27 Oct
2012
27 Oct
'12
2:07 p.m.
On Sat, 27 Oct 2012, Tony Duell wrote:
I have a very simple rule for things I build. If a
connector has a
single, accetped, use, then that's all I use it for too, particularly if
mixing them up could case problems. Mains connectors, like BS1363 13A
plugs amd IEC 'kettle conenctors') are only used for mains. UK telephone
plugs are only used for telephoens. There are exceptions.
Photographic flash on newer (1950s and above) cameras used
a tiny coaxial connector called "PC". But the OTHER end,
where it plugged into the flash unit often used a connector
that was virtually identical to a USA MALE mains connector!
If you wanted to fire two flash units at once, you could
make a cord with a female mains connector, and TWO male
mains connectors!!
THAT is not a safe cable to leave lying around.
Yes, it's worth buying the service manual for Leica and Nikon.
I didn't know that you CAN! When I was 15, I bought a broken
Leica for $20. The only manual for Leica repair available in
those days (1965) in the USA Library Of Congress was in Russian.
It took me a while, but was a lot of fun.
Camera stores used to sell broken cameras cheap. My 4x5 was
in a paper bag labelled "most of a Linhof, $20"!
In the 1970s, I knew a camera repairman/collector; I traded
him a broken model II for a working IIIF
I adjusted slow shutter speeds by photographing a spinning record
(with a white mark on it)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com