Re: Focusing a SaturnSlide viewer

[Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

Ernie Rairdin wrote:

> I'll be trying the Sputnik (don't know if exposure is accurate enough for
> slides) or the Bronica ETR Si on a slide bar.  I look forward to giving it
> a try.

Hi Ernie and welcome to the list! If I'me covering ground you already
know, please forgive me.

Before you shoot your Sputnik, I'd strongly suggest you check focus via
ground glass... one of the two lenses is more often than not off. You
probably also are already clued in to operating this querky camera...
because of slop in the focusing mechanism and because of the inherently
tight tolerances of front cell focusers, it's important to always focus
in one direction only and set your camera's focus up for however you
choose to do it (ie always focusing from far to near).

Also, you will only want to shoot af f/22; the lenses on these guys just
don't hold up at larger apertures. Because of this and the lack of slow
shutter speeds, I'd recommend steering clear of Velvia (which is really
an asa 40 film by my tests) and go with something such as Kodak's W100S
which in addition to the higher shutter speeds also seems to have a
longer contrast range than the velvia and holds up better in the
shadows.

Finally, from the cross sample of Sputnik chromes I've seen, I'd
recommend against trying to hand hold this most unergonomic beast, no
matter what speed you shoot.

Good luck, and looking forward to seeing the contrast between the
Sputnik and the Si.

Eric G.