> what are these purposes? An exercise in being downright contrary. I could tell you. But you'd laugh.
> Would it be easier just to buy a pellicle-mirroed > camera body such as the EOS RT , and use adaptors to > get the lenses you want on? Easier, maybe. But not really what I'm aiming for. I can't afford or justify an EOS RT. I'm just a student who dabbles in photography and occasionally likes to do things a bit differently. OK, I'll risk being an object of mockery: the camera in question is an old Zenit. I bought it to have a camera I could take places I wouldn't risk anything I cared about - dark alleys at night, abandoned buildings. It's not a piece of equipment I take terribly seriously. I had to open it up to fix a fault (wind lever started jamming - turned out the previous owner had managed to get sand in it. Such is life, especially on eBay). As I did so, it began to dawn on me that there's actually a quite nice camera hiding inside there. It's buried pretty deep, but it is there. So I thought I'd start a little project to dig that nice camera out. The Zenit jumps when fired. No, that's an understatement; it kicks. Not just ordinary SLR bounce, but really seriously. Normally the blame is partly the mirror's, partly the shutter's -but here, the shutter (one of the old leica-type designs with cloth blinds) is actually very soft (when correctly adjusted - most aren't); all the bounce is in the mirror. Wedge the mirror up and it's softer than an SLR with mirror lock; a rangefindery feel. Never thought I'd describe something about a Zenit as "wonderful", but... it is there. Those Russian engineers just hid it deep. The Zenit's 70% (not a typo) viewfinder coverage is pretty lousy, though. Fortunately the mirror, mirror raising lever and finder screen come out as a single unit. I intend to replace this unit with a slab of pellicle mirror and a much brighter, full-frame screen I found in a bargain bin. There's plenty of room in there for a big enough mirror to get an actual size view, and the extra screen brightness should help make up for the dimness of the partial mirror. Getting it in the right place for correct focus will doubtless be a pain, but I'm sure I can do it with patience. I have no intention of bolting the prism back on. It's big and heavy on a camera that really doesn't need any more weight or size, and it imposes a dirty green line down the centre of the view. Without that and without the lightmeter (which isn't up to much anyway), I can saw most of the top plate down and have an appreciably smaller camera. Reckon it shouldn't be too hard to build or scrounge some doors to cover the finder screen - I like waist level finders anyhow. > Edmund Scientific sells Pellicle mirrors, I think, > but they'll have to be ordered from out of the UK. Thanks for the info. Looks like they have some fun stuff. - Lester. _______________________________________________ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
