Cords for single/twin camera Release

Yesterday I spent a good part of the day creating remote cords to fire the Contax/Yashica camera (2d or 3d). The focus was on a cord for twin cameras. I have been through this with two different camera systems in the past, once with my Minolta X-700 cameras and once with my Pentax ZX-M cameras.



I took some time to think about it. With the wireless infrared remote (WIR), I had a cord with a Contax/Yashica plug in one end, and a simple 2.5mm Mono plug in the other. So I decided to base my connections in 2.5mm mono plugs and jack inlines.

The picture above shows the following (from left to right):

1. Original Contax cord from WIR (plus is at right angles)
2. Cord I built using the C/Y plug and a 2.5mm MP.
3. Similar cord but with a Minolta plug for my Horseman.
4. Same but with a plug for my RBT S1
5. At bottom: Connector cord with two inline jacks on one end and a 2.5MP on the other.

I also created 3 switches from the left over material, to fire the cameras: One from the Minolta release, one from the Contax release, and one from a Hama release.



Cords 1 and 2 can be used with the connector cord to fire twin cameras (see picture of the connection). They can also be used to fire single cameras, when attached to one of 3 switches or in the WIR.

Cords 3 and 4 can be used to fire the Horeseman 3D and the RBT S1 cameras, again either alone or when attached to the WIR.

Link of Lenses in Ochotta Cameras

I am familiar with the lens linking done by RBT and also by the service center used by 3D Concepts. The links in the lenses of the Yashica stereo cameras, built by Fritz Ochotta, is different. It is simpler and in my opinion very effective. As you can see from the pictures above, each lens is fitted with a metal ring. The ring is secured with screws at the top and bottom. At the top there is piece with a round end. A metal link is connecting the two balls.

This system is really simple and it works well. It is easy to adjust. You can easily remove the link bars and put them back in place. You can even remove the entire system and restore the lens to its original state (note: the rubber focusing rings have been removed from the lenses).

Depending on the focusing range of the lenses, it is quite possible that the link imposes a minimum focusing. In the 85mm lenses I can remove the bar, turn the lenses to close focusing, and then re-attach the bar, this time at the bottom.

As it turns out, these contax lenses are well matched so the aperture linking links the same apertures in each lens. Are the links needed? For a wide angle lens (say, 28mm or wider), one can get along without links. Just remember to put the same aperture in each lens and focus near infinity. For longer lenses, focusing is more critical so I think it is important to link the focusing. The aperture linking is a matter of convenience and it protects you from accidentally changing the aperture in one lens only, and ending up with different exposures.

I would like to be able to link other pairs of lenses so I am looking for help in getting the materials required to create more links.

Contax/Yashica Accessories

Y/C mount accessories include various extension tubes and a nice bellows system with focusing rail and slide copying unit. (I used to own a similar unit for my Minolta X-700 camera). I am now waiting these to arrive from ebay sellers.

In addition to the lens and lens accessories, other camera body accessories include:
- Winders
- Camera Cable Release
- Infrared controller
- Magnifier
- Right Angle Finder

For more information about these and more, see: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/contax/shared/

Regarding the winders, these are useful in stereo if you want to advance quickly, as in the case of taking hyperstereos from an airplane or other moving platform but even when time is not a problem but you don’t want to remove your eye from the viewfinder and risk misalignment between the shots. Also, in a remote picture-taking situation. I have acquired 3 winders: Yashica FX Winder (came with the Ochotta FX-D camera), Yashica FX 103 Winder ($20 new in ebay) and Contax 139 winder II. All these are very similar and interchangeable. It is interesting that the Ochotta FX-D stereo camera will take a winder (advances in correct 1-3-1-3 sequence, while the Ochotta 103 will not (no opening for the winder connections at the bottom).

I have acquired several cable releases and the Contax Infrared Controller S. This controller allows you to fire the camera wirelessly from a distance. It is useful for remote nature photography. I can use this device to any of the 2d and 3d yashica cameras. It works beautifully. Even though the cameras (2d and 3d) have timers, many times it is better to fire them on will and a wireless system is the least intrusive.

The picture above is the front cover of the Infrared Controller. It shows a Contax RST camera with a winder and the Controller. There are two parts: The receiver and transmitter. The receiver sits at the top of the camera's flash shoe (the Ochotta stereo cameras has two shoes so there is room for both a flash and the wireless receiver. The transmitter is held by the operator. Pressing the transmitter’s button will fire the camera.

