cctalk Digest, Vol 75, Issue 8 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

5 Nov 2009

Message: 2 
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 20:10:34 +0000 (GMT) 
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) 
Subject: Re: A few classic computer photos 
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org 
Message-ID: <m1N5mBh-000J3lC at p850ug1> 
Content-Type: text/plain 

...

 I haev quite a collection of sub-miniature Minoltas already :-). And I 
 have one Minox, which is a beautiful piece of engineering. Alas a ? 
 Tessina 
 is way out of my price range...   
 Pentax 110's and Exakta's are my favorites.  
I wouldnm't call the former a 'favourite', although I have 3 or 4 of them 
with an assortment of lenses, flash, motordrive, etc. It's certainly an 
interesting camera, although too much electronics (and no manual 
override) for my taste. 

But Exaktas I love. I generally describe them as the 'Citroen DS of 35mm 
cameras' (if I ever learn to drive, a DS is top of my list of desirable 
vehicles...). The Exakta is totally unconentional. Every control is where 
you don't expect it. But then it has shutter speeds from 1/500 (or 1/1000 
on later models) to 12 _seconds_. A film cutting knife (and you can run 
cassette-to-cassette) so you can cut off an process part of the film. 
Interchangeable viewfinders (I must repair the metering prism I have for 
mine -- alas the meter coil itself is open-circuit). And so on. 

Among the 35mm Exactas around me at the moment is a VP exacta taking 127 
roll film (6*4,5 cm frame). Yes, I like them... 

-tony 

------------------------------ 

Tony, 

You might like looking at? http://captjack.exaktaphile.com/ ?. 

My second camera was an Exakta VXIIa, and I have owned and used several Exaktas. I now
have a very early Olympus OM1 (made shortly after Leitz forced Olympus to change the name
from M1 to OM1). 

----------------------------- 

Message: 4 
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 20:32:05 +0000 (GMT) 
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) 
Subject: Re: A few classic computer photos 
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org 
Message-ID: <m1N5mWW-000J3rC at p850ug1> 
Content-Type: text/plain 

<snip> 
...
    Too true. There are a lot of Olympus OM4s that are
starting to suffer 
 from ciruitry failure (read: metering and shutter times go badly out of   
 I seem to remeebr you should stick to odd-numbered OM's ?as they're 
 mechanical.   
 So that'll be the OM-1 series then, but they weren't pure-mechanical.The  
OM1 and OM3 IIRC. 

...
  aperture priority metering still needs 2x SR44 coin
cells to run. 
 Also, the motor drive (if you have one) needs 4x AAs.  
True. But those functions aren't _essential_ to take photographs (unlike 
shutter timing). 

...

 Full-mechanical? A Minox maybe? Or probably a Stereo Realist (which has 
 been mentioned elsethread).  
<snip> 

well not include any active devices). 

-tony 

----------------------------- 
?As I wrote to Zane off-list, the OM1 takes one?PX625. You can't get these now, but
you can use a Zinc-Air 675. You just need to put a fat o-ring around it to get the correct
diameter to fit the battery compartment. 

Bob