What's your latest new old camera ? (Part 2)

[pentaxpete]

Thanks for all that interesting History -- i have it loaded with Fuji Sensia II .

 

[Mr Flibble]

Well not the latest old camera (Contax I v5) I've bought, but definitely the latest old lens;
Ross Definex from 1947

 

[AgX]

Do you use the Contax within re-enactments?

 

[Mr Flibble]

I've shot a Contax II a few times at events. And I have used a Contax I (version 4) last year.
I'm just putting the first roll of film through this Contax I (version 5) after replacing the shutter straps earlier this year.

 

[R.Gould]

Rolleiflex T 3.5 bought from a local camera repair shop

 

[flavio81]

Have picked up a pair or original Canon F-1s (one with a WLF!)

Welcome to the club of satisfied F-1 fetishists. I'm really considering getting a fourth F-1 today.

 

[zen_zanon]

Welcome to the club of satisfied F-1 fetishists. I'm really considering getting a fourth F-1 today.

Ha! These are actually my second and third F-1. Sold my first one last year and missed it too much!

 

[Pentode]

Very happy to have a Minolta XK back in the stable.
I sold my first one off over 20 years ago and this one's in much nicer condition.
I hope to shoot my first roll through it later today.

 

[CMoore]

Very happy to have a Minolta XK back in the stable.
I sold my first one off over 20 years ago and this one's in much nicer condition.
I hope to shoot my first roll through it later today.

Yaahhhhooooooo...!!!!
Those things wind so smooth, like a damned "Swiss Watch".......like you got the main piece from a Norden Bomb-Sight, cleaned and restored, and then made a 35mm camera out of it.

 

[Pentode]

Yaahhhhooooooo...!!!!
Those things wind so smooth, like a damned "Swiss Watch".......like you got the main piece from a Norden Bomb-Sight, cleaned and restored, and then made a 35mm camera out of it.

...except it’s bigger, heavier and tougher than a bomb sight!

My old one had electronic issues and was VERY beaten up so I let it go and I’ve missed it ever since.

I got it from a fellow APUG, er... PHOTRIO member and he gave me a very nice deal.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Very happy to have a Minolta XK back in the stable.
I sold my first one off over 20 years ago and this one's in much nicer condition.
I hope to shoot my first roll through it later today.

I had one. The Minolta line is a great set of cameras. I started with the SR-7 and finished with the X-700.

 

[flavio81]

Yesterday my buy was a second Pentax MX, this one looks almost mint and has the meter working. Yay! What a great user interface!!

I'm getting the MX virus by now... Now on to get more K lenses, i only have three:

- Pentax-M 28/2.8
- Pentax-A 50/1.4
- Pentax K 105/2.8

... but I have the M42->K adapter that allows me to use all my takumars!

I got it from a fellow APUG, er... PHOTRIO member and he gave me a very nice deal.

This is APUG! Congrats on your XK.

 

[Dennis-B]

Just found a very nice Nikon F5. Came with the MF-27 back. I replaced it with a nice plain back. From the serial number, it was produced ca. 1999-2000. Looks hardly used, which Intend to remedy.

 

[4season]

The Zenit 412 reminds me a bit of "Kumamon", the mascot of Kumamoto in Japan (http://kumamon-official.jp/):

In person I find it more cute than strange, though I wish the shutter speed dial were easier to grasp.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... [Minolta XK] wind so smooth, like a damned "Swiss Watch".......like you got the main piece from a Norden Bomb-Sight, cleaned and restored ...

Only on APUG Photrio would there be people old enough to know what a bombsight was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norden_bombsight

The Zenit 412 reminds me a bit of "Kumamon" ...

Looks similar to the R8:

 

[Pentode]

I had one. The Minolta line is a great set of cameras. I started with the SR-7 and finished with the X-700.

It’s true! I never understood why they didn’t gain more traction in the market. I realize that they were still very successful even despite some poor marketing decisions but I feel like they never really got the credit they deserved, especially when one considers all the technologies they led the field in.

I started with an X-700 after borrowing my Dad’s SRT-101 and have also been through many models over the years. I never got on well with my X-700 (it was damaged and, therefore, unreliable) but I’ve probably shot more rolls through a pair of XD-11s than any other camera despite a fairly big collection of cameras in multiple formats. A close second would be my SRT-202. I’m now on the hunt for an SR-3 and an XE-7 for no other reason than they’d be fun to have.

 

[elmontanero]

I was never a rangefinder guy... since winter there are now 5 of them in rotation at my house. And yes I shoot them.
Two recent landings at my place:

Contax - I paid very little for but will probably spend too much on. It's gorgeous but needs to get the full treatment that it seems most Contax's need. Came with several bits of ephemera of the time, manuals books, and a price sheet too. Glass is good, camera body is troubled.

And these lovelies were donated. I'm still in shock. The camera bodies were serviced in 1991 and put away still with the repair ticket for 277 dollars wrapped up around them. The glass is for the most part terrible: scratches, fungus, and haze a plenty. (not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but to be honest) I'd always wanted a Leica but not on my income, so they were a shock to be handed.

So I've got two great 1950's cameras that are somewhat unusable as they stand. I find some humor in that.

 

[AgX]

In person I find [the Zenit 412] more cute than strange, though I wish the shutter speed dial were easier to grasp.

