This article is a little different. It is very much focussed on a camera, but I’m hoping it will be of interest to photographers to give some background and understanding to the equipment they are using. This is a camera dissection of an old Canonet rangefinder. My father was an instrument maker by profession. I …
It’s Dead Jim – A Dissection of an Old Rangefinder Camera – By Bob Janes Read More
After returning to analogue photography a few years ago with a Minolta Hi-Matic 7 rangefinder, I began looking for a second film camera. I was looking for something totally different, in particular something smaller and lighter. I soon discovered I have missed the boat by a few years to get a reasonably priced premium contact, with prices for the likes of Contax T2, Olympus Mju-ii, Yashica T5 etc. reaching higher and higher prices. My experience in buying a rangefinder showed me not to be disheartened and there are lots of hidden gems waiting to be discovered.
I’ve started seeing more photos of vintage cameras with their leather covers replaced, and to me they often look great. Other than a few useful flickr posts and some short videos, there aren’t many articles that cover the how and the why, and fewer still that discuss the troubles and the costs of doing this …
A slightly troubled tale of replacing vintage camera leather – by Christopher James Read More
Inertia of mind is sometimes mind boggling. I’ve started my serious photography life with Sony nex-5 camera which replaced a briefly owned Nikon D40 for the reason of compactness, but then I’ve found out there are no e-mount lenses! Particularly, I were missing a compact 35mm equivalent lens which would not cost 1000 eur (there was native sonnar 24 1.8 at the time, but not much else). So, the quest for the legacy glass which eventually led me to full-frame and the Leica world begun.
I had been trawling the online market places and managed to snag a Minolta Hi-matic 7s on trademe (the NZ version of ebay). It was advertised as being in excellent condition with everything working as it should and clear glass, Sounds great I thought! so I chucked a bid on in the dying minutes to win the auction. After a few days of anticipation and excitement it finally arrived encased like a giant egg in about 3m of bubble wrap, it even came with a musty smelling leather case – no chance of being damaged in transit. Or so I thought. After unwrapping it was immediately obvious there was damage to the lens:
