Yashica FR

A camera with no AE, but with electronic shutter. No pictures without battery. A little bit strange philosophy. The shutter release button is smooth and the shutter/mirror noise is low. The frame counter doesn´t work in my model. For me the highlight of the FR is the diagonal-splitfield screen. I mostly focus by using the splitfield and like the fact that I
don´t have to tilt the body when there are no vertical structures in the field of view.

Porst EL 500

The Porst version of the Dacora Super Dignette Electric, released ca. 1968. Rodenstock Color Trinon-Lanthan 2,8/45mm in Prontor-S (B, 30-500). Coupled rangefinder. The camera features two flash connections, a hot shoe and a socket for flashcubes.
My camera has a broken rewind release knob. I assembled this clumsy screw to bring enough pressure on the knob´s rest to release the rewind function. Not nice but working.

Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm/3,5

The Vivitar Series 1 70-21mm/3,5 is a big and heavy zoom with a superb optical quality, which is my favourite telezoom.
I often use it wide open for freehand macro shots. The focussing in the macro position is done by sliding the zoom ring back and forth, which is very good for holding the camera steady. I own the lens with M42 mount and use it with the Chinon CE-II Memotron, which makes a really heavy combo.

Olympus XAs

I had never realized the differences in the front "bumps" when looking at pictures of the different XA models.

Olympus XA1

The XA1, often called the ugly duckling of the XA family is a nice little snapshooter. The shutter release button is not as elegant as the ones of the other XAs; the shutter is very silent, the selenium meter in my model works well and the 4/35 fixfokus lens brings crisp pictures when shooting in good light. (The only thing I don´t like is the shutter blocking in low light!)






All pictures on Orwo NP22, expired 1989

Fujica Flash AF Date

Another one of the early AF-cameras. Built 1979, the Fujica Flash AF Date features AF with distance symbols in the finder, a date imprint function with three tiny wheels for Y-M-D on the top and an AF-illuminator which sends a phaser-like beam when the flash is activated. In direct comparison the Fujica is the most crappy of my early AFs, not only in the body´s quality but also in the quality of the pictures.

Gossen Sixtino

A very useful tool when using cameras with exotic batteries or without meters. Always stored in his hardcase the selenium cell of this Sixtino has survived and is even still exact enough for slide film. In the case I have a list of extensionfactors for my pinholecameras.

FSU-Sisters

Zorki 1 (1955), Kiev 4a (1970), Fed 5V (1977), each with the standard lens. The decrease in design (from the oldest to the youngest) can be seen, the loss of quality is obvious when using the three.