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Forum: Vintage Cameras and Equipment
06-06-2022, 02:17 PM
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From ca. 1954 - the Linex stereo camera. First marketed by the Lionel Corp., of model train fame, in 1954 and dropped in 1955. It was sold as a bundle with the camera, carrying case, carrying strap, film cartridge & stereo viewer. It used a custom 16mm film cartridge which the user would mail into Lionel. They would develop and return the film with a new cartridge included as part of the development cost. The set I found (on ShopGoodwill) was complete including the original box with one empty and one unused film cartridge.
Story is Joshua Lionel Cohen, the president of the Lionel Company was given a StereoRealist for Christmas but found it too complicated so he directed his company to develop a simple point and shoot stereo camera. They sold approx. 85,000 kits and was then dropped by Lionel, ostensibly for low of sales. The web sites I read this story on (possibly quoting each other) thought 85,000 unit was a decent sales volume and couldn't reconcile the seeming disconnect.
However, while surfing online & reading up about the camera I stumbled accross an old lawsuit, Julius Lakoff v. Lionel Corporation, which alleges Lakoff was actually the inventor of the camera. Supposedly, he gave his design to a patent attorney, John M. Cole, who also represented Lionel and who in turn passed the design to Lionel instead filing with the patent office. Lakoff then sued Lionel and the attorney Cole for infringement & damages.
I haven't found the complete case history but in a ruling from Jan 1955 the judge ruled Lionels request to dismiss was insufficient and was allowing the case to proceed. Quoting - "The motion to strike the affirmative defenses and to dismiss the counterclaim is granted, with leave to defendants to serve an amended answer as to the defenses within ten days after service of the order to be entered hereon with notice of entry thereof." So Lionels defense was shot down.
My supposition, with this minimal evidence, is Lionel either lost or decided to settle and had to pull the camera from the market in 1955 as a result.
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Forum: Vintage Cameras and Equipment
02-02-2022, 02:54 PM
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Hello Ismael,
I have been a collector of vintage stereo gear for many years, including Viewmasters. Thank you for your post.
As far as my favorite reels? I grew up in the 60s so I would pick the Star Trek sets (3 reels each) as that was my favorite show at the time. Your post has me planning to pull out my brown & beige storage cases full of reels to browse them again this weekend.
For anyone browing the thread, the competitor was the Tru-Vue Company of Rock Island, Illinois. Their motto was 'life-like pictures with depth'. They had a 35mm film strip system with 14 views each. Mostly black & white but a few color films late in their history. As a point of trivia, after Sawyers bought Tru-Vue they operated both companies side-by-side for several years before finally shuttering Tru-Vue.
I don't want to hijack your thread (too badly) so I'll leave it here with a quick snapshot of a viewer with packaging and a film inserted on the right. This particular set likely dates from the late 1930s.
Robert
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-03-2022, 04:46 PM
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A Vermillion Flycatcher visiting my yard over New Years. Taken with a K-70 and a Vivitar 800mm Solid Cat.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-10-2021, 12:27 PM
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I'm building up a camera based on the Raspberry Pi system and happened to find out the UV/IR cut filter is in the mount rather than bonded to the sensor. This would make having a full spectrum camera trivial as one could just omit the filter during assembly.
The lens I intend to use accepts 30.5 mm filters but outside of a couple offerings on AliExpress I don't find any UV/IR cut filters in this size. I can use a 37mm filter with a step up ring but would like to keep the smaller form. Has anyone come across a cut filter in the 30.5mm size?
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-03-2021, 05:14 PM
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Daylily... A little late for Easter.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-28-2021, 12:30 PM
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Thank you. That one was taken with a K-70 and the P-FA 100mm Macro. They are generally timid so tend to avoid humans so it was quite a surpise when this one turned up in our suburban neighborhood in the center of town.:D
---------- Post added 04-28-21 at 12:38 PM ----------
It inhabits the desert southwest - Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and down into Northern Mexico. They tend to avoid humans and try to avoid the heat of the day so generally come out mornings & evenings and sleep middays & nights. Mainly herbivores but they will eat insects, lizards and other small animals. This one has the neighborhood cats somewhat nervous.:)
---------- Post added 04-28-21 at 12:41 PM ----------
Like pork but a touch sweeter.:)
---------- Post added 04-28-21 at 12:49 PM ----------
Yes, they're quite good at digging up the landscaping.:mad:
I'm in midtown Tucson (Prince/Oracle area) and I suspect the long drought we're having is pulling the wildlife into town from the outskirts in search of food. My neighbor accross the street said his geraniums are being hit pretty hard.
---------- Post added 04-28-21 at 12:55 PM ----------
Actually not a pig but a related species. The distinction is pigs are old world hemisphere and peccaries are new world hemisphere.
Same here in the southwest. These are native to the area and are a favorite meal for the coyotes, wolves & mountain lions.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-26-2021, 12:49 PM
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We had one move into our neighborhood a couple weeks ago. Finally managed to get a few shots over the weekend. I live in a well developed area of town so I assume the US southwestern drought and lack of forage drove him into the city.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-07-2021, 01:03 PM
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Thanks. Pretty much SOC. I shoot DNG so only resized & converted to JPG.
