(Non) Retrofocal Photography

I've heard on and on about the different "gestalt" of rangefinder photography: the non-retrofocal lenses, the finder where everything is in focus.. Ken Rockwell has ditched his Canon 5D and now proclaims the Leica M9 to be the best full-frame digital camera in the world, bar none.

Now if I had $9000 burning a hole in my pocket, an M9 might be vaguely of interest. I got to touch (!) and take a few shots with an M8.2 but I did not get what all the fuss was about.

A few days ago I was able to score a sweet deal on the ClubSnap buy and sell forums: a Kiev-4A Soviet rangefinder (the seller described it as a Kiev-IIA but I don't really care).

It cost all of S$ 50, not including the MRT ride to Novena station, and came with the Jupiter-8, a Russian copy of the 50mm f/2 Sonnar. I've had my share of shoddy Communist workmanship (an old Praktica MTL-5) but for S$ 50 I could hardly complain.



Slow shutter speeds are way off, seller's description notwithstanding: I calculate about two stops too slow. Which is not a huge deal, I'm not going to be hand-holding this at 1/10 or 1/25 anyway. Rangefinder seemed properly calibrated, and the minimal fungus on the lens was far less than on lenses I've successfully rehabilitated from the 'bay.

The seller kindly included a roll of Fuji film, so after picking the antique up I walked around near the Esplanade and took some pictures. Most of them were way off. The Kiev-4A has no meter, and with ISO 200 film you should be using f/16 and 1/200, but I foolishly combined the "sunny f/11 variation" and used 1/125 second since there is no 1/200 speed. Still, C-41 is quite forgiving so all my shots turned out usable.

Usable, but appallingly pedestrian:







I see no rangefinder magic, or Zeiss magic. Then again I have a bunch of Zeiss SLR lenses and see no magic. Still, having a completely meter-less, antique camera has proved amusing.

I should get my Fujica ST-605N (another meter-less relic) and Pentax P3 next time I go back to Manila.. for the complete retro experience.

DIY Audio Again

I finally got the Wima capacitors from 8audio in Hong Kong. After soldering these to the TA2024 amplifier PCB (and adding a S$ 24 power adapter and some really old Aiwa speakers I got on ebay.com.sg) I now have sound!

The Tripath TA2024 is considered to be a very nice piece of audio gear, some people claim it's better than the GainClone (and all that for US $25 plus minimal shipping). And my DIY GainClone back in Manila sounds better than my Cambridge Audio amplifier, except for having a really ugly case, no volume control, and thumps on power-up and power-down.

I was really thinking of buying the Philips mini-component with a tube front-end, but it's gotten bad reviews and costs S$ 399 or thereabouts. Besides it's no secret that consumer electronic gear is as bad as the manufacturers can make it without pissing off customers. So for much less money (I did have to buy a power supply, soldering iron and a large roll of solder - they don't sell small quantities unlike at Alexan) I had half an hour of DIY fun and the knowledge that the amplifier I'm using is sonically superior to consumer gear that costs five times as much.

I can't really tell if this Tripath sounds fantastic because it's connected to cheap, used speakers (well S$ 3.75 for each two-way speaker is really cheap, so I had no expectations). Also the Nokia E51 is not a good audio source: there is audible hiss during low-volume passages. But then again I also heard hiss from Lalai's iPod Touch 3G during low-volume passages..

In any case (pun intended) all I need now is a good case for the amplifier, then I can go looking for Wharfedale Diamond 10's or something..