What did the postman bring? V2

[DaveL59]

1 minute ago, pipnina said:

Depending on how much you spent on a MF camera back then, you might be disappointed at how cheap they are today if your aim is to avoid spending money haha.

If the page I saw was correct, that suggested a mamiya RB67 cost $2-3000 new in 1970, then its value has certainly plummeted as you can buy one today with a lens for about £500, less if you gamble on an ebay purchase, which might require repairs.

yeah all the older film gear and even the general use glass is cheap as chips these days. Gutting when you'd spend a couple K buying it all only to find now its worth a couple hundred if lucky 😞 

Upside is where you can use the same glass on your new DSLR and can add a couple extras for peanuts tho 😉 

[pipnina]

2 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Yes! Thanks for that!

I also noticed that someone is doing / has done a Kickstarter for a digital back for medium format cameras with a price tag of $400. That just makes it worse! Although, I do love B&W film in medium format!

There is also a 3d printed medium format camera system if you wanted to only buy lenses and a film back haha.

But then, the lenses for MF cameras typically use leaf shutters which in some cases can require repair if not buying them refurbished.

[Mandy D]

4 minutes ago, pipnina said:

There is also a 3d printed medium format camera system if you wanted to only buy lenses and a film back haha.

But then, the lenses for MF cameras typically use leaf shutters which in some cases can require repair if not buying them refurbished.

I have given consideration to dropping the interchangeable lens Pi camera in one or these bodies and fitting a wide angle lens as a short telephoto for the smaller sensor, just to get the look and feel of such a camera, but it seems like sacrilege to "destroy" an iconic piece of kit like that.

[lawsio]

Oooh has the postman brought me a present today!

[josefk]

On 01/10/2023 at 14:48, pipnina said:

I'd been eyeing up a medium format film camera for a while, and yesterday I pulled the trigger at a local store!

Had carrying weight/size not been a concern I would have gotten a mamiya RB67 instead, but that thing weighs over 2KG with one of the shorter lenses and is about 2x the size of this tiny Bronica ETRS-i

As soon as the clouds clear this is going straight onto my star adventurer! In the mean time I'm going to try and enjoy shooting 55x43mm negatives of more normal subjects and learning some light metering techniques.

absolutely lovely - i have come and gone over the medium format "should i shouldn't I" case so many times...enjoy

[josefk]

On 01/10/2023 at 14:57, Mandy D said:

@pipnina Nice! You can watch that depth of field disappear, now! I loved shooting medium format many years ago, but it can be very challenging. I'm off to look up prices on your piece of gear now. Hopefully, that will put me off buying one.

Check out the price of film and (if you can't do it yourself) developing and printing rather the price of kit if you want to talk yourself down 🙂

[Mandy D]

1 minute ago, josefk said:

Check out the price of film and (if you can't do it yourself) developing and printing rather the price of kit if you want to talk yourself down 🙂

Oh, yes indeed! I used to have a darkroom, many, many yers ago, but sadly do not have the space for one today and my kit is long gone. I know how much of a dream it is, today and have no intnetions of pursuing it again, but that lovely camera did give me pause to think.

[josefk]

At the second time of asking (i bought the book twice in two weeks) the slides i was really after have come attached to this book recommended by @F15Rules. Yay. Thanks for your kind offer offline Dave BTW on this topic.

I have a redundant beaten up and slightly smelly ex library copy of the title now (without slides) and if anyone in the UK wants me to post them that copy i'll happily do so if you reach out on PM. It will go to Oxfam at the weekend if not.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

FLO returned my Stellamira ED125 polished to perfection and very shiny. 😎

[CraigT82]

24 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

FLO returned my Stellamira ED125 polished to perfection and very shiny. 😎

Nice!  Is the 125mm a big jump up visually from the 102?

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

7 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice!  Is the 125mm a big jump up visually from the 102?

I think so. I previously owned a 120mm widefield refractor and the 102 despite being a lovely scope to use, does not quite have the same punch in the light pollution on those dimmer, just within reach targets. Under dark skies I don't believe the difference is so apparent. 

The weight and cost of other ED/Apo 120-125s have put me off buying but the Stellamira's carbon tube and the huge early adopter discount was too tempting. All the right boxes were ticked...

When I can get around to taking a load of equipment pics, I'll be selling my ED102, Mak 127 and a couple of mounts, as the SM125 becomes my jack of all trades.