Yashica FX-103 & Macro Attachment – First Impressions

The first box from Hans arrived on January 28th. It consisted of the following (see picture):
- Yashica FX-103 stereo camera with 35mm Contax Zeiss lenses
- Linked 85mm f2.8 Contax Carl Zeiss Sonnar lenses
- Macro Stereo Attachment

I immediately shot two rolls through the new camera, trying the lenses and the macro attachment. I dropped my film for processing on Wednesday and picked it up last Friday. I have already mounted all the pictures (in Albion mounts for preview, plus remounted the best in RBT mounts).

Overall, I am very happy. The lenses are well matched both in size (focal length) and aperture (no difference in exposure).

The macro attachment is very interesting. I already have two RBT macro attachments for my Pentax cameras but have not used them much. (I think I have only shot 2 rolls, that’s all). As it turns out, RBT produced their units based on Fritz Ochotta’s design. The Ochotta attachment does not have bellows, just two pieces sliding with respect to each other. I cannot figure out how are light leaks avoided this way. It is also simpler. It has a small battery installed and I don’t see any electronics from outside. I was able to use the unit without instructions and without problems. One of the reasons I have not used the RBT macro attachment much is the complexity (press this button first, turn this knob first and then the other one, etc). The Ochotta unit appears more intuitive and I know I will use it more. I plan to write more about the RBT/Ochotta Macro attachments in a follow-up blog.

Other Fritz Ochotta 3D Equipment

From corresponding with other German stereo photographers, I learned that he built quite a few stereo cameras for members of the German Stereo Club (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Stereoskopie, DGS, http://www.stereoskopie.org/) and he also maintained them if they needed repairs. All his stereo cameras were made by joining 3 camera models:
- Yashica FX-D
- Yashica FX-103
- Contax 139

In addition to building cameras, he also built a macro attachment. Several people told me that the owners of RBT learned a lot from him and used his designs for their stereo equipment, as for example with the macro attachment. It appears that the RBT company acknowledges this by mentioning that their macro stereo attachment operates by the Ochotta principle.

Another German stereo photographer who responded to my request for information is Peter Wenzig. He wrote: “I knew Fritz very well. He built 3 stereocameras for me, 1 Yashica and 2 Contax. I sold the Yashica a few years ago and now work with the remaining 2 Contax stereos. They are based on the Contax 139, which was the professional version of the Yashica FX-D quartz. I have these watches in operation since 1989 worldwide over and under water and they are working flawlessly. Only very minor maintenance work was needed in the past, but I am able to make all services and repairs on these cameras by my own.”

Following a tip from Sissi Stanek, I found another of Ochotta’s stereo cameras for sale. The seller was Hans-Joachim Rietscher and his sale web site is: http://www.realvision-3d.de/yashicas/

This camera was based on Yashica FX-103 models and was offered with linked Contax 35mm and 85mm, Yashica 50mm lenses, and also the macro stereo attachment and a complete twin camera system based on Yashica 109 cameras, including a 2 meter bar (very professionally made). Hans was accepting offers for the equipment. I made him an offer that he could not refuse so we made a deal and I acquired the entire system.

Fritz Ochotta – German 3D Genius

Wanting to learn more about Mr. Ochotta, I sent emails to several stereo photographers in Germany. Not much was found in a Google search for “Fritz Ochotta”. I found an obituary, so I knew in passed away in 2006. In another web page I found a reference to Mr. Ochotta and his stereo cameras so I emailed the page creator. His name is Albert Maly-Motta, and he supplied me with this very useful information:

“Mr. Ochotta was one of the great stereographers of our time. He was a train driver who in his job drove big steam locomotives over the Bavarian mountains until his retirement. Then he "picked up steam" with his hobby, 3D.

He had a very well equipped machinists workshop in his basement and started building his own cameras. First for himself, and then for his friends and members of the German 3D Society.

His choice of the Yashica camera was dictated by the fact that in this camera the shutter mechanism is a unit by itself that can be removed from the camera body by opening just four screws. He built his own electronic equipment for adjusting the perfect synchronism between the shutters. Then he worked out a system for adjusting the transport mechanism.

