Time for a quick daily report.
Sorry, no pictures of the Sightseer in action today because I forgot to put a memory card in my K7 before I left the house! Imagine that. I'll try to run my film through some developer tomorrow if someone can give me some advice. I have shot a roll of Adox Pan 25 but I only have Arista Premium Liquid Film Developer in the house, mixed at 1:9 right now. I haven't found any developing time for that combo yet. I have used this developer on Efke KB 25 at 5.5 minutes and had it turn out pretty good so I am tempted to try that again since the two films are likely similar, but I'm hoping that someone out there has some suggestions for me.
I had a great time taking pictures and I love using the Sightseer, but I ran into a little glitch today. The shutter gremlins that have previously been discussed in this thread seem to be back. The mirror seems to flip up out of the way and stay there, but the shutter does not fully trip. I'm not sure if the shutter is hanging open or not, I guess I'll know that once the film is developed. If I flick the film advance lever the shutter cycle can then be completed by pressing the shutter button a second time. It reminds me a lot of using the shutter timer setting on my Ansco Super Memar, and to be honest I actually checked the shutter dial when it first began happening because I though I might have accidentally set it to T. But that wasn't the issue. I am finding that if I make absolutely sure that I advance the film advance lever all the way, then the shutter fires normally. Not terribly cold outdoors, right on 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) today, so I wouldn't suspect that temperature is the culprit here. Besides, this camera works better than I do and we are probably pretty close to each other in age. I'll keep working with it. I have shot one roll and have a second roll in the Sightseer now, and the shutter has fired properly for the past 10 to 15 frames so I'm hoping that I've got this solved for now.
Ok, lets talk about using the camera. Handling is pretty predictable and I have enjoyed working with this camera so far. Like my K1000 it has some weight to it so I find it easier to hold the camera steady when I am shooting handheld. So far I have used a tripod about 50% of the time, shooting handheld the rest.
Since there is no meter involved I have been choosing and adjusting my shutter and aperture settings in advance, then framing my shot and focusing the picture. Since I have been shooting inanimate objects that aren't moving around that has worked out pretty well. I was too impatient to figure out the Sekonic Hanimex meter so today I used the little Sekonic Twinmate L208 instead. It has proven to be reasonably reliable.
Focusing seems pretty easy to do with the 55mm lens, but I am having a little bit of trouble seeing when the wide angle snaps into or out of focus. My eyes are old so that probably has something to do with it. I have taken to using the depth of field scales on the lens to hyperfocus the 28mm lens and I suspect that will work better for me most of the time. Obviously the results on film will tell the true tale, especially since this ISO 25 film is quite sharp.
I have never owned or used a screw mount camera before so changing lenses has been interesting to say the least. I wonder how many of these lenses have been dropped on the ground in the past because they came unscrewed unexpectedly when the owner didn't have a good grip on it. Unlike the bayonet lenses that lock and unlock with a partial twist, these lenses must literally be unscrewed from the camera. I am sure that if I were using this camera regularly I would leave the lenses in place for awhile, but I have been playing around today and changing back and forth between the 28mm and the 55mm frequently. Not only do you have to unscrew the lens from the camera, which takes several revolutions, you also have to unscrew and then re-attach the lens cap as well. I think I have a better understanding now why Pentax felt they finally had to move to the new K bayonet mount in the mid-70s. This SV could have been a contemporary to my Minolta SR-T 101, or at least to the Minolta SR-7, and that bayonet mount is wayyy more convenient to use than this M42 screw mount. I know that we consider the 60s and 70s a "slower" era, but I am not sure it was all that slow! It never ceases to amaze me how much easier it is to understand why things happened when you actually work with the equipment. The Good Old Days can be great fun to re-enact, but they were not always as "good" as our memories would have us believe.
Other than forgetting the memory card for my K7, and the bit of a shutter glitch, there really have been no surprises today. If my amateur developing skills are up to it I hope I'll have some pictures for all of you to look at tomorrow evening. However, to wet your appetite, this is one of the places I went to get some pictures today. This one is courtesy of my granddaughter. I think she has a future at this if she wants.