PHOTO THREAD.
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Indeed! It was always an educational hobby. My knowledge of geography remains pretty good even today... although I have not kept up with all of the new countries and new country names since cutting back on collecting. For most countries lacking stamps without English words, I can identify most stamps including many oriental ones on sight. The Arabic ones are a bit more difficult, but I have books to help me with identification. Most newer stamps use some English so that postal employees in other countries will be able to read them. Because I still sell I bought a new 6 volume set of world-wide stamp catalogues for collectors [by Scott] for the year 2016. Each volume is about 2 inches thick with pages size 8½" x 11" with color pictures of stamps to help with identification. I probably won't ever buy another full set as they are expensive. Likely in a couple of years when I get into selling U.S. stamps I'll get one volume for the U.S. so I can use the latest values for my pricing. I have tens of thousands of U.S. stamps.
Well enough on stamps, but if anyone has questions, I probably have answers!
Yeah, specialty reference books are like that. I used to buy a new edition of McKeown's reference on antique and classic cameras every time a new one came out. Just no reason to keep it up now. I used to travel on work, and I'd hit the pawn shops and antique malls and junk shops, but I don't get around as much, now. And I'm running out of room, anyway...
I've got about that many still waiting for restoration/scavenging for parts.
Wow... you have a collection and a half. I wish I had known you when I finally got rid of my Minolta SR7 with a timer, a tripod, and a 3.5 lens with shutter speeds up to 1/1000 of a second. I would have given it to you. The German Rokar (sp?) lens was perfect but it would no longer correctly lock to the body and I was afraid it would fall off. Also there was something wrong with the shutter. I had it repaired twice, but the last time I took it to a shop the price was high and they would not guarantee their work. I bought it at the US Army PX in Viet Nam in about 1964 and took pictures with it all over the world [Viet Nam, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Netherlands, England plus USA].
At the end I gave it to a second hand store. I hated to do that, but I had been carrying it too long when it was no longer functional. We were downsizing and I had too much stuff I needed to keep. My wife bought me another camera, but we could not afford a really good one. My son ran over that one destroying it and I bought another one, which I still use, but even though it takes thousands of pictures without having to buy film I miss my Minolta. The good thing is that I am really not the picture taker I once was... But I have a lifetime worth of pictures!
Oddly, I never owned a Minolta. They were good solid cameras with remarkably good lenses. Rokkar lenses were Japanese, like the camera. The story is that the name was purposely "German" to give an image of quality. In the 30s, 40s, and 50s, German cameras and lenses had a well-deserved reputation for quality. Nikon (Nippon Kogaku) supposedly chose that name to sound like Zeiss Ikon of Germany (and there were some copyright issues for a time)
I always wanted an XE-7, but never found a good one at a reasonable price. But then I had been wanting an Olympus Pen F since the 1960s, and found a good one last summer:
Olympus has always gone their own way. This is an SLR, using a porroprism, instead of a pentaprism, half frame (72 exposures on a 36-exposure roll) and very tiny, particularly for that era.
I always wanted an XE-7, but never found a good one at a reasonable price. But then I had been wanting an Olympus Pen F since the 1960s, and found a good one last summer:
Olympus has always gone their own way. This is an SLR, using a porroprism, instead of a pentaprism, half frame (72 exposures on a 36-exposure roll) and very tiny, particularly for that era.
In the 90s, there was a digital film project, the idea being a sensor which would fit in the film space of an old film camera and take digital images. It is a feasible idea,but there aren't enough people like me to make it economically feasible. I still use my old film cameras now and then, but they are so much less convenient than digital that I don't do it a lot. Polaroid film for the SX-70 and One Step is available again, so I do that from time to time.
Seems like an old classic, right?Oddly, I never owned a Minolta. They were good solid cameras with remarkably good lenses. Rokkar lenses were Japanese, like the camera. The story is that the name was purposely "German" to give an image of quality. In the 30s, 40s, and 50s, German cameras and lenses had a well-deserved reputation for quality. Nikon (Nippon Kogaku) supposedly chose that name to sound like Zeiss Ikon of Germany (and there were some copyright issues for a time)
I always wanted an XE-7, but never found a good one at a reasonable price. But then I had been wanting an Olympus Pen F since the 1960s, and found a good one last summer:
Olympus has always gone their own way. This is an SLR, using a porroprism, instead of a pentaprism, half frame (72 exposures on a 36-exposure roll) and very tiny, particularly for that era.
