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NonMusic: camera query
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Dec 00 - 08:19 AM Just a little update. My insurance came through and I am now the proud owner of a Minolta X-370s. The insurance company said that because they couldn't place my original camera they'd get me one with the sort of features I was looking for. It seems nice, though I haven't used it yet. I also got a big new camera bag and a replacement flash gun. It's like Christmas come early! |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 13 Nov 00 - 03:32 AM Once again, thanks to everyone for all the help. It is much appreciated. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: catspaw49 Date: 12 Nov 00 - 11:50 AM Well Fibs, looks like everyone has beaten me here and has great info. I used to use Pentax almost exclusively and then had two bags full stolen in Chattanooga! In what I thought was the interim back then, I picked up a Canon T-50 with a good macro zoom...........and I tell you, I never got past the "interim" again. There are an awful lot of inexpensive 35's out today and you might want to check a few out before you replace yours. I don't care much for the clamshells and I really don't mind the extra weight so I'm still, 15 years later, happy with the nicely automated cheap T-50. There are even better and cheaper out now. Get a decent lens and call it a day! Last year, I researched the hell out of digitals and ended up with a Nikon. Its great, but I'm still futzing around trying to use the hundreds of things it will do. The older I get, the more I seem to want to revert back to "snapshot" photos and all of the "goodies" seem kinda' tiring!!! Spaw |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Peter F. at TLT. Date: 12 Nov 00 - 11:19 AM ...mcmoo... checkout that Pentax SP500 camera. Most, if not all, had that extra shutter speed i.e. 1000th/sec. but just did'nt have the mark on the dial. If your camera has an extra position above the 500 mark, then that will be the 1000th/sec setting. cheers. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,CraigS Date: 11 Nov 00 - 10:07 PM Camera sounds like a Praktika MTL3. The MTL2 had an external (not TTL) meter, and models after that had LEDs in the viewfinder, rather than a needle. You can buy similar cameras second-hand in GB for about $30 quite easily. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Bob Bolton Date: 11 Nov 00 - 02:28 AM G'day Fibula Mattock, I afraid your Praktica won't get much back on insurance, but they were a camera with their good points. Despite Gervase's incorrect (or cold war propaganda driven) snipes about copies, his Pentax copied the thread from Praktica/Pentacon cameras - copied the instant return mirror from another East block camera (a Russian one that copied it in turn from a Hungarian camera). Despite some (subsequent) 30 years as a professional photographer and a string of Nikons (the workhorses among a collection/armory of 100 plus assorted cameras) I still miss the excellent features of the Praktica Nova that ended on the wrong side of a motorbike prang in Tasmania, c. 1967. I have an interest in close-up photography and the Praktica's f1.8 50mm Meyer Oreston focused to 30cm ... could fill the frame with a postcard-sized image without need of the extension rings. The angled front-mounted shutter release let me hold the camera like a pistol and shoot one-handed as a held, prodded or shaded the small subject. As well - it was a damned sharp lense for its aperture and in its day (which the originally fitted F2.9 Meritar was definitely not). They were a clunky looking camera (the Asahi Pentax was copied from a much prettier Pentacon camera, the Contax S) and some of the later shutters were dubious ... but they got a lot of young photographers going ... and asking why many other cameras cared so little for the needs of photographers (as opposed to happy-snappers). Bob Bolton
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Fibula Mattock Date: 10 Nov 00 - 06:26 PM Thanks you lot! After seeing that thread on sheepskins I reckoned I could get a similar depth of info on cameras, and I'm pleased with that! I'll be happy if the insurance guys can replace it with a manual camera of the same spec., if not, I'm happy to fork out 30-odd quid for the equivalent. Once again Mudcat triumphs! Fib. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Jon Freeman Date: 10 Nov 00 - 02:55 PM My knowledge of cameras sounds about the same as your's Matt although I have been quite pleased with some of the results I've have so far and I think I am learning a little from my mistakes. I don't know how old mine is but it is a Pentax ME Super which I believe are quite well thought of. Jon |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Matt_R Date: 10 Nov 00 - 12:46 PM I just love my camera! It's a Canon AE-1, well known among photographers as a virtually indestructable warhorse. Mine has a 55mm lens on it. Sorry, don't know much about cameras except the one I have...I only learned how to use such a camera in September. My teacher says the best are Canons and Nikons. Minoltas, et al. are just too darn delicate. