what waS your last photography related purchase?

Great. Currently using Arista since it seems it is the only one available. Seagull used to sell some but seem they are not doing it anymore. Got it email contact and they sell it to me before but not anymore.

Marcelo Paniagua said:

Kiev 6s/Kiev 60 are, on my experience, a bit more reliable (if you don't mind a bit of overlap on your frames).

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The older 6s/60 Kiev bodies were made for thicker film base and thicker paper. They have to be adjusted to be used with modern type 120 films flawlessly. The adjustment is pretty easily done since you take the upper cover plate off. In fact, the 6s/60 Kievs may also be adjusted to make 13 frames per roll reliably. They also can be modified to make 12 - 56x63mm frames. Some people even made homebrew 4.5x6 cm Kiev modifications back in the day....

Marcelo Paniagua said:

Not sure if this is a joke conversation but normally soviet glass is pretty good. It is said that Volna 3 80 f/2.8 is somewhat inferior to Plana C 80 but I've got mos of my Volna's for les that $60 while the Planar C 80 goes from $600 upward. Is it Planar C better Volna 3? Probably. Is it $500 better? well...

The tricky part about using soviet medium format lenses is getting a usable and dependable body, which is hard to get most of the time

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The 80mm f/2.8 Volna-3 is equal to the 80mm f/2.8 Hasselblad Zeiss Planar in sharpness but much inferior in contrast and in its color rendition. The CZJ 80mm f/2.8 Biometar is sharp and pretty good in contrast but also inferior to the Planar in its color rendition. (Yes I understand that color rendition is subjective, and tastes differ.) But both the Volna and the Biometar are nowhere near the Planar in their out of focus background rendition at middle f-stops (though the Planar's 5-blade aperture spoils it a lot IMHO).

And as for the bodies' reliability, I actually prefer to put those SIX-mount lenses on my Pentax 645 via a modern adapter....

And back to the topic - I've just purchased a 750mm f/10 LOMO O-2 process lens for my 8x10" Calumet C-1 with a 4"-opening Packard shutter installed, to use instead of my 800mm f/10 LOMO O-6 when I want to focus closer. The O-6 is somewhat superior in quality but a bit longish.

I prefer the LOMO process lenses to any other because (1) they are more transparent in the violet region of the spectrum thus affording for shorter exposures with blue-sensitive films, and (2) they are the only relatively modern process lenses with easily movable elements. Moving the front glass element outwards makes the background rendition a lot better. And with such movements, I get 760mm to 740mm focal length out of the original 800mm of the O-6; the 750mm O-2 would turn into about 700mm which is quite comfortable with the Calumet's 34" bellows draw.

(2) 5 packs Kodak Gold 200 120 roll film
(10) Arista.EDU Ultra 200 120 roll film
(1) Ilford HP5 Plus 25 sheets 4x5 film

I just bought 20 rolls of 135 Tri-X 400 36 exposure. Unique Photo has it up on eBay for $90 for a ten pack which these days is a good price. On a brighter note I was going through my freezer and discovered 18 more rolls of Legacy Pro 100 and 5 rolls of Neopan 400 both of which I thought I had run out of. These were in the 3 to 4 dollar range, lol.

Roger

Radial-drive no-name Petzval lens.

Golly, 236 pages. Sur must be a lot of photo gear around...

Anyway, now where did I put my list??

I prefer to pass over pre 2021. Anyway, I've hidden that list too well and I can't find it, ha.

2021. A Leica iiif kit, the camera, original case, lens (a Summitar 50/2.0), matched filters, a few other nice Leitz bits. From a deceased estate, a late friend, the family asked me to sort, clean, value and list (on Ebay) his extensive collection, which we did over three or four months. All eventually sold. I was then kindly offered the Leica at a good (not cheap) price and bought it. Got it CLA'd/repaired a few minor faults as it had sat in a cupboard for decades, but it works just fine now. A neighbor saw me out with it and kindly gifted me his old ( fungus- and haze-riddled, also now cleaned and "97% as good as new", so the repair guy says) collapsible Summicron 50/2.0, hood and filters. So I have a nice kit.

I then added a rough but usable 90/4.0 Elmar and a 35/2.8 Summaron, also acquired at reasonable (not cheap) prices. Hoods and filters. I must have the entire lot of Leitz size 39 filters now.

Also the Leitz close-up device for the Summicron, found by chance in an old wares shop in regional Victoria. The price was higher than I wanted to pay, but heck, it's Leica. So!!

2022. Madness hit hard. Was offered a good deal on a Fujifilm XT1 and two lenses (14/2.8, 18/2.0) and bit the hook. The XT1 and I didn't really hit it off as I was keen to match its colors with those from my Nikon D700 an D800, so I traded up to an XT2, which cost me more but I'm entirely happy with it. Also two other lenses, the 18-55 zoom (I was lucky and got a good one) and a 23/1.4 I saw in a cabinet in the shop and fell in love with). Fuji glass is superb. The XT2, well, I'm still in the learning curve, so time will tell and we'll see. So far, okay enough. Getting there.

