If you like what you found here :

If you like this blog and if it was useful to you, I would like a small retribution in form of a charity donation for one of these animal shelters. They're awesome people and really need help. Thank you !

Lakeroad Ferret Farm Shelter
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Ferret Dreams Rescue and Adoption

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Nikon "universal" mount. Not so fast !

Before some people start to go crazy about what I wrote, be advised that I have used Nikon for years. From Nikkormats to D800. So just relax and read before raging against someone who dared to say something against your god. =) 


Nikon and a huge legion of its users and fans always keep saying that Nikon has the most backward-compatible lenses and mount system on earth. Wrong. Very Wrong.

The Nikon mount system is a total mess:

- Pre Ai lenses (prior to 1976)
- Ai and Ai-S manual focus lenses with aperture ring
- AF lenses with and without built-in motor
- AF lenses with and without an aperture ring
- Full frame and APS size sensor sizes
- Cameras with and without an aperture ring
- Cameras with and without built-in AF motor
- Coupling "horns" of two types

The reality is that the Nikon mount has no total backward/forward compatibility and even worse, lenses and camera bodies from the same year may not be compatible.

Some lenses can even damage some bodies if you try to fit them together. What was supposed to be good can turn into a real nightmare and waste of time and money.

Lenses from 1959 to 1976 are the original A- mount type. They can't be mounted in ANY Nikon body except pre-Ai bodies and the ones that have a foldable aperture index tab on aperture coupling ring, like the flagship Nikon DS. 

If you try, for example, to fit an old Nippon Kogakku 50mm F1.4 from 1970 (excellent lens by the way), and if it was not modified to Ai, on ANY camera without the folding tab you may break the body's aperture coupling ring and stuck the lens on the camera mount. I saw this happening more than once, so be advised!

There are two types of autofocus lenses, with the AF motor built-in the lens itself and without it. Lenses without motor won't AF on camera bodies without AF motors. 

For example:

The D5XXX has no AF motor on the body neither the aperture coupling ring. You can use AF lenses with motor and Ai/Ais manual focus lenses that have electronic contacts. No contacts = no light metering.

The D7XXX has AF motor and the aperture coupling ring. You can use all lenses on it, but *NOT* old "Pre Ai" lenses, because it will jam the aperture coupling ring.

There are even lenses with and without the aperture ring. Lenses with it have mechanical aperture control and lenses without it have electronic aperture control.

For example, the FM2 will accept just Ai/Ai-S lenses or AF full-frame lenses with the aperture ring. Even if you are able to fit a lens without an aperture ring you won't be able to control it because the camera has no electronics for this. 


So:


- If you have an OLD Nikon like a Nikkormat you need a pre Ai lens with the famous "horns" to couple the lens aperture ring with the camera aperture ring. 

Be advised that there are TWO "horn" types and they're not compatible and mounted in opposite ways.  Pre Ai lenses have the aperture coupling "horns" facing to the lens front. Ai and later lenses have it facing backward, to the lens rear. If you plan to use an Ai lens on a pre-Ai body you need to reverse the horn orientation to have the proper coupling.

Nikon Pre-Ai coupling "horn"
Nikon Ai coupling "horn"

- If you have a camera like the FM, FE, FM2, N2000 you need an Ai / Ai-S or pre-Ai converted to Ai lens, with an aperture ring for proper metering and aperture control.

- For autofocus cameras like the D40 to D70 and D5xxx you can use AF lenses with or without aperture ring but you need the AF motor on the lens to have autofocus. You need lenses with CPU for proper light metering.

- If we're talking about high-end autofocus cameras like the D600 and D7xxx you are allowed to use all Nikon lenses but NOT pre-Ai ones, unless they were converted to Ai. Those cameras should work with all AF lenses, with or without autofocus motor and aperture ring.

- Finally, if your camera has a foldable tab on the aperture ring, like the Nikon DS, you'll be able to use any kind of Nikon mount lenses on your camera. This tab purpose is to allow the use of pre-Ai lenses. Too bad Nikon forgot to put a decent focusing screen on the DS, a real shame.




If you want a really universal SLR system, go for Pentax. All K lenses work on all K bodies and you have an extra bonus, can also use all M42 screw mount lenses on a Pentax K body with a small and cheap adapter.

Funny fact: Any Canon EOS and any Mirrorless system with the proper adapter can properly exposure meter with any Nikon lens with aperture control ring. Just set the camera to aperture priority. Sorry but the Nikon F mount sucks.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Pentax Espio Mini

The Pentax Espio Mini is probably my favorite compact camera.

It's a tiny 35mm autofocus camera fitted with a very high performance 32mm F3.5 lens. It's beautifully coated and capable of jaw-dropping images. It can easily fit in a pocket.

The autofocus is fast and precise and the exposure is fully automatic from 2s to 1/400s, and there's even a B setting (but no external cable release!). It also has a slow sync mode for night shots.

There's a panorama 16:9 crop mask that can be used to create pseudo panoramic images. 

Other cameras in the same class are the Ricoh R1 and the Olympus mju (Stylus), but honestly, I prefer the Pentax.




Thursday, October 5, 2017

Kodak Retina IIS

The Kodak Retina IIS (Type 024) is a simpler camera if compared to the IIIc (type 028). It's not a folder and it can't have the front lens group of the objective changed to make a wide-angle or a telephoto lens. The IIIS (type 027) is like the IIS but like the IIIc has an interchangeable lens mount.

The lens is an excellent single coated 4-element Schneider Xenar 45mm F2.8 and very Tessar-like performance, with excellent contrast and very sharp at mid-range apertures. There's also a very neat depth of field indicator over the distance scale. Pray to not have it jammed, because it's another freaky mechanism.

Before Retina fans start to complain and freak out, I'm servicing those little devils for more than 30 years, so I really know what I'm saying here, so relax, take a beer and open your mind to a non-fanatical opinion.


Kodak Retina IIS
The photo sucks, I know and I'll change it when I have time. 

Like all Retinas, it's made in Germany by Nagel. It's a sturdy camera, but, oh boy, its project has some very unnecessary complications, like coupled aperture and shutter speed controls aka LVS. When you change the speed, the aperture is also changed to keep the same exposure and the hyperfocal moving marks. It's nice and sometimes handy, not always. The problem is the flimsy mechanism needed to do this.

Resuming Retinas: Very good optics, but dreadful mechanics and very stupid complications.

The selenium light meter is linked by an intricate cables and pulley system to couple it to the aperture control, like many other cameras of this era but the Retina II system is over complicated for the task.  If one of those strings break, the aperture/shutter mechanism almost certainly will be jammed.

If you want to see a well-made example of the twisting galvanometer, take a look at a Canon AT1 or a Chinon CS. Maybe 9 on every 10 Retina-II I serviced had problems with this.

The selenium cell is almost certainly dead or inaccurate by now. Forget about Retina's built-in meters. They are all horrible. Also, avoid any auto-exposure Retinas. It's very unlikely to be working properly.

Like the IIIc and many other Retinas, the film frame counter is a nightmare, some sort of a sadistic joke from the designers. I'll not dive into details, better check the manual and see by yourself.  More information on Camera Quest (IIIS). 

Quoting Stephen Gandy from CameraQuest:

"The film counter is among the worst ever designed.   My theory is that it was really a CIA experiment to find out how long it would take to drive Photogs insane.  The film counter is manually set by 1st pushing down on that little button besides the film counter, and then moving the nearby chromed button on the back side of the top plate in the direction indicated by the arrow.  Each push resets counter 3 frames at a time.   That's right, 12 pushes are required for 36 frames, lovely, just lovely.   The frame counter shows how many exposures are left on the roll, counting DOWN to 1.  It then LOCKS, forcing you to stop and either reload the film, or re-set the film counter to get that extra shot on the roll.  Arrgggh. - Stephen Gandy - CameraQuest" 

But the viewfinder is not so bad, has a coupled rangefinder and moving parallax mask.

Lens: Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 45mm F2.8 (4 elements)
Shutter: Synchro Compur with speeds from 1s to 1/500s

Friday, September 22, 2017

Kodak Retina IIIc








Kodak made Retinas from 1934 to 1960 in 12 flavors. Retinas are mainly folders and Retinettes aren’t, but some Retinas from after 1957 aren’t folders. Confusing eh ! Add to this, different lenses and shutters and you have chaos...
 
They were made in Germany by Nagel Kamerawerk and usually well made, but nothing like the Zeiss standard. Retinas are fair cameras. The main drawbacks are the shutter cocking mechanisms, strangely odd in design and very fragile. Triple check before buying one!

The one above is an IIIc (not IIIC “big c”). The objective is a superb Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 50mm F2, capable of very sharp images. It's a bit prone to flare, so using a hood is a good idea.

One useful and important tip is to check if the objective had one or more elements changed because they are hand-matched. Always check the serial number on front element, on the rear element and on the body, near the front lens mount, the numbers must be the same. If they are different someone changed one of the elements and I would avoid it.

Some of the IIIc came with the Rodenstock 50mm F2 instead of the Xenar. Both objectives are excellent. 
 
The IIIc has an interchangeable front lens element to convert the normal Xenon to a wide-angle Curtar Xenon 35mm F4 and a Longar Xenon 80mm F4 (both with 9 elements counting with the fixed ones in the body).

When using those extra lenses, it’s also needed an external viewfinder. But the external rangefinder is not compensated automatically and you need to use a correction scale making its use very awkward.

It's a cute folder, my advice is not to ruin its "pocketability" by using those very clumsy lenses and viewfinders. Keep it simple and you will be happy.

Retina's motto is something like "It's too simple, let's make things more complicated just for fun". 

The nearest camera to the IIIc/C I can remember is the Zeiss Contessa. But the Contessa is much better in design, craftsmanship and engineering.

The selenium light meter is not coupled and honestly, it sucks even in working condition. Fortunately, there is a reasonably good usable rangefinder.

For more information, check Karen Nakamura’s website.

Lens: Schneider Xenon 50mm F2 coated, 6 elements
Shutter: Synchro Compur (B, 1s - 1/500s) X-Sync
Film type: 35mm
Filter: 32 mm snap-in


Monday, August 21, 2017

Olympus XA and XA-2

Last update on Feb 21th 2016

Olympus engineers made two gems in the 1979-1985 period and the best examples were the XA and XA-2, designed by the legend Yoshihiza Maitani. There were other models like the XA-1, XA-3 and X-A4, but I'll comment just the ones I mentioned before, since I didn't own the other ones.

Olympus XA
(C) Olympus Optical Co.

The XA is a very compact camera with a classy design in black plastic and a sliding protective cover for the lens that turned into a design signature for many other Olympus cameras.

It's a manual focus, aperture priority exposure camera. The focus is done with the help of a short base coincidence rangefinder, visible at the viewfinder center. Also present in the Galilean viewfinder is a scale and a needle for shutter speed indication and a red led for low-speed alert. To be honest, it's a wonderful idea to have a rangefinder but this one was not very precise for wide open apertures at close range.

The aperture is set by a sliding control on the camera front and can be varied from f2.8 to f22

Focus adjust is done by moving a lever just under the lens and there's also a film ASA adjustment near it.

The lens is a razor sharp 6 elements 35mm F2.8 F.Zuiko, and by sharp I mean sharp, but there's some vignetting at F2.8.

There are other controls under the camera body, like the self-timer, a +1.5 stop backlight compensation and the battery test.

The good thing is the fact it uses two LR44 alkaline batteries and they last very long.

It's a quiet camera, very discrete and small enough to fit inside your pocket.

It can be fitted with a small electronic flash unit. It can be screwed on the camera side. It has no hot shoe. There are different flash models, and the more common a the A11 and the A16.

My XA had a recurrent problem with the shutter button. For some reason, the plastic cover sometimes got stuck and need a poke to pop back. This also happens with the XA2.


Olympus XA2
   

Some people complain about the XA being slow to use due to the focus adjustment and aperture setting, and to make those people happy, Maitani decided to design a simpler model. It also cost less than a half of a XA.

The XA-2 has a 35mm F3.5, four elements Tessar like lens. The shorter focal length and smaller maximum aperture made it possible for use without a built-in rangefinder. 

Focus is set by selecting the proper pictogram. When closed, the distance is automatically set to zone 2 (about 5 meter) and thanks to the generous depth of field, it was practically foolproof. The infinity and close focus was there just in case.

There's no information on the viewfinder besides the red led for camera shake warning.

The exposure is fully automatic, varying from 2s at f3.5 to 1/750s at f22 and ASA setting from 25 to 800, a very wide range.

Back to the XA2 lens, it's simpler but not worse than the XA one. Actually, my impression is that the XA2 lens is sharper than the XA's one. In my opinion, the XA2 is a more pleasant camera to use than the XA.

The XA2 was the true successor of the Olympus Trip 35 in my opinion. It's simple, with the same zone focus system, a terrific lens and very affordable. 

One drawback of this camera family is the inability of using filters. It would be great to be able to use a yellow or orange filter for black and white photography.


Olympus XA2 with A11 flash
For me, it's much better than the Minox 35 and the Lomo LCA and costs a fraction of them.

The XA series eventually evolved into the mju (Stylus) series of autofocus cameras from the '90s with the same clamshell design and wonderful optics.


Sunday, June 18, 2017

Poor man's fluid scanning (wet scanning) with Epson V700 scanner

I bet that 90% of the people who bought the Epson V700 scanner to scan film is at least very frustrated with the so-so scan quality from 35mm films and the original Epson film holders.

There are three main reasons for this:

First, (Lack of) Flatness:

The original Epson film holder is, let's say, horrible (to avoid saying any ugly words). It's flimsy and without any structural integrity. The film is always not flat due to the lack of compressing bars between the frames.


Second, (Lack of) Focus:

The film plane with the Epson holder is never at the optimal focus. There are just two height adjustments, but it never stays at the optimal height. 

You may try to use a good quality third party film holder like the ones provided by Betterscanning.com and even use anti-newton glass to keep the film strip as flat as possible. Those film holders have several screws for proper focusing adjustment and it's very labor intensive to have all set to the proper height.

The Betterscanning holders aren't cheap but they provide a very ample fine focus adjustment and compared to the Epson holder they're much better. But there are still two problems: It's expensive, especially if you order it with the anti-Newton glass plates. And because of the extra glass, there is some contrast loss due to reflexions. The second problem is that the Digital ICE infrared dust removal works very badly with the extra anti-Newton rings glass. You must have pristinely clean films to use the Betterscanning holder (and similar ones).


Third, Too many Air to Glass interfaces:

This will always cause a contrast loss. If using the original holder, there's the scanner bed glass between the film and the scanner optics.

Too many air to glass interfaces decreases contrast and may add odd reflections. Usually, the reflexions aren't a big problem. Below, that's what happens to a light ray when it hits a glass plate: dispersion and internal and external reflections making it bounce in and between other glass surfaces.

The additional dispersion is almost certain to make the Digital ICE to fail. You may check if it still works.

The dispersion effect is much higher with anti-Newton glass because in fact, this kind of glass has one (or both) external surfaces etched to minimize the glass to film contact. The effect of this is the reduction of Newton rings. 


The internal reflectance at an air/glass interface for light rays from a point source in glass. Light rays incident at angles to normal at greater than the critical angle (here, 41° for glass to air) do not leave the material and are reflected at the glass/air interface. source: ASU 


What's fluid mounting (wet mounting) ?

It's when you use a fluid between the film strip and the glass to keep it "glued" to the glass to make it as flat as possible and also to remove one of the air to glass interfaces.

There are two main ways to do this. The first one is to use a dedicated fluid mount holder system, like the one Epson send with the V750. There are some clones on the market.


Epson Fluid Mount
Epson fluid mount for the V750

It's basically a holder with a glass bottom and an alignment support with a printed grid.

The idea is to:


  1. Put some sort of fluid over the glass
  2. Place the negative over the fluid
  3. Align it using the grid pattern
  4. Cover the film with a transparent mylar or polyester film. You need to apply some fluid over the film, between the film and the transparent film.
  5. Squeeze out any bubbles with a very soft cloth
  6. Place the holder over the scanned flatbed and scan

This works well IF the focus distance between the holder and the scanner sensor is correct. It's the same focusing problem all over again and you still have a damn glass-air-glass path between the film and the scanner sensor.


The fluid mount holder must be at the proper focus distance

The holder has at least two advantages: First, it keeps the fluid out from your scanner glass. Second, it's easier to align the film. But you still have the two problems I mentioned above.

Again, the fluid mount holder is not exactly cheap.

What I'm doing is simply to fluid mount the film directly over the scanner glass. Yes, I know this may sound creepy but believe me, it's completely safe if you know how to do it properly.

The main concern is about damaging the scanner. This is simply the case to not let the fluid leak into the scanner interior. Just use the proper quantity and it will not leak.

Some people use mineral oil as a mounting fluid. Please don't do this. It's a total mess and a real pain to clean both the film and the glass. I've tested many fluids and, believe me, the best one by far is the old good Zippo Premium lighter fluid (black can). It will not attack the film emulsion neither the glass. It's very volatile and will let no residues behind. Just use the minimum quantity you can.

For the transparent film, I use those cheap transparencies used on overhead projectors.

If you're paranoid with the eventual fluid leaking inside your scanner, you can apply a thin silicone rubber sealing on the glass-plastic gap or even using adhesive tape. I use UHU's Patafix for this task.

Mounting directly to the scanner glass removes the last two problems and in my case, a great improvement in image quality.

Wet mount directly over the scanner glass
Epson V700 at 2400 dpi
Click to enlarge !














Saturday, May 6, 2017

Zeiss Nettar 515/2

Zeiss made many cameras under de Nettar name, with various choices of formats, lenses and shutters.

Like all Zeiss cameras, this one is very well made, with a black enameled body and a nice leatherette finish. 

Zeiss Nettar 515/2


Compur Shutter and Nettar Anastigmat


The one I have is a prewar 6x9 with a Nettar Anastigmat and a Compur shutter. It uses 120 film and gives 8 beautiful and large frames. The last Nettars were made in 1955.

The lens, a 105mm f4.5 uncoated triplet is quite simple, with the expected optical aberrations for this kind of lens, especially at large apertures and at the corners, but it can be sharp enough if stopped down to f11. Keep in mind that this lens is uncoated and very prone to flare without using a suitable lens hood. This lens works beautifully with a black and white film.

Nettars have many shutter flavors: Compur, Prontor, Pronto, Vario, Prontor-S, Prontor-SV, Prontor-SVS, Klio, Telma, Derval and Vero. Yes, is this crazy. There are at least 12 Nettar types: 510, 510/2, 515, 515/2, 516, 516/2, 517/2, 518/2, 515/16, 516/16, 517/16, 518/16

My 515/2 has a nice Compur with 1s to 1/250s + B and is supposed to by one of the "high end" Nettars along with the top model with the Compur-Rapid (1/500s) and a f3.5 Nettar Anastigmat.

There's no rangefinder, just a barebones foldable viewfinder (open type, Galilean) for framing.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Takane Mine Six IIF

Ever heard of the Takane Mine Six IIF ? No ? Don't worry, this is one of those obscure Japanese folding cameras from the '50s.

It was made by Takane Kogaku. You can find some historical and technical information on Camerapedia . And on the excellent Mike Eckman's website.

As usual, I'll focus on my user experience with this camera. For historical and more in-depth information please visit the above mentioned sources.


Takane Mine Six IIF




The first thing you put your eyes on is the beautiful Takumar lens. Yes, a Takumar, nothing that you usually see over there. It's an Asahi T-Takumar coated 75mm f3.5 triplet. The diaphragm iris has 10 blades and a beautiful, almost circular shape.

The shutter is a COPAL with speeds from 1s to 1/300s plus B.

Contrary to the vast majority of folding cameras with Copal and Compur shutters, the focus is not done by rotating the first element, but by moving back and forward the entire shutter/lens assembly. If you try to rotate the front lens you will just unscrew the first lens group, be advised.


Takane Mine Six IIF lens and shutter

One interesting thing is the possibility to shoot in 6x6 or 6x4.5 formats. There's a switch near the viewfinder to overlay the 6x4.5 mask over the 6x6 viewfinder. If shooting in 6x4.5 you'll need to use a built-in foldable mask for the film, but you can't shoot both formats on the same film roll. 





There's a coupled coincident image rangefinder for focus adjustment. The viewfinder is a very basic "tunnel-like" style.

I would rank this camera along with the AGFA Isolette with the Apotar but better than Agnar and Zeiss Nettars. 


Repair tips:

If you see small perforations or even small tears on the bellows, you may try to fix them using black liquid electrical tape. It worked in my case.

If you need to CLA the lens/shutter assembly I have good news. The front group (2-element) goes out simply by unscrewing it. The rear element likewise.

The shutter mechanism is exposed after removing the first element and the retaining screw around the lens thread. Then remove the cover plate and apply lighter fluid all over the gears. Let it dry and then lube the gears axis, applying a light mineral oil (even better if you use oil for watches) with a toothpick on the proper places.

If you need to clean and re-lube the shutter, remove the front and rear lens groups first. 

Clean the lenses using your preferred method and reassemble everything. Easy peasy.

