John Sheldon's photos with the keyword: Vintage camera

Spotted in a charity shop, classed as ‘bric-a-brac’ (a miscellaneous collection of small articles commonly of ornamental or sentimental value per Merriam-Webster). The main point of interest is the smc Pentax-A f3.5 35mm-105mm zoom lens. This model was produced between 1985 and 1989. On the Pentax Forums website its cumulative scores (out of 10) are sharpness 9.0, aberrations 8.5, Bokeh 8.5, Handling 8.3. Its down sides are heaviness (615g/1.35 lbs) and, apparently, busy bokeh with bright backgrounds. This one is in fine condition. I am a lucky lad. The Pentax P30 35mm SLR film camera was introduced in 1985 (called P3 outside the UK) and seems to have had a very short run before being superseded by the P30i and P30n upgrades. It is a creature of extremes – either fully automatic exposure (it chooses aperture and shutter speed with no scope for intervention except for exposure lock) or fully manual mode where the user chooses everything guided by either a handheld light meter (just like a Pentax S1A) or the TTL exposure gauge in the viewfinder (or of course, as in the old days, the use of experience and instinct). The viewfinder information is limited to shutter speed: the one being used and the one it thinks you should use. This P30 camera body is generally in very good condition and all seems to be working well. I suspect that someone has tried to remove the focussing screen for a clean as there is a horizontal mark that seems to float in space inside the viewfinder. It is tempting to put a film through the camera to see how it performs – it still has its adherents who praise it on YouTube. This picture was taken using smc Pentax-DA 35mm f2.4 AL (weight 124g/4.4 oz).

Name: Yashica Rank: Mat Number: MT 2030216 That is, the 216th Yashica-Mat camera to be manufactured in March of 1962. The model had been introduced by the Yashica company in 1957, the 'Mat' signifying autoMATic shutter cocking. (This meant, turn the film winder away from you to wind on the frames, then reverse it to cock the shutter.) The original Yashima company formed the camera name by merging YASHIma and CAmera to become Yashica. (Picture from 2011 archive.)

The camera has a 'Kodak Ball Bearing Shutter' with speeds B, T, 1/25 sec., 1/50 sec. Aperture f numbers are not specified on this model. Instead, the aperture scale uses numbers 1 to 4. I believe that these digits convert to present day f8, f11, f22, f32. The lens appears to be the '2-element achromatic doublet', focal length about 98mm, maximum aperture about f8. Apparently the placing of the glass elements behind the shutter was standard for this lens, so there is no glass 'on the front'.