Some Updates

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I just created three pages to the right – Graflex Optar page 3 / VPK Meniscus Images 003 / B&L Rapid Rectilinear

Our trip to the Statue of Liberty, for several small reasons, all added up to a cancellation. Perhaps next Spring.

I am rapidly learning to enjoy the Olympus E-510 and its ability to work with my old lens collection. The Fuji S2Pro needs the Nikon AF lens line, it doesn’t work well MF. The Pentax *istD has a nice feel to it, but I have yet to warm up to it. The Canon XTi, due to the wide range of good glass available to me, is the first to be grabbed for general shooting.

This and That

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A little bit of ramble tonite.

I have a few cameras on the workbench to shred and tear. Today I worked on a Kewpie, mounting the ~110mm Meniscus Lens in an M42 tube. Remaining is an Exacta mount Carl Zeiss Jena Polacolar f2.8 50mm lens to adapt to either my EOS or 4/3 systems. There is a mini German camera – Junka – that unfortunately has a 45mm registration, don’t know what I will do with that one- maybe a macro in an M42 tube. There is a Wollensak f4.5 triple all set for an M42 tube – I had to clean fungus from all three lenses – it needs a final cleaning before re-assembly. The original variable aperture is still functional on it. It is from an American made camera that was shipped to Germany for sale – an oddball for sure. More about each as I work them up and test them out.

The plan is to find a spot with a nice background- features at different distances, etc and test all my lenses and camera bodies so I can compare them for future reference and use. I’d hate to take lens B on body 3 to NYC when lens D turns out to be a much better performer on body 2. It will probably turn out to be an all day shoot with tripod and remote shutter release ( I will have to but two more releases- one each for the Fuji S2 and the Pentax *istD), so it will have to be either a completely overcast or Sunny day. Perhaps even two shoots – one with each sky condition.

I am addicted to Mafia Wars on FaceBook – Thompson Drum is my MW name.

On my favorite manual focus website recently, members from Austria and Viet Nam have been posting pictures, Makes the plain Jane scenery in Central New York State look very pale.

Enough !

Kodak Autotime Scales

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While looking at the offers on the web for VPK cameras, I noticed a newer VPK Autographic with the same ‘Autotime 5224′ on the shutter that I had seen and mentioned in an earlier post regarding my recently acquired non-autographic VPK. Suddenly it clicked ! (I know, I know) I had original, boxed sets in the basement of what I took to be repair/replacement shutter parts in their original boxes. They were part of an auction lot I won in early Spring of this year.

So, it is not a solid fact that non-autographic VPK’s all had this shutter front on them. They may have been original to some or all them, but also probably were available in later years as replacements for the scales in numerics and fitted to autographic models.

These scales were meant to allow amateur photogs to take images by simply matching observable criteria to the settings on the scales. See the images below for more complete information. I apologize for the poor quality of the scale images themselves. I used a scanner for these images.

Non-Autographic Kodak Vest Pocket VPK

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UPDATE – See this posting regarding the Autotime 5227 text mentioned here

I finally persisted and found a decently priced non-autographic version of the Kodak VPKs that I have been purchasing for the Meniscus lens itself. This is a purchase for collecting only. The VPK was sold in two production runs of body styles. According to Internet information, at about production serial number 200,000 the autographic feature was added. There were numerous lens varieties and finishes offered. Two of my autographic models also have plates on the rear indicating they were manufactured in Canada.

Looking at this copy from the front, on the lens is a word – Autotime and the number 5227. Text on the lens plate reads ‘Vest Pocket Kodak Patented Mar 4, 1902 Other Patents Pending’. The rear has no text at all, either on the case or access panel. The serial number on the tripod leg is 190XXX which would put my copy near the end of the non-autographic run. Generally, the consensus is that the original was made between 1912 and 1915 with the autographic introduced in 1915. Of course, there is no access door and stylus holder of the autographic series. A production estimate of 1,750,000 units in all styles is reported.

A quick look on eBay prior to this posting has a seller putting a BIN price of $225 for this model. There is another at $25 starting bid. I am happy with my purchase price

A Pleasant Sunday Morning

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The Sun was out for a change and I have been waiting to try out some of the many old lenses. I grabbed the VPK meniscus and the 1A Autographic lenses and headed out to a local private garden. Every day there are new displays and the flowers are usually rotated from one place to another to vary groupings, as a bonus the building is painted a bright orange and they sell a whole line of home supply items. I pulled right into a spot up front and proceeded to snap away for about thirty minutes.

Then I went to a local Erie Canal Park and took a couple quick shots with the 1A Autographic lens to get a feel for it.

The meniscus shots are on the VPK Meniscus 002 page and the page named 1A Autographic has the others.

Fleamarket Purchase

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This morning I went back to the Sunday fleamarket. I here must quote the answer a dear friend of mine uses when anyone asks him what he is looking for at fleamarkets- “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet.”

