>Err... I am not tlaking about the horrible point-n-shoot things made in
>the late 70's/early 80's. I am talking about quality old cameras. Many of
>them had a good range of shutter speeds, and the shutter will still give
>repeatable timing (much more important than accurate times for most work)
>if it's cleaned and lubricated _properly_ (note that flooding a shutter
>with lubricant will do a lot more harm than good, I am talking about
>putting 1 drop of watch oil on the arbors of the escapemnet mechanism,
>and so on). And some older cameras haev pretty decent lenses.
>
>Put it this way : I am sure a good 1950's or 1960's camera will give
>better resolution than a consumer-grade digitial thing!
While the older 2D cameras are often very good (my one Nikon lense is
older than I am, and the body itself is fairly old), the same can't
be said for the 3D cameras that I have experience with.
As for the quality of consumer grade digital cameras, some of them
are surprisingly good. Though they all seem to insist on recording
the images as JPEGs :^( As long as all you want is a 3x5 photo, the
Kodak 3.1-Megapixel model we have with the Kodak photo printer
actually produces results that are about as good as film based!
Though the same couldn't be said if you wanted a larger picture. On
the other hand, HP makes a similar printer for their cameras, and
it's total junk (worse than their cheap inkjets).
For some of what I do with pictures, a digital camera wins hands
down, as it offers more than enough resolution, and better quality
than I can get from film without spending a small fortune. The Kodak
is also able to do some really amazing wizardry with its flash that
works surprisingly well.
Where the consumer grade cameras are bad is the levels of zoom. I
really want one of the nice Nikon SLR digital cameras.
> > max of 100 speed film, though I did shoot 1600 speed once in a cave
>> in Majorca. I think the max shutter speed is something like 1/200th
>> of a second.
>
>Hmmm.. Most old focal plane shutters will do 1/1000 s. Some will do
>1/2000. Leaf shutters are generally limited to 1/500 (and cheaper ones to
>1/250 or 1/300), although the Prestor shutter in the Werra does 1/750
>(that's one interesting shutter...)
>
>But if the only reason you need faster shutter speeds is to be able to
>use fast film in daylight without stopping the lens down too much (if,
>indeed it will stop down far enough) then consider using neutral density
>filters.
Here is the max shutter speeds, f-stops, and lens info for the three
cameras that I use. The Realist and View-Master are both fairly
sharp.
View-Master Personal 1/100th f/3.5 to f/16
View-Master Anastigmat (glass, matched), 1:3.5/25 mm, filter thread Series V
Kodak 1/200th f/3.5 to f/22
Kodak Anaston Lens (glass, matched), 1:3.5/35 mm. Threaded filter
retaining rings for Series V filters
Realist 3.5 1/200th f/3.5 to f/22
David White Anastigmat (glass, matched), 1:3.5/35 mm clip-on filters 20 mm
> > There is a really impressive difference between projected Viewmaster,
>> Realist and standard 35mm 3D images!
>
>I am going to have to try this.
It's loads of fun, for a while I shot a lot of Realist format slides.
Sadly my working hours keep me from participating in the local 3D
club (meetings are either while I'm working or sleeping).
> > I've actually been looking for a slide bar to try on some experiments
> > with a digital camera. They seem to be something of a rare item
>
>It shouldn't be that hard to make one. What about the focussing slide
>from the bottom of a set of close-up bellows, suitably modified (I can't
>be the only person who digs in the junk box at camera shops looking for
>items to mofify...)
Junk boxes?!?! I wish! Around here a camera stores are junk, I'm
not sure there is a single store that still sells used equipment.
With one, maybe two (if it's still around) they're all chain stores.
Hmmm, this has been a useful thread, I think next weekend I need to
hit the one or two that aren't chain stores looking for a couple of
items.... Good Grief, not only is the one store still around, but
they actually have a website, they still sell used equipment and do
repairs! I definitely think I'm going to have to check them out next
weekend!
Zane
--
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh_at_aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Received on Sun Apr 18 2004 - 14:55:54 BST