Episode 113: GAS Never Takes a Vacation

After a six week break, the Camerosity crew are back with another episode, but unlike most, we decided not to send out invites and instead just got everyone together and hit the record button. As it turned out, we hit record so fast, we forgot to make an intro!

On this, the 113th episode of the Camerosity Podcast, what we lacked in callers we more than made up for in massive amounts of GAS! Who would have thought that keeping five camera collecting lunatics away from each other for a month and a half and we would get ourselves into so much trouble?!

We start the show with a brief summary of what each of us have been up to and Mike dominates this section complaining about being without power for over 10 days in mid August due to a massive storm called a derecho which decimated the area he lives in. We quickly get to more interesting discussions, recapping recent pickups both through Japanese auctions and more traditional channels including Theo's beautiful new black chrome Leicaflex SL2 and Anthony's "bucket list" Rolleiflex SL66.

We get into more obscure cameras too, such as a beautiful French folding rangefinder called the DeMaria-Lapierre Telka III, a late Voigtländer rangefinder called the Vitomatic III CS, and a Honeywell inspired and Zeiss branded camera built in Braunschweig, Germany called the Zeiss-Ikon Contessa S310.

There is a ton of GAS in this episode, but you'll just have to listen to the show to know what it is, but in addition to specific camera models, we talk about the differences between Ai and AiS lenses, the merits of aperture priority AE vs shutter priority AE, and even a hearty discussion about our favorite midlevel DSLRs including a comparison between the equally awesome Nikon D300 and D7000.

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

We don't yet have a topic for the next episode, but whatever it is, we will record it on Monday, September 21st at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us!

In This Episode

• Camerosity is back after taking several weeks off / What exactly is a derecho?
• Mike survived ten days without power / Generators, sump pumps and keeping the camera collection dry
• Buying cameras from Japan / Buyee shipping options / ECMS versus air shipping
• Lithium batteries can dramatically change your Japanese shipping options
• Documenting damaged packages when buying through Buyee
• Theo gets cameras from Japan to Australia surprisingly quickly
• Shipping cameras from the United States to Australia can take considerably longer
• Theo's beautiful Leicaflex SL2 / Black chrome versus black paint
• Leica black chrome wear / Early Leica M6 finish problems
• Leica R4, R4S and R4SP / Which version should you buy?
• The Leica R4's relationship to the Minolta XD / Why some cameras have noticeable shutter lag
• Minolta's "Final Check" metering system / Feature or workaround?
• Aperture priority versus shutter priority / Which does the Camerosity crew prefer?
• Canon AE-1 / AV-1 / AT-1 and the Canon A-series exposure modes
• Konica's preference for shutter priority
• Nikon Ai versus AiS lenses / Why AiS mattered for shutter priority and program exposure
• Olympus OM cameras and why Olympus never offered conventional shutter priority
• Learning f-stops with pizza mathematics
• Mike buys an Olympus M-1 from Japan / M-1 versus OM-1
• Leica's objection to the Olympus M-1 name
• Olympus M-system lenses / Other subtle M-1 differences
• Stephen buys a broken lens just to get the lens hood and accidentally fixes it
• When a parts camera turns out to be better than the camera it was supposed to repair
• The Honeywell rangefinder that wasn't a Pentax
• Zeiss Ikon S312 / Zeiss Ikon Contessa S310
• Anthony's Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer Vitessa 1000 SR
• Theo's Pentacon Six TL / Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/2.8 Biometar
• Repairing a Pentacon Six using a donor body
• Shooting expired Kodak Panatomic-X in medium format
• Getting thirteen exposures from a 12-exposure roll
• Pentacon Six shutter sounds / Thankfully not as violent as a Pentax 67
• Adapting medium-format lenses to Micro Four Thirds and Nikon F
• Biometar versus Biotar / The history of the Zeiss Biometar design
• How the Biometar design ultimately contributed to the Flektogon
• Paul is tempted by a Rolleiflex SLX on Facebook Marketplace
• Rolleiflex SLX batteries and modern replacement options
• Paul finds an extremely nice Contax IIIa with 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar
• Anthony finally gets his bucket-list Rolleiflex SL66
• Anthony trades his Leica M4-2 for the Rolleiflex SL66
• Why Anthony never got along with the Leica M4-2 film loading system
• Rolleiflex SL66 macro capability / Reversing lenses / Lens movements
• The Camerosity camera circle continues / Anthony's old cameras find new homes with listeners
• Finding the correct Rolleiflex SL66 strap
• Stephen rediscovers early Nikon DSLRs / Nikon D70 for $25
• Nikon D200 versus D300 versus D300S
• Why the Nikon D300 might be one of the greatest digital camera bargains today
• APS-C isn't necessarily a disadvantage / 28mm becomes a useful 42mm equivalent
• Nikon D300 autofocus fine tuning / Using Ai and manual focus Nikon lenses on digital bodies
• Theo used the D300 as one of his main digital cameras for years / Nikon D300 versus D7000
• Why the D7000 blurred the line between consumer and professional Nikon bodies
• Nikon's excellent inexpensive 18-55mm DX kit lens
• Nikon 18-200mm DX superzoom / Better than pixel peepers might suggest
• DxO PhotoLab profiles can transform older lenses
• Correcting chromatic aberration, softness and distortion with modern software
• Buying a camera because you already own the brochure for it
• Mike's final Buyee shipment... supposedly / Telka III
• Asahi Camera annual camera guides / Researching obscure Japanese cameras
• Why old camera magazines remain invaluable historical resources
• The decline of blogs and disappearing online camera research resources
• Mike's Voigtländer Vitomatic III CS / Ultron f/2 lens / A working Voigtländer rangefinder is apparently possible
• eBay Global Shipping sends a camera on a tour of North America
• Stephen's month-long shipping odyssey from the United States to Canada
• Mike buys a Certo Six, a beautiful camera, perfect bellows, dead rangefinder
• The increasing difficulty of finding technicians willing to repair obscure cameras
• Camera repair options have noticeably declined during the lifetime of Camerosity
• Sarah Davis begins learning Hasselblad repairs
• Why the next generation of camera repair technicians is so important
• Jeremy Scott rescues auction purchases for several Camerosity listeners
• 45 Argus cameras weigh approximately 51 pounds
• Jeremy apparently now has a pile of Olympus OM cameras to repair

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg

Sarah Davis Photo Repair - https://www.sdavisphotorepair.com/

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/