So much for no more cameras

[Flinor]

Well, I was being so good about cutting down on my camera collection that I was actually down to 6 Yashicas with three more to go and had sold some of my other brands as well. I hadn't been to the auction site for months and was really proud of myself. So with a boring night looming ahead last thursday I couldn't resist a look at vintage rangefinders. The rest of the story is that I'm waiting for delivery of my new Zeiss Ikon Contessa S312. All I know about this camera is that it's one of the last quality cameras from Zeiss Ikon and I'd never seen one on ebay before or anywhere for that matter. I'll report fully after I get it and run some film.

Gerry

 

[back alley]

you got the bug!

unfortunately, there is no cure!!
sorry...
joe

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Boy! this is bad news... You mean there's no cure? And I thought I was way ahead of the game by not visiting the "infamous" auction place in two days...

Boy, can we deceive ourselves...

 

[back alley]

sorry, as i stated above, there is no cure!
and the treatment is too painful to describe anyway.

joe

 

[Flinor]

Actually, This is kind of like giving up smoking. I don't know how many times I tried until I finally succeeded. I'm not trying to give up, just to get down to a few favorites that I have time to use regularly. But it's tough. I had decided to sell my Fuji GS645 folder and then picked it up this morning, played with it awhile, and decided to take it on s short trip this weekend. I just have no will power. The S312 showed up today. It looks very good but I won't have a chance to power it up until I get back next week.

Gerry

 

[SolaresLarrave]

My wife would say "you guys are pathetic."

To which I'd reply: "Pathetic, maybe, but we're certainly happy!"

Heck! I'm green with envy.

Like you, I tried to get rid of some of my excess baggage. Gone are my Yashica, my Konica S2 and my faux rangefinder Minolta, to muster funds to pay for the German newcomer Leica. I spent a number of days without visiting the famous auction site only to fall hard on my bad ways a couple of days ago. I have a number of M4s in my watch list and boy, wouldn't I like to own some of them...! 🙁

Alas, no funds, but dreaming is always affordable.

Besides, who wants a bad case of "seller's remorse"? Enjoy your toys, flinor! 😛 🙂

 

[Rich Silfver]

Flinor, let me know what you think about the S312. It's one camera I've been glancing at lately myself....

 

[taffer]

sorry, as i stated above, there is no cure!
and the treatment is too painful to describe anyway.

joe

Ohhh... so this is the reason of me returning again and again to that infamous auction site to see if I can get a good deal on one Oly 35 RC ? AND is this the reason of me stopping (no bidding eh?) on each Konica C35, Hi-matic 7sII, Canonet, Yashica, Vivitar RF I find too ?

Man, no way, is there any RFaholic treatment foundation for this ? 😕

 

[Flinor]

Registered: Aug 2003
Location: San Francisco, CA
Flinor, let me know what you think about the S312. It's one camera I've been glancing at lately myself....

This is a really neat little camera with a good feel, solid like most post war Zeiss Ikons. Noticeably smaller than my Yashica CC at 4"w x 2 5/8"h x 2 1/4d. 40mm f2.8-22 Tessar with the meter cell inside the filter ring and a collapsible hood. The VF is quite good with a round contrasty RF spot and aperture and shutter speed scales. The shutter speeds are shown as 30, 125,500 so really just get an approximation of where you are. Rewind on the bottom, hot shoe on top and PC socket on the left side covered by a really neat spring loaded cover. The back removes for loading. There's a 2 position button/dial on the front that's either an on-off switch or a rewind release like Leica which I will figure out when I fire it up, which brings up the major drawback, This thing runs on no fewer than 4, count 'em, 4 PX625 mercury cells. I've got 4 but I'll have to strip other cameras for them and I just won't have time to play around with it till after the holidays so I'll keep you posted. The battery compartment is inside the film takeup spool which you get at by unscrewing the tripod socket. Ingenious for a compact camera.

Gerry

 

[Rich Silfver]

Flinor,

thanks for the extra info. If you get around to firing it up and putting a roll through it I'd love to hear what you thought about it as a user - and how the results were.

 

[dll927]

Taffer mentions an Oly 35RC. That's a dandy little camera - compact, and 'sort of' auto exposure. You set a shutter speed, then on pressing the shutter button, the camera selects the correct aperture. I guess that would be called shutter priority.

Truth is, I had one that I bought new in about 1974, and at the time it was rather nicely rated in Pop Photo. Unfortunately , when I moved about 3 1/2 years ago, I had put a couple of my cameras on the couch, and that was the last I saw of them. The moving co. had sent a couple of green cards that barely spoke any English, and apparently they had sticky fingers.

Sad story aside, the 35RC was a nice little camera.

 

[taffer]

Unfortunately , when I moved about 3 1/2 years ago, I had put a couple of my cameras on the couch, and that was the last I saw of them.

Ouch ! that's sad 🙁

OTH, it's nice to hear so many compliments on the 35RC, too bad there's no way of getting a "cheap" one. Maybe I'll have to forget eBoy until January or February when the "xmas gift syndrome" is over...

