Desmolicious
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 Re: Post your recent film shots! | |
Alpha_Geist wrote:
Desmolicious wrote:
Alpha_Geist wrote:
Desmolicious wrote:
Alpha_Geist wrote:
Desmolicious wrote:
Alpha_Geist wrote:
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Alpha_Geist wrote:
Fujifilm Fujicolor C200
Shutter speed accuracy issue - note the banding on the bottom of the frame. This one is fairly minor compared to other photos on the same roll.
Nikon FE - Leica 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-R (Leitax) by Senior Frog, on Flickr
Leica R8, Summicron 50, Kodak ProImage 100
I see your pink flowers, and raise the stakes.
No shutter issues.. ergo Leicas are more reliable than Nikons!
Haha! The flowers sure do look nicer at the Capitol park now. I’ll have to go back this weekend and shoot them again with my Leica...and Nikon (I can’t help it  ). Also, I gave the Nikon FE back to my coworker. I have too many other working cameras with non-shutter issues to play with and keep me busy. 
I just picked up a Zeiss Ikon ZM because I always was curious about them. I had a Bessa R3a and hated that compared to my Leica Ms. Not sure about this Zeiss, but I'll give it a little time to see if I warm up to it.
Oooo, Very nice indeed! Isn’t the viewfinder in the Zeiss Ikon supposed to be much brighter and larger than either the Leica or Bessa rangefinders?
It is larger, it isn't brighter and it definitely isn't better...
I think there was a definite fan-boi element behind the ZM Ikon's support. For example, the rf patch in the Zeiss does NOT move. It is fixed. But the frame lines move as they auto parallax correct when you focus. So at infinity the rf patch is noticeably off kilter.
With a Leica M, you can use the position of the rf patch to aid your composition to take quick shots, as it never changes in relation to the frame lines. They move together. So by glancing at your RFpatch -say when you focus, you always know your framing.
Interesting that pretty much no reviews mentioned this..
So what you have is a RF camera with a really large viewfinder that has poor RF implementation, a shutter speed display that fades out in bright daylight with a poorly placed AE lock button (it is dead center on the back top plate making it very awkward to reach - it should be under the film wind lever).
Compared to an M7 - RF patch is always visible. RF patch is always centered. Exposure readout is always visible. AE lock works perfectly with a half press of the shutter button. Shutter is much quieter/more muffled. Build quality is in a different league.
I still like the Zeiss, I'm just wondering if I will grow to like it enough to want to keep it. Would there be a situation where I'd actually want to use it over an M7?
Oh, one good thing - the VF on the Zeiss is further away from the lens center line than on a Leica. So there is much less blockage when using larger/fatter lenses. This is a big plus. My 7A 50 1.1 (w/o lens hood) does not intrude at all into the 50mm frame lines. Definitely a big plus.
1st pic shows position of RF patch at infinity:
🎈+📌= “whelp, there goes my preconceived notions of the famous Zeiss Ikon”
Damn Huss, you should write a book about all of this! You should do YouTube videos on all the film cameras, film and your experiences shooting in the various places you’ve been. I’d smash that bell...as those YouTubers say. You would have at least one subscriber (me)!
And back it goes...
First roll of film had uneven frame spacing, but perhaps more worryingly, a couple of times the shutter wasn't cocked/activated even though I gave the film advance lever the full throw as I always do. It required a second slight increase of pressure to activate the shutter (it is electronic and the vf exposure leds don't light until it is properly cycled).
I first chalked this down to possible user error, but I think at this time of my life I know how to work the film advance lever on a camera.
2nd roll - and this one was pretty much to test the camera more thoroughly instead of assuming it was fine because it was in perfect cosmetic condition - this time it malfunctioned consistently every 4th shot.
Interestingly with no film in it, it works just fine, so obviously the additional load/tension of having to move film through the camera upset things. But that's why we buy cameras, no?
More interestingly (that's good grammar dammit!) I had a Voigtlander Bessa L that brand new out of the box had film transport failure. The replacement has been fine, but I have been distinctly gentle with it. Eyeballing the inners of the ZM, it looks remarkably much like that $90 brand new Bessa L. I'm not saying it's exactly the same, but I'm pretty sure an awful lot of those dainty plastic gears are shared by Cosina.
It is interesting to now go back and compare it to a Leica M. My impressions - and I'm sure others have a different opinion - is that this is a cute cheap camera that is built for part time wanna be Leica shooters, who didn't really have much interest in (or weren't able to) pony up the frankly breathtaking prices for a Leica M. But cheap being relative, because this is still a $1500 + camera.
And yet, when you hold it and feel that lighter build - which has been excused as a design choice by intentionally using lighter weight metals - and feel that lighter and less precise film advance, it seems to me that that impression is very real. It isn't deceptive, this thing is not built to a Leica standard. Or a Nikon standard. My old Nikon S2 rf camera shades this Zeiss in build quality and use. There is zero impression that it can be broken by anything but kid glove use.
In testing the RF accuracy (which by the way was great), I switched between several lenses - Zeiss 50 Planar, 50 Sonnar, CV 50 2.5, Rollei 40 2.8, 7A 50 1.1. Every one of them were not tight when mounted. They went on a little too easily, and there was a little play after they were locked on.
On any of my Ms, all these lenses went on much more firmly, and had zero play when locked. It gives, again, a much higher quality impression. Once the lenses lock on, the camera/lens interface feels a solid unit.
So I'm going to update my view on the Zeiss Ikon ZM.
It is a cheaper RF camera, with a poorly implemented RF mechanism, that has very hard to see exposure LEDs, with a poorly placed AE lock and fragile build quality.
Perhaps mine was a lemon. Perhaps. But all that eliminates from the above is the film transport issue. Now that I have experienced that twice with Cosina products, I'm not so sure.
Wow, your experience with the Zeiss Ikon ZM seemed almost nothing too short of a dumpster fire. How “new” was the ZM before you shipped/sold it? I never heard any of these issues before and like helimat mentioned, I briefly thought about getting one but thankfully went with the M6 as my first RF film camera six years ago. The good news is that your itch has been scratched, you’re getting your investment back (or more!) and you have some photos (that I’m sure you’ll share on this board *nudge*nudge*wink*wink*) to remind you of the camera and all it had to offer.
Actually lost a couple o bux cuz just sent it back to the seller (who is a nice dood and this wasn't ebay). If it was fine I could have made money selling it on...
It was basically new in box, as he had bought it as a back up for the one he was using.
Comparing it to something cheap like a Nikon FM or FE2, or even Pentax SuperA, you'd never guess the Zeiss was the expensive camera..
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