Sounds like the name of the classic train across Russia...Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Yes. They supposedly took inspiration from a trip across Siberia. They usually put out a Christmas album, I love to see their shows.
My daughter loves this, by a Scrooge-like character:
My Minolta was SLR which I thought was really great at the time being able to look right through the lens rather than a viewfinder. As for the Rokkar being German, that was the way it was advertised, as a Japanese camera with a German lens. Too long ago to remember any details. But... I bought it in the Army PX and the sales person knew less than I did... which also was not much. When my older brother was in Viet Nam he bought a Nikon.
I remember that I paid $100.00 for my camera which a lot less than it would have been at home assuming I could have bought it at home. When I was in Mexico a few years later one of my teachers offered to buy the camera for that same price, $100.00. I refused to sell it as I did not have money to spare and doubted I could get something comparable for the money. I certainly could not in Mexico which why he wanted to buy it.
(Yehren does some research)
Another term commonly seen in relation to Minolta lenses is the term “Rokkor”. Like many other manufacturers, Minolta employed a separate name for its lenses, in this case the name “Rokkor” was chosen by Minolta founder, Kazuo Tashima, as a reference to Mount Rokko in Japan, which is adjacent to the Minolta Factory.
The Rokkor Files - Minolta Lens History
By that time, Japanese camera lenses were in no way inferior to the best German camera lenses. I see that Minolta,like Pentax, got exceptional contrast in their lenses by using thorium glass in some cases. The only hitch was that thorium is radioactive. It releases beta particles, which don't even penetrate the skin. My Pentax Super Takumar 1.4 has thorium glass, and it does set off a Geiger counter. Wouldn't carry it in my pocket, but it's harmless unless someone eats it.
Another term commonly seen in relation to Minolta lenses is the term “Rokkor”. Like many other manufacturers, Minolta employed a separate name for its lenses, in this case the name “Rokkor” was chosen by Minolta founder, Kazuo Tashima, as a reference to Mount Rokko in Japan, which is adjacent to the Minolta Factory.
The Rokkor Files - Minolta Lens History
By that time, Japanese camera lenses were in no way inferior to the best German camera lenses. I see that Minolta,like Pentax, got exceptional contrast in their lenses by using thorium glass in some cases. The only hitch was that thorium is radioactive. It releases beta particles, which don't even penetrate the skin. My Pentax Super Takumar 1.4 has thorium glass, and it does set off a Geiger counter. Wouldn't carry it in my pocket, but it's harmless unless someone eats it.
Thanks for the little history lesson. I wouldn't have eaten my lens in any case.
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Early on, the old Zeiss Jena plant turned out some really good stuff. Then as Marxism took hold, that declined. My favorite, a kind of an oddball, but very well-designed and constructed, was the Werra:
Very clean lines with well-laid-out controls. The film advance/shutter cocking mechanism was the ring at the base of the lens. That dome next to the lense, protected the lens, and with the cap removed, was reversed to form a lens shade. The CdS meter rarely works, but for daylight work, that really isn't a problem. I have one just like this, and it's a joy to use. There were interchangeable lenses, but I've never seen one for sale.
Some of the material that the Stasi (and Markus Wolf's foreign intelligence department) used was pretty good quality.Early on, the old Zeiss Jena plant turned out some really good stuff. Then as Marxism took hold, that declined. My favorite, a kind of an oddball, but very well-designed and constructed, was the Werra:
Very clean lines with well-laid-out controls. The film advance/shutter cocking mechanism was the ring at the base of the lens. That dome next to the lense, protected the lens, and with the cap removed, was reversed to form a lens shade. The CdS meter rarely works, but for daylight work, that really isn't a problem. I have one just like this, and it's a joy to use. There were interchangeable lenses, but I've never seen one for sale.
There was really no need to manufacture spy cameras, since the Minox (originally made in Latvia) was a tiny, high quality camera easily hidden with the flexibility and close-up capability to do the job. I was pleased to hear that Minox film is again being manufactured; I might take mine out for a test. I have a postwar copy from the Minox factory in Wetzlar:
It's a very useful instrument. It focuses,(macro capability), has adjustable shutter speeds, three slide-in filters controlled by that little knurled rod above the lens, and a meter. As cool a spy camera as you could ask for.
It's a very useful instrument. It focuses,(macro capability), has adjustable shutter speeds, three slide-in filters controlled by that little knurled rod above the lens, and a meter. As cool a spy camera as you could ask for.
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