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Bert Date: 10 Nov 00 - 12:18 PM IMO that style of camera was the height of camera design. They haven't really got any better since then. I picked up a similar Yashica a few years ago at Goodwill for $3.50. Takes GREAT pictures. Look around the used camera stores you should be able to get something between $20-$30. |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 10 Nov 00 - 12:12 PM So like music, and much else in life, it's not what you've got, it's how good you use it??? |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Lady McMoo Date: 10 Nov 00 - 10:14 AM I'd second what Gervase said. I still use a Pentax SP500 (500th/sec version of the Spotmatic 1000th/sec) most weeks as well as my trusty Minox 35mm and damn good it is still after 30-odd years. The Pentax is better made and lighter too than the Practika. I've seen plenty of Spotmatics around still in secondhand shops (c. 75-80 pounds) and Practika's too (a little less, maybe 40-45 pounds) and also lenses that fit both too. I just bought a 135mm Pentax telephoto lense in Berlin for the equivalent of 25 pounds. These are good value cameras for the quality of shots they take. I wouldn't personally recommend the Zenit though. Regards mcmoo |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 10 Nov 00 - 10:00 AM (or did I mean...new-for-old!) |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:58 AM Thanks Gervase. I knew it wasn't worth much (it was second-hand when I got it) but it took lovely clear pictures, as you say. I liked it because you HAD to set everything yourself and couldn't rely on the camera - I was learning about the workings of that camera through experience (even though I don't know all the technical names!). Ahh, I'm too honest - should have told them it was a shiny big Olympus or something that was nicked!! I haven't given descriptions to the insurance people yet because I need specifications, but if they replace old-for-new I might at least get something . I think I'll check the shops nearby in case it appears magically on a second-hand shelf... |
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Subject: RE: NonMusic: camera query From: Gervase Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:49 AM Practika (in the days when there was an East Germany to make copies of Western stuff) did a number of Pentax-style clones using a 42mm screw-in lens fitting (A bit like the Zenith, a similar, Soviet-made clone) For insurance purposes, without wishing to be rude, you'd probably only get about thirty quid back for one that was nicked, because even when they were around they were very much at the entry level of SLR photography. As for replacing it, you'll be lucky to find a Practika around these days - but you may find a Pentax Spotmatic or similar, which uses the same lens thread, and will be better made. I used one for years with Pentax lenses - and as it's the glass on the front which gives you the image quality, it took some darned good pictures. |
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Subject: NonMusic: camera info query From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:27 AM As the Mudcat is collectively the font of all knowledge, I have a query regarding my stolen camera. I know it's a far cry from anything music-y, but I'm always amazed at the info that everyone has. I wonder can anyone of a photographic persuasion help me track down the specific model of my camera? I need the info for the insurance company. It's quite an obscure type, I think. I can't find any info on the internet other than people selling madly numbered models on camera auction sites, and I think that's because it's too damn old. I was given it without instruction manual, and all I know is: it's a Practika SLR; thread lens (I don't know if that's the right term, but you screw the lens in rather than the bayonet fitting these days); it takes a battery, but I'm not sure why as it never seemed to DO anything for me - I always used it as fully manual. You judge the aperture and shutter speed by means of the little needle which has to be centred, on the right-hand-side when you look in the viewfinder; It had a weird sized lensy-bit (sorry, you can tell I don't know a lot about them) as when I lost the lens cap I couldn't buy one to fit as a 48mm one (does that sound right?) was too small.
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