Pearls

[ksmattfish]

What hunk of junk have you picked up that turned out to be a great/fun/whatever camera? Or any equipment that really surprised you with it's quality.

I found a banged up, holes in the bellows, fungus in the lens Ansco Titan (6x6 120 folder) at an antique mall for $15. I was so impressed with the picture quality that I went and found a clean one on EBAY(they seem to go for $75 to $100). This isn't my sharpest camera, but it's probably the most fun to use. Check out my review in the Equip section.

 

[Mitica100]

What hunk of junk have you picked up that turned out to be a great/fun/whatever camera? Or any equipment that really surprised you with it's quality.

A Voigtlander Vitomatic with Skopar lens! I picked it up for about $25 at a flea market, cleaned it and ran a b/w film through it. I was shocked at the sharpness and resolution of the lens. Although it weighed a ton, all metal body.

 

[Tyjax]

Most of the antiques I have purchased so far take pictures about like their age. Creaky and of questionable morals. How in the world did people use "guess" focusing for so many years. Its making me crazy.

 

[ksmattfish]

Most of the antiques I have purchased so far take pictures about like their age. Creaky and of questionable morals. How in the world did people use "guess" focusing for so many years. Its making me crazy.

By "guess focusing" do you mean there is a focusing ring that must be set ( like at 4", or 10', or infinity), but no viewfinder or indicator to actually show that you are in focus?

I thought that this would be hard, but actually I'm rarely off. Maybe it's all the practice I've had in dark bars where I can't see through the viewfinder anyway.

I try to use ISO 400 film so that I can hang out in the f/11 to f/22 range. Then if I'm off a few inches or even feet I still have lots of DOF to cover my butt.

I was horrible at estimating distance so I measured my shoe and my stride so that I can determine distance to subject that way. At first I was carrying a string with a knot every 3'. After a while I've found that I have learned to estimate distances better, and now I'm able to judge fairly accurately. This has also helped when using cameras that do have some sort of focus assist device.

I also go to one of the many DOF calculator sites and get the notes for DOF with each camera that doesn't have a DOF scale. Some are better than others. You need one that asks film format size. I keep these notes with the camera in case I need to get specific.