Gray Yashica 44 recovered!

Dan Daniel · May 17, 2020

Ilford shut down film production at the end of March-

https://petapixel.com/2020/03/31/ilford-has-shut-down-film-production-until-further-notice/

It seems that they were well set as a business before this mess, so I hope that they come back strong when the time is right, including the ULF program.

Donald Qualls · May 17, 2020

BAC1967 said:
They usually do the ULF sale in May each year through many of their vendors. You have to pre-order with a vendor, then you get it later when the order comes in. I haven't seen anything on it yet for this year, maybe it's delayed or canceled because of the virus.

Ilford did close their production facilities in early April due to the Covid-19 lockdown in England. One presumes they'll resume normal production after the UK is back to something resembling normalcy. This is a guess, but it seems likely they'll skip this years ULF special cutting because of this shutdown, and pick up again next year.

StepheKoontz said:
I haven't seen anything this year either. It does look like Blue moon camera still has some 46mm bulk rolls. bluemooncamera.com and search Ilford HP5+ Film - 46mm x 50ft - ULF

Tempting.

BAC1967 · May 17, 2020

That’s too bad about the ULF but I’m set on 127 film for a while. I still have over half my roll of HP5+ plus I have a 100’ roll of Konica 160 color film that I’ve hardly touched. I should be shooting the color now with all the flowers blooming this spring. The Konica 160 expired in 2006 but is holding up pretty good so far. This was shot at Crater Lake last year with the Baby Rolleiflex.

Hikers on Garfield Peak by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

eli griggs · May 17, 2020

Cheers!

What have they been charging per 100', in your experience?

BAC1967 · May 17, 2020

eli griggs said:
Cheers!

What have they been charging per 100', in your experience?

Ultra fine has a 50’ roll of HP5+ for $141.09, that’s the only size they sell it in. I don’t think I paid quite that much but that was a few years ago.
https://www.ultrafineonline.com/ilhp400ulfpr22.html

Donald Qualls · May 18, 2020

BAC1967 said:
Ultra fine has a 50’ roll of HP5+ for $141.09, that’s the only size they sell it in. I don’t think I paid quite that much but that was a few years ago.
https://www.ultrafineonline.com/ilhp400ulfpr22.html

Blue Moon Photo showed stock at $149 for fifty feet, so pretty comparable. If you're making standard 12 on 4x4 rolls, each one needs close to 20 inches, so that bulk roll will make twenty-nine to thirty-one rolls.

Jim Blodgett · May 18, 2020

That little 44 looks great. Looks like you cleaned up all the dials and workings, too.

I went to that website, or at least the place holder for it. Thanks for that link. They say their leatherettes are self adhesive? Is that right? Peel and stick?

Dan Daniel · May 19, 2020

Jim Blodgett said:
That little 44 looks great. Looks like you cleaned up all the dials and workings, too.

I went to that website, or at least the place holder for it. Thanks for that link. They say their leatherettes are self adhesive? Is that right? Peel and stick?

Yes, self-adhesive. Cameraleather uses a nice stable adhesive film that holds up well. Thier web site recommends using a sanitizer like Purell to slow down the grab of the adhesive for positioning (sanitizer with NO moisturizers or such, hard to find). I use water, instead. Well, saliva- I lick the adhesive and position. Gives a little time get things in place.

Donald Qualls · May 19, 2020

Dan Daniel said:
I lick the adhesive and position. Gives a little time get things in place.

For similar applications in radio control model building, we used to spray the working area with 409 or Fantastik spray cleaner (in part because we already had it for cleaning engine exhaust oil off the airplane after a flight). Set your sticky in place, then squeegee it down to squeeze the cleaner out from under, and the rest will evaporate in about 24 hours.

StepheKoontz · May 20, 2020

I would be cautious about using any sort of soapy solution, alcohol would be better, which is what hand sanitizer with nothing else in it is. I too used soapy solutions for window tinting film and decals, this is different being an adhesive. His instructions say not to use soapy solutions.

He started updating his website, which before had a lot of info, but for some reason the new one has never been finished. For now all you can do is see the supported cameras, and then email him. There are cameras he has patterns for that aren't listed and he will email color/material pictures. He can also make patterns if needed.

He made a set for this minolta rangefinder for me. It looked like this left picture, I picked out a smoother real leather material with is much nicer to the touch.

Jim Blodgett · May 20, 2020

Beautiful.

outwest · May 20, 2020

Nicely done! I have a Yashica 44, a baby Rollei and a Primo Jr. and a stash of 127 B&W in the freezer. Truth be told, I prefer the Primo Jr (aka Sawyer's MK IV) to the other 2. I mount super slides but I have a gadget that cuts them down from 645. Super slides are really neat!

