Show us your SLR ..... WHAT?

Pál_K said:
An excellent bit of sleuthing and a great story!

I wonder how the camera ended up in Singapore? Anyway, now it's back home.

Looks like a nice camera to have and use.
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Actually I don’t know - I could send the seller a note and ask him.

Two things I did do once I got the camera — first I tore off the old tape that was securing the top half of the leather case to the bottom and replaced it with much nicer-looking adhesive leatherette from Cameraleather. Second, I made the strap for it and cut the proper hole/slit for it to properly fit over those old style strap lugs.

The camera seems to work pretty well — I have a roll of Arista 100 black and white in it now, though I may end up sending it to Frank Marshman for him to give it the once-over.
 
Vince Lupo said:
A bit of super-sleuthing -- as I do!

I just bought this camera -- it's a 1934 National Graflex (120 format film, 2.25" x 2.5" frame size). It came from an eBay seller out of Singapore. It arrived yesterday and I noticed that it had the original owner's name imprinted on the inside the box and the camera's manual. Being the curious fellow that I am, I googled his name. Darned if something didn't show up!

There was an entry in the Ramsey County (Minnesota) Historical Society's database -- a picture taken by Martin H. Hense, Jr. back in September 1938 at the Minnesota State Fair. I contacted the historical society and they not only sent me a copy of the image, but also some further info regarding Martin H. Hense, Jr. As of 1938, he still lived at the address that's on the camera box, and he was a driver/chauffeur for his father's cab company. Looks like he was in his early 20's. And actually, I did a bit more super-sleuthing and found out that he's buried at Ft. Snelling (where my loving wife's grandfather and grandmother are also buried): Hense, Martin Hubert, b. 12/23/1915, d. 02/01/2000, Section 6-A, Site 492, US NAVY, AOM2 (which I'm assuming stands for Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Petty Officer?), WORLD WAR II.

My thinking is that since he was in his early 20's and he was a driver for his father's cab company, he likely didn't have a bevy of cameras at his disposal. Plus, he surely wasn't updating/replacing his cameras every 4 years (as some of us do.....hmmm I wonder who!). And here's the kicker for me -- the proportion of that photo is pretty close to the proportion of the Graflex's negative size. So I think this camera took that photo -- at least that's what I'm telling myself. What do you think?


Graflex1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Graflex2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Graflex3 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Martin Hense Graflex Photo by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
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I love stuff like this. SO cool that you found all that info!
 
My main SLR is a Praktica BMS, with a 135mm 2.8 Prakticar Lens. Lens is pretty good but suffers from some barrel distortion. Well reputed but some people give bad reports, so there might be QC issues.


I had to re-calibrate infinity focus, and even though split screen microprism aligns at distant targets at infinity, infinity focus is still a little soft.




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KoNickon said:
Wow indeed! You will now be receiving messages from other RFF'ers asking if you can make them one.
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🙂 Unfortunately I have no leather material for making more of them...This one was made from Zorki 4 case, I cut it apart and resize to the OM-1, and then hand stitched with shoemaker thread.
 
I bought a belly from wickett and craig. Belly was only $10 but shipping was $20 to Hawaii. Good deal if you live on the east coast (they are in PA). Super high quality, undyed leather. Current fashion is raw leather that tans with time/sunlight/body oils. They sent me some free swatches too of their drug-dyed leather - they had like 30 colors. Made in USA.

Haven't gotten around to making a case for my Canon 7 with it yet, but planning on it.

I can also recommend Springfield leather, they sell premium Hermann Oak veg-tan leather and also cheap leather for experimenting. Hermann oak runs about $8 per sq/ft and cheap leather down to $2 per square foot. You could easily make 2 cases with 1 sq/ft of leather.

I thought about offering to make cases for members for shipping + materials cost for practice but I'd need to make sure I like leathercrafting and start doing it first 🙂

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Vince Lupo said:
The 140mm telephoto lens replaces the normal lens. That nickel plated ‘horseshoe’ clip slips off, the lens pulls out, and then you slip the other lens in its place.

It’s a really complex camera, and you have to do certain things in a certain order to properly operate it. Plus the shutter speeds are adjusted by slit width, so the actual shutter ‘speed’ is constant.
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Thanks for the answer. What shutter does that use?

EDIT: I looked a little closer at the photos and your answers so I see on the shutter.
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Taipei-metro said:
back to the Future

AX-3, the 50mmF1.9 Fujinon was made in Japan

a
Taipei-metro image

Canon DSLR, Canon KiT 18-55
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I have been a fan of the Fujica ST 901 for a long time. Fujinon lenses never got the recognition they deserved until many years later and then people began buying them to mount of other cameras using adapters, and driving up the prices.

I bought an AX-3 once, but it had an intermitant flaw and I got rid of it. My 901 still works when I get a chance to use it or just take it out and play with it.
 
p.giannakis said:
Out of curiosity, why does the Contax feel like a tank compared to the OM-2n? I am looking at both cameras' manuals and the dimensions are almost identical and the OM-2n is heavier. Both metal.
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The Contax feels better build and well conceived. Buttons are better placed and there is no need to turn the meter on or off.
 
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