Holga, Toy, Charity Shop, Car Boot and other Bargains (film only please)

Someone else warned me about the 635's quirks on a Facebook group. I want the kit partly because there is one, partly to try it with Agfa Vista, a much cheaper alternative.

My Agfapan APX 400 arrived this morning as I was leaving the house. It expired in 2003, do you reckon it'd be OK to shoot as is or should I shoot it at 200.

I came back from the same flea market with a Chinon CEII Memotron with Hanimar Auto S 135mm f2.8 for £10. It's working great and even has working batteries installed. It's only downside is the leatherette is peeling in places.

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Manwithacam said:
My Agfapan APX 400 arrived this morning as I was leaving the house. It expired in 2003, do you reckon it'd be OK to shoot as is or should I shoot it at 200.
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I think I'd shoot it at 200, especially if you don't know how it's been stored. The rule of thumb for expired black and white negative film is, I believe, one stop for every two decades of expiry, so shooting it at 200 might overexpose it a little bit, but probably not enough to be a problem, and better a bit overexposed than a bit underexposed.
 
Mr Badger said:
Looks like you got a bit of a bargain there, it appears to be a mid-1960s version, if you let me know the serial number (just the first two letters and the three following numbers if you want to retain some anonymity for it) I can probably be more specific about year and month on manufacture. One thing to be aware of when using this model camera is to always ensure the 'M' and 'X' flash sync setting lever is in the 'X' position before operating the self timer, or the shutter mechanism will jam permanently! :banghead:

There is reference to this in the instruction manual, which is available in PDF format from Butkus: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ To be honest, it's probably best to leave it on the 'X' setting all the time (but it's not difficult to knock the lever and inadvertently move it to 'M'!), and don't use the self timer to be on the safe side!

Personally, I think the 35mm conversion kit is more of a novelty than a necessity, I've used the 35mm kit once in 3 years of owning Yashica 635s, just to see if it worked, which it does... but in portrait format. To shoot in landscape format you have to turn the camera on its side, which makes using a TLR slightly awkward! Besides, as it takes 120 film why would anyone really want to shoot 35mm in it, unless it was the only camera you had with you and you could only find 35mm film?

If you are still determined to track down and buy a 35mm conversion kit then make sure all the bits are included. There should be 6 pieces, as per the following photo, plus the leather type case with a separate divider liner/inset. It's quite common to see incomplete kits advertised, so it's a case of buyer beware! I hope this is useful and look forward to seeing some of the photos you take with it. (y)

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ST3120846
 
There must be loads of Yashicas around judging by the fact they made around 2500 a month just of this model from 61 to 73. Though production probably would have tailed off in the seventies.
 
A fiver got me one of the ugliest cameras ever made. An Olympus AZ 330 complete with instructions and original soft case, but sadly the lens cap with the built in remote is missing. I'm going to chuck it in the car, and i will use it.
 
RumpFace said:
A fiver got me one of the ugliest cameras ever made. An Olympus AZ 330 complete with instructions and original soft case, but sadly the lens cap with the built in remote is missing. I'm going to chuck it in the car, and i will use it.
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I've just looked it up. Good grief! :eek: :D

The features sound pretty nice though, despite it looking like a digital camcorder.
 
Me too. I normally don't touch Ektar as it's often silly money a roll so this is more reasonable.
 
Mine arrived today too, so nice quick service. There's more film than food in my fridge at the moment, I really must do a supermarket shop next week!
 
Got a Cosina C1 from Freecycle last weekend.

Wind on is seized though and shutter won't depress.

Knackered or do you I think I could take it apart?

It's all plastic mind.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
Got a Cosina C1 from Freecycle last weekend.

Wind on is seized though and shutter won't depress.

Knackered or do you I think I could take it apart?

It's all plastic mind.
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If it has a bottom plate that can be unscrewed, you could try a few drops of oil in places...other than that it would be handy for spare screws.
 
Bought an OM10 for a fiver at a car bootsale that I found in amongst a box of photography bits and bobs. I got chatting to the seller who told me he had a box of old gear at his unit - met up and scored a Nikon F3 with 50mm F1.4 glass, a few oly lenses, a zeiss folder and a Nikon L35 (which Im quite excited about) - all for £20!!
 
windrunner said:
Bought an OM10 for a fiver at a car bootsale that I found in amongst a box of photography bits and bobs. I got chatting to the seller who told me he had a box of old gear at his unit - met up and scored a Nikon F3 with 50mm F1.4 glass, a few oly lenses, a zeiss folder and a Nikon L35 (which Im quite excited about) - all for £20!!
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Huh £20...but find it amusing that you are more excited for the L35 o_O
 
excalibur2 said:
Huh £20...but find it amusing that you are more excited for the L35 o_O
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- I know lol. I know what to expect from the others but Ive read great things about this little point and shoot and its F2.8 lens, I've wanted one for a while and I'm intrigued. :)
 
windrunner said:
Bought an OM10 for a fiver at a car bootsale that I found in amongst a box of photography bits and bobs. I got chatting to the seller who told me he had a box of old gear at his unit - met up and scored a Nikon F3 with 50mm F1.4 glass, a few oly lenses, a zeiss folder and a Nikon L35 (which Im quite excited about) - all for £20!!
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Incredible haul. The F3 is a truly wonderful camera - for me, it has just the right level of automation.
 
