What have I done now?

[Anthony Martinez]

The Kodak Retina IIa has arrived. Running a roll of Ilford Delta 100 through it to see how it does. Neat little camera. I certainly have no idea how to load a fully manual 35mm. We'll see if I actually get 36exp out of this roll. I suspect I killed at least one frame in the front.

[wclavey]

I like the Retinas... often thought of getting one myself. I have a Retinette, which is the guess & check version of the Retina - - no RF. It takes excellent pictures - - very sharp. Enjoy the Retina.

[Anthony Martinez]

So, uh, when you're rewinding the film on a manual 35mm like this how do you know when you're done? Rather, how do you know when the leader has come out of the take up spool? I've never dealt with that, and killed a frame or three peeking into the back to see if it was done. I know, I know. Curiosity killed the cat.

If I wanted to do one of those film swap deals where you shoot a roll, rewind, and then give it to someone else to see how the double exposures come out - how would I go about doing such a thing?

Shots from the test roll will be up later, once the film dries.

[Dobick]

on the retinette (which I think loads similar to this one) you lightly load the lead into the take up side, set the counter on the top to however many shots you have (24, 36, etc) and then shoot til it won't crank anymore. Once you get to that point, rewind it until you hear in release. You can keep rewinding if you want and then use a bottle opener in the darkroom/changing bag to pop open the bottom of the spool and load it onto the developing reel.

Just found photos of the retinette manual on flickr:
Retinette Manual - a set on Flickr

[Anthony Martinez]

Yeah, I had read that in the manual I downloaded earlier. The counter is, as they apparently tend to be, broken. I can manually tick it down every time I take a shot though, and that works well enough. I'll have to keep listening to see if I can actually hear the lead pop out of the take up spool, otherwise I'll just keep fully rewinding and pop the canisters open. That's what I had to do when I was shooting the EOS body, so I'm at least used to that much.

[Dobick]

wow I feel lucky (I guess as lucky as I should feel considering my dad who is the original owner of the camera takes meticulous care of all equipment) that the retinette that I have is in perfect working condition.

The counter works, and until I got ahold of it, the attachable leather case was in perfect condition as well

[Anthony Martinez]

From what I've read if you even think about turning the counter dial in the wrong direction, it breaks. The number of people I've seen try to turn on military vehicles by twisting the engine start in the wrong direction even when there's a giant arrow pointing in the correct direction makes it easy for me to believe most surviving Retina/Retinette cameras have encountered one of the turn it the wrong way folks in the last half century! Of course my source for this information is the intarweb, and we know how that works out too.

I've got the first two strips scanned. It's possible I can deal with the searing pain in my shoulder long enough to get all of the negatives scanned before I give up and drug myself into a coma.

[venchka]

Hope you get well soon.
On the other hand...........
Do good drugs and photography work well together??????????????
Bring your new toys on Thursday.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by venchka

Do good drugs and photography work well together??????????????

you act like you don't know the answer.....

[venchka]

I don't. Or I don't remember. Grinning.

[Anthony Martinez]

Originally Posted by venchka

Hope you get well soon.
On the other hand...........
Do good drugs and photography work well together??????????????
Bring your new toys on Thursday.

Thanks. It's a recurring problem that, despite VA's claims otherwise, is a result of Army shenanigans. Usually it only moderately angers me, this time it hurts worse than it did when the initial injury took place. Doctor at 4.

Anyway, some from the test roll (three frames of which I ruined when I prematurely popped the back open).