[IgorZ]

Well since you got the Nikon Coolscan V, then you might be interested to know you can take advantage of the huge latitude of most color negatives as well as b&w film.

I thought I reached the end of Kodak Portra 400's generous overexposure range by going +10 but apparently that wasn't the case . . .



I applied a bare minimum of post work of white balance and levels on the +10 and as you can on the enlargement on the right, it came out reasonably well.

These were straight up scans from the Coolscan+Nikonscan as I didn't even have to "burn the image" during the scan. I didn't expect Kodak Ektar 100 had this much range as I thought it would end by +5 but that was not the case either. The DSLR RAW images are just a reference to show how much overexposure range these films have.

I always considered the Coolscan's to be the best Nikons I have . . .

This is impressive and good to know! Thanks for sharing!

[pentaxus]

The Bessaflex was made by Cosina and is pretty much the same as a Cosina CT-1 inside. The CT-1 also uses K mount lenses. Cosina has made many cameras for other brands including the Nikon FM-10. Anyway, good bang for the buck if you get a K mount model.

[Jonathan Mac]

I hate using ND filters on SLRs. Making the vf darker makes it harder to focus etc.

I agree. Filters are a pain at the best of times but NDs especially.

Thank you! I don't know this particular model, but I'll look into it. Do you know if it's one of the cameras made by Cosina?

To my knowledge it has nothing to do with Cosina, it was made by Chinon. I have found it just as enjoyable to shoot with as my Spotmatics.

---------- Post added 30-07-21 at 01:13 PM ----------

It's a perfectly useable speed if you don't mind stopping down, but some of the lenses I'd like to shoot lose their charm when stopped down...

Yes, I like being able to shoot at wider apertures and living in a sunny country where light is often at sunny-22 levels rather than sunny-16, that can present problems. It's the main reason for my recent move to using the Pentax Z-1 and Nikon F801S cameras as both go to 1/8000s while being very capable and relatively inexpensive.

[richard0170]

I recently got a Coolscan V ED primarily to scan my grandfather's film collection, and it renewed my interest in the 135 format. As it happens, I don't actually have any working 35mm cameras aside from my grandfather's 3 Zenits and my dad's Kiev 19.

I have a Pentax S that I hope to revive as well.

I've been thinking about getting a camera to use with my M42 lenses, and one of the main requirements is a fast shutter speed. Naturally, LX came to mind. Unfortunately, I sold my LX and I kind of miss it. But when I started thinking of getting one again I remembered the sticky mirror and the ageing circuits... Expensive to repair if it ever breaks...

So I thought about Bessaflex TM... It's newer, has the same shutter speed, and has m42 mount. Seems like a good fit for my needs.

I was wondering if you guys have any ideas about any other m42 body with a fast shutter speed or any ideas regarding LX VS Bessaflex... (I know it's blasphemous to even ask that question, but since I sold my lx there is no hope for me anyway)

Thank you,

IMO the Bessaflex is overpriced for what it is. Nice looking body for sure but its still basically a Cosina. I would recommend a Fujica ST801 if you really need a fast shutter speed (1/2000). I have 3! They are super quality cameras with great viewfinders and still relatively cheap. The 55mm f1.8 EBC lens they often come bundled with are very good. Smaller and lighter is the ST705. "Only" goes to 1/1500, but I suspect this is actually the true shutter speed of the ST801. Old mechanical film cameras always exaggerate the true fastest shutter speeds when you get much over 1/500. Even pro level cameras like the Canon F1 or Nikon F2 never hit their fastest claimed shutter speeds. It is not a reason to worry though as the slower actual speed allow for reciprocity error compensation inherent in film emulsions.

[Huss]

I always considered the Coolscan's to be the best Nikons I have . . .

Indeed, and if Nikon brought them back they would own that market. But it seems that they have ceded that to DSLR scanning.
Weird thing is while they sell the hardware for that (lenses and ES-2 holder), they only had the in camera negative conversion software on one camera - the D850. They never included it on their Z series.
Yeah it wasn't very good (but they could have developed it), but it was great for previewing images.

[LesDMess]

The Bessaflex sounds compelling -> Cameraquest Voigtlander Bessaflex TM

[Huss]

The Bessaflex sounds compelling -> Cameraquest Voigtlander Bessaflex TM

Really interesting how the body seems to be one of their R series RF cameras. but converted to an SLR.

[titrisol]

I regret not buying one when they came out, but at the time I was a grad-student with no cash.
Stephen Gandy (cameraquest) had excellent information, a bit on the salesy side but accurate

Yes the body is a Cosina (Nikon FM10-like) and it was light but it gave 2000 speed and the lightmeter was modern
I wish they had the SMC linkage system for open-metering though

[LesDMess]

Indeed, and if Nikon brought them back they would own that market. But it seems that they have ceded that to DSLR scanning.
Weird thing is while they sell the hardware for that (lenses and ES-2 holder), they only had the in camera negative conversion software on one camera - the D850. They never included it on their Z series.
Yeah it wasn't very good (but they could have developed it), but it was great for previewing images.

A colleague and I were planning to purchase as many Coolscan 9000s back before the announced discontinuance but unfortunately we didn't. Could've made a bundle even immediately after.

