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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
16 Hours Ago
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Old Montreal
Konica Pearl II with 75mm f4.5 lens (probably at f5.6)
Lomography Metropolis film (I don't like the faded colors on this roll... I thought I had bought 'regular' Lomography 100), exposed at EI200
-Eric
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Forum: Vintage Cameras and Equipment
3 Days Ago
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I've had a couple of bad ones, but usually they were abused by either being dropped or something like that.
I'm actually less fond of the construction of the first-gen F autofocus lenses; it's like they hadn't figured out the plastics yet... The Pentax F 35-70 is optically superb, but it feels fragile in the hand, for example.
And the Takumar-A zooms have always struck me as poorly built compared to the older stuff (or the newer stuff, for that matter).
But if you want clunky, let me introduce you to my Nikon 80-200 f4.5... completely loose and sloppy zoom and focus... and it weighs a ton compared to the Pentax M 80-200.
My Nikkor 43-86 is pretty sketchy, too... though to be fair, I have a Nikkor 135 prime that's also pretty sloppy to focus. But they are work well enough optically...
It's not just Pentax... a lot of zooms in that range of that vintage are mechanically suspect.
Sorry you got some rotten ones...
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
04-12-2024, 04:57 PM
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I finally got the first roll done from the Chaika...
72 photos on Fuji 200, developed and scanned at the local lab as diptychs, so 6Mp per pair...
Things to know about the Chaika...
Wide open it is not great... but stopped down a bit, it's not bad... my Canon Dial 35 has a better lens
Focus is really important... and hard to determine... are Soviet meters the same as the regular ones?
When it is set properly, it does quite well, and that lens gives that "old postcard" look..
Other fun facts... the rewind knob is easy to turn the wrong way :hmm:
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
6 Days Ago
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Thanks again for keeping us updated with these.
I'm glad he confirmed both the 4-camera plan we've heard before and that Pentax has not abandoned digital.
I'm curious to see how his statements will now be completely twisted into "PENTAX is DOOMED!" :p
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
04-06-2024, 11:21 AM
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With all the talk about the coming Pentax half-frame, I decided to go ahead and get one of these to play with in the meantime...
The LOMO Chaika (Seagull), named after the call sign of the first woman in space.
This is the first model, without the removable lens. Later models have the same Industar 28mm f2.8 lens mounted on a M39 thread with a slightly different registration distance than the regular LTM.
These are cheaper than the later models since the lens doesn't come off, but I don't need another 28mm M39 lens unless it will cover full frame on my FED :)
It's a zone focuser with a limited range of shutter speeds (1/30-1/250 plus bulb), no batteries, no meter.
Shutter is a focal plane leaf shutter.
Aperture control on the lens is very fiddly and small but covers f2.8-f16, so I can sunny-16 up to ISO400 without overexposing much.
It does have a PC socket for flash but no accessory shoe.
Viewfinder is bright but really simple...
I have a roll of Fuji 200 in it now, but I have already ruined a bunch of photos forgetting to refocus the lens... sigh... that will take some getting used to.
The focus action is very stiff, and the whole thing smells like axle grease.
A couple of my zone-focusers have an indicator in the viewfinder of where I've focused. I miss that...
We'll see how it goes...
And the pin was a "bonus" that came with it when it was shipped from Ukraine... I have no idea what it says or was for...
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-09-2024, 11:43 AM
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Are you implying that the new Pentax half-frame is going to be “Da bomb”? :p
I am curious to see how they implement the specifics of how it works: shutter, viewfinder, focus and wind action (and the associated price) before I drop money on it.
I am finding the various half-frame experiments interesting as well and hope people keep them up (even if it needs to be in other threads…)
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-07-2024, 09:46 AM
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Here are a couple of vintage full-frame compacts next to the Chaika for a size comparison.
As soon as Pentax sends me one of the new half-frames, I'll throw it in here with the rest :p
Clockwise from upper left...
