My 7p Realist!!!

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yeap!  That's right!  I did say 7p Realist!!!  I am now the proud owner of
the first 7p Realist of the modern era, thanks to master engineer and guru
machinist John Slivon.  

Some time back John posted regarding his custom conversion of a Realist 3.5
to 7p.  The conversion included lens' replacement since the lenses in the
3.5 would not cover this wider format satisfactorily.  I contacted John
and asked him about converting a 2.8 to 7p.  The 4-element lenses of the
2.8 could (at least in theory) do the job as well as those in the
Belplasca.  John agreed to try it and had my baby (famous DrT Realist 2.8) 
operated over Christmas.  Just got it yesterday and I am holding it in 
my hands fondling it right now!  I put a test roll and the camera advances 
nicely and smoothly like a Belplasca (short stroke, long stroke).  I am now
shooting my first roll and will soon have pictures from both the Belplasca
and the Realist out for comparison.

You may ask:  "Why convert the Realist when you have a Belplasca?" 

Simple answer:  The Belplasca ain't a Realist!!!  

What do I mean by this?  As discussed earlier, the Belplasca body is very
simple in design.  It does not have a rangefinder, parallax-free view-
finder or the number of accessories that the Realist has.  If it needs 
repair few people can do it and the bill is likely to be high.  Realists 
on the other hand have been around for ages ;).  150,000 of them (vs. 8,000
Belplascas).  There are people who know how to repair Realists.  There are
parts, tools, experience, cheap bodies.  

I personally know the ins and outs of Realists.  My Realist gets a beating
and keeps on clicking ;)  Did I mention that I have ran my Realist over 
with my car and survived? (that's the same one.) Realist have been dropped 
from cliffs and no harm was done.  Anyone can take apart a $75 junkie 
Realist and learn basic Realist repair.  Try that with a $$$ Belplasca!

Once a Realist body is modified for 7p, you have a modified body.  This is
not tied to the optics since it is very easy to exchange the front plate
which holds the lenses (and only the lenses).  You could carry two bodies
and switching the lens' board with your favorite optics between the two
bodies to have both 5p and 7p pictures from the same lenses!  (now, why
would you want to do this when you can simply use a 5p mount in the 7p
image?  maybe to save on film? I don't know...)  Or, if you find another
pair of lenses that you like better, you can put them in the 7p body.  
Anything and everything is possible with the Realist!!!

The list of advantages in favor of the Realist is just too long to be
ignored.  I can only see one reason to chose Belplasca.  If someone thinks
that the lenses in the Belplasca are better than the lenses in the Realist
then go ahead and use the Belplasca!  But I am not convinced that this is
the case for my Belplasca and my Realist 2.8.

So, when the opportunity came along to have the Realist converted to 7p, I
naturally took advantage of it.  I just hope that my competitors in the
Detroit club won't do the same!!! ;) ;) ;)  

Plus, it is very pleasing to view Realist 7p slides from my custom-7p-
modified Realist camera using my custom 7p modified Realist viewer!!!!

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a long and happy story (which may 
one day make the term "Realist-format" even more confusing for beginners!)  
I plan to do a lot of experimentation and post the results here.

Stay tuned!!!  -- George Themelis

PS. For cheap 7p Realist viewer conversion, contact me.

maito:DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For (slightly more expensive ;) ;) ;)) 7p Realist camera conversion, 
contact John Slivon.

mailto:frogs@xxxxxxxxxx



------------------------------