Pentacon 135mm F2.8 with some dust in the lens.15 (or is it 16?) aperture blades. Bought for a tad under £20. Thought I'd give it a go. Know nothing about these lenses other than what I've read. Will be interesting to see how it performs against my Zuiko 135 f3.5 and might also give it a run out against my Minolta 70-210 (@135).
 
goinggreynow said:
Pentacon 135mm F2.8 with some dust in the lens.15 (or is it 16?) aperture blades. Bought for a tad under £20. Thought I'd give it a go. Know nothing about these lenses other than what I've read. Will be interesting to see how it performs against my Zuiko 135 f3.5 and might also give it a run out against my Minolta 70-210 (@135).
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Some lovely examples shot with the Pntacon on Flickr, some great outoffocusness on display, look forward to seeing the results.
 
goinggreynow said:
Pentacon 135mm F2.8 with some dust in the lens.15 (or is it 16?) aperture blades. Bought for a tad under £20. Thought I'd give it a go. Know nothing about these lenses other than what I've read. Will be interesting to see how it performs against my Zuiko 135 f3.5 and might also give it a run out against my Minolta 70-210 (@135).
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I have the Meyer Optik "Zebra" version of that lens (M42 mount) and can confirm its deliciousness. Mine is a preset lens, which does make stop-down metering easier. I still find it difficult to use, though.
 
ChrisR said:
I have the Meyer Optik "Zebra" version of that lens (M42 mount) and can confirm its deliciousness. Mine is a preset lens, which does make stop-down metering easier. I still find it difficult to use, though.
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Thanks. Reading through the lens history, I was surprised to see how many versions there have been. From all I have read so far, I expected mine to be preset but it doesn't look to be (unless i don't fully understand this whole preset thing!)
RaglanSurf said:
Some lovely examples shot with the Pntacon on Flickr, some great outoffocusness on display, look forward to seeing the results.
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Thanks. Believe it or not, I'm going to give this lens a go motor racing!!!
 
goinggreynow said:
Thanks. Reading through the lens history, I was surprised to see how many versions there have been. From all I have read so far, I expected mine to be preset but it doesn't look to be (unless i don't fully understand this whole preset thing!)
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Is there a tiny red dot above one of the numbers on the aperture ring? If you grab the bit that turns, and push it away from the camera, does it move? Both of these are indications of a preset lens. Once you push it away, you can change the aperture and meter. Let go, open wide to focus, turn it back and it won't go any narrower than the preset limit...
 
ChrisR said:
Is there a tiny red dot above one of the numbers on the aperture ring? If you grab the bit that turns, and push it away from the camera, does it move? Both of these are indications of a preset lens. Once you push it away, you can change the aperture and meter. Let go, open wide to focus, turn it back and it won't go any narrower than the preset limit...
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I'll have a look at the lens over the weekend and find out. Your explanation is very much appreciated - many thanks.
 
Today I picked up...

Pentax MZ-50 (body only) - £1
3 rolls of expired B&W film - £1
A bag of old negatives and slides - £4

The camera is in nice condition, but I need some batteries to test it.
The films are dated from 1994 (Tmax), 1998 (FP4+), and unknown (Tri-X 120).
The negatives all look to be at least 50 years old and are mostly medium format or slides (plus one glass plate). I'll scan these and start a thread. :)
 
Todays finds are a Minolta SR-1body, timings sound good, it's clean and has new seals for £20 and a Zorki 4K. Again the times are good, the Jupiter 8 is clean and it came with it's case for the same price. Both from the flea market. I also got a Polaroid 635 from a car boot for £3.
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I think the SR-1 is 1962 or later because I read they started stamping Minolta Camera Co. Ltd from then. They added the meter holder in 1961 and changed the speed dial to accommodate the meter.

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I have an Olympus XA-1 on the way, £8.50 from ebay. It'll bridge the gap between my XA and XA2s nicely.
 
I'd love some of the bargains you guys are getting. Our local charity shop are VERY optimistic with their pricing. Currently in their window is an OM10 with a corroded battery compartment for £15 and a Praktica BC1 for £35, plus the usual assortment of outdated 2 meg digital compacts for around £20. :rolleyes:
 
I don't know where everyone is looking, I rarely see any cameras in charity shops In Sheffield. Most stick them straight on eBay.
 
mdjchat said:
I don't know where everyone is looking, I rarely see any cameras in charity shops In Sheffield. Most stick them straight on eBay.
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Same for me outside London...not so long ago use to see a few lenses at silly prices but they have gone now..... probably on the bay.
 
It doesn't stop me buying. Though an Oxfam shop I went in the other day had a Pentax P30 body for £70.99, a Program A body for £79.99, a Canon A-1 body for £99.99 and several other similarly price inflated SLRs.

Lenses were more reasonable and that is where I got my Tamron SP 01A for £19.99. I told him he needs to revise his camera prices as they hadn't changed since my previous visit a couple of months earlier. I gave him an idea of prices I'd paid for some of the cameras and he said he would.

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