Kodak Retina IIIS Info

[markjwyatt]

Something of an aside about light meters:

I think most of the variants of the Sekonic L-308. (at least my L-308S-U) has much better than one f-stop resolution. There is another digit on the display which shows "tenths of a stop". That is, if it shows '2.8 5', it is telling you a measurement half a stop between f/2.8 and f/4.

It's a little goofy-- with the stops themselves being logarithmic, but the fractional stop being tenths, but that's fairly standard, and pretty easy to get used to.

Apparently the L-308S-U allows mode settings to set the shutter speed to 1/3 stops-- I'll have to try that out.

Also, as an aside on an aside, the L-308X-U works in shutter priority or aperture priority, which would be nice...

Ha. I did not know that. Just looked into it, and there is a graphical display (mine is the original L-308) that indicates 1/10ths... Thanks! Learn something new every day. This meter is fairly new to me.

 

[Rrrgcy]

Or we may be shooting under very different circumstances. I need to be able to change my exposure on the fly. It'd be nice to have even lighting throughout the shoot and never have to change settings but that's not my reality. With the interlock you're stick with the same exposure setting no matter what you change on the camera. Your aperture and shutter will change but your exposure will remain the same. Sure, that's for some people but I do prefer and independent system.

iic - Nothing is “stuck at the same exposure setting no matter what you change on the camera.” Buy and use the camera or read the manual online.

It’s not anything to disengage the interconnection. Sure, if you choose to adjust the shutter speed first it’s interconnected to maintain the same exposure.

To “disengage“ the Aperture-shutterSpeed interlock on the iic, just set the aperture first (metal tab selector). Then next set the shutter speed wherever you want (it doesn’t bring the Aperture along with it). It’s not interlocked if you set in that order. it’s a feature - totally manual or interconnected and your choice. Pretty cool.

 

[Cholentpot]

iic - Nothing is “stuck at the same exposure setting no matter what you change on the camera.” Buy and use the camera or read the manual online.

It’s not anything to disengage the interconnection. Sure, if you choose to adjust the shutter speed first it’s interconnected to maintain the same exposure.

To “disengage“ the Aperture-shutterSpeed interlock on the iic, just set the aperture first (metal tab selector). Then next set the shutter speed wherever you want (it doesn’t bring the Aperture along with it). It’s not interlocked if you set in that order. it’s a feature - totally manual or interconnected and your choice. Pretty cool.

So, I'm holding my lovingly restored Kodak Retina IIc(lowercase) in my hands right now. Say it's loaded with some Tmax 100 and it's a mostly sunny day. I have it set to f/11 1/125. Perfect. Now I'd like to take some photos in the shade. No big deal. Move the little tab down to 5.6. Now I move back into the sun but I want a faster shutter speed. I have to move the camera to 1/250 the camera ends up on f/4 I then have to disengage the interlock and make sure the shutter doesn't move and move the f stop to f/8. It's not difficult but do that 25 times in an hour and the camera isn't so much fun.

Now load the thing up with some 400 speed Tri-x and move between sunny outdoors and indoors and it gets really fun. Making more than a single adjustment on this camera is a pain in the neck. If you need to adjust the shutter and aperture at the same time to different values the camera gets in the way of shooting.

As opposed to the IIa.

Set shutter. Set aperture. Shoot and adjust as necessary without any calculating where the shutter speed is going to end up and how many stops and I going to have to set it back or forward.

Also, it's not much fun using the film advance on the bottom of the camera. And resetting the frame counter is non-intuitive.

Still an excellent camera that I do use quite a bit.

 

[AKodakZen]

I’ll see if anyone is still watching for this question, but I have a follow up on the IIIS.

The control rings in front of the shutter are a little rough to turn and I somehow managed to break one of the plastic handles that is on the shutter speed ring (exactly like the one in the video Chris Sherlock did on servicing one of these). In that same video, Chris demonstrates how to remove the rings and it actually looks fairly straightforward. He also kindly responded to a comment about what lubricant to use and super gluing the plastic handle.
He recommends Rocol Dry Moly Paste but it’s $70+ for a tube. Anyone know if there is an equivalent that’s cheaper?

 

[albada]

You can also look for graphite paste.
On such rings, I smear a VERY thin layer of Superlube grease. Very thin. So thin that I can feel it but not see it. That's important so oil won't travel from the grease onto the shutter blades.

 

[AKodakZen]

You can also look for graphite paste.
On such rings, I smear a VERY thin layer of Superlube grease. Very thin. So thin that I can feel it but not see it. That's important so oil won't travel from the grease onto the shutter blades.

I’ve heard there are some issues with some lubricants having components that can evaporate and cloud lenses. Is Superlube fairly safe from that?

 

[albada]

I’ve heard there are some issues with some lubricants having components that can evaporate and cloud lenses. Is Superlube fairly safe from that?

I hope so, but I'm not certain, as such data is difficult or impossible to find. Google "superlube outgassing" to see some interesting info.

Something else to consider is Helimax-XP. It's intended for focusing helicoids, but I'd guess it's suitable anywhere you don't want oil to creep or grease to outgas.

Every grease consists of an oil and a soap. The oil can migrate away by wick-action through the microscopic grooves in the surrounding metal. Here's a scary test: Place a blob of prospective grease on a pad of toilet paper. 24 hours later, look at the size of the disk of oil in the tissue. Uh oh...

 

[AKodakZen]

I hope so, but I'm not certain, as such data is difficult or impossible to find. Google "superlube outgassing" to see some interesting info.

Something else to consider is Helimax-XP. It's intended for focusing helicoids, but I'd guess it's suitable anywhere you don't want oil to creep or grease to outgas.

Every grease consists of an oil and a soap. The oil can migrate away by wick-action through the microscopic grooves in the surrounding metal. Here's a scary test: Place a blob of prospective grease on a pad of toilet paper. 24 hours later, look at the size of the disk of oil in the tissue. Uh oh...

I hope so too but yeah hard to know for sure. On their website they do claim it doesn’t evaporate which I guess is just outgassing by another name.

I’ve considered the helicoid greases as well. It seems like they would have to be safe around optical glass so that’s a possibility.

In all reality, in the quantity I would use it, I’m guessing I wouldn’t see any issues pop up quickly, especially if I don’t leave the lens attached at all times. I just like to think of the long term effects.