[LesDMess]

Very nice looking vintage Minolta lens there Argenticien! I too keep an eye out for the correct vintage Minolta lenses especially ones in good condition.

[Jean Poitiers]

Speaking of old Minolta lenses ... got this 135mm at my thrift store (along with other goodies), but it's stuck wide open ... another "rainy day" project ... Salut, J (xpost)

[Argenticien]

Looks like a nice, clean lens, John. I have shied away from those pre-MC "Auto Rokkor" (or "Auto Tele Rokkor" if long) lenses. I'm not sure I'd even know how to use one properly. They don't do open-aperture metering, if I understand correctly. Well, except for yours which does only open-aperture metering!(?) That's probably not a hard fix -- probably a spring unhooked or some such.

--Dave

[Argenticien]

By the way John, I see your Gossen Sixtino and raise you one Sekonic Leader L-VI. The selenium cell has been in the dark for years, it seems, and so is still functional. It agrees with various other meters that I have (and an iPhone app one).
--Dave




Bronica S2, Nikkor 75/2.8, C-A extension tube. 1/125 @ f/4. Ilford Delta 100 Pro, Rodinal 1+50 for 14 mins.

[Jean Poitiers]

Looks like a nice, clean lens, John. ... That's probably not a hard fix -- probably a spring unhooked or some such. --Dave

Bonjour Dave,

Oui - it's a super condition lens and hopefully I can heal it ... also, the Sixtino is quite functional, but whether is accurate ... who cares, 'cause it's fun gear to amass & collect ... got lucky at the thrift store yet again. Salut, J

[Jamey777]

Never shot a rangefinder before, and the GAS kicked in and how I have this :-) Test roll shows shutter / finder / light tightness all good. Meter works too! Don't worry the pentax in the background is still my fave...

[stevebrot]

Never shot a rangefinder before, and the GAS kicked in and how I have this :-) Test roll shows shutter / finder / light tightness all good. Meter works too! Don't worry the pentax in the background is still my fave...

Love the "plunger" advance!


Steve

[unixrevolution]

Love the "plunger" advance!


Steve

I love old cameras, but more than even that I love *weird* cameras.

[Jonathan Mac]

Love the "plunger" advance!


Steve

That thing's the film advance???

[Jamey777]

Yah so your left finger/thumb presses it down and that winds the film to the next frame. I love the focus which is a wheel your right thumb can focus while the camera is up to your face. Way better than having it on the lens. This selenium meter is very accurate, it always tells me what my k-01 is telling me!

[Argenticien]

Yes, Vitessae are super-cool. Jamey, I see you have a period-accurate UV filter. Very nice!

I got a model without the selenium meter, as I prefer the cleaner lines -- and I figured in many cases the meter will be dead anyway. As it happens I was using my Vitessa last weekend as the subject to shoot some photos testing out a repaired film back and some new extension tubes. Bronica S2, Nikkor 75/2.8. Ilford Delta 100 Pro, Rodinal 1+50 for 14 mins.

--Dave




One extension tube on the Bronica:



Two tubes: (Either a light leak in the film back, or sun glinting off the Vitessa from just out of frame.)



Still two tubes:



Three tubes:



Four tubes: I misoverexposed this by several stops (3? 4? 5?) but was sort of able to salvage a bit in post.



A few pics I've shot on the Vitessa are on my flickr. (<-- That search will also bring up the above pix of the Vitessa again, sorry.)

[Jamey777]

Love it man! Btw, on a different forum someone said they only use theirs for b&w because the lens is prone to flare. I think this thing would eat some Portra up myself. Any advice? Also I noticed that my finder isn't 100% on at infinity but the close up (say 3-10 feet) people shots all seemed on so I guess whoever had it tweaked it to be that way.

[Argenticien]

Love it man! Btw, on a different forum someone said they only use theirs for b&w because the lens is prone to flare. I think this thing would eat some Portra up myself. Any advice? Also I noticed that my finder isn't 100% on at infinity but the close up (say 3-10 feet) people shots all seemed on so I guess whoever had it tweaked it to be that way.

Thanks Jamey. I've shot a bit of color with mine. (I don't shoot much color film with any camera because I like to process my own film and I'm only set up for B&W so far.) These four are the only ones up on my flickr. They are on Portra NC from a few years ago when there were NC and VC Portras. Current plain "Portra" (no letters) seems more like NC to me, so your results might be similar if you used it. I haven't seen flare, but nor did I go looking for it particularly. If you're worried about it, Voigtlander made hoods meant specifically for the Vitessa. They probably are very costly by now. I'm not sure how easy it would be to kludge together some sort of generic cheap one that would fit.

--Dave

[Sandy Hancock]

I have recently acquired some stuff. Now some research is required....


"New" toys

[Jean Poitiers]

I have recently acquired some stuff. Now some research is required....

"New" toys

Did someone say "ZENIT" ? J (old snap and maybe re-posted ... but, there's even more up in the attic now ... quite scary ... all thrift store acquisitions)