The D700 and D800 still get taken out and used. They are not being neglected or relegated to shelf queen status. This is my disclaimer...

Last year my partner and I agreed that for every item of gear I buy, I'll sell one. So my two Nikon F65s with AA grips, my Lumix DMC-GF1 kit and two of my four Contax G1s will be going up for sale in the next month. Ebay prices are not especially good for used film gear just now, so I may hang on for a while, that is if I'm not thrown out of home and living on the streets...

I won't edit or delete ozmoose's post, but I'll just mention that this thread is in the purely analog part of the site .....

Arrived this morning:

A Bausch & Lomb, Rochester Optical Company, Rapid Rectilinear f8 6" approx in a Unicum shutter, when it arrived this morning I was disappointed as the shutter didn't work and everything was dirty. The aperture was difficult to adjust.

Pistons cleaned and lubed, it worked but intermittently, so I removed the aperture assembly, which I knew came off as one piece. I cleaned the adjuster ring of the aperture assembly with some IPA (alcohol) and it works smoothly. Then using a small paint brush very lightly lubricated the mechanism under the shutter blades, also the speed adjuster cam. Finally, I cleaned the lens cells and re-assembled. Now the shutter works perfectly, everything is smooth at all speeds.

Ian

Portra 160 4x5 - 10 sheets
Tri-X 320 4x5 - 10 sheets
Rollei IR400 120 - 3 rolls

100 ft Kodak Vision2 50D by MotiPix from Ultrafineonline.com.

A single five by seven inch film holder for both a five by seven pinhole camera, and a sliding box camera in the same format, I'm building, as well as a Woodcraft multi-thickness pack of birch plywood for prototyping and testing the working pinhole camera with both film and paper negatives.

My ten 120 rolls of Rollei IR arrived! Straight to the freezer they go!

clapboard for printing cyanotypes

Two boxes of Gold 120. In the fridge; I'll try one out this weekend.

This week I took the plunge and picked up a used Leica M6 (0.85) and an M10, both black, both in very nice condition. So far my impressions are favorable, though it's gonna be a while before I actually get used to shooting with a rangefinder. I have plenty of Zeiss and Voigtländer lenses on hand, so no need to screw up my retirement buying a Noctilux. I'm going to do that by buying an old Noct-Nikkor.

This may be an I’ll conceived purchase, but I just bought a Sinar P2 5x7 in KEH, EX condition. I say it’s “ill conceived” because I’m really a field photographer, and the P series doesn’t fold up like a F or Norma. So in addition to weight, packing for transport will be much more challenging. I’m guessing the best approach will be pushing them as close together as possible on the shortest rail segment and maybe storing in a pelican case. Most likely I’ll be operating out of the back of my truck. Nonetheless, the P has interested me for a while and I’m really gelling with 5x7.

abruzzi said:

I’m guessing the best approach will be pushing them as close together as possible on the shortest rail segment and maybe storing in a pelican case.

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That's how my Graphic View II goes into its case. The case is bulky, but it carries like a thick suitcase or old luggable computer, and it's mostly empty space so it isn't all that heavy. And plenty of room inside the case for lenses and film holders.

Donald Qualls said:

mostly empty space so it isn't all that heavy.

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Well, I think a Sinar P2 is heavy no matter what you do. At least it’s not a Linhof Kardan Color, those are supposed to be beasts.

I have a 5x7 Plaubel that heavier than my Sinar Norma 8x10. But it has the limitation of not having an extendable rail—just one long 450mm rail. The Sinar rail setup is a bit genius allowing an easily extendable setup.

Film Shield for my Grand Dad's SX-70. Hopefully it'll help with the slight opacification issue along the chemical pod edge... If it doesn't help, oh well... it's only $11 USD.

Still in progress (B&H is closed for Passover until Sunday) but I put the following 4x5 films in my cart: Portra 160, 10 sheet box, .EDU Ultra 100 50 sheet box, Inkpress Media Regent Royal Hard Dot, 50 sheet box (the latter for experimentation -- high contrast ortho, very cheap). Still thinking about adding a 10 sheet box of Ektachrome 100.

Finally found my dream camera locally. Absolute the best ever made. Did not come with a lens but considering I got the camera cheap I have a wiggle room.
Downsides?
Tough to use any of my other SLRs.
The 8000 shutter speed makes a big difference.
Everything is in the right place and it feels like I have used the camera forever even though I have never held one before.

Andrew O'Neill said:

My ten 120 rolls of Rollei IR arrived! Straight to the freezer they go!

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That is a film I messed up development. Could not find info aboit times.