I see in your SIG you have the D-FA 100 Macro WR. This was with the older P-FA 100 Macro. Only had it a couple weeks but it looks like a keeper. :)
---------- Post added 04-07-21 at 01:05 PM ----------
Thanks. I just got the lens a couple weeks ago and have been looking for an excuse to try it out.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-05-2021, 01:05 PM
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Just in time for Easter a lily in my front flower bed decided to show off. :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-26-2021, 05:06 PM
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Just FYI, mirror lenses are all manual focus (except a Minolta, IIRC). In fact, mine was built some 6-7 years before autofocus was developed.
The challenge is, from the distance I was at, the DOF was approx. 1 inch. Doesn't take much motion for the subject to slip out of focus (or old eyes to miss the focus entirely):D
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-26-2021, 04:37 PM
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The Vivitar Solid Cat 800mm on a K70. Unfortunately the bird is wider than the DOF of the lens for the distance I was shooting from. :eek: Darn there mirror lenses anyway. ;)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-16-2021, 12:07 PM
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It's the solid cat made by Perkins-Elmer. Being a mirror lens, focusing can be a bit of a challenge. The narrow depth of view meant I got a lot of pictures where the leaves around the birds were in focus but the birds themselves were somewhat off. :hmm:
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-13-2021, 04:24 PM
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A few days ago there were 5 or 6 finches after the seeds on a tree in my yard. Occasionally one was polite enough to sit still long enough to get off a shot or two.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-21-2020, 09:22 AM
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Yes, it is. The solid cat made by Perkins Elmer and sold by Vivitar. Juan Reyces, the engineer who designed this lens, also designed the corrective lens for the Hubble telescope.
---------- Post added 11-21-20 at 09:24 AM ----------
---------- Post added 11-21-20 at 09:25 AM ----------
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It was late in the afternoon, about 15 minutes from sunset, so there was a very strong side light.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-20-2020, 01:43 PM
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This little guy was hanging out on my mailbox late Sunday afternoon. Finally sat still long enough for me to get a shot of him.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-30-2020, 01:17 PM
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A few weeks ago I picked up the 600mm Solid Cat, and I just received the 800mm Solid Cat a few days ago so I have the set. Both found on ShopGoodwill of all places.:confused: I posted a sample from the 600mm up-thread, here's one from the 800mm. Handheld so a bit of camera shake but looks promising.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-30-2020, 01:06 PM
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Morning Glories climbing my front porch rail. Liked the backlight shining through the petals. Vivitar (Tokina) 55-135mm T4 lens on a K-70.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-27-2020, 01:24 PM
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I was out in the front yard watering and noticed these two woodpeckers working a palm tree. They kept circling the tree, stopping now and then to dig into the bark, so there must have been something tasty in there. Left bird is male, right is female.
Cloudy day, backlit against the sky and they were up in the shade of the fronds of the palm so the light was definitely a challenge. About 175 ft away using the Vivitar 600mm Solid Cat.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-06-2020, 04:38 PM
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Germinated some Giant Saguaro seeds abd they started sprouting over the weekend. Used an old Vivitar M42 bellows at about 70mm extension with a Komine made Vivitar 135mm M42 lens. For reference, the small black saguaro seeds are about the same size as a poppy seed, approx 1mm at the largest.
My first try at focus stacking.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
06-24-2020, 10:33 PM
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Just wandering around the neighborhood
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Forum: Lens Clubs
05-20-2020, 04:20 PM
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Just received a Vivitar 600mm solid cat. Quick test shot in my front yard.
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Forum: General Talk
08-12-2019, 04:41 PM
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My own choice would be a face with character. Sophia Loren & Clive Owen come to mind.
And that's Hedley, Heldey Lamarr!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-11-2019, 10:03 AM
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It appears that way. This is what the previous posters referred to as a fixed mount.
Don't expect too much as the lens isn't particularly valuable. I see them on shopgoodwill regularly with a starting point of $10. There's one listed now with a Nikon F mount at that point with no bids yet. My copy is from Vivitar and I gave $8 for it.
On the other hand the close focus series lenses generally get good reviews so they tend to perform better than the price might lead one to expect.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-10-2019, 10:29 AM
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Look for a lever next to the mount labeled O-L (open-lock). Tokina had a system designed to allow the mounts to be changed called T4 and then updated to the TX system. If you're lucky you can just unlock the Canon mount and exchange it for a K or M42 mount. Otherwise, the internal mechanisms are different and would not allow the change from Canon to Pentax. I don't have first hand experience but I have heard Nikon is close enough to allow the mount to be changed but the flange distance is different so it requires adding spacers to keep focus at infinity.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-11-2019, 09:19 AM
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Photoptomist & Marcusbmg have both given you good advice. I have had to clean fungus out of vintage lenses and depending on the lens it's either a piece of cake or a major pain. If you do attempt it yourself make careful note of the orientation of the elements. Very easy to reverse one when reassembling.
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