---------- Post added 07-30-21 at 10:58 AM ----------

Really interesting how the body seems to be one of their R series RF cameras. but converted to an SLR.

Sounds workable. Afterall, the Nikon F was a derivative of their RF with only the addition of the mirror box.

In fact that pointy prism looks just like the one on the F . . .

[pres589]

If I were going for a rangefinder a Bessa of some sort would be pretty appealing. For an M42-mount SLR I don't really know why I would limit myself to such a camera. A Chinon or Ricoh or Pentax with a native M42 would probably be on my top tier but an adapter and some other body would also be nice. Something with automatic exposure mode so I can let the camera deal with the speeds most of the time, like my Ricoh XR7 or Chinon CE-4 cameras.

[ChrisPlatt]

Since discontinued in recent years all CV 35mm models have become very expensive on the used market.
I have owned Bessa R and Bessa R2 rangefinder cameras and they are excellent.
I never owned a Bessaflex SLR but it looks like an interesting camera.
If you can afford one go for it!

Pentax M42 cameras are not so pricey, so another option is to send the Pentax M42 camera of your choice to Eric Hendrickson for overhaul.

Chris

[LesDMess]

I recently got a Coolscan V ED primarily to scan my grandfather's film collection, and it renewed my interest in the 135 format.

BTW, I was scanning a shoebox of mounted slide film for someone and after about a handful of slides I noticed that none of the images were in sharp focus. Since this was for pay, I called to let him know the results so far and asked him if he knew this and would want me to continue. Well he couldn't believe it saying it had to be my scanner.

Fortunately, I had a 40X microscope/loupe that I bought early in my scanning attempts and was able to show him it wasn't the scanner's fault . . .



Tens of thousands of frames scanned later and the Coolscans have never failed to achieve sharp focus - provided the image captured on film was sharp!

I have found one anomalous behavior with the Coolscan+Nikonscan and it's only happened to me on a couple of strips of color negatives that looked perfectly exposed and the frames perfectly spaced. When I insert the strip of 6 frames in the SA-21 filmstrip adapter in the usual frame order of 1-2-3-4-5-6, the scanner would misregister a frame and the resulting images would show half of frame 1 - border - half frame 2 and so on. I could refeed the strip and it consistently did the same thing. Finally, I simply reversed the frame order and fed it in 6-5-4-3-2-1 and the images would come out perfectly framed as expected. I may not even have encountered this problem because the strips of film were from a colleague who also bought the Coolscan at the same time as I did and asked me to try it on mine before he send his back for service.

BTW, did your grandfather shoot much Kodachrome? Odd sized film?

[IgorZ]

BTW, did your grandfather shoot much Kodachrome? Odd sized film?

No, he mostly shot old soviet B&W film. Which is actually another problem I have. His collection has been sitting nicely sorted in boxes since 1950s. He never cut his film, so it's all rolled up very tight. I need to figure out how to flatten it so I can cut it and scan it... Or find a roll film adapter...

I bought a Prime Film scanner just to scan his collection, but it died after a year, hence the Coolscan

---------- Post added 08-02-21 at 05:58 PM ----------

Since discontinued in recent years all CV 35mm models have become very expensive on the used market.
I have owned Bessa R and Bessa R2 rangefinder cameras and they are excellent.
I never owned a Bessaflex SLR but it looks like an interesting camera.
If you can afford one go for it!

Pentax M42 cameras are not so pricey, so another option is to send the Pentax M42 camera of your choice to Eric Hendrickson for overhaul.

Chris

It does look interesting... I can't find what it's made of... Opinions seem to be split pretty evenly between plastic and light alloy.

[LesDMess]

No, he mostly shot old soviet B&W film. Which is actually another problem I have. His collection has been sitting nicely sorted in boxes since 1950s. He never cut his film, so it's all rolled up very tight. I need to figure out how to flatten it so I can cut it and scan it... Or find a roll film adapter...

I bought a Prime Film scanner just to scan his collection, but it died after a year, hence the Coolscan[COLOR="Silver"]

The Coolscan 4000/5000 has a whole roll adapter if you can find the combination. I don't know if there were others. Of course if cutting to strips is an option then you're set. If extremely curled and extremely grainy, then the first and last frames may show a very slight soft focus on about a third of the leading and trailing edges. If unbearable then you can use the slide adapter with the FH3 stripholder to absolutely flatten it out.

Autobellows and a fullframe dslr might be the way I would do it as it can take whole rolls and since ICE is not an option.

Sounds like a fun project though as I can only wish I had my grandparents film collection!

[disconnekt]

The Bessaflex was made by Cosina and is pretty much the same as a Cosina CT-1 inside. The CT-1 also uses K mount lenses. Cosina has made many cameras for other brands including the Nikon FM-10. Anyway, good bang for the buck if you get a K mount model.

My Kalimar K-90 is one of the cameras based off of the CT-1 body (CT-1 Super to be more specific), and I got it for ~$20 bucks off shopgoodwill, and after selling the lens that came with it I pretty much got it for free 😂.
The only issue with it is that the lightmeter was off a few stops, so I sent it to Garry's Camera to get fixed/CLA'ed for $70.