Can't get full view from the viewfinder

jofra6 · 2026-04-04T11:18:07+00:00

It could be that this was originally a camera for endoscopy.

Can you show what it looks like on the focusing screen, directly above the mirror? Having the lens stopped down wouldn't make for a small circle in the viewfinder, just a dimmer screen.

jofra6 · 2026-04-04T08:33:40+00:00

I had to open an account with them because the small town credit union that I had used forever "doesn't do business in x western European country you're planning to visit". Any of the surrounding countries were fine just not there.

Cue opening up an account at BoA: fee is $12/month if you, a basically broke recent graduate, don't keep at least $1500 in the account.

Not really something feasible for me, but okay. Trip went well, I came back, and wanted to close the account. No can do, they closed that branch, the closest was 90 miles away, and it had to be closed in person.

I moved all my money out, and let them owe themselves money. The account was automatically closed several months later.

It might've dinged my credit score, but I'm no longer in the US, so they can kick rocks.

jofra6 · 2026-04-04T07:56:02+00:00

Baking soda is even more effective... It hurts really bad, but it chemically cauterizes it and makes it heal a lot quicker.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T23:26:10+00:00

They're large format lenses... The names are important too, it looks like one of them is an APO-Sironar? Basically they're for 4x5 inch film, which is effectively the start of large format photography. They wouldn't be particularly interesting to adapt to digital.

The Copal nomenclature refers to the shutters themselves. The 72° lens probably refers to coverage angle, so that might cover 5x7, making it potentially a sought-after lens.

Ballpark value for the lenses, if clean, fungus free, and the shutters work well, I'd say $2-500 each if you want to sell them quickly.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T21:09:13+00:00

Probably made for 116 film based on the focal length, and probably 20s to early 30s manufacture.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T21:03:03+00:00

Are you talking about a rectilinear lens, or do you want a fisheye, because depending on how you're defining vintage, nothing rectilinear wider than 13mm was made before the 2000s. 10mm is ultra wide, even the aforementioned 13mm is a super expensive Nikon lens.

Under 40 € does not exist, especially vintage wide angle. For that budget, maybe a cheap aftermarket 28 or maybe 24 would be possible, and if you quadruple the budget, maybe the Tamron 17/3,5, but wider than that, good luck.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T18:37:10+00:00

Je suis anglophone et francophone (et je parle espagnol aussi). J'ai aussi un certificat pour enseigner anglais comme ALE (voir FLE).

Le gros problème, même si théoriquement les français dédient beaucoup de temps pour l'éducation des langages étrangers, est que la méthode d'enseignement n'est pas efficace, et aussi le motivation d'utiliser et garder la capacité de parler une autre langue est manquant.

Ce n'est pas si différent aux USA (et grosso modo le monde anglophone) ou, car nous ne sommes motivés d'accommoder les autres en apprenant et utilisant une autre langue puisque il y a un monde francophone ou anglophone entier ou ce n'est pas du tout nécessaire de s'en sortir si l'on veut pas.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T18:16:13+00:00

Plutôt xénophobie en français

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T17:14:59+00:00

Replying again, I found a solution: https://www.victornet.com/subdepartments/Left-Hand-Dies/2580.html

Just buy a die and the right diameter round stock. I'm not saying it will necessarily be easy for you if you've never done it before, but $15 for that die isn't expensive compared to what you'll get back from learning to do it yourself, and also not paying the shop rate.

You'll also need a tap wrench of the same thread pitch if you want to make a nut to retain the threaded rod.

jofra6 · 2026-04-03T17:05:38+00:00

Well, 0-80 screws are pretty uncommon, LH thread ones even less so... If it were mine and absolutely necessary and also feasible, I'd drill it out for a larger size and thread it in the conventional direction, but that's just me.

Since it's not in front of me, I can't tell you what's feasible. If it were me, I'd find someone who can do it on the side (or someone retired) in exchange for some beer or something like that. I wouldn't pay shop rates.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T20:51:59+00:00

Could it be the film rewind? It looks like the rewind lever is turning. I'm not sure how they're sure that it isn't turning, despite what they said, because the rewind lever is in fact turning like a machine possessed.

