The End is Near

No, really.
It is.
After all these cameras and stuff I've finally started to get rid of some of them.
I suppose they are like bicycles in a sense that you have to try them out before you know if you really like them.
Some of them look good, but just don't perform the way you want or do the things you want them for.
So I've got five or six that I'm letting go.
I told myself when I got into this that I wasn't collecting; I was going to keep the cameras that I use.
Only.
Then I got this:

That's right waist level view finding fans!
The Dark Knight.
That's what I'm calling it.
I couldn't resist and I went into some debt for this one.
This one is a Rolleiflex 2.8C, the 2.8 meaning the size of the aperture.
You can see the difference between the glass of the 'Flex to the 'Cord:

Sort of like going from a .410 to 12 gauge!
Oh yeah baby!
Supposedly it's only about a half stop, but that's a large half stop.
I've fooled around with these cameras enough now that I figure I like shooting them and since I shoot mainly at night, I went for the glass.
Right JRA?
Lemme tell though, speed costs cashola!
The differences are not minimal, especially in use:

Here is an impromptu test of the two focusing screens, the 'Flex on the left and the 'Cord on the right.
As you can see, there is a visible difference.
When I took the 'Cord out at night, I had a difficult time just seeing my subjects.
I'm no expert, but that looks more like a full stop difference in light.
I'll do a side by side later, mainly because I haven't seen one on the netz.
The images:

As you can see, I'm still having some trouble framing with these things.
Everything is backwards!
In the viewfinder I mean.
Taking one step to either side actually makes a difference with these cameras; something to do with the optics and film size and other stuff I have no clue about.
All I know is that they are less forgiving than 35mm cameras when it comes to composing.
Okay, as far as sharpness they all look about the same stopped down.
I got this puppy for low light:

Some test shots I took in the parking lot of the dialysis place.
So far it looks like it renders light pretty well.
Pretty sharp without much of a glow.
I still need to take it out on the streets to see how it does.
Which I did.
Just about an hour ago.
Film still drying.
Being an olden days camera it does have some quirks, like ye olde shuttre scale which skips 1/15 of a second.
Which I use often.
It goes from 1/10 to 1/25 which may be a problem; I won't know until I do some live testing.
I might have to compensate by pushing the film a stop to get it past that zone.
Okay!
So I'm all stoked to have this thing in my arsenal, especially since summer is coming and between the laziness drills I'll be having all this free time!
Wait.
Summer is already here:

Not that it ever left.
If you know what I mean.