Vintage film cameras

[johnnyrod]

Sorry hadn't seen these till now. I find those huge cranes fascinating.

Looks like my luck has run out, at least for now. I bought a Konica S with an aperture problem, turned out to be two broken blades. I need to put it back together before I forget what goes where, so at least it works when fully open. It has a Copal SV shutter which I'm finding aren't nearly as good as Prontor although for its age it's much less sticky. It's a complete pig to work on too, the rings come off easily but after that it's a mare. There are other cameras with a similar shutter so will either put this in the drawer and look for a busted Canonet etc. or sell it on for parts. They seem quite uncommon though so am more tempted by fixing it, though won't be easy to find the right bits. The lens in a unit-focus Hexanon which is said to be excellent, and what caught my eye in the first place.

[Kenzie]

Hope you can get it working again. I had my little job lot arrive today. The Starmite is tiny and actually pretty cool. Looked very clean as well. Gave it a wipe over and it was disgusting! In the lot was a Fujica Auto M rangefinder but the shutter ***** but doesn't fire. I am in the process of stripping it down but I left my screwdriver set at work and I don't have anything fine enough to open it up. I take photos of everything as it is removed so I don't have to worry about remembering where everything went. Seeing as it doesn't fire at the moment there isn't any harm in pulling it apart. Once it is back together (if it works) I will just need to reset the focus. I may have a duff Kodak Retinette which has a Prontor LK shutter. Would the blades be the same do you think? I have a Canonet and it is a great camera. Uses discontinued (banned) mercury battery but you can get Wein cells for them. Haven't run a colour film through it yet though.

[johnnyrod]

The starmite is a funny thing. You really need a source of 127 film!

Nope the Prontor blades will be different, but thanks for the thought. I've also taken a boatload of pictures of the Konica but it won't help to leave it too long. I revisited my Voigtlander Vitomatic II (that one also looked like Alien was the last owner, ugh) as last time I checked, it seemed to be focusing really short, but after some random fiddling and still being none the wiser how to either collimate the lens or adjust the rangefinder, it all seems fine now. Not seen a good film from it yet (it had an old knackered one in it when I got it and not tried again yet) but lending it to a friend who is a photographer to have a play with, will be interesting to see the results. It has a Skopar f2.8 lens which is another one that gets good press.

Put my last roll of Superia 400 in my Pentax MX, put on the f1.2 50mm lens and am going to use it. Will report back in 6 months when I have finally shot 30+ pictures of my daughter. That's the most likely outcome!

I think you can use more modern cells instead of the PXs or their replacements. It's worth trying it and comparing to a light meter, will probably be a couple of stops off then just set the ISO accordingly to balance that out, or even see if you can adjust the meter, but many of them you can't.

[Kenzie]

I do have a roll of B&W 127 Rerapan kicking around but I have three cameras waiting for it. The Kodak Vecta, Bilora Bella and now the Starmite. I bought it because it looked really quirky. I am going to see if I can get some 35mm film through one of them as I really want to see what they produce colour-wise. 127 colour film is non-existent in the UK unless you buy expired. I am trying to spool some 35mm onto 127 backing paper but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet. I could always load it onto a 127 spool and guess how many turns it would need.

[Kenzie]

Hey, check this on ebay 351622081306

Sent from my Xperia T

[johnnyrod]

Nice one ta

[Kenzie]

Took the front mechanism cover off the auto M. Wish I hadn't. Something clockwork inside has unwound and I think I have killed it. Didn't even need to take it over. Some lighter fluid on the blade and it freed up. Grrr.

[Kenzie]

The surprisingly complicated inners



Sent from my Xperia T

[johnnyrod]

Blades still look pretty oily. I guess try operating it and watching for what happens, or doesn't.

[Kenzie]

Problem is that the shutter speed and aperture settings no longer work.