Recent content by brainmonster

I did go through 3 prakticas before finding my current one and my BMS isn't perfect - it had some battery issues which I (think) I have fixed by THOROUGHLY cleaning the battery contacts, but it still kind of stops working sometimes and I have to reseat the battery. The battery door latch also...

Have you found any advantages to using a spot meter? I know henri cartier-bresson used one ;p some people seemed obsessed with them. I'm wondering if they'd be good for isolating the exposure on a subject or getting good contrast for skin tones.

Looks like it's backordered though. But B&H has this bracket for $15 that looks similar, I might pick one up since my shoe mount light meter covered the shutter speed dial of my camera. Looks like it would mount the meter a little higher than that gossen mount though...

I've always just used these old meters and old cameras without modification and haven't had any problems with my exposure. However I have come across some on ebay that have been calibrated for "one stop under" which I suppose means it would be better for 1.5 volt batteries. Perhaps I'll pick...

Are you talking about Polaris/Shepherd brand flash meters? Their digital meters look pretty bulky. There's another model, AM130/120 which looks smaller, but similar to Luna-pro but with flash support Given the choice I'll probably pick up a luna-pro, non SBC and non F version cause they are...

Yes, I'm glad to see you can order a digital shoe mount light meter from North America. Stuff from china takes forever to arrive these days. Might buy some sometimes if I'm ever in need.

Looks like they might work the same...the one's I'm looking at are just "Gossen Polysix" I don't see a 2 anywhere. It looks like you do have to match the intensity of the two lights...might not be super precise, I think I'll go for a needle-matching model instead possibly. Manual...

I'm looking at a digital meter now. Gossen Polysix looks decent - it has LEDs for over/under. Maybe newer/more reliable. Also has a viewfinder. Anyone use one of these before?

Reflected light or reflected plus incident would be preferable. Needs to be portable so none of those big heavy meters because I'll never use them. Affordable maybe $50 max looking on ebay. CDS meter preferable because I've heard bad things about reliability of selenium meters. Want to use it...

Thanks, will order the longer unvented hood. It's tricky finding the right hood that will create the same filter threads for both lenses so I can swap out the same ND or polarizer filter, but I think I have it figured out.

I'm buying lens hoods for these lenses since I'm having flare problems. I'm wondering if it would be better to get the low-profile vented style lens hoods or the longer, unvented and slightly longer lens hoods with smaller filter threads on the end of the hood. I like the look of the vented...

Perfect, it looks like I need grease for helicoids. Just ordered some "Helimax-XP" helicoid grease from amazon since I couldn't find the FC-4 grease richard haw recommended: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D0HOLO6/

I've heard some people recommend Moebius watch oil. I recently cleaned a lens and want to lubricate the threads/focus mechanism/aperture ring. I'm actually thinking of just leaving the threads except for the focus mechanism threads dry. However the kind they sell on amazon is all very...

I also have a problem with crooked images on my TLR. But I recently replaced my Lubitel (extremely hard to focus) with a Yashica LM. Haven't tried the Yashica out yet but I hope my shots don't turn out crooked - no grid. Seeing the focusing screen is much easier though. Also interestingly there...

So what's the verdict on this lens? I'm just a hair away from buying one, but I stopped myself. I have a canon 50mm 1.8. I heard the virtues of the Jupiter 12 extolled, at least form film (it doesn't work well on digital). But do I really need another lens? The Canon 50mm 1.8 is plenty good...