Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

Evening Yoko, can't wait to see the photos. Will you be leaving the OM10 out there or is it coming back with you? Picked up some more film from Poundland, seems to be getting harder to find. Always pick up five rolls if I see any. I will most likely keep to using the Bessa on clear bright days with Sunny 16, so 80 instead of 100 shouldn't be an issue. Need to find some info on the Mini Rex as I have no idea how to use it! Didn't know you were a Dwarf fan Johnny.

[johnnyrod]

Everyone's a Dwarf fan! The overexposure shouldn't be a problem, it's less than a stop anyway. I've forgotten which way round it is, but a rule of thumb is that the high speeds should be within 20% of the stated speed, low speeds within 25% - could be the other way around, it's much of a muchness anyway. Apertures can be off by as much as half a stop too, then there's poor metering.

[Kenzie]

Let's run a film through and see what happens. Just realised that the Mini Rex has a scale for the Scheider and Weston metering systems, so no use really. Looks nice though. Will have to use an app or the Stitz or Leningrad 8 meters. Just won a Canon Dial, been after one for a while.

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[johnnyrod]

A couple of things while I remember. I don't think either of these have coated lenses, so be wary of incident sunlight on the glass, a hood is useful but you can always use the camera door as a shade. I still haven't scanned any from my Certo but you can see the flare quite easily. When I made sure I shaded it, it came out well. On the Bessa, when it opens there is a little pin that also pushes open the viewfinder, though the last couple of times I tried it, it didn't, maybe it didn't go high enough. Anyway you can see it just under the edge of the finder cover as it's silver, and you just have to pull up the cover yourself, there's no latch on it. The struts seem to need pushing to lock them; it opens fine, but the last little bit needs a bit of help. Push the tab on the inside of the lens door to release the struts before folding up. Finally, I have no idea how the 6x4.5 mask comes out, maybe it says in the manual, but it has a little poky bit at its corner. This opens both of the red windows, otherwise one is automatically closed (for 6x9), so you know if the mask been put in (even with film loaded), and whether to use one window or both. Nice.

[Kenzie]

From what I have read, its quite a feature packed little camera. The film mask simply pulls out, the metal isn't very thick and it quite flexible. Will most likely shoot with it in place. When I tried colimation on a MF camera I have pretty much done what you have with 35mm and they have turned out fine. Can't wait to shoot with it.

[Kenzie]

If you ever get the urge to "just take it apart to see whats wrong", just don't. Opened up my Ricoh Auto 35 to see if the meter was dead and had a tough time getting it back together. Meter works fine but the spring that operates the auto apeture mech had rusted and broken in half. Not sure if the focus is right now so will need to check it before shooting.

[johnnyrod]

I would say "that'll teach you" but...

FINALLY scanned some pics. So in no particular order, Certo:
Crawick Multiverse by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
train by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
The zombie Konica S:
girasol by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
lemurs by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
Some other really good ones, including one of my wife reading on the sofa in low (ambient) light, I think this is where the faster lens (obviously) and the multiple elements really show their hand compared to the simpler Tessar. But very low light aside, it can still hold its own in the 21st century:
barber by John Rodriguez, on Flickr

[Kenzie]

...I'll never learn! I like the first shot, framing and leading lines taking you down the photo. Is that you in the last shot? I also really like the sun flower shot.

[johnnyrod]

Yep, thought I'd give Ana a go with the clippers, can't do any worse than the time my wife left the guard off and turned my head into a money box, with a big slot up the back! I took another of the sunflowers at f11 as it was close range (about 1m) so the DoF at f4 is only 10cm (0.95-1.05m) and I could have lost part of the flower head. I did something similar at f1.8 and the DoF is 2cm and I couldn't even get the whole subject to be sharp! Anyway at f11 the background is a lot less bokeh'd, I didn't expect it to that extent.

[Kenzie]

Hey Yoko, do they have an 127 film out there or have I already asked that?