Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

can afford a Nikon or so mcth ing of th at calib re. A lot o f yo u are probably st ude nts Or famil y fol ks with o ther things to spe nd you r money on, o r you are so far into bikes that you are eat ing peanut bu tt er san dwiches th ree times a day t ry ing to save up enough for a Husk y and the t hought of anything else th at would ta ke money is enough to sen d you into th e three-day sha kes. Take heart. Th ere are some 3Smm SLR's that are of good q uality and great versat ilit y that can be bou ght for und er $100. Th ey st ill mak e Praktica, Pract ina, and Exacta in East German y and they are still ava ilable in th e St ate s at fantasti call y low prices. The great asset here fo r th e eco nomy-mi nded is th e low initial cost and fabul ous amo unt o f eco nomical lenses and other goodies. And if you get a Praktica and later de cide you want a Pentax or Yashica, no sweat . The lenses have the universal screw mount . Or if yo u got an Exacta and wanted to mov e u p, you could get a Beseler Topcon and still keep your lenses. I have saved the most interesting for last. T he Prakt ica can be had with a be hind -the -lens meter for under $100. And that's with an fll.8 SOmm auto lens, a t that. The Praktina II, di fferent from the Praktica , can be bought with a spring drive film ad vance for under $100. No kid ding. Two problems: lenses are a bit hard to fin d for th e Prakrina and aft er ab out six month s th c spri ng drive will probably go SPROING . But a new spring dri ve is u nder $30 and b y th at t ime you will have mad e eno ugh picture seque nces of crashes to last a life ti me. If you have any qu alms abo ut b uying stuff "from behind th e Iron Curtain " , I hop e you don't throw roc ks at gu ys wh o ride CZ's. PUT SOMETHING ON YOUR CAMERA Like a telephoto lens. Sorry , but you can on ly get so close to racers and st ill stay alive, so you'll need a lo ng lens to put you closer. Problcm is, the longer the lens , th e harder it is to use . Start off with an 8Smm tele if you're goi ng to stan d on the edge of the track and a 135 if you're not even that brave. An yth ing . longer tha n that will be a pain to carry and use. These moderat e tele pho tos can b e obta ined at discount houses at rem arkable prices. Len ses like Vivitar, Soligar, Bushnell, and so on are of acce pta ble optical qual it y and , fo r th e mon ey, can give yo u a good idea of wh at you like to shoot with. But they won't give you the service of a more' expensive Nikkor, Elmar, or other per fect o lens. Decide on th e lens the same wa y yo u dec ided o n the ca mera; get th e best you can affo rd . If you go for th e che aper lens , yo u have another choice to mak e : auto diaphragm or pre -set . Don't get the pre-set. No matter what the savings are, it ain' t wo rth it. If you ever hear of someone get t ing a good act ion shot with a pre -set lens.dismis s th e comment as a nast y rumor. GET A WID E ANG LE If you decid e yo u want to add ano t her lens t o your collection (at which point you can be officia lly declared "ho oked " ), you'll prob abl y want a wide-a ngle. Try to avoid getting a "moderate" widey, like a 35. Even a 28 mm lens can be st ifling if yo u're the kind who likes to get in close . Opt for a 21 or th ereabouts and learn to get in closer than you dar e. Th e results are your reward. METERS Using a came ra wit h lots o f kn obs an d rin gs means you're going to have to k no w how t o set all th ose knobs and rings. Yo u'll need a meter. If yo ur camera had one built in, swell. If no t , you can get either a cadmium sul phide (CdS) or a selenium cell t ype. mete rs are more sensi tive to light, need a ba ttery, and can some times be untrustwort hy . Selenium cells don't need at tention until th ey burn o ut, wh ich is some ti mes never. Best b et is to get a West on Master V and be done with it. Again, if mo ney is an objec t t he West on costs about $40 new b ut you ca n find it fo r q uit e a bit less if yo u loo k - get a keyfo b-size CdS jobber fo r aro und ten bucks at most department cas stor es: FI LTERS Sho oting bik es with an ex pensive piece o f glass is hazard ous if yo u have no protection . Get a lA filter fo r eac h lens you own. A shade is a good idea, too. This will keep mud, dirt , and flying clu tc h levers fr om rendering a $2 00 len s worthless. Cheap insurance. Col ored filters are loads of fun if yo u hav e the pati en ce fo r th em. Tr y a yello w filter and see how yo u likc it . You will have to op en up a sto p to co mp ensate but th e sk y will have a slightly darker renderi ng since the yellow pla ys trick s with blue on bla ck-and-white panchr omat ic ftlm. A red filter will turn some skies bla ck and ma de clouds stand o ut . A green ftlte r t urns b ushes a ghos tly tone. Then try all your new filters o n co lor film, Far out. NEXT WEEK: TECHNIQU ES . Get clo se with a wideangle. This was taken with a 20mm Nikkon . Scary . , - , This is Richard Creed . He is going to show you how. 0- - U

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