Kalimar K-90 SLR 35mm w/ telephoto lense

Yea, Just one this camera off of eBay, And I am wondering if 1: are they good cameras, 2 If not, What do with it ? 3: Telephoto lense.. What exactly can that do? (picture examples if possible)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230039728895

thanks!!!!!!

dana,
1)For $20 you can hardly go wrong using it as a first real camera.
2)Kalimar wasn't a manufacturer but an importer so it could be any of several mfrs. including Cosina.
3)The zoom will act like a telescope or monocular. It will make the subject appear closer. On this lens the magnification will be from about twice to four times(2X-4X) what you would get with the 50mm.

John Koehrer said:

dana,
1)For $20 you can hardly go wrong using it as a first real camera.
2)Kalimar wasn't a manufacturer but an importer so it could be any of several mfrs. including Cosina.
3)The zoom will act like a telescope or monocular. It will make the subject appear closer. On this lens the magnification will be from about twice to four times(2X-4X) what you would get with the 50mm.

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So.. Could I make it take pictures like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/punkrobot/picturre3040.jpg

I know that has to deal with apparture.. according to my other thread.. dang! I really need a photography book!!!

Tommy5c has one of these, purchased new at the time, I believe. His works well, and If I remember correctly it has a Pentax mount. Check that though before you go buying lenses, as I'm not crystal on that.

The 80-200 will give you the DOF like in your other post at its most open apertures, the effect increasing, the more you edge to 200mm. Other factors will come in to play when you get long, like camera shake, and perhaps sharpness, as that 80-200 probably isn't the sharpest tack in the box, but for $20 it will serve you well as a learning tool. Congratulations, you're down the rabbit hole...hehehehe.

JBrunner said:

Tommy5c has one of these, purchased new at the time, I believe. His works well, and If I remember correctly it has a Pentax mount. Check that though before you go buying lenses, as I'm not crystal on that.

The 80-200 will give you the DOF like in your other post at its most open apertures, the effect increasing, the more you edge to 200mm. Other factors will come in to play when you get long, like camera shake, and perhaps sharpness, as that 80-200 probably isn't the sharpest tack in the box, but for $20 it will serve you well as a learning tool. Congratulations, you're down the rabbit hole...hehehehe.

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Really. I do need to learn more, becuase this is slightly above my knowledge

that lense can take pix like that, but at it's most open apertures, but i have to worry about camera shake (the picture is in focus, but comes out blurry to to movement of the lense during the open shutter)

dana44 said:

Really. I do need to learn more, becuase this is slightly above my knowledge

that lense can take pix like that, but at it's most open apertures, but i have to worry about camera shake (the picture is in focus, but comes out blurry to to movement of the lense during the open shutter)

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Yes, a good rule of thumb (for 35) is that the shutter speed equal the focal length, or better, even double. For example at 100mm a good safe shutter speed would be 1/200. A tripod helps you cheat.

The reason is that the longer focal length magnifies camera movement. Kind of like the difference between 6x and 10x binoculars, when your trying to hold them still to look through.

To take this a bit further, aperture and shutter speed are related: If you've got correct exposure at (say) f/8 and 1/125s but you want a faster shutter speed (1/250s), you'd need to open up the aperture to f/5.6 (smaller f-numbers mean bigger apertures) to keep the correct exposure. If you want to blur the background as in the sample photo, you'd want to open the aperture as wide as possible (which might only be f/5.6; the auction doesn't specify, and cheap zooms of this range often have maximum apertures of f/4-5.6).

If you find you can't get the combination of shutter speed and aperture that you want, you may need to change films. Faster films (say, ISO 800 rather than ISO 200) let you use faster shutter speeds and/or smaller apertures. Slower films (say, ISO 50 rather than ISO 200) let you use slower shutter speeds and/or wider apertures. If you want the latter, you can also stick neutral density (ND) filters on the lens to block light but not change the color balance. If you're just starting out, though, I'd recommend you not worry about ND filters for the moment.

See: www.butkus.org/chinon/ for a copy of the manual. Most were Pentax K mounts but I have seen reports of some with Yashica-Contax mounts.

Elox said:

See: www.butkus.org/chinon/ for a copy of the manual. Most were Pentax K mounts but I have seen reports of some with Yashica-Contax mounts.

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Thanks a bunch! I should have it next week!!

Keep us up to date on your adventure.

JBrunner said:

Keep us up to date on your adventure.

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Will do.

Camera Arrived Thursday.. Finished a roll of film.. will turn it into the 1hr photo ASAP. The light meter works, too. I am mainly have been using the Telephoto lense.. I just don't like the regular 55MM lense.. lol.

dana44 said:

Camera Arrived Thursday.. Finished a roll of film.. will turn it into the 1hr photo ASAP. The light meter works, too. I am mainly have been using the Telephoto lense.. I just don't like the regular 55MM lense.. lol.

