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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote daveco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/06/2015 at 17:46
I wish I had my dad's Argus C-3 rangefinder, but at least my sister has it.  I do have a 1948 35mm Leica rangefinder M lens that I use.  I also have a russian brand film rangefinder camera that I bought from a russian on ebay.  The shutter worked three times before it broke. Cussing
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/06/2015 at 18:15
I had an Argus C3 ( with light meter ), but my littlest daughter (!!) has it now!!  In her museum!  ( We call her Willie Sutton! )   Shocked



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/06/2015 at 18:17



I bought it for $20 in Meade, Kansas....in 1995   Bucky





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/06/2015 at 18:21
( When I die, my daughter will mysteriously have a pile of firearms in her house!! )   Shocked
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote daveco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/06/2015 at 23:02
Nice, Ed!  I like that shoe mount light meter.  Dad had a small handheld.  He had the flash buib gun, too, that mounted on the side of the camera.  As a kid, I used to play with the light meter and camera, without film.

Here's that 1948 lens.



Edited by daveco - February/06/2015 at 23:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/12/2015 at 04:54
I am an ebay junkie.  35mm cameras have gotten even cheaper recently.  The Good Stuff is still expensive ( like the Nikon F2As and the Zeiss Contarex-es ...and the old Voigtlander Prominents ) , but lots of goodies are going dirt cheap.  I see Nikon N80s in mint condition for, like, $59 and up!!  

I see a couple of Russian knock-off Contax rangefinders on ebay this week.  Counterfeit ones...Bucky  I always wanted to get one of those fake Contax rangefinders....but, I understand they are of variable quality depending on when they were made.  



Soviet-copy-of-Contax-IIIa-Zeiss-Ikon-BLACK-camera-with-Sonnar-lens-EXC

Here's a little counterfeit!!   Eek


$110 plus $28 shipping from the Ukraine!   

 

A few years ago I bought a nice Gossen Luna Pro light meter from somebody for $ ONE DOLLAR!!!  [ plus ten dollars postage...Whatever ]

















  












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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/21/2015 at 12:39
I'm waiting for this to come in from an ebay purchase....











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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/22/2015 at 16:33





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/20/2019 at 13:43
Image result for zeiss ikon contaflex super B
I noticed all my old Zeiss Ikon camera photos have disappeared from page one....





Image result for zeiss ikon contaflex super B


This was the Contaflex Super B....I have two of them and several lenses and some old accesories----27mm filters, 27mm polarizer, etc..





Image result for zeiss ikon contaflex 1:1 lens set







My daughter, Meghan, now has my Olympus 35 SP.....



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/22/2019 at 17:20
Image result for loading film cameras

Remember loading film when the black bear was standing up in Yellowstone Park?  And you missed the shot? 








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/22/2019 at 17:22
Related image







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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/22/2019 at 17:35
Recently I gave Meghan the Olympus camera and all the goodies including bunches of cans of film.....


.....so now I just have Museum cameras....



Related image

" Eduardo belongs in a Museum..."  











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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/22/2019 at 18:03
Related image








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Convex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 08:05

I'm fascinated by German engineering via legacy guns, but also the photographing of those guns when I get the chance, w/legacy cameras that in themselves were masterpieces of German engineering.

 So when it comes to a "little jewel" that refers to an amazing camera, I sometimes photograph some of my guns w/a camera that in itself is an amazing instrument produced by one of the greatest of all camera makers, like the Voitlander Vito IIa.

 

Voigtlander was a German cameramaker that lasted 200 yrs., eventually going out of business because they refused to produce the mediocre to save or to make money.

 They were the "Ronin" of cameramakers, and their least expensive cameras were produced w/as much innovation/attention to detail/precision/fit and finish-build quality, as their most expensive cameras. 

 They only made cameras one way, regardless of price.  After going out of business, another company produced good but not great cameras under the Voigtlander name.

 

 I have the Vito IIa which is also a "little jewel" and pure genius in terms of innovation/attention to detail/precison in a camera that was intended for the mass consumer of the day for a reasonable price.

 

It's not a digital "Wunderkind" like some of my digital cameras, but the masterful engineering that went into this camera is no less amazing.

 

 

 

 

 Art Deco was a way of thinking that was implemented by engineers in terms of flowing lines/strealining to compliment function which in the case of this camera was to make it so you could slip it into your pocket w/o snags.

 

 

 

 How that was accomplished was the absolute genius of this camera.  The lens is inside the camera, you push a button, and the lens does a sort of a "dance" where it pivots laterally an an angle to get out of the camera and then locks in place which plano-parallel to the film plane keeping the image in perfect register.

 

The film rewind knob is spring loaded to where the knob is pushed inside/retracts into the camera becoming/changing it's function to that of a button to be pushed when you need to rewind film.


Here it is extended, when the film is rewound, and the knob is pushed back in, it's flush against the camera body as you see on the right side the camera via the topmost image.



Below is the film advance lever which is flush against the rear of the camera.

 

 

  

 

The film advance lever/arm starts the rewind cycle inside the camera and only extends at the end of the cycle when you're advancing film which of course is when the camera is out of your pocket.


 

Most incredible of all, looking at the door which supports the lens, at the back is the shutter release, which rises as the door opens to reach its full height to be used for snapping exposures, then it retracts inside the door, as you close the door, and all this is done mechanically.

 

The camera isn't touching the box it's sitting on, there are 3 spikes extending from the bottom of the camera protecting the actual camera from the wear and tear of sitting the camera on anything.

 

If you want to know good the lens is, I took this shot, w/this camera.  I 6-8 shots bracketing both the focus and exposure and developed the film.  I selected this particular frame, developed it, and digitally scanned in a file, which is the image of this 44 magnum.

 

 

 

German engineering has been both pervasive and an inspiration to anyone interested in making things as well as they can be made, and made w/style.

 

Don't let me dis the fact that there are other outfits out there that make primo stuff; one of my favorite legacy pieces is my Tag Huer stopwatch which works perfectly to this day, and will probably work like a charm for my great-great-great-Grandson.



Edited by Convex - December/23/2022 at 14:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dogger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 08:25
Beautiful piece of engineering.
God save the Empire!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Convex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 08:41
And this was their "entry level" camera which was as well made as their most expensive cameras for their lowest price!!!

They went out of business KNOWING they wouldn't last producing the kind of value for the money they were getting.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Convex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 08:49
The camera isn't much bigger than a pack of cigarettes which makes the lens tiny, so they incorporated depressions in the lens shade so you can adjust focus that way, by grasping/turning the lens shade.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 16:49
Voigtländer Prominent I &amp;amp; II | Camerapedia | Fandom

In 1971 my uncle gave me his "old" camera ( a Voigtlander Prominent) because he bought a new Japanese camera (A Mamiya). Anyway that was the camera that I learned how to work. It had an f 2.0 Ultron lens. Years later I bought two more at a pawnshop....one of them had a 1.5 lens!



30 YEARS LATER I sold the 1.5 lens for $150 bucks.  


 



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 17:35
Foto Dotti | VOIGTLANDER Prominent . Fotocamera Telemetro a Pellicola con  NOKTON 50mm f1.5 - Macchine fotografiche digitali e materiale fotografico  anche usato





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Convex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/23/2022 at 17:49
My compliments.  A great looking camera.
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