What have you just BOUGHT?

Early Christmas. First of the Aires models from 1953 to 1956, Aires 35, 35-II, and 35-III, plus a Penta 35 with tele and wide lenses. They all work, (even the Penta), with the exception of the 1953 Aires 35, which is lovely and the shutter is fine, but has a frozen focus ring. I should be able to deal with that. It is a cute little thing, a viewfinder only. The period Manon accessory Japanese range finder is good too, though unfortunately in feet, unlike the camera’s metric scale. The Penta is unusual since it has an f2 lens, usually used on the later metered Pentas. Commonly these non metered versions had 2.8 lenses.IMG_2188.jpeg
 
Some shellac flakes. Not the most exciting item but, having taken the trim off the bottom of my Edixa Flex to get into it, it's handy having an adhesive that can be easily removed if I need to repeat. I get flakes rather than readymade I can make up as and when I need. Plus it's fun to have a go at these things.
 
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help i can't stop buying 35mm folders!
got a great deal on this Weltini: 27€ including shipping.
the camera is from 1938 and in very much used condition. Interestingly it is an export model even though i bought it in Germany. The distance scale is in feet and it only comes with a normal 1/300th Compur shutter, unlike the 'normal' version with the Compur-Rapid shutter. Never seen another of these with just the Compur. Also this camera has no flash sync. I think the 1939 version got a flash sync.
Nice uncoated 2.8 Tessar!

The rangefinder is crazy low contrast. seems to be more or less unusable in stock condition. i tried putting a bit of b/w-negative (blue-ish) on the viewfinder and it helped a bit. piece of brown/orang-ish color negative did a better job but it dimmed the viewfinder too much for my taste. Final resort was to take a black marker and put some dots in the center of the VF to only get the RF image in that spot. It seems to work ok. I will see tomorrow how it will perform in daylight, maybe it is good enough.
Opened up the top to check the mirrors on the rangefinder and they all look wonderfull without any damage or corrosion.
Is there anywhere i can go from the black marker method? Maybe some kind of foil that is better suited than colour negative?
 
I have now completed my Zeiss ZM collection with the purchase of the 50mm ƒ/1.5 C-Sonnar. The lens is out for delivery with FedEx right now.

I now have all my most used focal lengths covered--21 (both models), 25, 35 (both models), 50 (both models) and 85. In addition to these wonder lenses, I also have a selection of Voigtlanders from 15mm to 90mm. All of them work beautifully on adapters for the Nikon Z cameras I now use. Merry Christmas to me.

It is now time to take stock and sell off a bunch of cameras and lenses, something I've been promising my wife for a couple of years. She will like that. Merry Christmas to her. 🙂



.......................
Always tempted to get one of those 50's. Nice collection!
 
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help i can't stop buying 35mm folders!
got a great deal on this Weltini: 27€ including shipping.
the camera is from 1938 and in very much used condition. Interestingly it is an export model even though i bought it in Germany. The distance scale is in feet and it only comes with a normal 1/300th Compur shutter, unlike the 'normal' version with the Compur-Rapid shutter. Never seen another of these with just the Compur. Also this camera has no flash sync. I think the 1939 version got a flash sync.
Nice uncoated 2.8 Tessar!

The rangefinder is crazy low contrast. seems to be more or less unusable in stock condition. i tried putting a bit of b/w-negative (blue-ish) on the viewfinder and it helped a bit. piece of brown/orang-ish color negative did a better job but it dimmed the viewfinder too much for my taste. Final resort was to take a black marker and put some dots in the center of the VF to only get the RF image in that spot. It seems to work ok. I will see tomorrow how it will perform in daylight, maybe it is good enough.
Opened up the top to check the mirrors on the rangefinder and they all look wonderfull without any damage or corrosion.
Is there anywhere i can go from the black marker method? Maybe some kind of foil that is better suited than colour negative?
I've always loved those exposure charts, which you need ridiculously good close vision to read. That one is particularly fun, it's nearly as big as the camera!
 
I've always loved those exposure charts, which you need ridiculously good close vision to read. That one is particularly fun, it's nearly as big as the camera!
oh yes these charts are the best 😉
jokes aside i quit using my Welti because of the annoying chart. I randomly got a Kodak Retina 1a once (same year as the Welti) and it instantly replaced the Welti because it has the depth of field on the lens, as it would become standart through the years. The Weltini being in feet is peak depth of field chart for me. Luckily it has a barely usable RF, so i will gladly ignore that chart.
Kodak understood early on the annoyence of these charts and got rid of them. The same company that thought it was a good idea to get rid of the little tripod clip for portrait format on the foldables... 🫣
 
oh yes these charts are the best 😉
jokes aside i quit using my Welti because of the annoying chart. I randomly got a Kodak Retina 1a once (same year as the Welti) and it instantly replaced the Welti because it has the depth of field on the lens, as it would become standart through the years. The Weltini being in feet is peak depth of field chart for me. Luckily it has a barely usable RF, so i will gladly ignore that chart.
Kodak understood early on the annoyence of these charts and got rid of them. The same company that thought it was a good idea to get rid of the little tripod clip for portrait format on the foldables... 🫣
I think both my Retinas have tbe DoF chart as a little wheel. It's actually quite usable... or would be if it wasn't on the bottom of the camera so you have to turn it over to use it! Some things Kodak did are great. Others more WTF?
 
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I think both my Retinas have tbe DoF chart as a little wheel. It's actually quite usable... or would be if it wasn't on the bottom of the camera so you have to turn it over to use it! Some things Kodak did are great. Others more WTF?
that little wheel is 1930s, isn't it? shows how they knew that that chart sucks early on. I wonder if they were actually the first with DoF printed on the lens/focus-ring
amazing what a small thing like that can do to a camera. maybe it is even cheaper to build than the DoF chart
 
A small buying spree ... I ordered a pistol grip (two of them) for the SWC ... both the Hasselblad grip (really for the 500CM, but it works for the SWC as well) and then I had the brilliant idea of finding a pistol grip with an Arca-Swiss clamp on it and found the "Pistolero Arca-Swiss Handle" so I can fit it without having to remove the Arca-Swiss adapter.

Then I ordered an Agfa Rodinax-60 processing tank that I found at the relative bargain price of $60 or so (almost double with shipping and import duty, but still cheaper than the $150-200 range I'm finding in the USA). I have one of these and use it a lot, prefer it to the Lab Box for 120 film processing, and figured I would like to have a spare.

And my eyes keep drifting to the Lomo LC-A 120 camera. But I'm hesitant because it's a bit pricey for an impulse buy.

G
 
that little wheel is 1930s, isn't it? shows how they knew that that chart sucks early on. I wonder if they were actually the first with DoF printed on the lens/focus-ring
amazing what a small thing like that can do to a camera. maybe it is even cheaper to build than the DoF chart
Yes, it is. Bar a few aberrations like the one mentioned, the Retinas seem to have been generally well thought out.
 

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