Toronto Camera Show - Winter 2017

We are blessed that there are quite a few camera shows in Toronto every year. I try hard not to miss any, although sometimes I intentionally do not go, depending on the gear lust level. The show mostly about old camera gear, which is what I like best. In recent years, price of old stuff has gone up quite a bit, and many vendors are selling their stuff at eBay prices.  Despite all that, sometimes interesting items can be had, even cheaply.

Yesterday was another of these shows. Ever since I got my lathe, I look forward to these shows, as it's the good source of oddball lenses, rangefinders that I could get to hopefully convert to use on digital. I was hoping to find some broken, cheap rangefinders with large aperture lenses, and found exactly none, exept the Kodak Retina IIIc fitted with a slow Schneider-Kreuznach 80mm f4 lens. I am extremely happy as this particular model has been the object of my search for quite some time. The front cell of the lens on this camera has is interchangeable; by replacing the front lens group, one can put on another lens with different focal lengths, like a 80mm, or 35mm. I have a Rodenstock Heligon 90mm f4, which can be used with this camera (or the lens on this camera), which I have been dying to try out. Now all I have to do is to remove the lens from the camera and make it work on my Sony A7.

Zeiss Ikon with Opton Tessar 105mm f3.5. A beauty, no?

Another find from the camera show was a Zeiss Ikon folder with an Opton Tessar 105mm f3.5 lens.  I really hesitated on this one because it was quite expensive (for me) but the lens proved to be irresistable to my already weak will power so I gave in to my temptation. The camera is not really in working condition, but the lens is in beautiful shape, which is primarily what I am after. I have an Opton 75mm f3.5 which I really love, and I don't have a Zeiss Tessar in the 105mm focal length. It will be interesting to compare this one with the Ross London Xpres 105mm f3.8.

Very beat-up Retina IIIc with Schneider Longar 80mm f4. Note the rust but the lens is in very good shape.

Converted. The lens will be mounted on a 12-17mm focus helicoid. The lens itself has focus mechanism, so this lens can focus very close by using both focus.

Got a few old other folder camera lenses, including a Plaubel 18cm f4.5, a Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 105mm f4.5 (my third Radionar. The other two is 50mm f3.5 and 75mm f2.9).  Couple of large format Kodaks, a 6 3/8 inch f4.5 and a 7 1/4 f 4.5. Other misc bits include a few enlarging lenses and a Voigtlander Talon 100mm f2.8 projection lens, which I have already converted and is now mounted on my Nikon D810 :)

Best bargain of the day was a box of M42 2x teleconverters for a $1 each. No, I didn't buy these to use for taking pictures.  I bought them to use the mount for lens conversion.  I have already used two of them: one for the lens above, and the other is for the Voigtlander Talon 100mm f2.8 projection lens.

Overall, I think it was a quite a productive day. Enough toys to experiment until the next show in March :)

Toronto Camera Show - September 2014

Went to the Toronto Camerama Camera Show today, which is basically a used photographic equipment flea market.  There are few of these shows each year with most of it near the end of the year. The show changed venue again but still hosted in a hotel, and it was just as crowded and difficult to move around as the last show.

I was hoping to find some interesting German glass to play with, but no luck, and ended up with half dozen Japanese lenses. Nothing against Japanese lenses, but they are just too common. Scored a Canon FD 35mm f2 S.S.C for a very good deal ($40), and I found out that this version is different than the one I already have. This one has a more normal convex front element, whereas the one I have been using has a concave front element, and very yellow, an indication that it might use radioactive elements in the glass. Will be interesting to see which is better.

FD 35mm f2 SSC Twins - the one I got today is on the left.

From the fun department, got a couple of Wollensak 75mm f4.5 enlarging Raptar lenses and a Commercial-Astragon from Russell, who owned a camera repair business before. I tried one of the Wollensaks today and it's very sharp wide open, as expected from an enlarging lens. I love the Wollensak lenses! The large format 210mm f6.3 lens, which has a German shutter but Japaness glass. I do look forward to trying it out but it will look huge when the lens barrel and focus helicoid and a hood is added.  $35 for the trio. So much fun for so little :)

Wollensak 75mm f4.5 enlarging lens and a large format 210mm lens from Russell.

I did find something that I wanted; a Kodak Retina with a Schneider-Kreuznach 50mm f2 Xenon lens, though I was hoping for a later version.  I was happy to have found this one relatively cheap at $50. The winder does not work. I have full intention to remove the lens from the camera, but now I am hesitating because the camera is so beautifully made and in great shape. Maybe I will leave it the way it is.  Got enough lenses to play with anyway :)

The original Kodak Retina with Schneider 50mm f2 Xenon lens.

