The Replacement

[shadowfox]

I finally decided to sell one of the coolest kit I have, the black Pentax MX with two SMC Taks.

A couple days ago, its replacement came. It costs roughly about 1/8 of the price the Pentax kit is sold for. Would be rather pointless if it were the same 😀

Still missing my MX, I didn't have high hopes that the replacement would do it justice.

Opened the packaging and held the camera, wow, it's like the MX, black, check the viewfinder, nice and bright (95% coverage according to the manual). Half-press the shutter release, the meter came on indicating the shutter speed (2-1/2000th). Adjusted the aperture on the lens, the meter goes up and down accordingly. Sunny-16? yep, about right.

Opened the back, looks clean, metal shutter, nice. Oh well, held my breath, advanced the film lever, and press...

The shutter sound is a satisfying "schnikk!", not too loud, not too faint.

Checked the standard 50/1.9 lens and proceeded to shoot a test roll. Here's some of the results:

I also use the Pentax 135/2.5 that I purposefully didn't sell with the Pentax kit.

What do you all think? 😛

Oh, and this is the camera:

 

[shadowfox]

Pitxu, I learned by experience (not by reading other's 😛 ) not to underestimate FSU lenses. In terms of quality, good samples are as good as their German "originals".

But yeah, this Chinon lens is very very sharp.

 

[MCTuomey]

I'd be interested to know which film you used for these shots Will. Fantastic contrast while keeping all them subtle greys too.

Me too, and development, pls. #1 highlights on the lion seem *hot* on this monitor, but #3 is just tonally gorgeous. sharp, sure, but it's the tones, man, the tones 😉

 

[OldNick]

Way to go will. (great pics). I allways though that in a blind test situation you could'nt tell the difference in pics taken with a zorki or a leica, hell, I even seen pics on this site of leicas with soviet glass !!!

I'm guilty! See my avatar. I frequently use a late-model Jupiter 12 on my Leica IIIf RD when a wide angle is called for. I find it great for photographing airplanes, one of my favorite subjects. You can find numerous examples in my gallery.

Jim N.

 

[shadowfox]

Pitxu, this is from a soon-to-be 8 years old expired Ilford XP2 Super, my favorite testroll media.

Mike, you're going to be dissapointed if you expect great development tips 😛 . This is minilab development, good thing is, it's consistent, so I can predict how it's going to come out.

I purposefully exposed this roll as though it's an 100ASA film to compensate for it being super-expired. Of course the results are overexposed when I scan it, but when I bring up the shadows (equivalent to shortened exposure to the bulb in wet printing), the nice tones fall into place, and all the details are also retained.

Basically I maximized the tonal latitude of this film 😀

 

[shadowfox]

I'm guilty! See my avatar. I frequently use a late-model Jupiter 12 on my Leica IIIf RD when a wide angle is called for. I find it great for photographing airplanes, one of my favorite subjects. You can find numerous examples in my gallery.

Jim N.

Jim, you're not guilty of anything 😀
FSU lenses have great optics, I bet your Jupiter 12 produces comparable images to the Summaron 🙂

I recently got a iiic also, waiting to get a Summar to get that vintage look on the pictures. But in the mean time, I can use my Fed 50/3.5 to compete with any Summitars out there 😛

 

[MartinP]

Was the Chinon range another of the cameras produced by Cosina in the 70's and 80's ? I vaguely recall something about that.

Very satisfying results there Will, congratulations 🙂

 

[shadowfox]

Was the Chinon range another of the cameras produced by Cosina in the 70's and 80's ? I vaguely recall something about that.

Very satisfying results there Will, congratulations 🙂

If you get a hold of a Chinon SLR, you'll immediate feel that its an SLR designed from the ground up by people who knows what they are doing.

Errata: the viewfinder is 92%, not 95% as I thought.

I just read the manual for this camera, it has two things that stick out:

1. Unlimited multiple exposure (hold a button while advancing, and the shutter will be cocked, ready for the next shot)

2. Memory AE-lock. While not quite as sophisticated as the OM-4, it's nonetheless not something you expect from a rarely heard brand

Is this a Cosina? well only Chinon/Cosina would know, but my gut feeling says no.

 

[Keith]

What was the motivation for selling the MX and replacing it with the Chinon ... ?

I realise the Chinon obviously does everything the Pentax does ... but then a VW does most of the things a Porsche does I suppose ... well sort of! 😛

 

[Limpovitj]

I used to have one of those (almost, anyway - I had the non-S CE4). Great little no-nonsense camera, except for the silliest feature I've yet encountered in a camera I've owned - the little red light in the center of the self timer dial lit up when the shutter was open. Fixed that with black tape.
I can add this about the Cosina connection: I also had a Konica FC-1, and they shared quite a bit of their designs. The wind lever ends of them were very similar. Wind lever, shutter speed dial, hot shoe, and viewfinder, all in the exactly the same locations on both cameras (the other end differed (the Konica was longer)).
If this means that both cameras were built completely or in part by Cosina (or someone else), I don't know, but they were obviously related. They differed greatly in features, though, and the Chinon was a much better camera. No, actually, it was a MUCH better camera.

 

[shadowfox]

What was the motivation for selling the MX and replacing it with the Chinon ... ?

I realise the Chinon obviously does everything the Pentax does ... but then a VW does most of the things a Porsche does I suppose ... well sort of! 😛

Motivation #1 - raise some fund 😀

Motivation #2 - I have the Chinon CM-3 for my M42 lenses so I know what kind of quality I'm expecting.

Keith, you're missing my point. These Chinons are not VW's. They are as good or better quality (workmanship *and* design) as the Pentax MX.

 

[Brad Bireley]

I'm curious to see what these cameras are all about! This one is on it's way to me for $19.99! It has the 55mm 1.7 Chinon lens.