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john_photos

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  1. <p>No personal experience with Blue Moon but they use Roller Transport so be aware of this.<br> CSW in Chicago does great work using Dip n Dunk C41. Slide Printer in Denver E-6 Dip n Dunk. </p>
  2. <p>Ian,</p> <p>A couple of thought a couple of my thoughts while repeating some of the points made in Gareth's excellent post. 1. Are you using at least a 4x loupe to check for critical sharpness? 2. Are you using the camera with the mirror locked up, cable release and a suitably stable tripod taking care to focus carefully (and realizing you have almost 2 stops less dof with the 645 format than with the d3s full frame sensor) ? 3. What type of film are you using? Slide films have considerably more contrast than the Neg films we currently have available in 2016 (I prefer negative for its less harsh look and better DR though). If you are coming from a DSLR understand this. Neg films are very high resolution but they definitely take some operator skill to the best out of them. Silverfast is reputedly excellent scanning software though I have no firsthand experience.</p> <p>You can achieve very sharp high quality results with a Mamiya 645Pro if your technique is good. These were high quality professional "beasts" (like my Bronica ETRSi) that required careful attention to detail in the shot technique department. Certainly quite a bit more than using my 35mm Nikon N90s of the 12mp DSLR I used to own did. Hand holding ANY Medium Format SLR entails risk at most shutter speeds below 1/250th if you are as picky about image quality as I am (Note: I do not do portraiture anymore so I exclusively use my Medium Format SLR's on a tripod with slow film.. in portraiture a little softness is nice.. most pro's shooting portraiture with a rig like the 645pro use it for its tonality and are ok with a little loss of sharpness handheld..if you want handheld medium format then consider a Mamiya 6/7 or Bronica RF645/Fuji 645Zi as these have no mirror)</p> <p>Finally, The EPSON V800 is not ideal. Its true resolution is not high enough for negative film as you need something like a TRUE 4000dpi to avoid both heavy aliasing with some neg emulsions and enough resolution for larger prints. The v800 should be ok for an 8x10 print but anything larger from a 645 negative may not possible from a consumer flatbed if you are picky about image quality in my experience. However, this really only comes into play if you want to make large prints. For web posting or web any epson should be fine with a little tweaking.</p> <p>Good luck. Feel free to email if you have any additional questions about workflow. If you wish to send me a scan made with your V800 I can try and help and see whats going on here (and reciprocate with one of my scans made with a 645 SLR taken under optimal conditions).</p>
  3. <p>What type of photography do you do? Helps to understand what your goals are<br> in terms of type and print size goals before making recommendations. Do u wish to shoot handheld or are willing to set up a tripod for maximum image quality with slow film? What kind of scanner do you plan to use to digitize your images (i.e if its an epson flatbed then medium format is not worth the effort for anything other than web use etc..however dedicated film scanners easily can give you crisp beautiful prints that consumer epsons are not capable of). <br> <br />Provide the forum with some information please. </p> <p> </p>
  4. <p>Great score. However, someday you might want to consider upgrading to the AE 111 prism. Far superior to<br> the older bronica prisms available for the etr series. No distortion, brighter, adjustable diopter etc. One of the<br> most expensive pieces I ever bought for my ETRSi back in the 90s but it was worth every penny so consider an <br> upgrade as they sure are cheap now!</p>
  5. <p>Espson V500 resolves around 1600. I would drum scan for a print this large if you want anyone viewing it at a reasonable viewing distance. The Epsons are great proof scanners and prints up to 8x10 inches with MF film. Otherwise worthless for anything larger. I own an V500 and have been happy with it for proofing but I use a film scanner for blowups.</p>
  6. <p>Check out http://www.laserlightprints.com/. Far superior to westcoast imaging as someone who has utilized both.</p>
  7. <p>If you are concerned with parts availability a call to Tamron or Kohs would quickly answer this question. Thought I read recently that Tamron still services these cameras. Short production run as stated but definitely much safer choice than a Mamiya 6 from a "future availability of parts" perspective imo. If the winder breaks on a Mamiya 6 one must purchase a new body at 600 to 800 dollars. Quite a risky proposition in my view given the age of the M6 system. </p>
