Excellent choice.Best pre-1965 SLR? the mighty RBGraflex. Best post-1965 SLR? the mighty RBGraflex. Focal plane shutter - but you could put a leaf shutter on it and use that. You can lock up the mirror. It can be used inconspicuously (no one would have a clue what you're doing). Big negatives. What more could you want?
I have been kicking myself for failing to buy a 5x7 Graflex SLR for now fully four years. It was in good shape at an antique store for $99, and I had about 120 dollars of spending money, from my first grownup serious job (as a line cook). I ought to have bought it. But I wanted to get a haircut and take this girl out to dinner the next day, so I passed.Best pre-1965 SLR? the mighty RBGraflex. Best post-1965 SLR? the mighty RBGraflex. Focal plane shutter - but you could put a leaf shutter on it and use that. You can lock up the mirror. It can be used inconspicuously (no one would have a clue what you're doing). Big negatives. What more could you want?
I follow this discussion with a grin on my face... Because from my perspective, not yours, this is completely academic.
If I look at photo catalogs from various sources aimed at consumers at stationary stores in West-Germany from that period, there is not one japanese camera listed. Not one.
Where they do show up, in small number, are at the two major mail order stores.in West-Germany that sold cameras.
Those were their entry into the westgerman market. By my own perception of incidence of pre-1970 japanese SLRs at camera stores, their share was small.
A great camera. I use an H1a from time to time that is a real workhorse. I have never even had it checked since I bought it 6 years ago and yet it has provided excellent and untroubled service for all those years. I pick it up...it works. It doesn't get better than that.I began with a Pentax H1, so should probably vote for that due to sheer nostalgia. It did hold up well. I didn't care about TTL metering back then, and still don't. Almost never goofed an exposure, and that was in Kodachrome days.
Hell, before even the FT, there was a Mamiya made model, the Nikkorex F, that, while not built to the standards of the later Nikkormats, had the original Copal square shutter which often still works perfectly today.I've been into Nikkormats since the FT. Best cameras around. Built like thanks and go on going on forever and then some.
The best I owned were the FTNs and the FT2s BUT both post-date 1965. So not really playing fair here, am I? Ha!!
Now to play the devil's advocate again...
Unless you are really, truly lucky, whichever 'oldie' SLR you end up buying, you'll 99.5% surely have to add at least 2x to 10x the cost you pay for it, to get it working properly again. They are ancient things and like all us old ancient things - okay, enough said.
Hell, before even the FT, there was a Mamiya made model, the Nikkorex F, that, while not built to the standards of the later Nikkormats, had the original Copal square shutter which often still works perfectly today.
Yeah, but honestly, who needs an instant return mirror? It just sounds like un-needed gadgetry to me.In 1965 Exakta didn't even have an instant return mirror. The Exakta dates from the days of the Zepplin, and never really changed that much from it's original mid-30's design.
That pitch as black viewing system until you are able to wind to the next frame is lousy for photos of kids and sports!Yeah, but honestly, who needs an instant return mirror? It just sounds like un-needed gadgetry to me.
Was waiting for this. Still have a Pen F and FV, sleek and functional, no bigger than a 111 series Leica. And with a 36x roll of B&W nearing $10 for some brands and improved T grain emulsions it’s not as crazy as it was in 1963.The answer is the Pen F, of course.
I have almost bought a Topcon in that series recently, but I honestly want to be sure as the price point for various models hovers a bit higher than some of the contemporary cameras from other brands.
So it's a modified Exakta mount with an internal aperture linkage, right? Can it mount standard Exakta lenses? And how does the build quality compare?
I did mention 35mm in the first post
Hell, before even the FT, there was a Mamiya made model, the Nikkorex F, that, while not built to the standards of the later Nikkormats, had the original Copal square shutter which often still works perfectly today.
That pitch as black viewing system until you are able to wind to the next frame is lousy for photos of kids and sports!
Other than wanting to go on the date, I had two apprehensions about it... one, I didn't know anything about LF at the time and I didn't know, for instance, whether they still made film for the camera... I say it was 5x7 but quite frankly that's a guess... could have been 4x5 I guess. And I had no idea how anything on it worked so I wouldn't have been able to tell if the shutter worked.My original answer was a bit of a joke. I have 2 RBGraflex cameras and they're not exactly quick to use.
Well, the best 1965 35mm SLR I have is a Contaflex BC with 4 lenses. It's better than the Exacta and Asahiflex I have, because the lenses are better and it has a working meter. The problem with Contaflex cameras in general is that they are very difficult to fix.
A 5x7 RBGraflex would be worth quite a bit more than $99. It's a shame you missed out on it.
Cult following is an understatement. The 11's sometimes sell for 5 figures.I haven't used one, but it seems the Alpa reflex has something of a cult following especially with the Kern Macro Switar 50 mm.
I bought one. It turned out to be thoroughly junked so I sold the prism and kept the lens... a Cassar-S that I find preferable to some of the other basic m42 normals.Probably is. For any kind of more ponderous photography it is very usable.
I have my grandfather's ~1958 Edixa Reflex (Modell B, I think) which also doesn't have an instant return mirror and it works very well for me. I basically only use it with the waist level finder. I recently did some light CLA under the bottom plate, on the shutter rollers and retensioned the shutter. It's quite heavy but the controls are very smooth and I have a chrome Travegon 35 mm f/ 3.5 lens for it. The downside is the top speed of 1/500s and the fact that it doesn't have an accessory shoe.
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