The GAS confessional - all who suffer are welcome. :)

A spur of the moment purchase last week, a m42 Fuji Photo EBC Fujinon SW 24mm f2.8. I only picked it up because I had never seen one come up for sale before and it was going cheap as a spares and repair. The repair was very straight forward and easy, just waiting on an adapter to try out what is possibly the rarest lens I have ever come across.

Seriously I can't find another anywhere for a comparison, it might just be rare because its crap who knows...
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Why do I keep buying Dallmeyer lenses . . . . . .

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Age wise they span early 100 years. Middle is an 1864 2B 8¼" (210mm) f3 Quick Acting Portrait Petzval, I paid £30 for it, they sell for over £1,000 in this condition (I also have the lens hood). Top right is a 9" f6 2D, with soft focus adjustment roughly 1910. Below is a No 5 9" Stigmatic, I have photographs of Alec Strachan, who actually made this lens in 1901. He worked for Dallmeyer from its founding in 1860, and was still there in 1910. It's a triple convertible lens, you can use the front & rear cells combined or just the front or rear cells giving a range of focal lengths.

The three on the left are the newest, a 1930s 6" f3,5 Dallmeyer Press lens, at the top, used on a Quarter Plate Dallmeyer SLR, a rebadged Ensign Reflex. The lens was also sold as a Dalmac.

The small lenses bottom left are post WWII coated d Dallmeyer f6.5 wide angle lenses, the smallest a 4¼ (108mm) came with a Half Plate Kodak Specialist 2 camera, the other is 5¼" (133mm), so cover whole plate. These lenses are f6.5 for focussing but f11 is the widest & first marking for taking, they are not unique in this respect.

Why GAS, I already have enough lenses of similar focal lengths, but it's fun using "real" vintage lenses.

Ian
 
RyanB said:
A spur of the moment purchase last week, a m42 Fuji Photo EBC Fujinon SW 24mm f2.8. I only picked it up because I had never seen one come up for sale before and it was going cheap as a spares and repair. The repair was very straight forward and easy, just waiting on an adapter to try out what is possibly the rarest lens I have ever come across.

Seriously I can't find another anywhere for a comparison, it might just be rare because its crap who knows...
View attachment 479283
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Fuji, in their wisdom seemed to make lenses specific to a particular camera body. I have a few Fuji lenses in the M42 mount, and they don't always work well on other cameras. I've still got one stuck on a Pentax body I'm unable to detach. Be aware.
 
Plain Nev said:
Fuji, in their wisdom seemed to make lenses specific to a particular camera body. I have a few Fuji lenses in the M42 mount, and they don't always work well on other cameras. I've still got one stuck on a Pentax body I'm unable to detach. Be aware.
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Thanks for the warning, I am aware of certain Fuji lenses misbehaving with other makes. That's the reason I am waiting for a specific m42-Emount adapter which will accommodate the stupid little indexing tab on the back of the aperture ring that stops it from being able to hit infinity on normal adapters. Many people just grind/ file it off but with a rarity I want to keep it all original.
According to tracking it should come tomorrow all things being well.
 
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1000001584.jpgMentioned (on the phone to a togger mate) in earshot of a workmate that I was looking for a new battery carrying solution. Result the morning after was this on my desk.
 
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I'm very close to buying a DJI Mini 5 drone, which I don't need, and would probably barely use, but, it appeals to me. :LOL:

Whilst I was away on holiday at the end of March, I saw two people flying drones not far from me, but I didn't hear them. I was at a beach, but the water wasn't loud. A drone at that location could have got some really nice pictures. The noise was one of the things that irritated me about drones, but if they were not as loud as I remember, that would be one of the obstacles to purchase gone. Then I looked into it, and saw that the Mini 5 had a much upgraded 1" sensor compared to the previous Mini DJI drones and not was not that old.

I'm not really into video atm, so one of the main uses of a drone, may be wasted on me. :LOL: I imagine taking pics from positions I can't get to, from unusual angles, including doing panoramas. I also want to play with it. :ROFLMAO:

I was about to buy a couple of weeks ago, and then stock disappeared almost everywhere. :eek: I took that as maybe a sign. :thinking: But then I have watched more YT vids since then. :LOL:
 
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A few weeks a go, I was congratulating myself on no camera related purchases in 2026.

Since then i've bought some more into the M43 ecosystem - an Olympus e-PM1 (with working IBIS), a e-M10 Mark III, plus some lenses including 14-42 (ez and non-ez) a 40-150 f/4.0-5.6 and an Olympus macro converter. I wasn't planning on these, so i'm not sure how I will end up using them!
 
redhed17 said:
Whilst I was away on holiday at the end of March, I saw two people flying drones not far from me, but I didn't hear them. I was at a beach, but the water wasn't loud. A drone at that location could have got some really nice pictures. The noise was one of the things that irritated me about drones, but if they were not as loud as I remember, that would be one of the obstacles to purchase gone. Then I looked into it, and saw that the Mini 5 had a much upgraded 1" sensor compared to the previous Mini DJI drones and not was not that old.
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The newer DJI drones have much better and quieter propellers, I've got the Mini 4, and compared to a friend's Mini 3 which has the high pitched sound like a hundred hornets, mine you can hardly hear.
 
Nikon photographer said:
The newer DJI drones have much better and quieter propellers, I've got the Mini 4, and compared to a friend's Mini 3 which has the high pitched sound like a hundred hornets, mine you can hardly hear.
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I ended up getting the DJI Mini 5 Pro. :D So far I have been able to get out to the local park twice to get used to flying it. I was right about the sound of it thankfully. :)

It is an amazing piece of technology. Even though I had watched a load of videos, I was not prepared for the size and weight of the thing. It is tiny :jawdrop: The image quality is great.

People have been saying they were unhappy with the 120m height limit! That is plenty for me. It goes higher than some local blocks of flats, and will go higher than both Cathedrals in Liverpool. :)
 
benington said:
A few weeks a go, I was congratulating myself on no camera related purchases in 2026.

Since then i've bought some more into the M43 ecosystem - an Olympus e-PM1 (with working IBIS), a e-M10 Mark III, plus some lenses including 14-42 (ez and non-ez) a 40-150 f/4.0-5.6 and an Olympus macro converter. I wasn't planning on these, so i'm not sure how I will end up using them!
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One thing that came with the M10 was this camera/lens case. Would these kind of cases be bought or given as promotional gifts?

PXL_20260525_184029965.jpgPXL_20260525_183811468.jpgPXL_20260525_183839463.jpg
 
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Nikon photographer said:
These cases go back to the film OM1/OM2, and would have been purchased, I've got a catalogue somewhere that lists them, Nikon did some cases that were very similarView attachment 483249View attachment 483251
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That's great, thank you! So, it is from the 70s, that does make sense given the aesthetic of it.

I especially like the leaflet that comes with it, showing how it is meant to be used and when it was printed.
 
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