Meanwhile, still waiting for my last eBoy adventures to arrive, next week it's going to be a month of the first one... I'm starting to worry a bit... they never took that much to arrive from Ukraine... 😕

 

[wierdcollector]

Apparently, you can always get a cheap one by working for a moving company. : ) Just kidding, that's gotta hurt, hard to find a nice one priced reasonably to replace them.

 

[taffer]

Well... good and bad news, and bad news win by now...

I got 3 packets today, which makes me thing there's some kind of local delay envolved...

Anyway, pretty bad luck this time (I suppose it was my time after all after tempting destiny before)

- the Iskra is not the one that the auction page showed and looks pretty worse and doesn't seem to even work. I've already notified the seller about this but I'm starting to think it's lost money...

- the Canonet is here too. All seems to work properly (even the auto mode works well!) BUT the shutter speed ring is stuck at the 125 speed and won't move from there, no matter what I try.

- OTH, the Moskva seems to be working correctly and even though it's not very pretty cosmetically, the lens is in pristine condition and all mechanisms seem OK.

Sigh... 🙁 at least I hope this will keep me out of the auction site for a (long) time... and taking more pictures instead of looking for more cameras 🙂

Sometimes you win... sometimes... well, you don't, and I'm starting to have more shelf cameras than I really wanted...

Well, keep you informed about the progress with the "125" Canonet and the Moskva. The Iskra OTH... well, I've seen more expensive paperweights 😛

 

[Doug]

So, Taffer, you can give the Moskva a try and see how it does! That'll be interesting. I've come to think that we should probably budget as much for the camera repair technician as for "new" cameras.

I just had a delightful surprise when my "shelved" Olympus 35RC was successfully renovated. He found something pretty simple wrong with the meter movememt, and swapped on a nicer top cover for the old dented one. And yesterday I left off another non-working old Pentax from eBay for repair and CLA, no rush.

Similarly, you can gradually bring your "shelf cameras" back into the shooting world if your repairman is able and willing!

 

[taffer]

Doug, in fact I was already thinking about the repairman before reading your post, but now you're contributed to reinforce that idea ! 🙂

I'll pay them a visit with the Canonet, as apart from the stuck ring, the missing eyepiece (whose lack in fact helps me to see better with my glasses) and the gummy foam, is in really in very nice shape. If they are able to renew it even if the amount is substantial, I would seriously consider that option, because I really like who that camera fits in my hands...

The Moskva, OTH is an impressive machine, really big when unfolded and with that huge Industar 105 mm f3.5...

Let's see how it performs ! Can't wait ! 🙂

Also, thanks for your post, it's really nice to be able to share bad (and good) purchase experiences with another photo/camera folks and reading their opinions and recommendations. Makes you see things from another point of view ^_^

Will keep you informed !

Best !

Oscar

 

[Doug]

I'll be interested to hear how the Moskva works, Oscar, and how the repairs turn out...

I didn't mention that on eBay I'd been "caught" by that too-common situation where the seller claims no knowledge of cameras or how to assess the condition of the sale item except to say that it looks ok and things turn and go click.

It can sound so reasonable, but others say it's often an ignorance of convenience. I emailed one seller for more historical info as to who the original owner was, where it had been purchased originally (in ~1958) etc, and again there was no info but the story sounded reasonable.

When the camera arrived it was not working. Understandably for a 55 year old camera the lube was all stiff, but it needed shutter repairs, and the lens had suffered "impact damage" so the focus helix had been knocked cross-threaded. Ouch. Cost about as much as I'd paid for it to give it a full CLA and repair. The lens still has tight spots when focusing. But otherwise I'm happy to bring this oldster back to working order.

We can learn from experience, and also from the experiences of others, if we're lucky. 🙂

 

[Doug]

Hmmm, I was being diplomatic about the camera description, since it's an SLR, here in the RF forum! But, it might be relevant in so far as it shares a characteristic I've only seen before on RF cameras.

Like old screw-mount Leicas, and copies from Japan and Russia for instance, it has a separate front-mounted slow-speed shutter dial. And the high-speed dial rotates during shutter movement. I thought this was a charming feature, possibly unique for an SLR, and besides I'm fond of Pentaxes!

 

[Rich Silfver]

Beautiful camera!
Personally I've never been "into" the Pentax brand at all but I must admit that there are some beautiful versions out there.

I don't think anyone is going to come down on you for posting a photo of an SLR - sometimes it feels as if this is a forum for film- and classic camera users/collectors more than 'just' rangefinders.

My other favorite site is photo.net and in that I like the classic camera forum a lot 🙂

 

[Doug]

Thanks, Richard! I do think this is a classic, and very advanced for its time. Though the low-speed shutter dial seems oddly less than modern even then.

The camera had an innovative instant-return mirror, but the lens diaphragm was semi-auto; one used that crank/lever at the base of the lens to re-open the aperture after the shot. This lens has 10 diaphragm blades. The next model had a fully-auto diaphragm but had to reduce the blade count to 8 so the mechanism could be light enough to close and reopen quickly.

No there's one advantage for rangefinder lenses; they can have as many diaphragm blades as the maker is willing to include, without concern for rapid spring-loaded movement. Ah, back on topic! 🙂