Olympus XA, which is a aperture-priority only rangefinder and includes optional flash. Has shutter speed/meter and parallax correction in the viewfinder, thumbwheel advance. The standard (in my opinion) for tiny full frame compacts.
Yashica 35MC, aperture-priority zone focuser with focus zones and parallax marks in the viewfinder. Lever advance, cold shoe with pc socket. Better than I expected.
Petri Color 35, full manual zone focuser with a K-1000-style match-needle meter. Viewfinder shows focus distance, parallax marks, and meter. Hotshoe on top, lever advance. Budget Rollei 35.
Chaika I half-frame. Full manual zone focuser. Viewfinder only shows the view :) . Lever advance, no meter, fully mechanical, no shoe but has pc socket for flash.
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
04-02-2024, 03:21 PM
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Yes. Don’t step on the parts when barefoot :D
I’ve also got the Saturn V. That was a fun one, assembled with my then-six-year-old daughter.
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
04-02-2024, 06:59 AM
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The viewfinder is hilarious. It’s the thing that looks like a Judas window. And while it’s very clear, there are reflections from neighboring bricks. Worse than the Holga.
But yes, you should get one. :)
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
04-01-2024, 11:09 AM
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My newest film camera... received for my birthday...
Square format, shoots transparencies on a roll a little smaller than 35mm... but only 3 frames per roll...
It came with two rolls (one is in it) and even included a wrist strap...
More cameras should come as build-it-yourself kits; it's very therapeutic :)
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-31-2024, 12:05 PM
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From the yard sale Holga.
The lens is awful, but that's basically the point... and three different exposure options (plus bulb) is not really enough...
I think I'm going to shoot black and white with the Pearl next week and see the difference...
1/100s f8 with Lomography 100 color
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-31-2024, 11:39 AM
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But it's the internet!!!1!!1! We have to complain about something :p
There are so many options it could be that aren't the end of Pentax, but yet we focus on the doom...
It's too bad nobody has come up with a thread about how doomed Pentax is (kidding!)
I think the "silver for color, black for monochrome" answer is the most interesting, but it seems unlikely...
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-21-2023, 09:12 AM
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Pentax has never before made a * lens that was also a Limited...
They have different purposes.
The DA* and DFA* lenses are designed for ultimate technical performance and mechanical construction suited to professional workflows (think weddings, for example).
The Limiteds are designed for performance that is harder to quantify, and they all include "imperfections" in their rendering designed to be more appealing and less "clinical".
The DA* 50-135 should be replaced with another DA* lens... not a Limited... if Pentax sticks to their recent history, anyway...
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-27-2024, 05:13 PM
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I think the Mint has been estimated to be between about $600-$800, which is a lot... and in today's blog post they said "a few months", which is about the same as "summer", I suppose.
But yeah, I like its feature set otherwise, though I wish it had a good manual focus scheme as well as autofocus.
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-26-2024, 06:04 PM
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From Saturday's "romp" with my new to me Holga.
Only one image on the roll had a bad light leak, so I guess I was thorough with my taping...
The smudgy vignetting around the center I know is meant to be there, but I think I prefer not having it... so this will continue to be a curiosity, not a main shooter...
That said, the built-in flash works better than I expected...
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-26-2024, 02:18 PM
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If they’re about to launch a new K3 revision, would it be the K3iv? Or the K3iii2? (Yikes)
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-24-2024, 06:22 AM
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All this talk about light leaks...
I don't know if this should even go here, as it is one of the cameras I have ridiculed a lot in my life...
But it was $5 in the box...
The lady I bought it from said "I really like my images to be perfect... and this camera doesn't do that..."
I asked her, "you do know what this is, right? that imperfection is the whole point of a Holga..."
She hadn't even opened the roll of electrical tape the camera came with :p
I have a roll of Lomography 100 in it now, with a few pieces of tape to keep the back door on...
And you know, compared to that Kodak plastic half-frame at $50, I think I'd rather have this... though I may change my mind if the light leaks are really bad...