StepheKoontz · May 20, 2020

outwest said:
Nicely done! I have a Yashica 44, a baby Rollei and a Primo Jr. and a stash of 127 B&W in the freezer. Truth be told, I prefer the Primo Jr (aka Sawyer's MK IV) to the other 2. I mount super slides but I have a gadget that cuts them down from 645. Super slides are really neat!

Yeah the primo Jr is IMHO nicer than even the baby rollei.

k.hendrik · May 20, 2020

'no body' is nicer then my little grey baby !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77846450@N00/17244037329/in/dateposted-public/
Yeah

WD4AON · Sep 29, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
It doesn't take long to respool in the darkroom once you are setup. I reuse the cut down paper and spend less than 10 minutes, less per roll if I am doing multiples at the same time. Maybe I will do a short video of how I do it.

As to why I go to the trouble? I guess for me keeping a dead format alive is cool, like how many people shoot 127 now? I love shooting square and most 120 6X6 cameras with accurate focusing are much larger/heavier. Compared to a Rolleiflex/Xenar, (I consider these equiv in quality/features/optics) the rollei is 2.5lbs, the sawyers is 1.4lbs. The negs print well and it's basically like shooting 6X6 vs 6X4.5 (compared to shooting 35mm), you can crop how you want in the darkroom.

And lastly, these are very jewel like and just so darn cute

View attachment 246400

View attachment 246399

Have you gotten around to the video?
Terry

JThomas · Oct 5, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
Yeah the primo Jr is IMHO nicer than even the baby rollei.

I recently discovered the Primo Jr and Sawyer's Mark IV, and yes, they feel like little Rolleis, much nicer than my Yashica 44. I just sent an email to cameraleather.com asking about leatherette for it, because one of mine is missing the covering on one side and the other side is dry and peeling. I hope he has a set for this camera...

Tel · Oct 5, 2020

Hugostudio shows a replacement cover for the Mark IV. I bought a leather cover for my Baby and it fit well.

JThomas · Oct 5, 2020

Tel said:
Hugostudio shows a replacement cover for the Mark IV. I bought a leather cover for my Baby and it fit well.

Thank you! I will check them out.

Tel · Oct 5, 2020

I have some spare parts for Primo Jr/Mark IV. If you need something, let me know.

StepheKoontz · Oct 6, 2020

I originally got a cover set for my yashica from Hugo and ended up returning it. The leather + adhesive was like 3-4 times thicker than the original and looked terrible. I then got a set from cameraleather.com.

Tel · Oct 6, 2020

Hmm. I've bought 3 cover kits from Hugostudio and 5 from Morgan Sparks. Had good results with them all, but Morgan doesn't show any kits for the Primo/Sawyers cameras and Hugo does.

JThomas · Oct 6, 2020

Hmmm I sent an email to Morgan but haven't heard back. I ordered one from Hugo but now I'm hoping it's not too thick. Wasn't sure which one to order, I may have ordered the wrong style. Oh well we'll see I guess. EDIT: I just heard from Morgan Sparks and he only has the front piece for lack of a donor camera to measure from. So I guess I'm stuck with Hugo. Will wait and see how it turns out.

JThomas · Oct 6, 2020

To tell the truth this Primo Jr doesn't look awful on the side where the leatherette is missing. I could even decide to leave it as is. I have two nice ones with good leather, a Primo and a Mark IV. They look and feel like Rolleis to me.

JThomas · Oct 6, 2020

Tel said:
I have some spare parts for Primo Jr/Mark IV. If you need something, let me know.

Thank you. I'm not sure I need anything right now. I've still got this latest Primo Jr with a real dirty looking finder. I took it apart and the dirt looks like it's between the ground glass and the brightscreen and inspecting the spring clip retainer I'm having a flashback to a time I broke a TLR trying to mess with a clip that was simpler than this one is. SO I decided to leave it alone for now and not risk making things worse. I can live with a few spots in the finder better than I can with a broken clip that holds the glass in.

StepheKoontz · Oct 6, 2020

JThomas said:
Hmmm I sent an email to Morgan but haven't heard back. I ordered one from Hugo but now I'm hoping it's not too thick. Wasn't sure which one to order, I may have ordered the wrong style. Oh well we'll see I guess. EDIT: I just heard from Morgan Sparks and he only has the front piece for lack of a donor camera to measure from. So I guess I'm stuck with Hugo. Will wait and see how it turns out.

Let me know how it turns out. I was shocked at how thick the leather from HUGO was, the kits I have gotten from Morgan seem like "normal" thickness. Then again maybe I'm just being super picky?

Gray Yashica 44 recovered!

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