Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

I need to order some more A544 batteries and try again. Determined to get at least one roll through it. That's quite short notice, but have fun! How long will you be gone for?

[yokohama]

12 weeks.
Will take film over with me this time I think. It survived the hand baggage x-rays last year

[Kenzie]

My film was ok flying to Vegas last year so I'm sure yours will be fine. What will you take with you?

[yokohama]

Not sure yet. I want something pocketable so maybe the Ricoh 500. For SLR - thinking of a Minolta, maybe SRT101 as it's mechanical and will work without batteries if necessary. I don't want to take too many lenses so maybe the Tamron AD2 35-105, which will cover most bases. And of course the OMD EM10 + 2 lenses for that.

[Kenzie]

Speaking of the 500G, I sealed it up and need to run a film through. I missed out on lots of harvest shots on the way home. Golden Sun an hay bales. Spotted another Seagull folder but the shutter is oily and sticking. Maybe a project?

[yokohama]

Lots of bales out up here too. They look good in the early morning sun as I go by on the train in the morning.
I have to try and get out to finish the film in the Yashica FX3 but I'm so wrecked each weekend that I just want to slob.
Got some interesting sunrise and cloud shots on the mobile this morning.

[Kenzie]

When I say project, it would probably extend to removing the shutter to be sent north!

[johnnyrod]

Pentax MX, Yoko? Pretty small. Kenzie, if oil/sticking is all then that's fixable after all.

Speaking of which, I had a go at cleaning the lens of the Mamiya Six I bought from Japan. The front element is very good, the middle one has some haze but I guess I've seen worse (and a lot better), the rear one is etched though with fossil-like patterns. I'm trying to figure out if it;s worth using it - film plus processing etc. is £20. I haven't cleaning anything else yet or checked the accuracy of the lens or RF. Shutter sounds nice but agian not checked the timings - I expect it's fine.
After cleaning by John Rodriguez, on Flickr

[Kenzie]

Well I can always soup it for you if you want. Just mixed up some fresh ID11. Black and white would be better but getting better at stand c41. The Seagull is a half frame so 6x4.5 frame size. I want to shoot 6x9 with the Bessa but the half frame mask is in and I have only shot 7 out of 16 frames.

[johnnyrod]

I found the Ensign a bit of a pig, I hate scale focus I have decided, it doesn't have enough scale markings (after close up it's 15ft, 25ft and infinity, also 40ft on the DoF scale which is a separate calculator knob), and the longer 105mm lens naturally has a smaller DoF so don't phooque it up! If the first roll looks good then I will take it to Spain but it's definitely for landscapes or stuff that doesn't move or get too close.