Which shows that one can worsen a predecessor design.
But from your post I conclude that otherwise that modern Zenit is fine to grasp with your hands.

 

[M-88]

It’s true! I never understood why they didn’t gain more traction in the market. I realize that they were still very successful even despite some poor marketing decisions but I feel like they never really got the credit they deserved, especially when one considers all the technologies they led the field in.

I started with an X-700 after borrowing my Dad’s SRT-101 and have also been through many models over the years. I never got on well with my X-700 (it was damaged and, therefore, unreliable) but I’ve probably shot more rolls through a pair of XD-11s than any other camera despite a fairly big collection of cameras in multiple formats. A close second would be my SRT-202. I’m now on the hunt for an SR-3 and an XE-7 for no other reason than they’d be fun to have.

X-700, like every other three digit X Minoltas feel cheaper than any SRT. Cheaper than most of their peers from other brands as well. And that is considering that X-700 was last (and supposedly the best) manual focus Minolta for mass market. Not good enough, I guess.

 

[Pentode]

I was never a rangefinder guy... since winter there are now 5 of them in rotation at my house. And yes I shoot them.
Two recent landings at my place:

Contax - I paid very little for but will probably spend too much on. It's gorgeous but needs to get the full treatment that it seems most Contax's need. Came with several bits of ephemera of the time, manuals books, and a price sheet too. Glass is good, camera body is troubled.

And these lovelies were donated. I'm still in shock. The camera bodies were serviced in 1991 and put away still with the repair ticket for 277 dollars wrapped up around them. The glass is for the most part terrible: scratches, fungus, and haze a plenty. (not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but to be honest) I'd always wanted a Leica but not on my income, so they were a shock to be handed.

So I've got two great 1950's cameras that are somewhat unusable as they stand. I find some humor in that.

Those are some nice acquisitions even if they do need some work.

 

[4season]

these lovelies were donated. I'm still in shock. The camera bodies were serviced in 1991 and put away still with the repair ticket for 277 dollars wrapped up around them. The glass is for the most part terrible: scratches, fungus, and haze a plenty. (not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but to be honest) I'd always wanted a Leica but not on my income, so they were a shock to be handed..

Wow!

Even if you do nothing besides flip them as-is on eBay, those look like great finds.

 

[Pentode]

X-700, like every other three digit X Minoltas feel cheaper than any SRT. Cheaper than most of their peers from other brands as well. And that is considering that X-700 was last (and supposedly the best) manual focus Minolta for mass market. Not good enough, I guess.

Mine was broken by a previous owner (and an amateurish repair job) so it’s not really fair of me to judge. The build quality never felt especially cheap to me; mine was just damaged. The SRTs are in a different league, though. They’re battle tanks. As for an X-370 that was recently given to me... well, that does feel kinda cheap.

 

[elmontanero]

Wow! Even if you do nothing besides flip them as-is on eBay, those look like great finds.

Yeah, I can't/won't do that with the Leica's. I'm a public school photo teacher- the kids know I love old gear and that was a donation from a pair of twins. They knew they were worth something but wanted me to have them for a couple reasons: they were their grandfathers, they had no use for them, they wanted someone to have them that would shoot them rather than sell them on the 'bay.
The Contax came with a box of slides the original owner took, he was a fantastic photographer that travelled the world in the 50's and 60's. Some of the images really should be in a collection. If they had a name behind them they'd be famous photographs. Humbling for me.

 

[M-88]

Mine was broken by a previous owner (and an amateurish repair job) so it’s not really fair of me to judge. The build quality never felt especially cheap to me; mine was just damaged. The SRTs are in a different league, though. They’re battle tanks. As for an X-370 that was recently given to me... well, that does feel kinda cheap.

What I'm trying to say is that, let's say, Nikon FE and EM. One is more robust than the other. Or Olympus OM-1 and OM-10. Latter feels a tad flimsy. Same with X-xxx. X-700 looks fine, the paint never comes off, it can look great for the decades, but it's plasticky. So is X-300 (Aka 370). I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw SRT-101, it stands so much higher than others... Heck, even Maxxum 9000 feels sturdier than X-700.

I won't say that any of those cameras are bad, because they aren't. In fact X-700 is a dream cam for some thanks to PAM, X-570 offers the same sans Program mode and if one wishes to taste majestic Rokkor glass without spending too much, there's always X-370. All three are rather popular in my country, much more than Nikon FM, FE, FG, almost as much venerated as Canon AE-1.

It seems to me that some people made a lot of bad decisions in Minolta management, because if you're as innovative as that brand, you gotta try too hard to perish like they did.

 

[David Brown]

I was recently contacted by someone about a project to re-create some old "vernacular" photographs. And, it would be great if I could use old box cameras. Sure, I have a box of those somewhere.

When I pulled the box out of storage and opened it, on top was a camera I remember seeing at a camera swap meet recently, but did not remember buying (old age?). But, there it was: an Imperial reflex. Works. This is the same model camera used by Marina Oswald to take the famous "Backyard" photos of Lee Harvey Oswald. Still had the $10 price tag on it. I thought I had stopped buying those old box cameras years ago, but there this thing was.

Actually put some TriX through it to test. Had to re-roll film onto 620 spools, of course. I decided to go through all of the cameras to see just how many 620 spools I had. Ten! I have way too many Brownies!


Bottom line: probably will use another old box camera that's in better shape.