Another trio of lenses belong to the Takumar family.  I started my manual focus lenses with Takumars on the digital camera and they always have a spot in my heart, as my first SLR was a Pentax Program Plus :)  I have owned the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 135mm f2.5 and the radioactive 50mm f1.4 before and they are very fine lenses. I didn't intent to buy them again, but the price seem reasonable (all three of them are $40 each). You will notice the 135/2.5 has a "huge" scratch on the front element. That's why it's so cheap and seemingly nobody wanted it. But from my shooting experience, and I had used lenses with worse glass condition but with pictures turned out fine, I bought it, because I know there won't be a noticeable effect, if any, and it came with original hood and case. Now I have two copies of the 105mm f2.8, but that's ok, it's an investment, like I have been telling my wife :).  Lots of people prefer the radioactive version of the Takumar 50mm f1.4 over other versions. I guess it's because the use of thorium in the glass usually makes the lens sharper? I don't know, but I know I won't be using often,

S-M-C 135mm f2.5, Super Takumar 105mm f2.8 and the radioactive 50mm f1.4.

There are couple more lenses I got from the show: Nikkor 105mm f2.5, non-AI version, which is in great shape but has some dust at the rear elements. Not enough to be concerned about. And the last lens is a Kiron 28mm f2 in OM mount.  I already have a few of these in various mounts. But I pick them up when it's cheap.

Another show next month, but I hope I will find something more interesting.

The Photographic Historical Society of Canada Camera Show

The Photographic Historical Society of Canada (phsc) Camera Show is one of the largest annual used camera shows in the Toronto area, and it has been held at the Soccer Centre in Vaughan, usually in May for many years. If you are into old lenses/cameras, be sure to subscribe to the free phsc news letter for show information. They also held an annual auction as well. I bought many of my lenses at this show before, though I had not attended it for two years until today.

As usual, I hesitated before going, always afraid of not being able to control my urge to buy stuff that I don't need. Today I told myself, don't be impulsive, and it helped.  I only spent $50 on lenses today, and got three lenses; one of them quite interesting, in fact. There were so many unique and desirable lenses to be had at today's show. Saw a Steinheil 100mm f2.8 macro, a beautiful beautiful lens, for a cool $800, but aperture not working. Also an Olympus 50mm f1.2 at a cool $700, and a rarer Konica 57mm f1.2 (it's gorgeous!). There is also this French Angenieux 50mm f1.5, in Exakta mount I believe, and the asking price was $9800. No, it's not a typo. The lens was in very rough shape too. You see, there were unique stuff to be had, but they were all selling at eBay prices (or more). In fact, when asked how much a lens was, some would check eBay on the spot, and then gave me an eBay price. If I wanted to pay this kind of price, I would buy from eBay, because there would be more choices and usually in better condition.

Still, it was worth going. I bought an Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 lens, not in its usual OM bayonet mount, but in M42 mount. That's right, Olympus made a small number of M42 lenses, and this is one of them. I am sure the optic is nothing spectacular, and likely the same as the garden variety OM mount 50mm f1.8 that came with pretty much all OM SLRs at the time. One unique/proprietory feature of the lens is the locking pin, very similar to the Mamiya-Seikor screw mount lenses. It would not mount properly on most other cameras. This leads me to think they also made at least one M42 camera.

The second of the three lenses was the Schacht Travegar 100mm f3.3 lens in Exakta mount. Strikingly similar to the Isconar 100mm f4 that I also have, but the Schacht is larger. One interesting feature is that the lens can be unscrewed and be used as an enlarging or macro lens, a la Leitz 135mm f4.5. The Schacht 100mm f3.3 focuses much closer at 0.9m than the Isconar at 1.5m. I expect the two would be optically similar, which means nothing special, but I hope I am wrong and be surprised.

The last lens is the Soligor 105mm f2.8. I have a few variants of this focal length. Hansa, Hanimex, Spiratone, etc, all have something similar, or 105mm f2.5. Only reason I bought it, because it was only $10. The 105mm was a popular focal length and I am sure an easy lens to design and make. Without exception, these low cost lenses all have a T-Mount, and thus a pre-set aperture. It makes sense since these companies made lenses for various camera mounts, and a T-mount is ideal for this purpose. Just use a different mount for different cameras, like the Tamron Adaptall system, but without any sort of automation.

Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 in M42 Mount. Note the red lettering on the name ring. OM mount lenses have white colors. Click for larger.

Like some Mamiya-Seiko lenses, this one has a locking pin too. It needs to be filed down in order to mount flat with the adapter. Click for larger.

Schacht Travegar 100mm f3.3 in EXA mount. Click for larger.

Soligor 105mm f2.8. This lens has an unsual 46mm filter size. Click for larger.