Review: Retocolor Aqua 400

31 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by richardhaw in nikon,lens repair,lens maintenance,nikon repair,, Nikon,museum,classic lenses,, Uncategorized

Hello, everybody! Are you a fan of zombie movies? They have become popular again recently, I do not like watching them so much even as a child. I find them depressing to watch just because of the mood the cinematographers set them in, it’s usually gloomy and at night or a dark forest. I want things to be a lot more happier so I like comedies more than zombie films. Today, I am going to show you something depressing. That’s because of the look that you get with it and the cost purchasing one. I’m not into the type of films that people with fancy tastes in coffee are into but maybe it’s something that you’ll like.

Introduction:

The Retocolor Aqua 400 is new to me, I will admit that I do not know anything about it and I have never seen any pictures taken with it. It was sold to me as a specialty film in the camera shop. I was curious so I bought it. Little is known about this film except that it comes from a small company in red China. They’re trying to follow the footsteps of Lomography, at least that’s how I saw it.

The packaging it’s nice, it’s so appealing that it caught my eyes. The substrate felt thicker than usual but I am not sure. The canister is the usual one that you would expect from a smaller company, at least it’s not cheap in terms of vibes.

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Repair: Nikkor S•C 8.5cm f/1.5 (LTM)

14 Aug 2024 1 Comment

by richardhaw in nikon,lens repair,lens maintenance,nikon repair,, Nikon,museum,classic lenses,, Uncategorized

Hello, everybody! Do you remember The Ventures? The band is the reason why I picked up a guitar during my teens, but I never got to learn playing it, which is unfortunate. Their hits such as “Wipeout“, “Pipeline“, “Walk, Don’t Run” and other hits defined a genre. Their music was copied, covered, but never surpassed. Even if newer instrumental bands replaced the aging group, their music is still studied by many musicians. We can also give the same honor to today’s topic, a lens so influential amongst Nikkor lovers that it has a reputation surrounding it, and just like The Ventures, this lens has something special that later lenses do not have. Do you want to know why I said that? Read the whole article to know why.

Introduction:

The Nikkor S•C 8.5cm f/1.5 was Nikon’s best and fastest 85mm for a very long time, it was produced from 1953 up to an unknown date. It was surpassed by the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 Ai-S in 1981 after nearly 30 years of being the king of 85mm Nikkors. Despite that, it still has a claim at being the king due to its 16-bladed iris, the most I have found on a consumer Nikkor! That enables it to have unusually smooth backgrounds at moderate apertures. This feature made it a very expensive lens as it’s difficult to produce, there are only less than 2000 produced, most come with the native Nikon S-mount or the rare Contax rangefinder mount that we are starting to see more of lately. This article will showcase the L39/LTM variant.

The build of this lens is second-to-none, it’s dense despite being compact. The barrel is made with brass and some parts were made from aluminum alloy. The engravings are beautiful and functional, typical of a Nikkor. The front element is huge, necessitating the use of 57mm filters which were huge for that time.

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