7 cameras at once

[Pherdinand]

Yes, they arrived. As described - some of them work, some do not.

Good points: the minolta hi-matic 9 and one of the canonet ql17 GIII's are working and quite clean. Also one of the kodak pony's is working but quite dirty.
Oh, and there was an exposed roll of print film in the hi-matic. (OMG, did i buy stolen stuff?) I'm curious so I will get it developed😀

Bad points: the second canonet was run over by a tank in 'Nam, large dent on the top, view/rangefdinder system is exploded out by the pressure. The second kodak pony was chewed on by King Kong so that the shutter/lens assembly is falling out, and there's some cheesy sticky material all over it, the voigtlander vitomatic IIb looks like coming from a burnt-out house, stinks and nothing can be moved on it except the film advance.
And there's the regula sprintomatic which looks like a camera that never was good for taking pictures🙂

After all, i can earn 5$ on the lot if i sell the hi-matic and the good canonet, so it's cool.

 

[Nick R.]

It seems that a lot of the used cameras I buy at flea markets and garage sales have an unfinished roll of film in them, so that's not a good indication that the thing is stolen. I'm always tempted to get the rolls developed but don't because who knows what's on them. Right here in my desk at work, I have an old, have-used roll of Kodachrome-X that I found in a stereo camera I bought at a garage sale.

 

[berci]

I look forward to seeing the results from the alien roll. Post them here please.

 

[bmattock]

Ever wonder what might be on an alien roll of film? Maybe a murder - maybe porno - maybe the police show up when you go to pick up the film!

Just me being paranoid, I guess...

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Pherdinand]

Bill, i am just hoping it's such an interesting thing. I am afraid it will be some mediocre snapshot collection - if the film is still usable. Anyway, i will only let the negative developed, no proof prints, at the lab where I always do it and they know me already. Then i'll see if there's anything worth looking at/printing.

 

[Doug]

Good idea, Pherdinand; curiosity demands development! I recently had that experience too... when the camera arrived it had a half-exposed roll in it. I shot the remainder and sent it in for processing. The seller's shots were just around the house, and at the school where he's a teacher. I emailed him the scans of his pics.

 

[zuikologist]

Any news on the alien film?

 

[Pherdinand]

Yeah
it was grossly overexposed (or maybe exposed to direct light) since the whole film was completely opaque, sometimes small text was readable, on some rooftops here and there
but really difficult to decipher.
A bit of a disappointing🙂

 

[Pherdinand]

By the way, i don't think one should be afraid of dev. found film, it's the same like if you find a wallet on the street, do you pick it up and open it to see what's inside or you leave it there since who knows what it contains.
I do pick it up, and the owners are usually very grateful (just happened a few weeks ago at a flea market, the guy had driving license etc in it)

 

[zuikologist]

Another 7 on *bay!

Another 7 on *bay!

What a shame. At least some of the 7 rangefinders were not as disappointing. I am tracking a similar number on *bay. The odd thing is, unless I am mistaken, the photo seems different to the description.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3871384025&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[Pherdinand]

hehe, yeah, the pic shows 8 cameras the whole day long.
Maybe one of them is not a rf, that's why he says "seven rf's"
Ah i see there are two canons and only one mentiopned
Anyway you should ask him what's the story
good luck

PS: i am quite happy with the deal i made; the canonet and the hi-matic are 100% operational and look good, and the second canonet works, just the top plate is busted.
The rest are junk.

However, I dismantled the voigtlander vitomatic IIb - being curious.
Man, such a complicated vf system i have never seen before!
The big chunk of vf prism has TWO beam splitters inside, one in the middle for the rangefinder (which is partially glued to the side of the big prism! and it is in the style of the COntax prism rf's )
and another one on the bottom, circular shaped, that looks UNDER the rf unit into another prism on the far right side, which reflects the image of the meter needle position, heh.
Then, there are two tiny mirrors in the vf window too. They allow you to see the settings of the aperture and shutter speed.

So after all, you have a full-info viewfinder without any electronics!!! Amazing stuff.

 

[zuikologist]

It is unfortunate that for something with so much design effort the Vitomatic doesn't work.

I like the spirit of RFF - to dismantle an optical device out of curiosity, whether working or not! (and then cover in red leather, vulcanite....)