Two different apertures, bulb mode, a tripod socket, a lens that (supposedly) focuses, and a flash with four different filters...
Plus a huge negative, even in 6x4.5
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-19-2024, 05:25 PM
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You mean a phone? :p
Or a Ricoh GRIII? :p
Or maybe one of those Sony Vlogger things the kids all want? :p
I remember in about 1995, a guy from Kodak told me when digital cameras had a 35-80 zoom and 6Mp, film was done...
He wasn't far off, though they were phones and had no zooms... but still...
It's kind of funny for that to be reversed a little...
-Eric
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
03-21-2024, 12:51 PM
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Hi Don,
Micro 4/3 will likely be easiest since the registration distance for the Nikon is very close to the Pentax, so adapters will need optics and will then end up as tiny teleconverters. This is widely regarded as not a great solution… Micro 4/3 will change the field of view of the lenses, of course, because of the sensor size.
If the lenses are very old and use the M42 screwmount instead of the Pentax bayonet mount, you will need an adapter for a Pentax digital camera as well, but those have no optics so don’t ruin lens performance. There is a decent range of capability in Pentax digital bodies, from the full frame K1 to less expensive cameras with smaller sensors. It depends on what you’re after.
Which lenses did you get? That also matters. If you have similar capabilities with your existing gear, it may not be worth the hassle… but if you have something new, it changes the equations :)
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-19-2024, 04:52 AM
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As I recall, back in the mid-90s, the Polaroid 35mm film (black and white or color transparencies) was about $20 per roll with the processing pack. That was not quite double the retail price of E6 film and processing at the time, and the Polaroid did not include mounts. The Polaroid film also wasn’t nearly as good as regular stuff when it came to resolution and color.
These days I think a home processing kit would be cool, and a positive film without mounts is by far the easiest way to share the results digitally. Price would still be a worry, however, as $50/roll for 72 half frame transparencies seems like a lot…
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-09-2024, 01:18 PM
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I have done the exact opposite of this...
I took my Bell and Howell (Canon) Dial 35 (model 2) on a recent trip to Montreal.
It has a Canon 28mm f2.8 lens, zone focusing, horizontal viewfinder(!), shutter priority or full manual, and a spring-driven motor drive.
I grabbed a roll from my "expired" stash... Fuji 800, expired in ~1998, kept in a cabinet, not refrigerated.
Exposed at ISO 200 most of the time... and the negs are thin... with pretty horrible color shifts
I then had it X-ray scanned at airport-like security seven times (twice at real airports), so it's a miracle anything survived... and scanned down the street two frames at a go, so only 3 Mp per image (which should be fine since the forum software should scale it down from that)
This is essentially a worst-case for half frame... it will never look worse than this...
And one a few years ago that was done on the same camera with TMAX 100 (I think) when the lab could scan one half-frame at a time (their machine died) I case you think I'm just that bad all the time :)
I've also started a thread in the film area for folks to post half-frame images if they've got them...
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/8-film-slrs-compact-film-cameras/466373-...me-photos.html
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-14-2024, 06:36 AM
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Since 645 is already a half-frame 6x9, would this be a quarter frame? :p
-Eric
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-13-2024, 01:28 PM
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If we assume that’s a bright sunny-16 kind of day, then it should have been great.
Even if the lens was stopping all the way down, doesn’t the Takumar Bayonet only go to f16? Between that and the shutter speed you couldn’t have gotten more than two stops underexposed if you tried.
I think that’s got to be the film or the processing. Not the camera or lens.
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-13-2024, 04:38 PM
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Polaroid used to sell a 35mm film that came with a chemical pack you used in a small developing machine.
The results were "lo-fi", and it wasn't inexpensive, but it was really neat...
My niece and her friends use caffeinol... developing with instant coffee... cheap and readily available...
And I think I'm with Tony Z. Under $250 with a good lens and the right controls and I'll likely bite...
-Eric
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-12-2024, 05:22 PM
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He said "brand new"... the M6 is 40 years old :p
-Eric
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