His cameras became known all over the world. Other than the cameras he constructed a macro device that is now distributed by RBT. He also rebuilt his slide projectors with high intensity xenon lamps. Being a fanatic for tack sharp pictures, the "popping" of the slide in the projector disturbed him to no end. The xenon lamp was the solution to this since its light is originating from a tiny pinpoint (the arc in the lamp is much smaller than the filament of a normal lamp). Through this smaller light source the projector had infinite depth of field-no more popping of the slides in glass-less frames.

Seeing one of his shows was a real eye opener. Perfectly adjusted images (he made his own projector for adjusting the slides) bright light and of course extremely sharp images due to the fact that he only used prime lenses - never a zoom lens- and Fuji 50 ASA VELVIA film.

He was a great naturalist as well as a photographer. He went to Sardinia every summer and shot incredible pictures of the local flora and fauna. He built special devices to release his macro cameras. His shot of a spider leaping at his prey is unforgettable. That one took him several nights of waiting outdoors until one of "his" spiders" leapt thru the light beam.

Fritz Ochotta died in the summer of 2006 and we all miss him greatly. I own two of his cameras myself and just two weeks before his death he sent me back my cameras which I had given him for a total overhaul. They ran flawlessly for more than 10 years but developed slight troubles because of deteriorating foam rubber parts (light traps) in the film path. The little particles of foam worked themselves into the shutter mechanisms and caused them to stick sometimes. Now they'll run probably longer than we will need them, if slide film becomes a thing of the past.”

First impressions of Yashica FX-D stereo camera

My first impressions of the new camera were very positive. I already own two RBT SLR cameras: The RBT X4 and the RBT X3. The X4 is a simple camera with manual advance and no autoexposure, while the X3 is much more sophisticated. They both take Pentax K mount lenses. In the past, I had owned a RBT 108 camera, and for a while I had accumulated a number of matched Contax lenses, but the camera advance and auto exposure were not very reliable and I had a hard time switching lenses, so I ended up selling the camera and lenses.

From my own experience and needs, a stereo camera must:

1. Be easy to operate
2. Have reliable film advance/rewind
3. Have reliable Auto Exposure
4. Come with well-matched lenses

My favorite RBT camera is the S1 which is extremely easy to operate, with excellent matched lenses and autoexposure, but the film rewind is giving me problems. Also, the fixed lenses and rangefinder (RF) nature, limit the things that one can do with the camera.

The X3 is too complicated for me (I need to read the manual to switch from manual to auto exposure mode), while the X4 is too primitive, lacking auto exposure, and other automations.

It seems that this new camera met all my requirements. It is solidly built and it is definitely easy to operate, with a large dial to select the manual speeds or automatic (I prefer dials and switches over LCD screens and menus). The advance/rewind is manual, but a Yashica/Contax winder can be used, if desired. The exposure system is very accurate and it is easy to lock a given exposure measurement while moving the camera around to meter. The lenses are fixed focal length and perfectly matched (f-stop and focal length).

I shot a couple of pictures during our family vacation in Minneapolis. The pictures turned out to be sharp and well-matched. I am in 3d heaven. My excitement for stereo photography is reaching a new peak again.

In the meanwhile I wanted to learn more about the person who built it and also about the Yashica/Contax line of cameras, lenses, and accessories. I was told by the seller that the camera was built by Fritz Ochotta, a stereo photographer from Germany

Ochotta Stereo Camera - How it all started

It all started last December when I saw an auction in ebay with the strange title: “Stereo Reflex Camera, Manifacturer Ochota”.

The pictures showed a stereo camera that looked very similar to an RBT SLR type camera, but it was not made by RBT. I was intrigued and attracted to this camera and the two coupled Carl Zeiss Contax lenses (Distagon 35mm f2.8) but I did not need another stereo camera so I let it go. The opening bid was $2,500 and the auction closed without any bids.

A few days later, at a moment of weakness, I emailed the seller to ask if they would accept an offer. The seller (Sissi Stanek, well known stereo photographer, see her web page: www.stanek.name/) accepted the offer and so in late December I became the proud owner of this camera.

That was the beginning of a new obsession for me. In a very short time I have learned quite a bit regarding the Yashica/Contax SLR cameras, and the German genius who built stereo cameras out of them.