The danger with old cameras
No not that the lenses were made with radioactive isotopes, it’s just that if you think you might want to capture something critical, and when don’t you? The question is can you really rely on them? I ran a roll of cheap film through this Minolta Himatic C and found that all the images had this faded spot in the lower right. No matter how much I look at the lens from either side I can’t see what caused this. It must be a separation of some lens elements because it’s too subtle to detect, particularly at 1/60 second (There is no bulb setting). The good news for me is that the pictures I took weren’t critical and are only reference material. I have several versions of the Himatic: E,F,G and this C and as far as design goes this is the best. I really like that the lens collapses into the body and that you have two shutter speeds 1/30 and 1/250 indicated by a cloud and a sun respectively. The aperture is automatic but it does show in the viewfinder along with the focus indication in the form of four symbols of distance. So did I learn my lesson about old cameras, no not really.
