Posted inCamera & Lens Repair Photography

Reassembling the Canon 24mm f/2.8 S.S.C. FD Mount Lens

I was recently offered a free Canon FD mount 24mm f/2.8 S.S.C. lens, but it came with a small catch. It had been disassembled for a re-lube by the previous owner due to a stuck focus ring, who was then unable to figure out how to put it back together again. 😳 They guaranteed all the bits were there, but had no pictures or any other info on how to re-assemble the lens.

Unfortunately, there are no service manuals and very little detailed information on this specific lens on the internet. There is some info for other FD lenses of this generation (which are somewhat similar – check the links section at the end of this post) but pretty much zero for this one. So this became quite the puzzle, but after a lot of fun, a lot of frustration, and a little luck, I was able to put Humpty back together again…

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Posted inCamera & Lens Repair Photography

Konica C35 Focus and Shutter Repairs

On a recent trip to Tokyo, I had some time to browse the amazing used camera stores in the Shinjuku “Camera Town” area. I found this guy in a bargain bin going for $2. I have a huge soft-spot for this camera. My grandfather gave me one when I was in my teens, and at some point it was stolen. So, despite some obvious, and pretty major issues with the camera, I couldn’t resist. There was oil on the shutter blades, so they were sticking and sluggish when fired, and the focusing ring would barely move at all. Happily, I was able to resolve everything, and add this neat little camera to my collection.

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Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

A fond farewell to the SBIG ST-8300M CCD Camera

After 10 years with my SBIG ST-8300M, I have finally upgraded. Despite its quirks, halos and spikes around bright stars, bad columns, and incredibly slow download times, this camera has performed admirably well. It has taken some of my best astrophotos to date, and managing its idiosyncrasies has taught me more about image processing than I ever thought I would know. In the time I have had it, this camera has taken on dripping humid winter nights, wonky power at remote sites, suspect USB cables, being dropped, and has just kept going. So, before I move on, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate this aging, but still very capable camera with a teardown and a close look at its innards.

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Posted inCamera & Lens Repair Photography

Adapting a Yashica GSN 45mm f/1.7 lens for the Sony E Mount

Ages ago, I bought a broken Yashica GSN as a parts camera to repair the rangefinder mechanism on my keeper GSN. (You can read about that surgery here.)

When I cannibalized the parts camera, I took the lens off (probably the only part of that camera which was in decent shape) hoping to one day adapt it for use on a Leica M body or something similar. Well, the lens wound up, like a lot of my projects, kicking around in a drawer for years and just gathering dust. Then the NEX series of cameras came along and with them adapters for every lens imaginable. Slooowly, eventually, the dim flashbulb in my head went off, I remembered the long forgotten GSN lens and I got to wondering if and how I could pair it with my NEX 5n.

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Posted inAstronomy Telescope Mods & Repair

Nexstar SE Camera Platform

I recently picked up a used Nexstar 6/8 SE mount and tripod. The idea is using it not only as a grab-and-go for my 72mm f/6 Orion EON, (and hopefully a 5 or 6″ SCT OTA down the line), but also in the hopes of using it for some lightweight wide-field long-exposure and time-lapse astrophotography.

I wanted to side-by-side mount a DSLR camera and wide-angle lens combo alongside my unused Celestron 9×50 finder scope from my CPC800 and use an Orion StarShoot autoguider attached to the finder to guide the whole contraption for long exposure photos. That this setup can run on batteries, and is lightweight enough to chuck in the back of the car for camping trips, made this an interesting camera platform despite the Nexstar’s well known astrophotography limitations.

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