Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Until a few days ago I hadn't taken a pic in over a month and half and nothing lurking in the cupboard seemed to interest me except, oddly, my poor neglected blue Fed-2 lurking on the bottom shelf ... and that had a shutter problem at 1/250 and 1/500 and the I-26 lens had become very difficult to rotate courtesy of the past due date Russian tractor grease going totally solid in the helical over the four years since it had been used.
This was the first RF camera I ever bought ... it came with lens from Oleg at OK Cameras for the grand sum of $45.00 and it led to a progression of more and more sophisticated and expensive cameras some of which I still have and a lot that I don't ... along with the obligatory lens collection of course. I'm sure you recognise the pattern here!
In an act of desperation to re-ignite some sort of interest in my photography I dismantled, cleaned and relubed the Industar-26 and re-tensioned the shutter curtains on the Fed to about what I though they should be ... one in particular seemed somewhat under tensioned. (not that I'd really know!) 😛
I loaded a twenty four exposure roll of LP400 into the camera and took it with me the other day on a rainforest walk to a nearby creek and waterfall. I picked Carol up on the way and while waiting for her to get ready I took a couple of shots ... and it felt good. I used the remaining film over the rest of the morning and deliberately didn't take my Sekonic along to force my lazy 'meter spoiled exposure brain' back into action for a change.
The results from that roll of film after I developed it in Rodinal kind of blew me away. There's barely a bad exposure and the beaten up Industar lens's performance defies it's condition. The camera was an absolute pleasure to use and has provided me with some of the nicest pics I've taken in a while ... suddenly I feel like a photographer again! I will never, ever sell this camera because with it's rugged simplicity it's ultimately capable of reminding me what photography is actually all about:
Light ... an uncomplicated means of capturing it ... and the simple press of a shutter button.
This was the first RF camera I ever bought ... it came with lens from Oleg at OK Cameras for the grand sum of $45.00 and it led to a progression of more and more sophisticated and expensive cameras some of which I still have and a lot that I don't ... along with the obligatory lens collection of course. I'm sure you recognise the pattern here!
In an act of desperation to re-ignite some sort of interest in my photography I dismantled, cleaned and relubed the Industar-26 and re-tensioned the shutter curtains on the Fed to about what I though they should be ... one in particular seemed somewhat under tensioned. (not that I'd really know!) 😛
I loaded a twenty four exposure roll of LP400 into the camera and took it with me the other day on a rainforest walk to a nearby creek and waterfall. I picked Carol up on the way and while waiting for her to get ready I took a couple of shots ... and it felt good. I used the remaining film over the rest of the morning and deliberately didn't take my Sekonic along to force my lazy 'meter spoiled exposure brain' back into action for a change.
The results from that roll of film after I developed it in Rodinal kind of blew me away. There's barely a bad exposure and the beaten up Industar lens's performance defies it's condition. The camera was an absolute pleasure to use and has provided me with some of the nicest pics I've taken in a while ... suddenly I feel like a photographer again! I will never, ever sell this camera because with it's rugged simplicity it's ultimately capable of reminding me what photography is actually all about:
Light ... an uncomplicated means of capturing it ... and the simple press of a shutter button.






Last edited: