Recent content by MDJ

Hewes make, (or used to), metal reels for Paterson tanks; presumably using the Paterson centre column. Probably won't be cheap as their 'standard' reels used in steel tanks are over 30 quid. (No pound sign on my Aussie keyboard). I have used Paterson reels and tanks for 35mm for nearly 50 years...

Just checked my Spotmatic and the battery I am using is an SPX400 which is equivalent to Energiser 387s. This is a 394 battery with a plastic collar to locate the battery in the battery chamber. The chemistry is silver oxide and mine has been in the camera for over 5 years, admittedly with...

Another Tamron SP fan here. Other non-oem manufacturers that got good writeups in the photo press were Tokina and Kiron.

The Canon EF is another camera that can meter accurately using a 1.5V cell as oppose to the 1.35V mercury cells used in older cameras but are no longer available. The alternatives if you must have 1.35V power for the meter are Zinc-Air hearing aid batteries at about 1.4V. Wein cells which I...

About a year ago I had 3 x 35mm BW films to develop and only two reels for my Paterson Universal tank. I also had a stainless tank and some Hewes reels which I hadn't tried before. Processed two films in the Paterson, all good. Had a few problems loading the metal Hewes reel and proceeded to...

The bamboo skewers are perfect for this job. Just trim one down to a chisel point to fit the groove surrounding the door seal. Rather than just attempting to scrape out the dried seals I dampen the old seal with lighter fluid first. Tear a strip of tissue about an inch wide and twist this into...

Hi fishyfish, I haven't gotten around to cleaning the rear element of my 124G yet but I'm pretty sure it has a single element rather than two glued elements. I have always tackled it by removing the rear element. With regards to the square lens hoods for Bay-1 lenses I have encountered two...

Yep. The FDn lenses use polycarbonate in the lens barrels to reduce weight and improve their balance on the lighter A series bodies. The FDn lenses also featured SSC, Super Spectral Coating , on all lenses whereas this was only used on the higher end of the previous generation lenses. Previous...

My 124G, (82 vintage), had its first CLA about 14 years ago. The technician noted the haziness on the inside of the rear element of the taking lens. It cleaned up nicely and he noted some minor coating damage but it didn't affect the lens performance. He also advised that the haziness could...

The common recommendation used to be use a ground glass screen at the film gate. Problems with these include cutting to size to fit the film gate etc. I have made an approximation of the ground glass using cut down pieces of CD Jewel cases and covering one side with frosted Scotch tape. Butt...

I believe that the maker's name was Dacora. Dignar being a camera model. The Ilford Sportsman was sold over a number of years and I think this was a rebranded Dacora Dignette. My dad bought one in the early '60's and I last used it in the early '70's. Shot lots of colour slides with it. Mainly...

I have successfully cleaned up an SMC Takumar 50/1.8 using that method. I used Hydrogen Peroxide alone at about 3 - 4 % from the hair products section in the supermarket. Apparently it's used for hair colouring. At 3 - 4 % concentration it is also safe for skin as it can also be used as a...

Filling the frame while panning with a 300mm lens is not an easy task. For these shots try and find a slower part of the track. A monopod may also prove useful. The shot below was taken with a Canon T90 / 300mm combo at the 1991 Australian Motorcycle GP. No AF on that camera but prefocussing...

I remember seeing a number of black and white prints in old family albums that were coloured using watercolour paints. Very subtle and nicely done. These would have been done on fibre based paper and there was no smudging obviously. Could be a challenge to use this approach with inkjet prints.

Bauer have also ceased production of a large number of magazines in Australia and New Zealand. A lot of the mags were considered iconic and had been running for many years. The revenue for advertising in the print media has fallen off the cliff in this part of the world. Google and Facebook have...