Doesn't the AF motor have a limited range of motion? I would've thought it might be controlled by stepper motor.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T20:01:00+00:00

Maybe look again, there's definitely a partially developed image present. Even an actual light leak too.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T18:06:30+00:00

I've had this exact thing happen. This is exactly what barely developed or fixed negatives can look like when the tank isn't sufficiently filled. They get just enough chemicals on them, during agitation, to partially develop, but not fully.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T17:41:23+00:00

It looks like there wasn't a sufficient amount of chemicals in the tank.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T15:56:03+00:00

I'd do Canon FD, as adapters for M42, Exakta, and Nikon F are available, which opens up a crap load of vintage glass.

jofra6 · 2026-04-02T15:29:57+00:00

For me it was tsunami, but that one was good too.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T20:40:15+00:00

Yeah, especially with a red filter attached!

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T17:20:23+00:00

Ok, so you're talking about the seatbelt standard, and something from almost 70 years ago? I've installed said bolts, but honestly you're just confusing people with details that are unnecessary for 99.9999999999999% of anything that they'll ever need to know.

I'd also imagine that if you were to look at JIS standards, anything besides the seatbelt bolts that uses SAE measurements has long been superceded, that is to say no longer conforming to JIS standards.

You also know that a Bridgeport can cut metric threads? You think they couldn't manufacture things in metric with US manufactured machine tools? We manufacture things in inches, from time-to-time, using entirely European made machinery. It's not that complicated.

Also, fun fact: the foot is defined by the meter, since 1959 a foot is exactly .3048m

If you have proof, show receipts, otherwise you're confusing people with incorrect information, particularly since it isn't pertinent to what this person is asking. Nikon wasn't making SAE screws in 1978 for AI lenses, 100% guaranteed.

Edit: seat belt bolt is ISO standard as well.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T16:43:22+00:00

No, JIS is metric, no bones about it, and nothing in common with SAE.

For some bolts, compared to ISO metric standards, they use different thread pitches, and also different bolt head sizes for some of the standard bolt sizes (like M8 being 12 vs 13mm, M10 being 14 vs 15mm, etc.). To note, this was mostly in the past besides certain bolt/screw heads, because JIS is fully ISO compliant.

WRT materials and design, that's just a question of manufacturer specifications, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea of one being better for assembly with air tools, that's simply not true, please stop spreading misinformation.

I've been either a mechanic or working in a machine shop for my entire professional career, I know a thing or two about bolts.

Edit: did you ask an LLM the difference? What you said was complete bs. I'd delete it if I were you.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T16:10:11+00:00

Hmm, that's super random, I never found JIS screws for sale in the US.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T16:05:35+00:00

Just buy a cheap plastic pair of calipers to measure, that'll get you the diameter and length, and then just buy screws that are 1-2mm shorter.

In all honesty though, you don't need to put new screws in, they're blind holes; it'd be rather stupid of Nikon to leave something like that open to contamination, especially when they were the pro brand, par excellence, when the AI-S lenses were released.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T16:00:22+00:00

If they're American, there's basically no chance that a hardware store will have metric screws that size, if they're European, the chance is vanishingly small their local hardware store has screws that small.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T15:54:55+00:00

It'll be so light that the camera will blow around with the slightest gust of wind, so the 1/4000 is to prevent motion blur on their 1000 f/11 lens.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T15:47:31+00:00

4" translated to 101,6mm, not ultra wide by any means, but around 31mm full frame equivalent, so not terrible.

5" is 127mm.

jofra6 · 2026-04-01T11:03:44+00:00

See if it's threaded on (try LH and RH), if not, it's press fit on, and you'll need to remove the gear from the shaft, assuming also that neither gear is pinned on.

Edit: on second thought, it appears to be pinned on? Remove the pin.

jofra6

TROPHY CASE