Wearing Out, Not Rusting Out...

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Shown is a Tamron SP 500mm f8 mirror lens that I inherited when an uncle of mine died some years ago. It had a Praktica bayonet Adaptall 2 Tamron adapter, which is now of no use and can be seen in the background by the edge of my screen. I found an adapter on Ebay for a few quid so I can try it out on my old Canon F1 - the lens is pretty filthy, and I've cleaned the outer surfaces of the optics as best I can, but there appears to be evidence of grot and maybe fungus on the internals, although the main mirror appears to have only a couple of marks to the silvering. Working on the principle that optics can't focus on themselves, it might turn out to be usable, if a tad niche in its application: we'll see...

I realise that I have not just a couple of projects to go at, but a whole raft of stuff which should keep me going into the foreseeable, which is good. I intend to have a crack at making the simplest 4"x5" field camera I can design, using the tools and materials at my disposal, just for the hell of it - who knows, a product might emerge from the inevitable smoking pile of offcuts and swarf! First off, though is to get the lathe up and running so I can more easily fabricate the metalwork for it and whatever else (I haven't forgotten John's 12-string guitar!) I throw myself into over the coming weeks and months.  
 

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