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Congratulations!! Hope things work well. You may come to appreciate the normal lens more as the bokehitis is treated. soon you may be wanting a 28, or even a 24...hehehehe.

Whats next? a darkroom?

JBrunner said:

Congratulations!! Hope things work well. You may come to appreciate the normal lens more as the bokehitis is treated. soon you may be wanting a 28, or even a 24...hehehehe.

Whats next? a darkroom?

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LOL.. I wish I could have a darkroom, alas.. I live with my parents

dana44 said:

LOL.. I wish I could have a darkroom, alas.. I live with my parents

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It's surprising how well you can do with a "portable" darkroom that you put up in a bathroom and then take down when you're done. There are lots of discussions about this in other threads here, so you may want to try doing a search on "bathroom darkroom" or something similar. If you get a real desire to do your own enlargements, you should look into this. You might also have access to a darkroom at school or something. Finally, just developing film into negatives doesn't require a true darkroom; it just takes a few pieces of equipment (a developing tank with reels, beakers or measuring cups, thermometer, etc.), a dark place in which to load the film into the tank (a closet will do), and a supply of photochemistry. You can do the actual processing in a bathroom, laundry room, etc.

srs5694 said:

It's surprising how well you can do with a "portable" darkroom that you put up in a bathroom and then take down when you're done. There are lots of discussions about this in other threads here, so you may want to try doing a search on "bathroom darkroom" or something similar. If you get a real desire to do your own enlargements, you should look into this. You might also have access to a darkroom at school or something. Finally, just developing film into negatives doesn't require a true darkroom; it just takes a few pieces of equipment (a developing tank with reels, beakers or measuring cups, thermometer, etc.), a dark place in which to load the film into the tank (a closet will do), and a supply of photochemistry. You can do the actual processing in a bathroom, laundry room, etc.

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LOL, sadly.. parents are very up-tight. I've already talked to them about a portable darkroom, once I got to the part about buying the processing chemicals they said hell no... i offerd to buy them myself.. but yea.

dana44 said:

LOL, sadly.. parents are very up-tight. I've already talked to them about a portable darkroom, once I got to the part about buying the processing chemicals they said hell no... i offerd to buy them myself.. but yea.

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That's too bad. Are you a student? If so, perhaps there's a darkroom at your school that you could use. If not, and if you can't find anything else, then I suppose you'll have to stick to commercial photofinishing. That worked for me for about 30 years....

The only picture that came out right.. i photoshopped it to black and white and adjusted the brightness

Okay, about the aperture and ISO settings, I've been finding myself playing with that alot according to how my light changes.. I have no flash on it.. so yea.

I've left the aperture at 4.5 since I started taking pictures. The meter works, and I assume when the light is green that means I've gotten the lighting/ISO speed correct? I am currently using ISO 400 film

Next question:

I know what the ISO speeds are, but wtf is the other numbers:

example on mine

B 1 2 4 8 15 30 60 125 (which is in RED) 250 500 1000 2000

I have to kinda pull up on the knob to select my ISO, but I really don't know what the other numbers are.. and my stupid local book store has nothing on photography.

Also, is it bad to play with the ISO settings alot while taking pictures? I take pictures ranging from BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.. to dimmer situations such as woods.

Another thing, when I put it on the B setting, The shutter stays open as long as I hold the button down.. .and closes when I let go.. is this bad?

Sorry.. I am a really big newbie to Manual cameras.. I have the basic idea of how to use them...

I've just been changing the ISO according to the light meter.. when it's green I snap the picture

Ok,

The numbers you are referring to are shutter speeds-

B stands for "bulb" and it is behaving correctly, and is for making long exposures, for example on a tripod at night where your exposure might be 15 seconds or something. A tripod and a cable release would let you accomplish an exposure like this without the camera wiggling.
1 means 1 sec
2 means 1/2 sec
4 means 1/4 sec
8 means 1/8 sec
and so on down to 1/2000 sec

If you wish to make your stop of 4.5 the priority setting, ie you are choosing that stop for some reason (in your case you have wanted a pronounced bokeh effect) then you would adjust the shutter speeds to get the green light. What need to do is get the correct shutter speed/aperture combination for the ISO of your film. When you adjust the ISO setting to something other than the speed of your film, you are just lying to the camera about the films sensitivity to light. (ISO refers to the films sensitivity, 50 ISO 1/2 as sensitive as 100, 200 is twice as sensitive as 100, and so on, 1/2 and double are what stops, film speeds, and shutter speeds are about, so 400 ISO is 2 stops more sensitive, or as we say, faster than 100) So if you are shooting 400 speed film the ISO needs to be set on 400, and stay there. The shot that turned out was a happenstance. There are films that have ISO's don't exactly correspond like 320 for example, but don't worry about them right now. Also you will run across the acronym "ASA" at some point. ASA and ISO mean essentialy the same thing.

