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The shutter that is in best shape, free of corrosion/rust and signs of having been dropped.

I can feel your Pentaxism from here. I also feel the same about the F2, great machine internally, great viewfinder, but very un-ergonomic, badly balanced. The Canon F-1 is much better balanced, even though the meter isn't as refined as the later F2 meters. Not to mention the Pentax LX...

YESSSSSS!!! EMBRACE THE WEIGHT!!!! Note that the link you provided is for the old F-1, not the new F-1.

Nice to know you have located the fault (I told you to check timing!) But note that the tutorial at Richard Haw page does tell you how the main cog (the biggest one) should be positioned before assembling the shutter.

Hi, You should read RIchard Haw's tutorial on the Contax camera, it has three parts and covers it extensively. Now, before putting the curtain drums on their axis, particularly the upper curtain drum, you need to be sure the shutter is timed correctly. Otherwise nothing will work as it should...

However, if you check out the story of many manufacturers you'll find each one has quite a few "industry first". For example Canon was the first to introduce the fastest lens for SLR cameras (58/1.2 Super-Canomatic R) and the widest retrofocus lens at some time (FL 19/3.5R), first fluorite...

I love the fixed-lens Olympus cameras. I think those are the best machines Olympus did and where they did their best. The OM-1, however, while being influential (it steered the market into compact machines) wasn't the best implementation of what a "compact SLR" could be. Pentax did this task...

You should not mess with curtain tension if you haven't disassembled the camera to clean and lubricate the shutter (and mechanisms) Chances are, after cleaning and lubricating, everything will work again fine without needing any change in curtain tension. Increasing curtain tension will add...

You lucky guy!

When you check the magazine tests of late 70s and 80s you'll see which were the top 4, and which ones were lagging behind. Many japanese manufacturers put out some great lenses (i.e. Olympus has the 50/3.5 or 28/2, outstanding lenses), but the top 4 consistently put out the best lenses possible...

I'm still using my Contax IIIa this month. Now augmented with W-Nikkor 35/2.5 and Sonnar 50/2 and Triotar 85/4

I also do as lxdude (btw, just got my first LX this week). When I use 6x6 format, i compose square. Otherwise i have nice 6x4.5 and 6x7 cameras. I do have, in the past, chosen a different crop at enlarging time, but it's rare. 99% of the times I shoot with the final crop in mind.

According to whom? I'm a camera technician, the Kiev isn't a hard camera to overhaul. It is hard if you don't know which screws to remove first, otherwise, the shutter module itself can be removed rather quickly. Perhaps curtain strap replacement requires some work and patience, but still much...

However you can easily get a Kiev-15, -10 from ebay, at reasonable prices, so not that rare. You didn't answer about the Kiev rangefinders. To me, those are the best soviet cameras ever. In #2 i'd put the Salyut/Kiev-88, it just needs service before usage.

This is also the reason i didn't get a Canon T90. Why should I care for multi-spot metering when i'm happy using all my medium cameras with a handlheld meter, and even I use my Contax IIa out there in the streets with just my eye as an estimator of exposure? Besides, when I was using slides I...

But Mr. DMess, if I wanted a big magnification i could get the F-1 6x magnification variable-diopter finder (FN-6X, which i own), which Pentax also offers. The FN-6X has complex optics on the inside and gives a pristine, aberration-free, huge image close to the size of what you'd find on a...

I own over 50 lenses and none of them is a zoom. I've owned some great zooms but at the end i preferred to replace them with one or two smaller primes. For me, it's a matter of size, and also of lack of distortion. Zooms often have distortion. (The really good ones don't)

A steal!!

Wow, i just revisited this thread! Who knew XP2 Super was actually a fantastic "standard" B&W film too?! I see great results really.

He is a long-time member of a camera repair forum I'm very active in, and only recently he has opened a formal (registered with its own tax number, etc) repair shop. He has serviced many New F-1 cameras and I can vouch that this guy knows them inside-out. I service many cameras but don't dare to...

They are great. At least the one in my Selfix 820 was. But very fragile if you knock them.

Yes, i like that screen! It is very bright, i can focus anywhere. And the grid lines help me with composition. BTW I just got a Pentax LX, which some collectors (like the prestigious and prolific Les Sarile) claim the best viewfinder image clarity on a 35mm SLR. Sorry! The finder on my F-1N...

Ship your camera to LZ Fotomehanika in Slovenia (specialized in F-1 cameras) and it will be mechanically satisfying too. https://www.instagram.com/lzfotomehanika/ The owner is my friend and is a New F-1 specialist.

Leicaflexes are reliable cameras. I've read a soviet study on camera reliability where the Leicaflex was included, as well as the Nikon F2, Canon F-1, and other western cameras. The Leicaflex fared perfectly, even better than the F2. However, this was done with working cameras in the 70s. Such...

There's something worse than derailing a thread talking about politics. And it is... buying non-OEM superwideangle lenses!! Yesterday I bought a Pentax SMC Fish-eye 17/4. Only the best for my Pentax LX!! Really, most super wides require 8 or more lens elements. With this amount of complexity...

Did you use any of the following? - Kiev 10 or 15 - Start - Kiev rangefinder, serial number starting from 55 or less. - Zenit-5

These two are the most important pieces of advice here.

Of course. Most non-OEM lenses do have a lot of sample variation. This is due to less stringent tolerances and QC procedures, even due down to the way the lens is constructed. While on the opposite end of spectrum, on lenses like made-in-germany Zeiss or Leitz lenses, there's little sample...

Dear LesDMess... I finally got myself a Pentax LX, after years of reading you extolling the virtues of the mighty LX. My short comparison to the previous pro SLRs i liked: Canon New F-1, F-1 and Nikon F3, F2SB. But in particular, compared to the New F-1, since it was my pick for "favorite pro...

Tetenal developers guide, PDF; And then they give two times, for the desired contrast level, on every film: