Zeiss is in the house!

I got out today to take some pictures while attending a Thanksgiving pageant for my granddaughter.

In regard to the focus patch, I learned that the problem is me . . . or at least my eyeglasses. Because of their configuration, they seem to naturally seek a certain spot on the viewfinder eyepiece, which happens not to be properly aligned with the RF patch. Once I realized this, I was able to reposition my eye & voila!, no more problem. the good news is that the ring around the eyepiece is rubber, so there is no scratching of eyeglasses.

I brought my FM3a so I could have 2 bodies & therefore not have to change lenses. I really appreciated the clear bright viewfinder compared with the view through an f/2 lens on the FM3a. I was also able to compare shutter noise & the ZI was distinctly quieter than the FM3a, although neither shutter sound was an issue for anyone even during a quiet classroom activity.

Thanks to everyone for all of the good wishes! Much appreciated.

I'll keep you posted as I learn about the camera in use.

Cheers,
Huck
 
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Well, nothing was lost. I've just been browsing the sonimagfoto website and the Spanish distributor brought there the Hasselblad digital MF and a couple Metz flashes plus Tamron lenses only.

I forgot I live in digital city.
 
I think Joel points to a very important piece of information regarding viewfinder and rangefinder parallax. It's something I've not considered because I don't have that technical understanding of viewfinder systems. Wish I did, but I don't.

The Zeiss Ikon viewfinder is unlike any other viewfinder I've used, Leica or Voigtlander or Zeiss Ikon Contax or Retina or classic Voigtlander or a number of others.

The view is very bright and very large. Just taking a couple of snaps today, I picked up camera, put it to my eye and never gave it a thought. The need for precise eye placement is something I noticed initially but as I use the camera more and more, it's become a nonissue.

However, new users should take note of this and find a comfortable grip that properly places your eye in the viewfinder.

There is no flare in the rangefinder patch, nor would I expect there to be. This has been an issue only with the Leica, and the rangefinder system is unique to this camera and doesn't use the same design and components as the Leica -- nor would you expect it. Although in general all rangefinder systems operate on the same principal and are therefore similar in overall design.
 
Oh, thank you! I just read what I wrote, kind of odd. To clarify, these are my first shots with the ZI (used aperture priority mode). I had the 35 mounted, which is my first and only m-mount lens, have had it for a couple months. I'm very happy with the lens, need a little more time with the camera before I provide an opinion 🙂
 
Huck Finn said:
Loading film is a dream. There is no fitting a leader into a slot on the take-up spool. Wow! It's the easiest film loading on a manual camera I've seen this side of a Canonet.

Huck
Click to expand...

CORRECTION: The quote above is an incorrect statement, so I have deleted it from my original post for the benefit of posterity.

Wow! What an idiot I am. I was in a hurry loading the film, checking the manual just to be sure I was doing everything properly & my eyes skipped over one step in the directions. So, I carefully made sure that the sprockets were fitted into the matching holes in the film & thought that was it. Wrong! :bang: There IS a slot on the take-up spool for the film leader. Pretty traditional system, easier than some I've used, but nothing much out of the ordinary.

The good news is that everything functioned perfectly without the film leader fitted into the slot on the take-up spool, so do your best & don't fuss over it. All will be fine.

I just got my first roll of 36 prints back. I shot everything in AE, just so I could see how effective it is. Using 400 speed film, I set the ISO for 400. Shots were taken both indoors & outdoors. All exposures were spot on. This was not my experience with the Rollei 35 RF (Bessa R2). I learned to compensate a little for the camera's metering by setting the ISO 1/3 stop down or everything would be underexposed a little. Once I learned this, metering on the Rollei/Bessa was consistently fine.

Rewinding the film was smooth although I'm going to have to grown my fingernails a little longer as I had some trouble getting the rewind crank out of the camera's "foot" into which the crank folds. It's designed with some tension to it so that it doesn't just fall out with gravity - which of course would be a bad idea if it did since it's on the bottom. You have to pry it out & hold onto it until you get it into the rwind position. Not a big deal, but there's a learning curve for a dolt like me. When I rewound the film, the film leader was sticking out. I don't know if it's designed this way or just an accident of my inexperience with the camera. If it's designed this way, that would be a nice thing so that one could remove partially exposed rolls & then return them later for additional use. I'll update you later after I've shot more film.

On a cautionary note, I learned an important detail when I completed shooting the roll of film. I had the camera on the front passenger seat of my car after I finished shooting this roll of film. I left the car with the camera. When I returned I found the eyepiece sitting on the passenger seat! I guess from moving my eye around, I had worked the eyepiece loose & it had become unscrewed. I screwed it back in & everything is fine now, but I will be tightening it regularly henceforth. It is a screw-in design so that it can be easily replaced with a diopter if needed, but I didn't expect it to unscrew so easily.

I used exposure compensation for some backlit shots & exposure was just as I had hoped. The camera is a good little shooter. It's a pretty basic set-up; everything is where you expect it to be. Shutter noise was not an issue for me in any of the situations in which I was shooting, which did include a classroom with some quiet listening activities & an audience of doting grandparents. After the first week of use, everything is working properly out of the box including the rangeinder. I have not yet used AE Lock, so I'll save comment on that for a future date.

Cheers,
Huck
 
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Huck Finn said:
I brought my FM3a so I could have 2 bodies & therefore not have to change lenses. I really appreciated the clear bright viewfinder compared with the view through an f/2 lens on the FM3a. I was also able to compare shutter noise & the ZI was distinctly quieter than the FM3a, although neither shutter sound was an issue for anyone even during a quiet classroom activity.
Click to expand...

I've shot an RF (Bessa R, Leica M6TTL) with my FM3a, the latter typically mounting a 105/2.5 and the RF body a 50 or 28. Works great, for me. I'd put the FM3a on AE, which works well for the more tightly framed compositions with the 105. My FM3a sounds like a canon compared to an RF body, but I've come to like the authoritative slap of the FM3 🙂

Scott
 
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