  8. <p>Shot a Mamiya 7 for around 10 years. An extremely fragile and cheaply constructed camera. Mine was constantly going out of alignment and more than once on overseas trips. YMMV though I am very careful with my gear so keep this in mind.<br> Great travel camera for non tripod use though. Miss it sometimes. Now have a fuji 645zi that I picked up cheap and use in its place as the 645 format works great for 90 percent of my intended output. <br> If u think of all the things that degrade image quality with handheld photography I think in many ways 6x7 is overkill as it was always a compromise versus using a MF SLR with tripod. The Mamiya 7/6 cameras have great optics. Unfortunately, if u use the cameras handheld u degrade some of the advantage over an SLR optics wise. However, if u must shoot handheld they are quite nifty and will trump any Medium Format SLR at the vast majority of shutter speeds . If money is no object then go for it but if you want really big prints its always better to use a tripod. MF rangefinders on a tripod are an absolute nightmare ergonomically and framing wise vs a MF SLR when used on a tripod. This was my experience.</p>
  9. <p>I have a maxwell custom screen for my ETRSI. Scratched to hell at this stage. How it ended up that way I have no clue but I do not worry about it as the scratches do not bother me in the least. It was the increase in viewing brightness I was after (should be said that the factory screen did have a slight edge in the contrast department)</p>
  10. <p>Wow. 2 emulsions available in 220. Such variety. Soon there will be no 220.<br> If one despises Ektar and candy colored hyreal colors (Velvia/Provia) then Portra is our<br /> only choice. Slim pickens compared to the number of different emulsions available just a few years ago. </p>
  11. <p>A sigma consumer grade Zoom lens? How about Sigma uber sharp PRIME lens mated to its own sensor as in the DP3 Merrill? first fallacy in Mr Earussi's "comparison" that adds nothing to this thread. Not taking sides either way but this is a poor side by side if one cares to draw valid conclusions about the relative merits/minuses of each system.<br> Why did you not inform us what scanner you used? consumer flatbed epson or professional film scanner? </p>
  12. <p>When I used my ETRSi frequently I almost never used the speedgrip unless working with strobe which was infrequently. To ensure critical sharpness I almost always used the camera on a tripod w/winding crank,AE3 prism finder, and cable release w/MLU employed (and was rewarded with beautiful sharp prints as a result)<br> Speedgrip was really targeted for wedding pro's who used the camera with Strobe. <br> I have not tried winding without the winding crank but I imagine its not that inconvenient to operate the camera in its absence. 100 dollars buys a fair amount of film and pro lab processing. </p>
  13. <p>If you enjoy SOFT then this lens is for you. If not then avoid. Not sharp, heavy, difficult to focus, horrible barrel distortion and a host of other "issues". Owned one a long time ago and quickly sold it. Luckily I sold it for what I paid (which was quite a bit back in the day) but was peeved they released such a lens. I understand that Zooms are heavy and a compromise but this lens was poorly designed. Obviously designed and implemented by Tamron's consumer division and not up to the level of PE primes by a longshot. However, if you use it mostly for events it should be at a maximum "just ok".</p>
  14. <p>Regarding the Mamiya 7 at f8; not much traditional landscape or even "new" landscape going on shot at f8 with this camera. Your DOF is very limited in 6x7 format. I own a book by Kander. He sure does enjoy using a lot of depth of field in his landscape shots. He used to cross process much of his work though now I believe his portraits are primarily MF digital while still using 4x5 for landscape. If you look carefully at many of his landscape shots he makes extensive use of movements. <br> The Mamiya 7 is primarily good for handheld work where precise composition and extensive depth of field are not requirements. The optics are very sharp but they sure fall off in sharpness by the time you reach f16 rendering all the advantage to a 6x7 SLR nill. If you decide you want a Medium Format camera at the very least buy an SLR. Just understand that anything outside of Large Format will not you the look of a Joel Sternfeld or Steven Shore. </p>
  15. <p>Oh my Les, I must not know of what I speak?<br> My experience with the betterscanning product was negative in that I saw no improvement. Others have had the same experience so its not just my eyes. Not going to belabor this on a public forum with you but our experiences with the product differ. People who read this can make their own judgements. </p>
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