Steve M.
Veteran
I bought this Kodak Retina Ia w/ Xenar 50 3.5 lens for small money, but it's pretty beat up. The focus is real stiff, viewfinder is cloudy, the shutter speeds needs a lot of pressure to change them, and the aperture won't stop down all the way unless you focus the lens out. In other words, it's a typical ebay Retina. After 5 shots w/ it (Tri-X in D76) I said to heck w/ this, and pulled the film out and put it in another camera.
My other ebay Retina Ia arrived today, and it's the exact opposite. It has an Ektar 50 3.5 lens, and everything about it is easy and smooth. Figuring I'd sell the beater Retina for whatever I could get, at the last minute I decided to look at those 5 shots. You know, they're not too bad. Scanned on my old Epson 2450 flatbed. I should read that thread on the image sizing here, as they sure look smaller than they used to.
These are scale focus cameras w/ no rangefinder. Being out of practice, things are not really on the money, and close ups are not it's forte, but this old thing may be worth keeping. Anyone else got an old beater Retina that performs better than it looks?
My other ebay Retina Ia arrived today, and it's the exact opposite. It has an Ektar 50 3.5 lens, and everything about it is easy and smooth. Figuring I'd sell the beater Retina for whatever I could get, at the last minute I decided to look at those 5 shots. You know, they're not too bad. Scanned on my old Epson 2450 flatbed. I should read that thread on the image sizing here, as they sure look smaller than they used to.
These are scale focus cameras w/ no rangefinder. Being out of practice, things are not really on the money, and close ups are not it's forte, but this old thing may be worth keeping. Anyone else got an old beater Retina that performs better than it looks?