The rangefinder adjustment is done by a small screw mounted on an L shaped part, visible on the lens and shutter image above.

The focus adjustment is awkward. Its helicoid is accessed by the rear side and it's a pain to adjust. Just use a spanner to adjust it, but be careful to not damage the bellows or the rear element.

If you need to disassemble the helicoid, I wish you good luck...

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Mamiya 645E: Medium Format SLR

The Mamiya 645E is a medium format SLR that proved the concept of a professional specs camera in an affordable body.


Mamiya 645E

It has an internal metal chassis and a plastic body. It's still very well made, and it's like a sort of EOS Rebel cousin. It's indeed a very reliable camera. Maybe the best example of "plastic fantastic" equipment. 

Main features:

  • Uses 120 film and shoots frames of 6x4.5 cm. This is more than three times the area of a 35mm film
  • It can be used in aperture priority or in manual exposure mode, with AE lock and exposure compensation from -2 to +2
  • Has a HUGE, extremely clear viewfinder with a split image and microprism focusing aid.
  • Shows selected shutter speed on viewfinder
  • Exposure time goes from 8s to 1/1000s
  • Diopter adjustment from -4 to +4
  • Mechanical film advance
  • Manual focus
  • Flash hot shoe
  • Uses one 4LR44 alkaline battery

The standard lens is the very fine Mamiya Sekor 80mm F2.8 and it's extremely sharp, one of the best medium format lenses I've ever used.

Note that most of the MF 80mm lenses have maximum apertures around F3.5-4.5 .

The metering is center weighted and usually very precise with negative film, but depending on the situation you may need to compensate in some situations if you're using positive film, for example, taking photos at a sunny beach or snow.



There are plenty of lenses at a very fair price on the market.

- 35mm F3.5 
- 45mm F2.8
- 55mm F2.8
- 70mm F2.8 Leaf shutter
- 110mm F2.8
- 80mm F1.9
- 80mm F2.8
- 80mm F4 Macro
- 120mm F4 Macro
- 150mm F3.5
- 150mm F4
- 210mm F4
- 300mm F5.6

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Canon 100ED 20

Canon 100ED 20


This is the best 110 film camera by a large margin in my opinion. It's the only camera of this kind that passed through my hands and caused me a really good impression. It's way better than the widely acclaimed Pentax Auto 110 and the Minolta 110 Mark II. The reason? The film flattening system of the 110ED works very well, much better than any other. The only other 110 camera that gets close is the Minox 110 (Balda) but it's not a very reliable camera, despite the excellent optics.


The multicoated 5 element 26mm f2 design is very sharp and coupled to a decent rangefinder. Maybe the best lens ever fitted to a 110 camera. In my opinion, it's sharper than the famous Pentax 24mm F2.8 of the Pentax Auto 110. Especially if you take in account that the Auto 110 is automatic program exposure only and the 110ED is an aperture priority camera. Just set the aperture and it calculates the exposure time according to the available light. The exposure goes from 8 seconds (yes, eight) to 1/1000s.

There's a slider for aperture setting with four positions. A "window" means F2, a cloud for F4, a sun for F8 and a mysterious dot for F16. I don't have a clue why Canon decided to use odd symbols for the maximum and minimum apertures.



Canon 110ED 20 Controls


There's a mechanical shutter backup that can be used in case of a drained battery or even a total electronic failure. In this case, the shutter will be set to 1/125s and you will need to control the exposure manually by choosing the proper aperture. The only fail I could find on this camera was the fact if you need to use the mechanical shutter, you'll need to remove the battery cover, and to do this, you need to open the film chamber. Maybe Canon's engineers forgot the fact that the battery can go dead on a loaded camera ! ^^

It uses a 4LR44 alkaline battery, easy to find and cheap. There's also a standard mechanical cable release socket near the shutter button.


An interesting date imprinting system was built on this camera. All you need is to set up the date numbers with the wheels.

Canon 100ED 20 date controls
How good is this camera ? If used with good, low grain film, it's just amazing, considering the negative size. It's a very high-resolution lens with excellent corner to corner sharpness.



Canon 100ED 20 image example
But nothing is perfect. It's extremely complex inside and it's a top challenge to have the viewfinder cleaned. Only try to do this if you have top-notch technical skills and Budah's patience. Be warned, otherwise, you may damage it.