MF Folders

T

taffer

void
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Hi !

I think there's no section for these cameras yet...

and most of them are rangefinders indeed, isn't it ;)

I recognize I have never used one of these cameras, but surely some of the folks out there have had some experiences with them, and surely they will be kind enough to share a bit with us, avid readers :D

Anyway, the Matanle's chapter about folders is enough to start dreaming about Ikontas, Bessas, Perkeos, Isolettes, Nettars... MF cameras that fit in your pocket (big pocket, nonetheless...)

Experiences, suggestions, recommendations... ? ;)
 
I got a Moskva-5 It takes pretty pictures, and cost me $60 from someone who rebuilds them in Russia.

Its finish is behind the times (even for the 50's) and the chrome is rough, parts rust, but the lens is very nice, and the shutter accurate, I've no light leaks. Film flatness seems decent, too.
 
I often recommend folders, rangefinders or not, to those who seem interested in MF photography, but don't know what they want, how much they want to spend, and probably not if they really want MF other than they have heard it is cool (it is or course :-] ). Some had pretty good lenses, some had 6x6 and 645 together. Not a bad way into MF at all. If someone then wants a MF camera with interchangable lenses and backs, the folder remains as a backup.
 
Does anybody here carry a MF folder as his/her daily MF camera ? I thought it would be nice to "always" carry one small Bessa 66 or Voigtlander Perkeo in the small bag where I always bring my wallet, keys, etc.

Anyway... for "relaxed" MF, I think I keep going with TLRs, composing on such a big screen really makes the difference... but please don't report this to the moderator :p
 
in the small bag where I always bring my wallet, keys, etc.

You mean a purse? ;-)
 
Yeah, I think it's the name, hehe... here it's becoming the more fashionable item for men nowadays...

I think we've realized why women always carried them up and down, after all, you can put there all those small things that always get lost in your pockets...

Now we have place where at least these things can get lost toghether ;)

And the Zorki 3M fits perfectly, yep... too bad purses don't make things "ligther" :p
 
I own a Zeiss Ikon Nettar: neat little bugger... without a rangefinder. In fact, you have to use your "eyemeter" and deal with three weird shutterspeeds: 1/25, 1/75 and 1/200. There's no stop for the film winder, so you must be careful and check the exposure number through the small red window on the back. As meterless cameras go... this one has a fairly impressive DOF. I've used it only once, though. Reason: the scale is in feet, and I really cannot judge distances in feet as I can in meters (I was born in a country with Decimal system).

But this thread is making me think... A good walk in the morning, a meter around my neck, a first metering and all the rest of the exposures are adjusted by aperture. Sounds like a walk on the wild side!! :p
 
No problem with the red window, I'm used to it on my Lubitel...

the feet scale is another thing, though, I'm watching closely the auction site for good deal on a Voigtlander Perkeo. Unfortunately, most of the "bargain" folders have no rangefinder, so you have to rely on distance estimation and DOF... but that's just what I used to do with My Lubi, and I got some pretty nice results... :cool:
 
Francisco and Taffer! Can't convert feet to meters? Divide by three. Unless you are at the shortest end with the widest aperture (probably even then), it will make precious little difference that there is an extra 3 point something small inches between 3 feet and 1 meter. That is how I have always done it and it worked fine.
 
Convert feet to meters? ... er... hum... mumble mumble...

Taffer -> Abnormal Termination. Segmentation Fault. Core Dumped.

:p

Well, of course you're completely right, hehe, but the easier the focus, the better for the photographer :) And BTW, i'm still having some problems with the euro/peseta mental conversion...
 
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Oftheherd, that's what I usually do... if I get a reliable reading in meters! :p The problem is that yours-truly couldn't get an approximate guess even if his life were at stake... :(

First, I resorted to carrying my trusty Contax G1 with (the RF is set for meters... Don't ask me why), but then I decided to trust my firm hands instead, set an f8 aperture and shoot away. Let's see what kind of day we get tomorrow!
 
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Moskva-5. If you don't yet have one, get one.

I brought mine as a backup to my Mamiya 7 when I went back to Portugal a couple weeks ago. It usually held the Fuji 100 speed black and white film.

