contaflex super b

The H2 was beyond economic repair for me so I sold it on and got ten pounds for the body. The lens sold separately for eleven pounds and I've kept the very nice brown leather case for now.
With £21 to spend I quickly found this Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B. In fact it was only £18 which I was pleased with, however on receipt it turned out that the prism had moved so nothing is visible through the finder. The lens also needs a clean, but otherwise the camera is in very good condition working order.
It is beautifully well made as one might expect from zeiss and I'm looking forward to trying it out once I've sorted the prism. It is reputed to be one of the better users from the contaflex line up with it's recomputed tessar and auto aperture. We'll see.

asahi pentax H2

The primotar lens sold for £10 which I have promptly spent on one of the first mass produced SLR's the Pentax H2. It came fitted with an auto-takumar 55mm f2 lens which was standard equipment for the camera when it was on the market between 1959 and 1961. This one seems to be a 1959 model which also has it's original eveready case.

One of the major weaknesses of this camera was the shutter and this one won't work. The curtain is creased and doesn't complete it's journey so will need a good CLA. This might cost more than the camera is worth so may not happen - in which case I'll sell the body on and have a go at using the lens before passing that on. It is very compact and easy in use with the apertures set at the nose of the lens. It was also one of the first auto lenses - in fact semi automatic and has a lever to cock the aperture open for focusing before exposure. Quite easy to use on the digital and quite sharp even wide open and with very pleasant bokeh.
Of course, when I've finished playing with it it will return to ebay.

Primotar

The brownie sold! For a mighty £1.95. And so with this fortune burning a hole in my pocket I have bought an old Meyer-Optik Primotar E lens. It's a 50mm f3.5 all aluminium which I believe used to grace an M42 mount Exakta SLR in the mid '50s. It cost 99p and is in great condition and also came with a Vivitar lens case which I may keep for my old zoom.

I've decided not to include postage in my little experiment for the first few buys but will reckon up and include them in due course. It makes it easier to get going.

I've been using the lens on my digital camera and found it, apart from looking odd on a black brick like camera, to be pretty good and sharp.

It is an auto lens with a very easy manual switch near the filter ring so works well in stopdown mode on the digital. It also feels lovely to use and is easy to focus, snapping in and out nicely. I haven't done any tests but here's a snap. I'm quite reluctant to pass this one on but after I've played a little more it will be back on ebay and I'll move on to something else.

the brownie

This is the camera. Have I paid too much?
I picked up this 1960 Kodak Brownie on ebay for 50p plus £3 postage. It needed a good clean but was in perfect working order. I got some Efke R100 film from retrophotographic and took the camera with me to Cornwall and North Wales for some holiday snapshots to see how it performed.The plastic lens is a Dakon f11 slightly on the wide side with a rotary shutter at 1/50th. The camera is easy to use with a bright clear viewfinder. I was pleased with the results - they all came out!
I'll put it back on ebay and use the proceeds to buy something else.