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Rangefinder in the closet
Feeling uninspired lately and not wanting to really bring the DSLR around with me due to weight and size. Generally tired of the schlepp. Feeling like a Paparazzo. Bought the E-P1 a couple months ago, but I haven't really taken to it and I think it's the lack of built-in VF. I don't like composing, and especially, focusing on an LCD.
I found my wife's old Yashica Electro 35 GSN and, having been devouring all the recent Leica M news, put the only roll of film I had left in the fridge (Fuji Press 800—egads) into it just to see if I could get it to work. Amazingly, the batteries are older than our relationship (13 years) and still working! I'm not done with the roll yet, but I'm starting to really like the experience and the simplicity, though I would like a shutter speed control. It's an odd camera; it's in aperture priority full-time and you have to adjust the aperture to suit the camera's range of shutter speeds, so not totally unintuitive but, well, odd. Focusing is easy—when you can see the little gold patch—and I'm really into the size of it. Thoughts of selling a kidney for the M9 have been going on. Off to the rental house tomorrow to rent an M6 or M7 for the week. I'm really not into the idea of the cost and wait of film processing and scanning, but it's beating a $7,000-10,000 initial investment!
Lord knows what this roll of film's gonna look like developed (my first roll in 6-7 years and first RF), but I'll share if it exposes properly.
I found my wife's old Yashica Electro 35 GSN and, having been devouring all the recent Leica M news, put the only roll of film I had left in the fridge (Fuji Press 800—egads) into it just to see if I could get it to work. Amazingly, the batteries are older than our relationship (13 years) and still working! I'm not done with the roll yet, but I'm starting to really like the experience and the simplicity, though I would like a shutter speed control. It's an odd camera; it's in aperture priority full-time and you have to adjust the aperture to suit the camera's range of shutter speeds, so not totally unintuitive but, well, odd. Focusing is easy—when you can see the little gold patch—and I'm really into the size of it. Thoughts of selling a kidney for the M9 have been going on. Off to the rental house tomorrow to rent an M6 or M7 for the week. I'm really not into the idea of the cost and wait of film processing and scanning, but it's beating a $7,000-10,000 initial investment!
Lord knows what this roll of film's gonna look like developed (my first roll in 6-7 years and first RF), but I'll share if it exposes properly.
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I have 2 copies of the Fed 5. I love that it doesn't require any batteries at all. I love the film loading, compared to a Leica of the same era. I especially love the costs which are relatively low compared to other similar rangefinders.
Specifically I have:
FED 5 and a 55mm f2.8 Industar (61) L/D lens (Zeiss Tessar design, the radioactive one)
FED 5 and a 5cm (yes, 5 centimeter) f2.0 Jupiter 8 (Zeiss Sonnar design)
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How cool, never heard of them. I imagine they're a bit like other Russian tech of the era, like microphones: Dreadfully made one-trick ponies but the one thing they do well is unique and pleasing. Any pics from either?
I have been meaning to scan in some pictures from my cousin's wedding in 2004, my last film wedding. Until I do scan them, here is an image taken with the Industar lens:
Link to the full res image (caution, almost 13 meg):
Full res
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums