Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

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bakubo
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Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

I signed up to the forum here some time ago, but I failed to introduce myself. I have had a strong interest in photography since 1970 when I was in junior high school. I used a couple of simple cameras until I finally bought my first 35mm SLR in 1973, a Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL with 55mm f1.8 lens. I have owned many film SLRs over the years, mostly Minolta, but switched to digital in 2002. I was using both a Sony A700 and Canon 30D, but I sold the 30D body a couple of days ago. I have also owned the Canon DRebel/300D, KM 7D, and Sony A100 (my wife loved this one so after only using it for awhile I gave it to her). Oh, and I bought a Minolta D7i in 2002.

I travel a lot and always do a lot of photography on my travels. I have some of my photography here on my website:

http://www.bakubo.com

I invite everyone to take a look.
Last edited by bakubo on Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

That Mamiya-Sekor lens on the 1000 DTL (I had one) was a real sleeper - a superb lens at almost no cost at all. The 30D, despite certain good qualities, is no match for the A700 when it comes to producing a print which people find attractive in colour and contrast.

David
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

Just for fun, here is a photo of the Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL:

Image

Of course, this camera was all manual: manual focus and manual exposure. It did have a cds ttl light meter, but with stop-down metering. Unusual for the time, it had both an averaging meter *and* a spot meter. It came out in 1968, but apparently it was still being sold new in 1973 since I bought mine new. It used the M42/Pentax screw mount. I learned all the technical basics of photography with this camera: exposure, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, etc.
Last edited by bakubo on Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

I seem to remember the Mamiya used a metering grid on the mirror to achieve the dual average/spot. I can feel the camera when I see the pic, and hear the slightly ball-bearing sound of the shutter/mirror action (quite metallic but a very fast action). I can't remember whether the metering was activated by pushing the self-timer lever the wrong way, towards the lens. It's funny but I used to test one camera a month for Photography magazine at that time, and they all made much more impression on me than the modern DSLRs I get to test now.

Part of it was the way you could feel and hear the engineering. Even just looking at the shot of the Mamiya, you can see how it built in a purely functional way from engineering basics, rather than 'designed'.

David
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

Yes, I seem to recall there was a semi-silvered rectangle at the bottom of the mirror and that was related to the spot metering. The spot meter was not in the center but instead a 6% (6% sticks in my head) brownish rectangle in the bottom center of the screen. There was a switch on the right side of the lens mount (where Sony puts the lens release button) that could be moved up and down for averaging and spot meter modes. The film advance lever when pulled out to a click stop turned on the meter and then when you pressed it in with your thumb (against spring tension) it would stop the lens down and take a meter reading. There was a match needle on the right side of the screen with a C that you would center the needle into. To turn off the meter you would press the button in the center of the film advance lever and then push the lever in. I sold this camera and 3 lenses in 1976 to finance the purchase of a Minolta XK with 50mm f1.4:

Image

I still have such fond memories of my first SLR I wish I had kept it for nostalgia's sake. :-) I kept the XK until I sold it in 2001 to a collector in Japan. I never really liked it that much since it was so heavy. I bought an X-700 in 1983 and after that never used the XK again.
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Dr. Harout
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Memories, memories... :cry:
I too have the nostalgia.
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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Javelin
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by Javelin »

Wow you really have a great eye. I'm really enjoying seeing the world through your pictures. very nice
bakubo wrote:
I travel a lot and always do a lot of photography on my travels. I have some of my photography here on my website:

http://www.bakubo.com

I invite everyone to take a look.
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

Javelin wrote:Wow you really have a great eye. I'm really enjoying seeing the world through your pictures. very nice
Javelin, thank you for the kind words. Since I was a child I have admired National Geographic style documentary photography from all over the world. That and the two years I lived in Morocco with my family as a child (only 6 years old when we returned to the States) must have influenced me a lot because I have been fascinated by the various cultures and people of the world my whole life.
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

By the way, I spent 3 months going to school in Tokyo last fall and while there I was amused to see a couple of new film SLRs that are reminiscent of the 1970s with the Kenko brand. They are manual focus, manual exposure metal cameras with the Nikon F mount. Here is one:

http://www.yodobashi.com/enjoy/more/i/c ... 17513.html

I had a chance to play with them a few times at Yodobashi and Bic Camera and I sure had a feeling of nostalgia. Without a battery the camera is fully functional, except for the meter. It has a rather heavy chrome metal body and reminded me of the film SLRs from 30-40 years ago. Price was less than US$200 with the exchange rate last fall.
Last edited by bakubo on Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Amazing - never heard of it, and it looks like Cosina may be making that body if it is not a Chinese Seagull Nikon F mount. Very interesting. I will look for it at photokina on the Kenko stand!

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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by 01af »

"bakubo" wrote:
> ... to see a couple of new film SLRs that are reminiscent of the 1970s
> with the Kenko brand. They are manual-focus, manual-exposure metal
> cameras with the Nikon F mount. Here is one:
>
> http://www.yodobashi.com/enjoy/more/i/c ... 17513.html
>
> [...] Without a battery the camera is fully functional, except for the
> meter. It has a rather heavy chrome metal body ...

Judging from the shape of the body and the design of the controls, it looks like a twin ... umm, or say like a sister, to the Braun SR2000 camera I bought from eBay for a song a few years ago. The SR2000 was available with Minolta SR and Pentax P/K mount (mine is with SR mount, of course ;) ). It features a mechanically controlled, vertical-traveling, metal-blade shutter (fastest speed 1/2000 s; X speed 1/125 s), self-timer with mirror pre-fire, multi-exposure button, stop-down button, and a match-needle (or rather match-LED) TTL lens-coupled light meter working at full aperture (no stop-down metering). Fully manual, fully mechanical, no auto-exposure, no auto-focus, no facility to attach a winder or motor drive, battery needed only to supply the light meter. However the shell is fragile plastic (pale-yellowish champagne colour), no heavy metal. It's a cheaply made but still fairly nice basic entry-level SLR camera---except for one single but terrible flaw: the focusing screen is so poor it renders the camera virtually unusable. Bummer!

Strange how similar this Kenko camera looks to my SR2000---I'd guess they're coming from the same factory ...

-- Olaf
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

This Kenko was not like the Nikon FM10 that is also sold in Japan. The FM10 looks a bit like the old SLRs but the shell is made of light plastic. This Kenko, or at least the several I had a chance to hold and play with at various stores last fall, was heavy metal. Just like my old Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL or a Canon Ftb or Nikkormat FTN or Pentax Spotmatic F. One thing that appears to be different in the photos of the camera I see now and the ones I handled last fall is the molded finger grip on the front. I don't recall that being there so these may be newer models and may or may not be the heavy metal construction that they had last year.

Here is some more info from the Kenko/Tokina website:

http://www.kenko-tokina.co.jp/e/camera/ ... tml#single
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bakubo
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by bakubo »

A couple of weeks ago in Osaka I saw one of these Kenko film SLRs at Bic Camera so they are still for sale. I don't know if it was old stock or if they are still being made.
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Birma
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by Birma »

It was fun to read your introductory post again Henry :)
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Re: Signed up awhile ago, but didn't introduce myself

Unread post by Omega892 »

Interesting topic Henry.

I have fond memories of my early days with 35mm, starting with an Halina Paulette in early 1967, didn't have much cash to spend being in the lower rungs of the RN as an Aircraft Artificer 3rd class at that point (had a hook, killick, badge on one arm), which I managed to wear out in about 18 months. The first thing to go was the selenium light meter which I didn't really miss as I purchased a Weston Master V rather than paying for the Paulette's meter to be fixed. This light meter, bought in a shop in Arbroath Scotland, cost just over twice the price of the camera but was a very good investment which still had its uses when I had moved on to my first Minolta SRT101 in 1968. Indeed I still have this Weston Master.

That SRT101 purchased in UK through Wallace Heaton (of Blue Book renown) of London, cost an arm and a leg at about ukp £180 with a 57mm f1.7 Rokkor.

I first noticed the SRT101 as the Automobile Association (AA) in UK were giving some away in competitions in their 'Drive' magazine and I liked the look of it, particularly having a bayonet fit lens. Even then I was thing fast action on a carrier flight decks and rapid changes of lenses. Having researched through Amateur Photographer (when it provided very useful technical details and wasn't afraid to call a 'lemon' a 'lemon') and visited a few photography shops I decided that the SRT101 was worth sticking out for and shelved the idea of a cheaper Praktica. Nikon's were out of my price range. Pentax Spotmatic felt lightweight and had that screw lens mount and Canon had a disjointed product line with no clear accessory path.

Even Victor Blackman, then editor of AP went for the SRT101, but he declared that after I had already made my move, had plenty of good things to say about both the Rokkor lenses and the TTL metering system.

I stuck with SRT101 based photography (with several job changes, a few years at university as a mature with a wife and four and a mortgage couldn't afford to do otherwise) until buying a Dynax 7 when they arrived thinking digital SLRs had a bit to go on the specification-affordability continuum. Shame that the once effective Minolta gave under the weight of the Canon marketing machine (which seemed to dominate magazine front pages with endless competitions).

I still hanker for that twin double turret control arrangement of the Dynax 7 and 7D. Simple, positive, not accidentally adjusted and instantly and easily visible. Except in the dark with that latter perhaps as when taking something like this at Music in the Air, Middle Wallop, S. England September 2003, Minolta Dynax 7, Sigma 14mm EX f2.8, Fuji Velvia 50:

Image
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