[bosun21]

21 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I think so. I previously owned a 120mm widefield refractor and the 102 despite being a lovely scope to use, does not quite have the same punch in the light pollution on those dimmer, just within reach targets. Under dark skies I don't believe the difference is so apparent. 

The weight and cost of other ED/Apo 120-125s have put me off buying but the Stellamira's carbon tube and the huge early adopter discount was too tempting. All the right boxes were ticked...

When I can get around to taking a load of equipment pics, I'll be selling my ED102, Mak 127 and a couple of mounts, as the SM125 becomes my jack of all trades.

What mount are you using it on please.

[Franklin]

On 02/10/2023 at 19:46, lawsio said:

 

You've probably already sorted it but the black rubber washer that is around the finder foot in your picture should be placed around the finder tube, it goes in the recess for fine adjustments when aligning.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Franklin

[John]

18 minutes ago, Franklin said:

You've probably already sorted it but the black rubber washer that is around the finder foot in your picture should be placed around the finder tube, it goes in the recess for fine adjustments when aligning.

Well worth mentioning this 👍

[Ouroboros]

Small and perfectly formed. Askar FRA300 and Askar filter drawer. 

It was sent by FLO inside a box, inside a box, inside a box, inside a box. I can’t say it was under packaged. Brilliant to have it redirected to a pick up point too. So I didn’t have to wait in all day or worry about it being left on the doorstep.

I’ve ordered the Askar OAG too. 

 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

What mount are you using it on please.

I have a Celestron AVX swinging the OTA around with a gay abandon but the scope has hit the tripod legs once, so I'm likely going alt az next year once Christmas is paid off... 🙄

[bosun21]

Just now, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I have a Celestron AVX swinging the OTA around with a gay abandon but the scope has hit the tripod legs once, so I'm likely going alt az next year once Christmas is paid off... 🙄

Yeah good idea as I don’t think that there’s a pier extension for the AVX.

[lawsio]

8 hours ago, Franklin said:

You've probably already sorted it but the black rubber washer that is around the finder foot in your picture should be placed around the finder tube, it goes in the recess for fine adjustments when aligning.

 

I feel like the postman will be bringing me a new finder anyway before long, haven't used it properly yet but already don't like the one that's come with it!

On the AZ5 package they swap out the red dot finder for this which I'm sure some people like but I prefer the simpler things, especially on a scope like this.

[Ouroboros]

The nice post lady brought another goodie today. 

 

I got it all connected up and the main and guide cams co-focused. Well, kind of anyway. It’s tricky when they’re not actually looking at the same thing. I’ll have to wait until I get some stars to focus properly. This is my first OAG, so I’m interested to see how well it performs.  

[saac]

Another non astro delivery today all the way from somewhere in the USA (Utah).  It's an amazing bit of kit developed by a young startup company called VibeRide - it's a brake for a longboard (skateboard). Build quality is amazing  and it's shiny   Just in time for the October half term holidays. This means I can go faster without having to worry about how to do the not going faster part  

 

Jim 

Edited October 6, 2023 by saac

[Olli]

The last parts to my imaging rig with the Asiair mini arriving yesterday!

[badhex]

A non-astro purchase; was looking at small comms racks for some home network bits and bobs and then this Excel 20U rack came up second hand and in excellent condition for £50, worth about ten times that new! Probably (quite) a bit bigger than what I currently need but I'm future proofing myself for when we buy somewhere and end up building a home office, and was also cheaper than the smaller, new racks I was looking at.

I've already filled it with vintage/retro computing stuff 😂

Edited October 7, 2023 by badhex

[JeremyS]

Are you sure that’s not a mini-bar in disguise @badhex? 😊

[badhex]

36 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Are you sure that’s not a mini-bar in disguise @badhex? 😊

No, this is a mini-bar in disguise:

[Jules Tohpipi]

On 07/10/2023 at 14:10, badhex said:

A non-astro purchase; was looking at small comms racks for some home network bits and bobs and then this Excel 20U rack came up second hand and in excellent condition for £50, worth about ten times that new! Probably (quite) a bit bigger than what I currently need but I'm future proofing myself for when we buy somewhere and end up building a home office, and was also cheaper than the smaller, new racks I was looking at.

I've already filled it with vintage/retro computing stuff 😂

 

Is that an N40L micro server in there? Mine's still going strong after all these years, too. [Touch wood] 😂