New IVSB - Best collapsable?

[goamules]

Hi, I've read this forum often, but just joined.

I just bought a Canon IVSB (I believe) that should arrive soon. It has the F1.8 50mm, but it seems fairly large. I want to have a pocketable camera, to replace the Vitessa I've been using.

I will do bright light, street and general photography, so speed isn't too much of a concern. Price is. I'll mostly shoot B&W, but some color for sure.

I was looking at an Industar-22, but is there a decent collapsible Canon lens I should look for? Or is the Summitar what I should wait for? My experience is with large format, so this is all pretty new to me.

Thanks,

 

[xayraa33]

Canon made a collapsable 50mm f3.5 but it is none too common and sells for more than the excellent 50mm f1.8 lens.
I use the Industar 22 on my IVSb with no problems.
You might want to use a Canon/Serenar 50mm f1.9 lens, as it is collapsable, but I find that the Summitar is a better lens and more to my liking.

 

[dexdog]

collapsible 50/2 summicron in ltm would work, and has more "normal" OOF than the summitar

 

[John Shriver]

The Elmar 50/3.5 is cheaper than the Canon 50/3.5. It also collapses much smaller.

But, the Canon has a much nicer aperture ring -- but that's why it doesn't collapse as far.

The focusing mount threads on my Elmar are so worn it's really not very accurate, so I use the Canon 50/3.5 as my compact lens. (I should see if I can have the Elmar's mount replaced...)

 

[goamules]

Thanks. Lots of choices, I'll look at some of them. I got the camera today, unexpectedly early. What a jewel! It looks fantastic, and I think the shutter is fine, it looks and sounds very smooth, even the slow speeds sound on.

I loaded a roll of film (I assume I have to cut the leader, as I've read?) and took a hike shooting some great stuff....then I found the film hadn't been winding correctly (when I rewound, I felt it pop off the spool too quickly). I guess I missed the sprockets. Question: when it's correctly loaded, does the little dot on the shutter button rotate when I wind? I guess I was too excited with this nice little camera to think about that at first.

Pics tomorrow.

 

[kurotama]

Yes it rotates regardless of if you have the film loaded or not. Its an indicator of turning sprocket wheel. You should check the rewind knob turns as you wind it up. You should cut the leader edge of film as it has the instruction at the bottom. Be careful though, when I do a poor job cutting, I ruin a few shots worth of film as the pressure plate eats the film edge and the film gets torn apart.
I use Canon 50/1.9 collapsible. It has some character of being sharp in the middle and dull at corners wide open, but with not much light-falloff. Not expensive. You may want to use a Canon lens for a Canon camera.

 

[Mablo]

Congrats to your fine new camera! I have the same model and use it regularly. Concerning proper film loading, check out this website:

http://www.zorkikat.com/entering-fr...-also-for-fed-zorki-and-canon-rf-cameras/115/

Zorkicat is a fellow RFF member. His site has lots of other interesting information too.

I hope your camera still has the original Canon takeup spool. They are hard to find these days (those Leica guys want them...).

 

[airds]

Here's my version with the Canon 50mm f1.9

 

[Mablo]

Wow! the 50mm/1.9 Serenar is a perfect fit.
I use mine mostly with wide angle lenses. Here with CV 21mm.

 

[goamules]

OK, here it is. Minty leather case too. After shooting the most basic (and complicated) process, large format wetplate, all the settings will be a joy to use. What a nice instrument. I got a roll properly installed now, I'll go check the shutter with some shots.

 

[goamules]

One more quick question: Is it possible for the viewfinder magnifier to be "backwards"? By that I mean, when I set the arrow to 1.5 the image is smallest, when I set to 1x it gets larger, and then set to F it is the largest. This is backwards, isn't it?

 

[raid]

No, the finder is simply cropping off the "excess coverage" as you change from 100% to 150%.

 

[John Shriver]

F is full frame for fifty millimiter focal length lens. (Riffin' on F there.)

The other two settings are higher magnification for critical focusing. Not really needed on the 50/1.8 lens, but would be useful for something like the 100/2, when you're using an auxiliary finder.

 

[raid]

John,
So the 1.5X setting is not really meant for any specific lens?
I stand corrected.

 

[goamules]

Thanks to both, but I still think I'm missing something. My eyepiece works like this:
F - largest magnification, most cropped frame
Mid - medium both
1.5x - smallest mag, largest frame

The roll of film I viewed the shots on 1.5, because it obviously matches what will be on the film with a 50mm lens. Again, when I go to F, it magnifies about 1.5 times. Could the prism or whatever be spun around inside?

BTW, the pictures all came out fine, the shutter seems to work on all settings, and no pinholes!

F is full frame for fifty millimiter focal length lens. (Riffin' on F there.)

The other two settings are higher magnification for critical focusing. Not really needed on the 50/1.8 lens, but would be useful for something like the 100/2, when you're using an auxiliary finder.

 

[Mablo]

Hmm... seems like someone has assembled your viewfinder backwards. I wouldn't mind about it. Good thing is that the shutter works allright and:

NO PINHOLES!!!

Da**d how expensive pinholes can be to patch properly.

 

[airds]

from the manual

from the manual

Magnification Control from the manual

 

[John Shriver]

Yeah, someone installed the rotating cell rotated 180 degrees. One direction sets the two lenses to magnify, one sets the two lenses to reduce, and the third looks through no lenses at all. Whatever one gives you a rectangular window is the one to use.

The higher magnifications can be used for incredibly rough estimates of the FOV of some long lenses, but really aren't very accurate for that. They are more accurate for focusing.

 

[David Murphy]

The best collapsible for this camera is the Leica Summicron - not too hard to find at a reasonable price. The Leica Summitar is not too far behind it, a little easier to find, and a bit less expensive.

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

My experience with an FSU lens and a Canon rangefinder didn't work out so well. Granted the camera was a Canon P. I attached a Fed50 which is essentially an Industar-22 and focus tab on the camera went under the focus collar on the lens. Other FSU lenses work fine.

I haven't tried the lens on any other camera bodies but if you go for an Industar be sure you can fit the lens first to make sure it couples with the body.