Wetzlar Auction Price Estimates seem high as 21% fees have to be added - revalue my Leica collection schedule for insurance?

[wlaidlaw]

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If they can't afford Leicas, there are plenty of alternatives in charity shops. I wanted a "throw-away" camera to use during the coloured powder throwing festival of Holi on a trip to India. I found a virtually new, boxed with paperwork and fully functional Kyocera 110W 35mm film camera for just £8. It works beautifully with motor wind, auto focus and an excellent Zeiss designed 24-110mm zoom lens. After Holi, all it needed was a wipe down to make as new again. I recently bought a Minox 35ML for £60, which again works perfectly and unlike earlier Minox 35 cameras, takes a modern lithium battery. If you want to go the rangefinder route, you can buy a Leotax or Canon Model 7 for not a lot of money and together with a Canon, Nikkor or other Japanese LTM lens, you will have a camera which can do everything a Barnack Leica can do. 

Wilson

[Roland Zwiers]

1 hour ago, wlaidlaw said:

If they can't afford Leicas, there are plenty of alternatives in charity shops. I wanted a "throw-away" camera to use during the coloured powder throwing festival of Holi on a trip to India. I found a virtually new, boxed with paperwork and fully functional Kyocera 110W 35mm film camera for just £8. It works beautifully with motor wind, auto focus and an excellent Zeiss designed 24-110mm zoom lens. After Holi, all it needed was a wipe down to make as new again. I recently bought a Minox 35ML for £60, which again works perfectly and unlike earlier Minox 35 cameras, takes a modern lithium battery. If you want to go the rangefinder route, you can buy a Leotax or Canon Model 7 for not a lot of money and together with a Canon, Nikkor or other Japanese LTM lens, you will have a camera which can do everything a Barnack Leica can do. 

Wilson

 

[Roland Zwiers]

Wilson

You are absolutely right!

For me it is more important that new generations know how to work in the analogue way than to convince them to collect unaffordable vintage cameras.

When young people show interest, I explain that working with a separate exposure meter opens up a world of analogue opportunities. This can even be a free download app on a smartphone!

In this way one can basically use any camera that may still be in the family possession. In this way the present day photographer can reconnect with pictures in the family album.

In my church a friend presented me a high quality 9x12cm folding camera that must have been produced in Germany around 1918-1920. With this camera her grandfather had won  Dutch photo competitions in 1922 and 1923. I could show her one of the winning pictures in my collection of contemporary photo magazines.

I am now experimenting with this camera so as to make a new family picture. Who knows this will inspire the great grandchildren to pick up analogue photography again.

Roland 

 

 

 

 

 

[sandro]

The people in the lab where they develop my films tell me they notice much more interest in analog photography. And like Wilson described, you don't have to be a collector to use analog equipment. At the photographic fairs we also have here in the Netherlands one can buy very nice analog equipment for little money.

Lex

[Roland Zwiers]

Lex and Wilson

Indeed, I fully agree. But now we have changed the subject from unaffordable vintage cameras to still affordable photography with analogue means.

One interesting way to keep analogue costs down is to dilute high quality developers like Rodinal to 1:100 instead of 1:25 or 1:50. When summer temperatures were very high, I resorted to 1:100 dilutions so as to prevent too short development times at 24-26 degrees Celsius. I found empirically as a rule of thumb that I had to increase development times by a factor 4 so as to compensate for the step from (1:50) to (1:100).

(Digital Truth gives a lot of interesting recepies, but not so many for the 1:100 dilutions. Possibly because most photographers object to very long development times)

Now it is colder again I keep using Rodinal at the 1:100 dilution. This may require a 60 minutes development, but I don't mind.

Roland 

 

 

 

 

[Pyrogallol]

2 minutes ago, Roland Zwiers said:

Lex and Wilson

Indeed, I fully agree. But now we have changed the subject from unaffordable vintage cameras to still affordable photography with analogue means.

One interesting way to keep analogue costs down is to dilute high quality developers like Rodinal to 1:100 instead of 1:25 or 1:50. When summer temperatures were very high, I resorted to 1:100 dilutions so as to prevent too short development times at 24-26 degrees Celsius. I found empirically as a rule of thumb that I had to increase development times by a factor 4 so as to compensate for the step from (1:50) to (1:100).

(Digital Truth gives a lot of interesting recepies, but not so many for the 1:100 dilutions. Possibly because most photographers object to very long development times)

Now it is colder again I keep using Rodinal at the 1:100 dilution. This may require a 60 minutes development, but I don't mind.

Roland 

 

No need to develop for an hour.

Rodinal at 20c, 1:25 is 8 minutes, any film.

Moersch Tanol at 20c, 1+1+100 is 17 minutes, almost any film.

 

 

[Roland Zwiers]

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51 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

 

Pyrogallol,

Thank you for this observation.

Indeed, Rodinal (1:25) at 20 degrees Celsius takes some 8 minutes.

In summertime in my darkroom I had to deal with temperatures of 25-26 degrees Celsius. This would have shortened development times to some 4 minutes. For me that is too short to feel in control. 

Now I have found out empirically that the step from (1:25) to (1:50) usually takes a factor 2 with Rodinal. The step from (1:50) to (1:100) takes a factor 4. In this way we go from 8 minutes to 60 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius.

Now for differences in temperature there are formulas like +/- 7 percent for each centigrade. For dilutions I haven't found such formulas yet. I have derived my rules of thumb empirically for the films that I use most often.

I do not know the Moerz Tanol developer. How does it compare to Rodinal or Acurol-N?

Roland 

[Pyrogallol]

18 minutes ago, Roland Zwiers said:

Pyrogallol,

Thank you for this observation.

Indeed, Rodinal (1:25) at 20 degrees Celsius takes some 8 minutes.

In summertime in my darkroom I had to deal with temperatures of 25-26 degrees Celsius. This would have shortened development times to some 4 minutes. For me that is too short to feel in control. 

Now I have found out empirically that the step from (1:25) to (1:50) usually takes a factor 2 with Rodinal. The step from (1:50) to (1:100) takes a factor 4. In this way we go from 8 minutes to 60 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius.

Now for differences in temperature there are formulas like +/- 7 percent for each centigrade. For dilutions I haven't found such formulas yet. I have derived my rules of thumb empirically for the films that I use most often.

I do not know the Moerz Tanol developer. How does it compare to Rodinal or Acurol-N?

Roland 

See https://www.moersch-photochemie.de/en/product/tanol/

[Roland Zwiers]

Pyrogallol,

Thank you for this link .

If I understand correctly, then with Moerz one must combine solution A and solution B each 1:100.

In Rodinal terms I would compare this with (1+1): 100 = 2:100 so 1:50.

In my rules of thumb the difference in development time between 1:50 and 1:100 is a factor 4. This may explain the 17 minutes development time of Moerz at (1+1):100 which is close to the 15 or 16 minutes with Rodinal at 1:50.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I use Rodinal for normal exposure and under-exposure (so normal or pushed development) and Acurol-N for over-exposure (and compensating development).

How does the Moerz developer behave on this scale?

Roland