No photos to show for it yet, obvs, but I walked to work with my new camera,
an Exa I, as old as I am.
It was my first time using a waist-level finder since I sold my ETRS in about 2005, and my first time WLF on the street since I sold my Microcord in about 1990. It's a bit disorienting, but I managed OK. Except for the portrait orientation shot I took, which did my head in. I did check my focus against the distance marked on the lens, so I was in part scale focussing really.
The lens (a Carl Zeiss Jena 50/2.
has a long throw between 3m and infinity, so focussing was a bit tricky, even with the built in loupe. My shooting was very slow. I hope this means the images are more considered, but it may mean just that they are almost in focus
With the Exa I, I also got
an Exa Ia, with Ludwig Meritar 50/2.9, which needs a bit more love, and does have a prism (they are interchangeable, so I could have had an eye-level finder this morning, had I chosen. But I wanted to play. I also got
an Exa IIa with a Domiplan 50/2.8 which seems to only have one shutter speed working. I'm considering discussing with the seller, but I got all three for £11, so it's still a bargain, even if I only get one functioning SLR, and sell on the other two spares or repair. Or even sell on one, and use one to learn about camera repair (I'm told the Exa is an excellent one to start on).
The lenses are all different and ingenious in their own way. Because the Exa has a front shutter release and no auto stopdown, there needs to be a way of setting the aperture after focussing and before the shutter trips.
The CZJ has a long plunger from the front of the lens, which looks remarkable steampunk, expecially with the zebra focussing ring. When you press the plunger, it activates the stopdown mechanism in the lens, then presses against the shutter release. The Domiplan has a similar system, but it is a lever which looks like a focussing lever. It flaps backwards, again first activating the stopdown, then, a moment later, the shutter.
The Ludwig Meritar is different again. No auto stopdown, so you set a stop on an aperture ring, then rotate it to the stop (which you can then do without looking) before exposure. Soooo many opportunites for forgetting. I intend to try out all three lenses on the working body and see how the results turn out.
