I sometimes wonder at the thinking of camera makers. By the late 1940s, the 35mm cartridge was well-established. And I guess I would also add that Kodak seemed to have a history of creating and then abandoning film formats: 616, 620, 127, 110, 126 Disc and possibly film itself (that remains to be seen).
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Jun 24, 2012 21:42:52 GMT -5
Nice little camera. It has a matching flash that screws onto the side of the camera.
The camera is powered by two AAA batteries. It has a Solinar lens (Tessar type) that is sharp.
Focus is by your best guess.
The autoexposure system seems to be reasonably accurate.
The batteries also power the film advance and film rewind. Nice little camera.
You power on the camera by pushing down on a somewhat massive slideswitch, which also extends the lens. Pushing up on the switch retracts the lens and turns the camera off.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on May 29, 2012 20:58:00 GMT -5
A couple of ideas, although this is late to the game.
1) Get a good flashlight. Extend the lens and open the camera. Go into a totally dark room. Put the flashlight inside the bellows and see if there is any light stream through anywhere. Next, put the flashlight on the inside of the back and again look for light streaming through.
2) Make sure that the film is spooled tightly. There is a flat pressure spring on the takeup side. Carefully, bend this upward a small amount. It should maintain pressure against the spool as you wind to the next frame.
I would start with these two things. The Super Ikonta is a fairly awesome camera. One of my favorites.
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melek
Senior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by melek on May 21, 2012 20:34:27 GMT -5
Excellent kit!
I had a Medalist (II) for a while. I spent a long time, carefully looking for one in good condition. It probably took two months to find the one that I wanted.
Then after receiving it, I serviced it, loaded it with film and ended up not liking it at a shooter. However, your experience probably will be different.
By the way, are you a member of the Silver Eye (down on the South Side)? If not, you should join.
And you should get the camera ready for 620 Day -- which is June 20 (6/20). That's when all of us 620 fans find a camera and shoot a roll.
Last year, I took a bunch of shots in Downtown Pittsburgh. Still need to process the film. Got insanely busy with work.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on May 20, 2012 8:37:50 GMT -5
Cosina made many of the Vivitar cameras (and still do, I believe). Cosina has the rights to use the Voigtlander name and makes all of the Voigtlander body or lenses. Cosina has carved out a very lucrative niche for itself by offering a lower-cost alternative to the Leica M.
Cosina also manufactures the bodies and most lenses (as mentioned earlier) for Carl Zeiss AG for the Zeiss Ikon ZM system. However, unlike some bodies that it made for the Vivitar brand, they are marked "Made in Japan," but do not have the Cosina brand on them or in the printed literature. That's because iin this case Cosina is merely a contract manufacturer.
Those handful of lenses are made in Germany, according to Zeiss, because of the complexity of the lens designs.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on May 20, 2012 8:29:17 GMT -5
I believe this is one of the later Contessa models. It's not quite as solidly built as the earlier models.
This carries a front-cell focusing Tessar, whereas the earlier rigid-lens models were unit focusing. Nothing wrong with that. The folding Contessa and first Contaflex models were front-cell focusing designs, and I've taken plenty of nice photos with them.
As long as the lens is clean, you should get some nice photos.
There were several different models with this body platform. Some had slow speeds. Some didn't. Some had unit-focusing lenses (the entire lens moves). Some had front-cell focusing. I believe all of the Contessa and Contessamat models had meters. Most had a rangefinder, although there was at least one model that didn't.
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melek
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Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Feb 19, 2012 20:31:44 GMT -5
The Contaflex 126 has true interchangeable lenses. It seems counterintuitive that the Instamatic camera would have more advanced lenses than its 35mm stablemate.
The Contaflex 35mm SLRs have interchamngeable lens elements (Pro Tessars).
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melek
Senior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by melek on Feb 13, 2012 19:03:50 GMT -5
The Rolleiflex SL 26 feels like a quality camera, while the Kodak and the Contaflex feel somewhat cheap. The Contaflex has some outstanding lenses: Tessar, Sonnar, Tele-Tessar.
The little Rolleiflex has interchangeable front elements, sort of like the folding Retinas with the advantage of SLR focusing. I enoyed using this camera.
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