Recent content by ProggyMat

Well, I gave it some thought and decided to entrust my Minolta A5 to PPP Cameras. It's booked in for July 2026, which sounds a long way off - but time seems to pass so quickly for me these days, and I really can afford to wait :) I'm tempted to try somewhere else for the Canon Demi, just to...

So... I've been in touch with Pierro Pozella, aka PPP Cameras in Birmingham... He no longer does individual repairs, but focuses on complete service of each camera, to include any and all necessary repairs (subject to parts) - which is fine with me. His estimate for my Minolta A5 rangefinder is...

Might be a little while before I go ahead with any work, as I just got my car back from service and MOT, nearly £2K lighter because of essential repair work - about half of which was labour :(. Makes a camera CLA look like incredible value for money...

I've done a fair amount of vintage lens servicing (cleaning glass and aperture blades, re-lubricating focusing helicoids), and a few minor camera servicing tasks (cleaning lens glass and viewfinders, cutting and fitting new seals) - and even relatively simple stuff like that takes a good deal of...

Thanks, Peter - that confirms what I'd hoped, given his background. I already have a quote from him for a full CLA of the Canon Demi. Not cheap... but then again, for the amount of work involved, not expensive either (I don't think I'd want to do it for that kind of money). Added to the...

Thanks, all - greatly appreciated. I'll look into each of these before making a decision. I'm a member on one other forum, where I asked the same question. A few additional possibilities were offered in response, and I'm listing them here in case any of you good folks might find them useful: -...

Each year, my family ask me what I'd like for Christmas. Generally speaking, I'd be happy with nothing - it's enough that we're together, in a warm and cozy home (energy prices notwithstanding!), eating and drinking well... but my family insists. So, this year I've requested a few rolls of Kodak...

I have a couple of film cameras that I'm considering having CLA'd - a Canon Demi, with a "graunchy" exposure ring and dirty viewfinder, and a truly mint 2nd-gen Minolta A5 with stuck shutter blades, slow timer, and stiff focusing. I realise the cost of the work will be way more than the cameras...

Wonderful. Proper craftsmanship... Sadly, they're no longer around. According to camera-wiki:

Thanks for that :) I might start off with a 24exp roll of Kentmere 400 B&W and develop it at home, see how I get on with that. If it looks good, I'll stick with ISO 400 for colour - though I don't have any at present. I do have some ColorPlus 200 in the freezer... I guess I could ask the lab...

Nice results with the H35N! I still have an unopened H35 (pre-N) to play with... Out of curiosity, which film did you use? I was thinking something like Kodak ColorPlus 200 should be fast enough for daylight shooting on a reasonably sunny UK autumn day. Did the film transport mechanism handle a...

Yes, I do understand and fully acknowledge all the advantages of mirrorless cameras, and why folks value them. Superior AF and AF tracking aside, there's the considerable benefit of having phase-detect AF sensors built into the imaging sensor instead of separate to it (the latter requiring...

I've never suggested we shouldn't bother trying to produce the best we can, Phil (but see below). I'm not suggesting you or anyone else should or shouldn't do anything. It's none of my business what other folks do, or consider important. In my reply to the quoted section of your post, I...

For sure, and I'd never suggest otherwise... I just wouldn't say that a few millimetres' error in critical focus demonstrates a lack of competence (depending on the reason), nor should it ruin a good shot - for me, at least. With my Pentax DSLR gear, PDAF in AF-S mode is as accurate as any other...

That's a very fair point... although even with the latest ultra-sharp, technically near-perfect lenses and very high resolution imaging sensors, I do wonder how many folks would actually notice (or care about) minor errors in critical focus when an image is viewed at typical dimensions and...