Advanced photographers sometime rate film at different ISO's than the box speed, but at this stage of the game for you, consider it non negotiable, later as you begin to understand exposure, you can develop your own film speeds.

For now, set your ISO to the box speed and adjust your exposure with shutter speed and /or aperture to get the green light.

Also, on APUG its not cool to photoshop a picture to "black and white" . If you want to shoot black and white, use black and white film. Since you don't have a darkroom (yet), you can use a C41 process B&W like IlfordXP2 or Kodak PortraNC. Those films can be processed and printed just like color negative film.

You will find that there is a gulf of difference between B&W and a digitally desaturated color image, which is not B&W at all, but desaturated color. (for example with many B&W films red might expose as black, but with digital (blrgg gghhh, threw up in my mouth a little) desaturation it will be light gray. This is because black and white films render tones more according to spectral sensitivity(color), rather than lumenance(brightness) although both factor in.

The general rule on APUG is that you can use photoshop to clean up a scan, and tweak it to look the as close to the print as possible, but digital manipulations that fundamentally alter the appearance of the image are not cool.

So set that ISO correctly, use your shutter and aperture to set the exposure, and shoot the next roll!!!

dana44 said:

I know what the ISO speeds are, but wtf is the other numbers:

B 1 2 4 8 15 30 60 125 (which is in RED) 250 500 1000 2000

I have to kinda pull up on the knob to select my ISO, but I really don't know what the other numbers are.. and my stupid local book store has nothing on photography.

Also, is it bad to play with the ISO settings alot while taking pictures? I take pictures ranging from BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.. to dimmer situations such as woods.

Another thing, when I put it on the B setting, The shutter stays open as long as I hold the button down.. .and closes when I let go.. is this bad?

Sorry.. I am a really big newbie to Manual cameras.. I have the basic idea of how to use them...

I've just been changing the ISO according to the light meter.. when it's green I snap the picture

Click to expand...

B~2000 are the shutter speeds. B=bulb, 1=1 sec., 2000=1/2000 sec.

Set your ISO and don't change it during a roll, at least not yet. Changing the ISO will quickly lead to over/under-exposed negatives. Change your aperture and/or shutter speed to get correct metering.

Two things you might do:

1. Check the local library. They often have photo books and that part of the collection is usually 5~10 years old, so there should be some books on manual stuff.

2. See: www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/toc.html

One more detail: The fact that "125" is in red on the shutter speed dial probably indicates that this is the flash sync speed. With most SLRs, you must use a shutter speed of a particular value or slower for correct flash sync; if you try to use a faster shutter speed, only part of the frame will be properly exposed. This is because the flash pulse is so fast that it requires the shutter to be completely open to expose the film evenly, and at fast shutter speeds, the entire frame is never exposed simultaneously; there's a moving "slit" of exposure.

You can certainly use the 1/125s speed for non-flash exposures, so for the moment you can just ignore the fact that the "125" is in red. If and when you get a flash, though, be sure to use it with the camera set to 1/125s or slower (1/60s, 1/30s, etc., should all work, but in most cases people use the fastest possible shutter speed for flash).

Elox said:

B~2000 are the shutter speeds. B=bulb, 1=1 sec., 2000=1/2000 sec.

Set your ISO and don't change it during a roll, at least not yet. Changing the ISO will quickly lead to over/under-exposed negatives. Change your aperture and/or shutter speed to get correct metering.

Two things you might do:

1. Check the local library. They often have photo books and that part of the collection is usually 5~10 years old, so there should be some books on manual stuff.

2. See: www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/toc.html

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I really do need a book, okay, So I should just set my ISO to 400 (which is the rate of my film) and change the settings one the b 1 2 4 deal? I really hate to seem like such a stupid-food.. but I just got this camera, and I have a photoshoot this Weekend I wanna take it too.


And.. Sorry for photoshopping the picture black and white, heh, I just bought the film in a hurry so I could test the camera out. I plan on buying black-and-white film..and then eventually making my own darkroom

dana44 said:

And.. Sorry for photoshopping the picture black and white, heh, I just bought the film in a hurry so I could test the camera out. I plan on buying black-and-white film..and then eventually making my own darkroom

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Don't worry about posting a colour photograph here - one or two of us here are known to prefer them that way .

Good luck, happy learning, and have fun!

Matt