[Leica] It's a film camera! Rangefinder at that!

[dlridings at gmail.com (Daniel Ridings)]

On Feb 2, 2008 8:55 AM, G Hopkinson <hoppyman@bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> The linkage to the front, which looks to be relatively flimsy, I assumed 
> was just for retraction as on the folders I have here.

Yes, it does look flimsy and that is what suggests, for me, that it is
a rangefinder part rather than a part that is intended to lock and
stabilize the extended lens.

I'm
> struggling to imagine how the coupled rangefinder you mention works. Do 
> you have a model number I can search on for one of the
> originals?

I think you can go after the Makina Plaubels. They'd probably be the
easiest to find descriptions of.

You can't see it unless you know what you are looking at:

http://www.rus-camera.com/camera.php?page=other&camera=iskra

But on the Iskra, with the camera in your hands ready to use, at the
bottom left is an arm that goes back to the rangefinder. But you can't
really see all of it, just a part that sticks out, because it goes
under the bellows instead of over.

I hope they don't waste money on developing "A" exposure for this. A
reliable shutter and aperture is enough.

Daniel


> Regarding the metering, look at the dial on top nearest the viewfinder. It 
> looks to have provision for ISO rating and also an A
> setting? A leaf shutter, as you say, ruins my TTL theory. Any non TTL 
> metering implies a linkage, fascinating.
> Off this topic, I note Fuji's choice in very Nordic Booth babes in the 
> article! Oh and no less than three new DSLRs from Sony.
> Cheers
> Geoff
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org 
> [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
>
> Daniel Ridings
> Sent: Saturday, 2 February 2008 17:30
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] It's a film camera! Rangefinder at that!
>
> On Feb 2, 2008 8:22 AM, G Hopkinson <hoppyman@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> > Richard, I hadn't looked closely enough. It is a rangefinder! I see no
> > possible way this could be linked to the (tabbed) focus ring with a 
> > folding bellows in between.
>
> You see that stabilizing arm extending from the body out to the lens head? 
> It might be able to slide in and out, thus pushing a
> rangefinder mechanism here and there.
>
> > The old originals of course were just focussed by guess applied to the
> > focus ring distance scale manually.
>
> No, the Agfa's (later a Commie Iskra model), Zeiss-Ikon's and others had 
> coupled rangefinders.
>
>
> > For exposure control I would guess that the lens is set exactly as per
> > an M, then the shutter speed is adjusted via the dial on top (complete 
> > with A setting). An Auto setting implies that the metering
> is TTL!
>
> Who needs an exposure meter on one of these? I doubt seriously that it can 
> be TTL. That would be assuming it has a focal plane
> shutter and it obviously has a leaf shutter. They open and close when you 
> take the shot, so they are not letting any light through
> until then. It would be over-kill to have TTL with such a mechanism.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>