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  #21  
Old 6th February 2019, 10:05 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Nice images John. That street scene, in particular, has wonderful tones. I like the random reflections of light from the windows onto the pavement. What film did you use?
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  #22  
Old 6th February 2019, 10:46 PM
John King John King is offline
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FP4+ at the box speed.....125iso. Metered with a Minolta Autometer fitted with a 5 degree spot attachment.

The development time I previously quoted was wrong. That is the Ilford suggested time, but with a rotary processor you reduce the time by 20% so the actual development was 8 mins.
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  #23  
Old 6th February 2019, 11:00 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Gee, those tones are a darn sight nicer than I've been getting with FP4 in D76 . I like it! Time to try Microphen soon

TBH, I've not been using FP4 much at all, simply because I get better tonality with other films. This may change my mind about it.
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  #24  
Old 16th February 2019, 12:04 PM
John King John King is offline
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As for the strap - I've now got one. In not as good order as the camera but it does the trick and if needed a leather oneshould be easily fabricated. Importantly it has the unique clips at the end
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  #25  
Old 17th February 2019, 09:03 AM
Svend Svend is offline
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Good to hear John.

As an aside, how do you find the lenses on the Autocords? Have you compared them to other MF lenses? Other TLR's? I haven't used my Autocord enough to formulate an opinion on that, but it will be coming out with me more and more in the near future. Curious to know your impressions....

Svend
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  #26  
Old 17th February 2019, 05:44 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Autocord Lenses

To be honest I have never had an opportunity to compare them with anything else similar. I have had 3 or 4 Autocords in the past 40 or so years and have never had a problem with big enlargements.

They don't appear to be particularly prone to flare and are sharp as almost anything else comparable from F5.6. I would say they are on a par with a Tessar (F3,5 version) Yashinon and possibly a little better than a Xenar, but that is my personal judgement.

The only TLR I ever owned that was probably markedly better was a Rollieflex 3.5F fitted with a Planar lens. Now that was extremely sharp and the contrast was so high I had to modify my development times so I could print the negs easily
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  #27  
Old 17th February 2019, 06:12 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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John, that pretty much fits with my experience with the Autocord. The lens is very sharp. I haven't compared directly to my other MF cameras, but I have no complaints about resolution. What I do notice is that the Rokkor seems to render images with a depth and smoothness that my other lenses don't do, save perhaps the Solinar in my Isolette. My Rolleiflex Planar may be sharper, but the Rokkor is special in it's own way.
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  #28  
Old 17th February 2019, 06:40 PM
John King John King is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SvendN View Post
John, that pretty much fits with my experience with the Autocord. The lens is very sharp. I haven't compared directly to my other MF cameras, but I have no complaints about resolution. What I do notice is that the Rokkor seems to render images with a depth and smoothness that my other lenses don't do, save perhaps the Solinar in my Isolette. My Rolleiflex Planar may be sharper, but the Rokkor is special in it's own way.
Indeed to everything!
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  #29  
Old 12th August 2019, 10:10 AM
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pentaxpete pentaxpete is offline
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I was GIVEN an Autocord by a kind Gent with a load of other gear as he was developing Parkinson's. It has an 'Optiper' shutter and a 'Chyoko-Rokkor' lens, very sharp at full aperture. I had it on my Darkroom floor and it fell over and the infamous Focus Lever snapped off ! It is much lighter than a Rolleiflex. I have done some 16x12" Exhibition Prints with it for my Club.
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  #30  
Old 12th August 2019, 12:33 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pentaxpete View Post
I was GIVEN an Autocord by a kind Gent with a load of other gear as he was developing Parkinson's. It has an 'Optiper' shutter and a 'Chyoko-Rokkor' lens, very sharp at full aperture. I had it on my Darkroom floor and it fell over and the infamous Focus Lever snapped off ! It is much lighter than a Rolleiflex. I have done some 16x12" Exhibition Prints with it for my Club.
Pete, that's a shame about your camera getting damaged. That darn focus lever is certainly the weak part of the design of the Autocord. If you're inclined to fix it, here is a 3D-printed focus lever made for the Autocord:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/VH...ir-restoration

Not sure if there's a repairer in the UK who knows his/her way around these cameras, but if you're willing to pay shipping there's a fellow in the US who does almost only Autocords. If you like I can dig out his name and PM you.

Hope you get it fixed!
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