The first item I grabbed is an acid etched 18″ serving dish from the 1930’s for $10. It is an exact duplicate of a piece in the pattern my Wife collects. For years we had referred to it as the ‘unknown pattern’. I finally found a picture of the pattern and the obscure company’s name that sold it. I believe the company bought the blanks from Fostoria and Cambridge and put their own pattern on them We have many serving pieces that bear very close resemblance to the items from these companies. If seen from a distance, it appears to be Rosepoint by Cambridge, on looking closer it obviously is not. I am not going to reveal the name here as I don’t need any competition for the pieces.

After putting it safely in the car, I wandered a bit, and ran into my friend (quoted above) and his Wife. We quickly compared what we had seen/purchased. As I started to walk away I noticed a Brownie box camera and leather case in nice shape on a vendor’s table. I reached out to take it for a look-see and the vendor walked up and said the price was $800, but he would come down some. I got it for $2, I enjoy a vendor with some humor, most are too busy BS’ing with their fellows and ignoring possible sales. It appears to have a simple meniscus lens, yet another candidate for the bellows treatment.

A Couple From The Fleamarket

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This morning I visited the local Sunday flea market. After walking through the whole area, I went around again to check on recent arrivals. I had seen a couple of old 35mm cameras that were made of 24K gold and priced accordingly and one platinum MF 120 film camera. As I was almost ready to throw my coffee cup away and leave I spotted a seller just setting up. On his table was a Brownie Target Six-16 and a No2 Folding Cartridge Hawk-Eye Model C. Each with a price tag of $7. I picked each one up for a quick look over and he offered them at $5 each or $7 for both. They are sitting next to my keyboard. Both are in extremely good condition and I have not determined their fate.

The Hawk-Eye has the rotary aperture with four perfect circles of f8-f32 range. Hmmmmmmmm ……… It also has a mechanical aperture choke, the same as the VPK Meniscus. Hmmmmmmmmm again – this lens could certainly be a keeper.

New M42 to EOS Adapter With User Changeable Custom Settings

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CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

Today I received the user changeable adapter. The first hint that it wasn’t the ’standard’ chip was the default f1.4 rather than the f2.0 on the screen.

The directions say it can be used to set aperture value, focal length, calibration for front and back focus, and switch between AF/MF mode. I am only interested right now in the focal length and aperture – but the others I will play with later.

(eBay item #350132914444 – you have to ask for the new chip and pay a small premium for it.)

I quickly programed it by the use of my one right hand and my two left hands, both with two thumbs. In all, I was successful after the 16th attempt (I kept count on a stroke sheet). The first 15 were just getting used to the instructions. I finally got a handle on it when I tried the alternative method of entering the command mode using the AI SERVO mode.

Now I had an adapter set for 65mm focal length (EXIF info only) and f5.6. I mounted the old M42 lens body containing the VPK Meniscus lens and no aperture mechanism. This being the reason I wanted the adapter – the fixed aperture value.

The Sun was almost set, so I was able to shoot in AV mode against the Sun and every other direction and then to top it off, a shot at the side of the house in very dense shade. I shot with RAW and JPG (I was using the XTi).

Last week I did almost the same thing with my earlier f2.0 adapter and one half of the RAW were seriously dark to full black. The results tonight were very well exposed RAW in all shots. The EXIF showed the 65mm focal length, the aperture of f5.6 and the varying shutter speeds. AND it is also a focus confirming chip.

I am very happy overall and I will be ordering two more as soon as the pension check is deposited next week. This adapter is black anodized aluminum.

To prove it wasn’t a fluke, I dismounted the adapter and lens, mounted an AF lens, shot some with it and then remounted the MF adapter and lens. The settings were still there.

Now I have to wait for a decent day to go out and have some fun with this 90 year old lens.

A New Chip Available For M42 to EOS Adapters

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CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

I was looking for an M42 to EOS adapter that the seller would program with a custom aperture. There was one auction on eBay from a Hong Kong seller that alluded to being able to put aperture and focal length in. Using the ‘ask the seller a question’ route, the answer came back that there is a new chip available that allows the user to make changes in both the aperture and focal length information stored in the chip attached to the adapter. The price for the new chip added a minimal cost to the adapter with a generic f2.0. Also it makes slight mention of having an MF/AF option so when set to MF you can take a picture when the green focus LED is NOT lit. If set to AF, then you have to have focus confirmation before the shutter will fire. Of course I ordered one. I have no idea if there is a Nikon version available.

When I get the adapter with the new chip, I am going to try to set it for a focal length of 63mm and an aperture of 5.6. These are the general settings for the VPK meniscus lens. There is no aperture adjustment on the VPK lens assembly I put together. This should alert me, when in shutter priority mode, that the speed is too far afield; if it is, the f setting in the viewfinder of 5.6 will flash. Also, I will make sure it is set to MF in case I try some shots where the auto-focus might not work; as in low light, fireworks, moon images, etc. The focal length is only used as EXIF information.

I’ll put a posting in with my impression of the adapter after I give it a road test. If this works out, I will probably get an adapter for each of my ‘custom built’ M42/Kodak lenses.

A Few VPK Meniscus Lens Images Posted

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I was able to shoot some exterior shots with the VPK lens mounted on my Canon XTi via a focus confirmation M42 to EOS adapter. It was bright most of the time I was shooting, but cold and windy. The shots are in the VPK Meniscus page. The lens flare and softness are very obvious in them all.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG