Negatives still hanging...

B

Brian Legge

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Mar 17, 2010
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On Friday, I stumbled across a Retina IIIc for $10 at an antique store. The place rarely has decent camera deals so my expectations were low. Aside from a lens needing some cleaning and in 15 shots failing to fire the shutter, the camera looks to be in great condition.

I shot a quick roll with it - HP5 at 1600 - that night. It was an impulsive thing but proved the camera (mostly) worked. I shot a roll of FP4 today. Its hanging right now.

Gut reaction, this camera is bloody sharp. I'll know more tomorrow but this may be the small, portable, razor sharp camera I've been looking for.

If I can sort out the occasional 'shutter doesn't fire' issue, I can see this becoming a common user. Even the metering works nicely for me - its easy to glance down at the camera and see when I need to change it (ie the needle position doesn't match its current position).

I'll add pictures here tomorrow night.
 
I have the 50/2 Xenon on mine, and it is very sharp. As the front module comes off, it is fairly easy to squirt a little Ronsonol (lighter fluid) into the front blades. This cured my IIIc and IIC from occasional shutter hang-ups.
 
Brian, when you had hang issues, did the shutter go slowly or just not at all? I think mine is occasionally failing to cock the shutter, though I need to pay more attention next time it happens. I'm was guessing the rack I haven't had a chance to spend enough time looking at the symptoms.

Okay, here are a few quick scans. My Canon 8800f (and my sloppy development of this roll) were more the limiting factors from the looks of it:

4941701347_1b9e037593_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4941701347/

4941700923_e872f5d7c1_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4941700923/

4941698653_8c01264a8b_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4941698653/

4941740123_4b9e681ab9_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4941740123/
 
Heh, I have to admit - I took that shot partially because I was curious about how well the lens would resolve that detail, particularly in the corner of the frame. One of those 'well, while I'm standing here shooting...' moments. :)

The Harley guy was a shot where the detail resolution did exactly what I wanted from a composition standpoint. I love the rough looking guy with the Harley shirt, spiky hat, etc standing at a fair with his kid. Some of the lenses I've been using recently wouldn't have done such a nice job with the detail at f/5.6 or so.
 
Nice find, I've never got that great price in my location (mine was $65 + $27 shipping). The Retina cameras are fun to use and my style completely changed.

My IIIc was shutter sticky out of the box at the slow shutter speed but after I fire a couple hundred shots (may be 300-500 shots without film) it alive.
 
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I finally caught it hanging again. Brian Sweeney was right - it was oil on the blades. A drop of Ronsonol and it opened up. Definitely good news.

I'm happy though surprised; this is the first camera with this issue I've dealt with where I couldn't see any signs of oil at all the rest of the time. Good lesson. :)
 
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