andrew_kleinfeld

I made a pleasant sepia toner discovery this weekend. I had a few failed prints, failed because my developer was stale so the blacks were mere grays. So, thinking sepia toner was a bleach and redevelopment process, I tried sepia toning them. The weak blacks turned into strong sepias, and the prints now look good. It accomplished a lot more than selenium toner would have.

I like Xtol for everything, though I prefer Rodinol for ISO 25 film. Xtol seems to be a lot like D-76 in tonality, only better. It seems to give me a little more speed, or maybe a little more development in the shadows. I use it undiluted most of the time to avoid the risk of dead or weak developer, though I've liked it a lot, maybe better, 1:1. If you can get Xtol and nothing else, you're actually fine.

I like and use my IIIf a lot. It is indeed tricky to load, but it's worth it. Reasons: (1) I can carry it under my coat if it's cold, no battery to fail in the cold, (2) extremely compact to pack for travel as well as to carry (3) easy to hold still for slow shutter speeds - I've gotten good pictures at 1/15 (4) looks cool.

If I'm leaving gear in the car, I like a small cardboard carton on the floor, with a cutoff piece of the spongy mat for sleeping outdoors in a sleeping bag on the bottom and between gear pieces as padding and vibration protection. For carrying, an over the shoulder bag that isn't a camera bag.

I loved that place. I started mail ordering from them in about 1957. You could get good stuff with what a kid like me could earn mowing lawns. I still use some of m

I still use my Leica IIIf with Summarit (early 50's?). Very compact travel camera.

Xtol has never gone bad for me. I've used it for years. I store it in full 16 ounce bottles with flip-top airtight stoppers (like old Groelsch beer bottles, or 16 ounce bottles for people who brew beer), and use it straight, no dilution.

I find it much easier to load 120 film onto a stainless steel reel, even though it seems easier to load 35 mm onto a plastic reel. I think the reason is that 120 is much softer, so loading from the inside out on a stainless steel reel avoids crimping better and requires no pushing. 35 is pretty stiff, and stands up easily to outside in and pushing on the plastic reels such as Patterson.

Thanks. Good to know about clicking the shutter.

Anyone have experience with TSA while carrying a Minox (the spy camera size, B, BL, C, LX, etc.)? Do they let it through? Confiscate it because it doesn't look like a camera to them? I especially would like to use while traveling, but sure don't want it confiscated, damaged, or opened.

<p>I still use them. I have a decent digital that I use for snapshots, but mostly I still take black and white on film and develop and print in my darkroom (using scans just as proof sheets), and color slides that I scan and print. No real advantage to the color, I guess, except better permanence and access as technology changes. For black and white, the darkroom is faster and better. My film cameras range from around 5 to 48 years old, and almost all of them work fine.</p>

<p>For me, it depends on whether I'm shooting black and white or color. For black and white, I can develop and print faster and better in the darkroom, and the prints look better. For color, it's not worth using the darkroom, digital printing is easier and better, but I still shoot film and scan as well as shooting digital, I suppose because I know and like film (mostly transparencies - easier to scan well than negatives).</p>

<p>Fine photos all, but I-5 Rest Stop is extraordinary. What did you do in exposure, development, enlarging etc.?</p>

<p>The Mac built in software works, but for years I have found it much easier to use Toast.</p>