Edmonton Photographic Historical Society

I was writing a review of the Image TFD-45 flash (shown right) when I jokingly thought to myself, “Haven’t I just written about a very similar flash from Vivitar (the Auto Thyrister 550FD , shown left)”. That led to thoughts that I, if I wanted to try, could fire them both up and see how their calculator dials differ, and while I was at it I could see if either of them even approaches the output need to make the calculator dials accurate. I have a Minolta flash meter I could set up in my room (white ceiling, light paneled walls) ten feet away.      Both flash have two auto ranges (red and blue on the Image, A1(red) and A2(blue) on the Vivitar. Luckily the pair chose the red range for the longest, blue for the shortest.   At ISO 100 for the two flash and flash meter— Flash                     Vivitar 550FD (Nikon) Image TFD-45 (Canon) Red range at f/2 2-12 m, 6-40 feet       ...

This Auto Image 28 mm f/2.8 lens in Canon FD mount seems to have a aperture shutdown problem. I have other lenses just like it, but feeling brave one day I decided to take it apart to see what was jamming it up.      It was largely a disaster. I had set up to take images of each step. After taking one image of just the mount I decided to take out the three screws that hold the Canon FD mount onto the back of the lens (black screws at a clock’s 1, 5 and 9 roughly). My first screwdriver turned out to be so worn it wouldn’t grip the cross headed screws, After a trip to the basement for my complete set of   small screwdriver bits (I needed a Japanese 000) I found the screws really tight. So tight the tip of the screwdriver sheared off. After cleaning out the remnants of the tip with a snap-off knife tip I finally managed to remove all three black-headed screws.      Clear sailing you think, let’s see the steps you say, well I was too busy fighting with the...

I have been concentrating my collecting on zoom lenses, gadgets, tripods and even some literature. I have bought some digital cameras, but only if the price is low enough. So this day I was looking through a low priced bin when I noticed two identical film cameras. They were both Kodak Brownie Starflex cameras, made from 1957 to 1964.        One of the two had a broken—missing the reflector— Kodalite Midget Flasholder attached. Both camera and flash were filthy with the yellow deposit that indicates either a smoker in the house or they were still lighting the house with kerosene lamps.      The Starflex camera has a reflex finder. The light comes through the top lens and is bent 90º by a mirror. Instead of the image being captured by a ground glass screen, the Starflex uses a lens. There are two downsides to this kind of a finder, as well as two huge upsides. The two downsides are— You are not able to focus the camera using the image created this way. ...

  When you own many tripods, and expect to buy more, you start to collect quick release plates any chance you get. That is mostly because a lot of tripods come up for sale missing their QR plates. Although there are sites that claim to have most sizes, and many sites that will sell you an original QR plate, many charge a lot.        I have tried making QR plates out of wood. It isn’t easy to make the plates because they are small and sometimes several sides need to be at exact bevels. One of my initially successful plates failed miserably when the tripod screw pulled through the small thickness of wood left after I had bored a hole to take the screw head. But enough of my historical adventures…      This plate came up for sale in a junk bin of $1 items. Keep in mind some of those items included lenses, flashes, battery grips and the like, so paying a whole dollar for a plate for something I may or may not have is me taking a chance. In this bottom...

     This Image TFD-45 electronic flash doesn’t show up on the internet search engines. So we are going to simply go over how much fun it is. It doesn’t have a zoom head for various focal length lenses, but has a “wide” panel that we will get to during the examination of the control panel. It has a Canon control module attached to the bottom we will also get to later. Starting at the top of the back you have a choice of six ISO settings.     As you slide the ISO settings back and forth the “F” band below the two range slashes (orange and blue) changes so different f/stops line up with the slashes.      Below the f/stop band there are two auto ranges displayed in the two slash colours.      Below that there is a distance scale with “M” (Meters) in yellow on top and “FT” (Feet) in green below.      Below that there is a toggle with “W” (Wide panel installed) in yellow and “S” (Straight flash) in red. When you switch be...

This Olympus FE-20 digital camera was hiding in a Value Village in the hardware/tools aisle. It was without a battery, a memory card and a price tag. I had already been down the stationary aisle where they used to display cameras. I had also checked the two shelves at right angles—the electronics/odd electrical items—that I had found cameras displayed recently. But finding an unpriced digital camera partially hidden under something was a new low.      More and more lately in different Value Villages I have found discarded camera pouches with ridiculous pricing (e.g. $29.99) with nothing in them. Or oddly placed priced camera boxes containing accessory cords, instructions and even software program CDs that are missing the camera!      I know the new policy is to take the item to the manager at the front of the store and get a price. When I approached the manager she said, “Where did you find that?” It might have been the direction I was approaching her, as ...

     This Cokin Polarizing B 160 filter —and its clever case—showed up in a bargain bin for a $1. At that price how can anyone refuse?      The case is also labelled on the end. Those who use the Cokin filters often acquire quite a few filters. So Cokin used to make boxes that would take the cases in slots so you could read the ends to figure out how to find the one you were looking for. Notice you are also told what the exposure correction would be needed if the filter was used.      The “COEF. X 3.5” was how much you needed to increase the exposure to compensate for the filter density. You need more exposure, but explaining it as “X 3.5”   has it’s problems. If increasing the exposure 2X is one stop, then increasing 3.5X is slightly less than opening two stops.        Those with some through-the-lens exposure systems can get fouled up with linear polarizers. If the camera uses a half-silvered mirror to tap off the m...