The pictures from it are very attractive. Not as sharp as the Mamiya, of course, and the contrast is lower, but they are smooth, sweet, and quite detailed- absolutely perfect for a simple travelling camera.

With one exception:
Film flatness. Wind BEFORE the shot, not after, so that if you have to close and then re-open the camera, you don't SUCK the film forward. If you do, and are stopped down, the picture doesn't suffer, except the shape distorts, so it's not THAT big a deal, but still, a simple thing to improve pictures.

Get it from Oleg, it'll be good.
 
Thanks for the tip! Also, I don't know about others, but in mine, always set the shutterspeed before cocking the shutter, or else you'll grind the mechanism to a dust.
 
(Don't tell, but I don't. I change shutter speed whenever I want- hasn't seemed to hurt anything yet)
 
Hi all,

I've been out of BCN and hence out of the Internet for a while. Now I'm here again :), and when I entered my office last friday I found there my last (compulsive) e(vil)Bay acquisition, the Agfa Isolette III I bid for before going out to my b'day dinner...

Well, there are good and bad things. Good ones: mechanically and estetically is smooth and very clean, no rust, and when bellows are opened the shutter/lens stays very firmly in place so I think I don't have to worry about lens-to-film distance or things like that... Also, the shutter, a Prontor SVS works well on all speeds, including 1 sec and 1/2 sec.

Now, bad things :(: as with most of these cameras, bellows have some pinholes that need to be repaired. I think I'll try the black nail polish method I read on some pages. This is maybe the most annoying problem, as I can't use the camera until fixed if I expect "correct" results.

The other couple of bad things are the rangefinder mechanism, that is frozen due to (I think) hardened grease, and the lens, an Apotar 85 mm f4.5 that has some fungus and needs cleaning...

Well, having in mind that the whole thing was $38, maybe it's not a too bad deal...

Anyway, as soon as I fix the bellows I'll put in some film to give it a try, and depending on the results, maybe I'll be able to fix the RF and lens problem using the explanations I found here:

http://www.davidrichert.com/AGFA rebuild/agfa.htm

But first, I think I prefer to take off this damned flu I got last week ! :p
 
You got a good deal on that Isolette III. You could have spent twice that on e-Bay and still had that many repairs to make. Most Isolette III's sell for more than a KMZ Iskra, and the coupled rangefinder on the Iskra makes it a much easier to use when it is fully functional.

-Paul
 
Taffer,

I don't know, but nail polish sounds like a bit of a bummer. I think it would be too hard, and cause more breakage of the bellows to occur quicker. Try www.Largeformatphotography.com/info (I forget which). A little searching will show what sound like less problematic ways. The one that sounded best to me was the Elmers glue, shoe dye, and soap. That is the one I intend to use on a large bellows I have with sufficient pinholes to start a new gallexy.

Good luck no matter. I read somewhere the Isolettes weren't that difficult to work on, but that no doubt was said by someone very used to working on them, and who had a lot of proper tools.
 
Hi,

the guy at the page I posted says that the nail polish method is only recommended for the Agfa bellows, as they are made of a plastic material, and not leather. I've read a lot more options (elmers glue, tape) on Roland and Caroline's website, the Medium format cameras library pages and so on...

Anyway, as what I pretend is to fix things and not make them worse :) the first thing I'll do is the more simple one. Buy a B&W 120 roll and try it, maybe with some tiny patches of black electrician tape on some holes.

So, this way I could check if this is enough to prevent light leaks and see if the state of the lens affects picture quality in some way. I've read that the Apotar was the mid-range lens for the Isolettes, so I'll try to stop down at least at f8-11 whenever I can. Good thing is the lens can be stopped down to f32, and even more as the lever goes a bit past the f32 mark.

Also, in order to remove the front element I need some tiny screwdrivers. I have a set of precission ones, but they are not small enough. OTH, I was able to take apart the top cover and RF cover and mechanism very easily (I'm mechanically illiterate) and put it back together without further problem.

The problem will be the rear element, I think, as I don't have a spanner wrench to unscrew it, and maybe a set would be more expensive than the camera itself...

But as I said first thing is running a roll trough it, so to try to know what the real problems are :)

Best !

PS: BTW, the link you posted seems to lead to an available domain... do you know if they have moved somewhere ?
 
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