Rags to Riches: Preview


Someday, every camera meets the end of it's life. Whether that's being dropped off a cliff in heroic fashion or being left in a dark closet for 30 years, rotting away, every camera will eventually hit the bone yard. But every now and then, a camera is brought from the dead to be given a second chance at life. I'm giving a sneak preview of a camera I brought back from the dead. It was purchased off of a popular online auction site as for parts or repair  for a relatively small amount of money. The seller said the camera was untested and for parts, and the lens was damaged and scratched.

When the camera arrived, the seller had wrapped it via Russian nesting doll style with countless USPS bubble wrap sheets. Oh well, it was safe. When after I reached the end of the hunt for my camera and lens, I looked at the lens first to delay any disappointment for the actual camera. The lens was filthy and had two big dents in the filter threads and was a little loose but other than that seemed fine. I cleaned the outside elements and tightened some screws on the back of the lens and it looks surprisingly nice with some very clean elements! Next, the camera. When I unwrapped it, I was relieved it didn't look quite as bad as the picture online, but was still far from pretty. Now, far from pretty with a Minolta SRT 101, or a Nikon F just means it might have a dis functioning meter but a completely operable camera. However, this particular camera is almost fully electric, from the 1970s. To say in the least, I was not in the highest of hopes.

The first crank of the advance lever seemed promising and then the mirror came up and down along with the noise of shutter curtains moving when I fired it, perfect! But after that it wouldn't do anything, dead in the water, damn. So after a few minutes contemplating how it would look next to my also dead Minolta XE-7, I decided some more work might get it going. Sure enough, after some simple dissasembly (trust me, I don't bother with tedious repairs anymore) and I was somewhat able to get the camera to work! The meter worked as did the shutter speeds! After some fresh batteries, a trip to the store for some gun cleaner/lubricant, I gave the camera an extreme bath (not literally) and put some of the lubricant in a few key locations. This helped, but the film advance lever is still a little finicky but everything now works on this once presumably dead camera. Needless to say I am very pleased and will be testing it out this week. Hopefully the lubricant will work its way down into the depths of the camera and help free up my film advance mechanism, and then I will have a perfect camera! Until next time, see if you can guess what the camera is.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Minolta XE-1

Image
Minolta XE-1 w/ Rokkor 35-70mm f3.5 Macro  One of the prettiest cameras to come out of Japan, the Minolta XE-1 is the European version of the Minolta XE-7. I bought an XE-7 a few months ago, unfortunately an inoperative example. I loved the looks and feel so much though that I just had to get another.  If you saw the preview from last week, you'll know that this camera was brought back from the dead, and now works pretty well.  In my hands, this is one of the most comfortable manual cameras. The heft is just right, and it's a tall camera, which means that my somewhat large hands fits comfortably. A person with small hands will find this camera possibly a bit too big. The controls are all just where you would want them to be. I love all the features this camera offers yet keeps the body from looking too busy with buttons and switches all over the place. The shutter release is towards the front of the camera with the advance lever being positioned just so that makes thi
Read more

Leave the Big Gear at Home

Image
B ack in October my newly married wife and I headed for western Alberta for our honeymoon. We were staying in Canmore, AB about 20 minutes from Banff. Knowing and planning this trip for months, it was difficult for me to realize that bringing all of my camera equipment would be pretty selfish, and not to mention having to make room in the car for a camera bag, tripod, and a hotel room filled with charging cords. My final decision was to bring my Olympus EP-2 with the kit 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens.  I've had this camera for quite some time now, but I haven't used it all that much. I'm not too sure why as it produces very nice images, shoots raw, and has a very good build quality surrounding a very capable 12 mp micro four thirds sensor.  It was also compact, quiet, had a retractable lens, and had a nice Program mode. Yes I said it, Program mode. In the end, all that I wanted were good, memorable images to remind my wife and I of our honeymoon. You can imagine our spirits after
Read more

Retired Nikons: Can They Still Hang Around With The Fresh Crop? (Video Included)

Image
Old digital cameras just do not get the same love as old film one's. Why is this? Are they really that out of touch with the current line up out of Japan? (I know cameras are from other countries as well, but mostly insanely expensive ones such as Leica and Hasselblad). Of course older, vintage type film cameras will be sought after because of their historical value, but even the film cameras of the 90s and 2000s are still demanding a rather respectable sum. But early digital? Prices for these cameras have tanked, possibly even to their lowest levels currently (January 2017). Let's compare two film cameras from the two Japanese Giants: Canon and Nikon. The Canon 1V was released in 2000, after the first generation of digital SLR cameras had been released. You would imagine this would make this film camera rather unwanted, correct? Wrong, the Canon 1V is a minimum of $500, with really mint ones closing in on $1,000. Compare that to the Canon 1DS, the first full frame Canon
Read more