Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

Just keep it. You will end up like me with two crates of cameras!

Sent from my Xperia T

[johnnyrod]

Nah I have too many and I don't really like having stuff that I don't use. I have a Contessa LKE which is very similar but without a hot shoe and without the auto flash aperture, though I like it more, and also a Contessamat SBE which is the same but with shutter-priority auto exposure. All three have the same lens so nothing to choose from there.

Got the shutter and aperture done, just need to clean the glass and put it back together, also test the shutter times. I'm not sure if they're adjustable, found out in a larger Compur shutter that you can alter the position of the escapement slightly to adjust the shutter speeds. The rangefinder needs looking at, either cleaning or maybe see if I can swap some bits from a donor camera I have, then collimate it all and stick some film in it.

[Kenzie]

How do you go about collimating them? I will need to do the Vito B at some point.

Sent from my Xperia T

[johnnyrod]

You need to use the aperture wide open for smallest depth of field. Most people seem to collimate at infinity either direct or by back-focusing, but for me it has too many pitfalls, not least of which is even the minimal DoF at f2.8 is quite sizeable at infinity. So I do it at about 5ft/1.5m as the DoF is very shallow and you can get the focus spot on because of that. I use a spare split image screen from an SLR camera, but you would be fine with a piece of ground glass or similar. Stick it on the film plane and examine it with a magnifying glass. Adjust the distance to be exactly 5ft/1.5m depending on your focus scale, measured from the film plane - some cameras have a mark on the top housing indicating where this is. Use a subject that is flat and high contrast - I use a monochrome text poster on my laptop screen. It also makes it easy to adjust the rangefinder at the same time.

For 120, the focus screen is too small so I've made a bit of cardboard to attach it to. Cut a piece the size of the film. Cut a large hole in it. Cut another piece of card larger than the hole, with a smaller hole in it, and stick them together. Stick the focus screen to this so it sits inside the larger hole (i.e. that side of the smaller piece), now it will be in the same plane as the film as you've cancelled out the thickness of the cardboard.

[Kenzie]

So the object/text I am focusing on needs to be at 1.5m from the camera? I can rob the focus screen from the MV that keeps jamming on me. Etsy have loads of cameras for sale if you want to expand your collection?

[Quiff Wichard]

Originally Posted by Kenzie

My new toy has arrived!





Sent from my Xperia T

I found something like that in my dads loft

[Kenzie]

Get a shot up. Trying to get everyone to shoot at least a bit of film!

[johnnyrod]

Shiny!

Yep 1.5m of 5ft, look here
http://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/201...ec1e9fe26f.jpg
the circle/line marks the position of the film plane. Put the prism side of the focus screen towards the lens. I have found it might focus maybe 5cm shorter than it says so maybe set the focus to 1.45m when it's really 1.5m, but it's not so much as to give a problem if you ignore that part. Maybe I just didn't do a good job of adjusting it or the rangefinder.

The cameras on Etsy seem pretty pricey usually. I bought the Contessamat from Analog Today on there, it needed a damn good clean, but the guy was totally unaware. Not sure it offers any more confidence that ebay! My best bargains have been off Gumtree.

[yokohama]

Originally Posted by Kenzie

Get a shot up. Trying to get everyone to shoot at least a bit of film!

I shot half a roll on the Dacora yesterday. It's ages since I manually used shutter and aperture settings so I'm not expecting great results. I can't get used to the shutter button being on the front either. I'll try to finish it off next time I'm out on the bike.

[johnnyrod]

There is the Sunny f16 rule, I made a little card with a table on it, or you can use Pocket Light Meter on iphone/ipad. Often it's enough to figure out your exposure at home then just go with it. If in doubt, overexpose a stop or two, so the lowlights aren't lost.