Pega Mixel free SLRs (and a rangefinder or two)

[Tad]

A small selection of my armoury, all get used, as the pics show, some have been (ab)used a hell of a lot.

First up we have my S3 rangefinder and a couple of black Fs, these made up the main stay of equipement used by photographers in Vietnam. There's something about the balck ones, they just look good when they're battered and bruised from use. Watch Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse now and you'll see loads of them.

The rangefinders are quite rare though sublime to use. They do what Japan did best, copied the brilliant shutter of the Leica and coupled it with the superior wide base rangefinder of the Contax which had the crappest focal plane shutter I've ever had the misfortune to use. They're lenses are difficult to find but I've managed to source a 2.1cm (with view finder), a 2.8cm (again with matching viewfinder) a 3.5cm and 5cm for it. It's that retro that lenses were measured in cm not mm.

Then we have some F2s, an F2 Photomic and F2AS with a spare DP3 photomic head. These are without question the best cameras that Nikon ever made. The really rough one was my first serious SLR and has been all over the world with me, battered and bruised, been through a fire and just refuses to die.

Then an F3P and F5. The F3P was only available to press photographers when it was launched and is bit of a tank with the motor fitted but is well thought out. Nice big nobs so you can use it with gloves and the silly fiddly bits on the consumer models have been removed. The F5 is just great, far better then the F6 that replaced it, sits perfectly in your hands and as it's a Nikon I can and do use my lenses from the 1960s on it.

Lens wise for the Nikons I have shed loads of the things from 16mm to a 300f2.8 all primes, no zooms, I've never come across one that doesn't distort, the latest generation are good but not good enough.

Lastly we have my RB67 with motor back. I bought it with the advance from the first book I worked on. It doesn't see much action any more but I'd never part with the beast.

This lot is all well and good but is worthless without decent light meters to go with them but I'll save that thread and pics of the rest of the arsenal for another day.

Here you go folks, not a Pega Mixel in sight.

EDIT: Posted a few more in the next couple of posts as well.

 

[MCsanandreas]

nice! that Mamiya is camera porn.

 

[Augustus]

nice! that Mamiya is camera p*rn.

Nothing sounds like an RB.


Kerrrrrrklumph.

 

[Tad]

Nothing sounds like an RB.


Kerrrrrrklumph.

Then whirrrrrrrrrr from the motorback.

nice! that Mamiya is camera p*rn.

Nah, the Plaubel Makina 670 is though

The Voigtlander Perkeo 6x6 folding roll film camera is my current fave. The coated colour Skopar four element lens is pin sharp and distortion free. No light meter so expose using sunny sixteen, no rangefinder so focusing using the depth of field scale and hyperfocal distances, it all helps to keep the principals of photography alive in your mind.

 

[Tad]

Then just for the hell of it a Pentax 110 Super outfit including motordrive. These were proper single lens reflex cameras but tiny. For scale that's an AA battery. The lenses are 18mm, 70mm and the 20-40 zoom.

I could go on all night but I promise to stop now.

 

[Augustus]

oh this thread could be biiiiig.

 

[MCsanandreas]

i remember 110 film as i used to work on the photo counter at the local Boots shop. sold loads of rolls of film and heaps of the point and shoot cameras. think we could get the Pentax to special order but never did.

 

[silverclaws]

Cameras I have had, the first a Box Brownie, that got me into photography at age 6, the second and third 110 film format cameras, then a Halina guess the distance and guess the exposure, that taught me quite a bit about guessing stuff.

The next camera was a Konica FP1 slr, my first slr, then a Konica FS1 then when that died, a Pentax Me Super and a Pentax MX. Then came the special application cameras ; a manual rangefinder I adapted for cave photography.

Then a seagull TLR, followed by Yashica C330 TLR for my brief interest in portraiture and studio work. For a sailing expedition I got a waterproof Pentax active auto focus compact, ( that camera lived with me, I had it on a cord around my neck and kept it inside my jacket so it was always to hand).

Then still using film I obtained a Polaroid Image camera for checking set ups out, ( still got that one). Then a Nikon Nuvis V aps camera then I moved into digital video because I was married and expected to do family things, the camera, a JVC DVX707 EK which I still have and now have another one, what was a broken JVC DVX507 EK for a fiver, I fixed that.

Then came a Canon S30, then a Nikon D70 and a Fujifilm nasty little compact which I gave away and got a Ricoh Caplio R4, which was another broken camera that I fixed, and a Canon S60 and I have another S60 to repair.

I have just repaired a Panasonic Lumix bridge camera and another Canon s45. Digital cameras are generally easy to repair, far easier than the old mechanical cameras.

So my camera history is low end and second hand, but they have done me, for one thing I do know, although a good tool helps, it is what is behind the camera that is the key to good photography, for a camera is in principle just the same as the first box cameras. Lenses help obviously and the better lenses are better, but what I have had was good enough for amateur me.

 

[Tad]

Then a seagull TLR, followed by Yashica C330 TLR

The Mamiya C330 is hardly low end. I've used them in the past and had an earlier C33, great pro TLR with interchangeable lenses. Far smarter than the Rollei but much bigger and bulkier.

The seagul's are greatly under rated. The taking lens was a copy of a Cooke design and gave a great quality image.

My first camera was a 127 brownie, still have it somewhere. I learned to develop and print my first black and white film taken on that at the tender age of eight.

As for guessing exposure, it's not a guess, you can calibrate your eye easily enough. Sunny 16 has got me through in situations when a meter has packed up. 100ASA on a bright sunny day exposes at 1/125 at f16 then go from there, bit of cloud F11, cloud F8, overcast or shadow f5.6 and so it goes on.

 

[silverclaws]

Thinking of the brownie, I still have my very first photograph, a photo taken of my mum's cousin when he was exhibiting his motorcycles at a local show, he being at the time, a team TT and GP racer, he had three Triumphs with consecutive frame numbers.

The brownie looking on google looks like the 126, I remember the little red window at the back and the mottled case.