New Project / Toy

[ajohnw]

This arrived today from some one who it seems actually used it. The words well used were used to describe it. Looks to be in good working condition and well used.



Window lighting I'm afraid.

The front wheel is the focus and the small round blob on the lens towards the rear is for cocking the aperture mechanism. The aperture is spring loaded so closes down to the preset value when the trigger is pulled. Not sure what the lead off the lens is for but might be an aperture feedback for TTL metering. The correct Zemith camera was triggered by the round part sticking up at the back.

The lens is a 300mm F4.5 with a 16 blade iris , Pentax thread so can't test it until an adapter arrives. The rubber sink unblocker is the lens hood.

The project aspect will be adding an electronic camera trigger that fires it after the iris has closed. This has been done by others but no idea how successfully.

Am I mad or what? I can remember seeing adverts for these so just couldn't resist it. Cost £28 buy it now. I could have waited and bid from the 99p start but I had the feeling some one would snap it up.

John
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[JR1]

I was going to and may still get one JUST to see the reaction of the security camera guys and the Police in Plymouth, Devon, BEFORE they tazer me

I have seen these go for £100 on ebay with the Zenit camera

[TobyMac]

This has to be one of the coolest things ever!

[Downrigger]

Easy to see why you went for this. What are the silvery loop things out front and on the grip for, I wonder, some sort of sling?

[Saorsa]

Easy to see why you went for this. What are the silvery loop things out front and on the grip for, I wonder, some sort of sling?

Yep, sling mounts.

[RustBeltRaw]

Love the name engraved on the side. "Fotosnaiper" has a nice ring. Did it come with a shapka?

What are you hooking it up to? A mirrorless compact of some kind? I wonder if the aperture mechanism and camera are coupled by the flash sync connector. Some MF systems work that way when coupling the camera body and back. The big question is, how do you link the trigger to a modern digital camera? Is there a push-release cable somewhere?

[chauncey]

I'm calling Homeland Security!

[Manfred M]

You might want to consider avoiding airports; the security theatre folks there would love it and are sure to cause some excitement if they find it in either your carry on or checked luggage...

[ajohnw]

Love the name engraved on the side. "Fotosnaiper" has a nice ring. Did it come with a shapka?

What are you hooking it up to? A mirrorless compact of some kind? I wonder if the aperture mechanism and camera are coupled by the flash sync connector. Some MF systems work that way when coupling the camera body and back. The big question is, how do you link the trigger to a modern digital camera? Is there a push-release cable somewhere?

There is one way of linking it to a camera shown here some way down the page. Also shots taken with them on various pages.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/1...f-4-5-a-6.html

Given the problems with remote controls on certain Pen's some companies knocked up some cable type affairs that could be duplicated at home.

At the moment I'm thinking of a couple of micro switches and the lead from a remote but much depends on the optics. It would also be easy to mount any number of makes of camera plus lens on it anyway. One thing I have already noticed is that it seems to be easier to support the weight of the lens this way - but can't be sure until an adapter arrives.

John
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[ajohnw]

Adapter arrived and the !!!###?????? thing is shiny inside. I do have a 4/3 to Pentax adapter where that isn't so important so tried a quick hand held shot. Full sized crop with some brightening in 2 squares and moderate increase contrast via an S curve. No sharpening. Focused via the viewfinder.



Not ideal conditions for the shot but as it's one of my usual tests not a bad result at all really other than the original image was a bit flat. That could be down to light bouncing about. Common problem using older lenses on digital. The fact that some tone can be seen in the brass padlock is encouraging. Believe it or not the slight blur on that could be due to dof. There also looks to be a bit of shake.

A nikon adapter should arrive soon but I suspect these do not accurately maintain the flange distance.

John
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