That's impressive!!
My measuring tool and method may be wrong.
That's impressive!!I have serviced several leaf shutters and tested them. The average leaf shutter goes from full close to full open in .0003 seconds.
...
The only thing that really bothers me is the bellows. A lot of people will probably say that it's easy, but I can't be so sure when it's about something I never had to service.Not so nice cameras for DIY service and with VF in the corner, plenty of parallax.
I was just using folders as they were used. Not so much of ISO 400 film back then. So, no 400ISO on bright days.
Folders (or any cameras) in the 50ies simply were not buildt for film as fast as iso 400, I think?
Not always suggested , but , the Iskra cameras had a 1/500 shutter speed and the lens on them is nothing short
of excellent . Having said that though , I know they come with a few uummm idiosyncrasies. Peter
Did we mention the ISKRA series cameras by KMZ ?
A coupled - rangefinder with 1/500 FXCh-18 central leaf shutter and a tessar - design Industar-58 f/3.5 / 75mm.
I never used one but I saw various photographs in the epic Rangefinder forum thread ''Show a photograph taken with your folder''.
In GERMANY they go for around 100-140 EURO.
It all makes perfect sense now. Thank you for your input!It's worth keeping in mind the conditions of photography when folding cameras were new: relatively slow films and for amateur users, contact prints or at best modest enlargements.
Only the top end (relatively) of folders come with a rangefinder. And medium format has longer focal length lenses with less depth of field for the same aperture. If you don't have an RF and are scale focusing, you need some DOF to cover your mistakes, especially if you want to make an enlargement. So you might want to stop down to f/8 or so to cover these ills. Plus folders are by nature a little less rigid than say a TLR, so using them at fast apertures requires good lens to film plane alignment.
There is a good reason why rangefinders, fast-ish lenses, and fast-ish shutter speeds went together and are only available on the higher-end folders. A cheap folder can be fun, but asking it to deliver crisp large enlargements wide open at f/4.5 (or whatever) on ISO 400 film at its top shutter speed, while guessing scale focus, is demanding something that it was not designed to do.
It looks promising, sales at around 150$ and if one pays just as much, a 35 mm film adapter is also an option. Neat. Now THAT is Zeiss I know!For dependability, quality and excellent lens, my favorite recommendation is a ZI Super Ikonta B. Rangefinder extremely rugged and Zeiss had the only sure fire lens erecting construction so that lens always parallel to film plane. The post war models have coated 2.8 lens and 1/500 shutte.
I'm aware of Mamiya (namely model Six IV). Zuiko lens on it came off as a surprise for me. However, no matter how hard I tried, I just could not find any Kodak attractive to me, except 35 mm Retinas and IIRC they are German.Original Mamiya 6, from the 60s, very good lens, top shutter speed of 1/500th. For fast shutter speed, Kodak Tourist withe top of line lens shutter 1/800th, but not a rangefinder, scale focus. Kodak also made Tourist with 1/200 and bottom feeder with 3 shutter speeds and 3 element lens. Tourist also are designed for 620 so you have to respool. I have the 4 element lens with 1/200 shutter, I shoot landscapes on a tripod with Tmax 100 with yellow or orange filter at F11 to 16 so not having a faster shutter speed has not been a problem.
My favourite folder is the Super Fujica-6. Top speed is 1/500, more than enough for C41 film. Coupled rangefinder, unit focusing, 5 element lens and no red window.
It looks promising, sales at around 150$ and if one pays just as much, a 35 mm film adapter is also an option. Neat. Now THAT is Zeiss I know!
I would not buy from eBay
They have one right now on Robert's ebay page, although I'm not sure if it's big Z, or just aftermarket. At least the box has Zeiss imprinted.I have never heard of a 35 mm film adapter for Super Ikonta B (or for any other Zeiss folder). Some Rolleiflex TLRs had 35mm adapters, but their mechanisms and viewing system are quite different. If you have any documentation for such an adapter, I would be very appreciative if you could send it to me.
You know more than me, obviously. And I agree - Super Ikonta's Soviet clones called "Moskva" are rather unusually durable for glorious Soviet product. Although if I recall correctly, they are 6x9.Should you want to buy a Super Ikonta B for use, avoid prewar cameras (black faces and 1/400 shutter), BX models (unless you want to carry bulkier larger camera with non functioning meter There is a reason they are so much cheaper on eBay ). Coated 2.8 Tessar is very capable lens. Some folks on this thread will deny will deny the fact tha Zeiss had the most enduring lens erection construction among all folders. At time when SI B was sold new, they were far more expensive than any other 66 folder.
I wasn't searching, I was merely REsearching, but thank you for your post, I had never heard of Igor's and BCC before.If I were buying one now, I would not buy from eBay, but would search KEH, Igor’s, Bergen County Camera and other reputable dealers, who will provide guarantee.
Good luck on your search
if you want some information put together about quite some non-basic folders, have a look at this page http://www.120folder.com/compa.htm
Thank you, I think that's all I need!if you want some information put together about quite some non-basic folders, have a look at this page http://www.120folder.com/compa.htm
I saw a few of those cameras. Made me wonder who was coming up with such names.The Zenobia by Daiichi is a favorite folder of mine.
It is a well made, compact 645 folder with Tessar type lens and shutter to 1/500. There were several models, some with built-in rangefinder. They are fairly numerous on eBay and don't cost much.
One, two, three stops over is nothing for Portra. You would not see the difference in prints.Then how does one use, let's say, Portra 400 on sunny day? (not to mention attaining any kind of shallow DOF in the pricess)
They have one right now on Robert's ebay page, although I'm not sure if it's big Z, or just aftermarket. At least the box has Zeiss imprinted.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeiss-Ikon...912089?hash=item2f2f4b12d9:g:tnQAAOSwQ49cuKu~
You know more than me, obviously. And I agree - Super Ikonta's Soviet clones called "Moskva" are rather unusually durable for glorious Soviet product. Although if I recall correctly, they are 6x9.
I wasn't searching, I was merely REsearching, but thank you for your post, I had never heard of Igor's and BCC before.
Oh don't mention, a few days ago it was a new thing for me as well. I guess Z and L knew basics of marketing even back then, if they offered such conversion kits.I stand corrected! From the pictures it seems to take elongated pictures, so it seems that only 11 or 12 frames would be available, unless counter is fiddled with. I suspect that the adapter is prewar, when 35mm was new and both Zeiss and Leitz produced all kinds of stuff, not knowing what would work in the market.
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.
I think the first number was kind of random? But the last one was not. "2" is 120-film to a 6x9 frame. "16" was 6x6 frame. I'm not sure about 6x4.5 and 127-film etc..
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