jose_angel

Very nice art on glass. Yes, it is translucent in some parts (check the stems, especially on the grapes), others look opaque. As James points out, maybe it doesn't quite show his true character. I would try to highlight the translucency and its fragile nature... but please, don't ask me how! 🤔

Exactly. My babied and almost unused for years 70-200 VR2 that I keep just in case, stopped working in the closet. Annoying. Sent it in for repair, AFS motor replacement, took a long time, big expense. 😫

I did a second shot, with little changes. Same spot metering over the darker brush sticks (III) and over the highlighted brush hair (VIII) All the other areas were in between. I gave a normal development and the print got perfect with a grade ·2 filter. I was so lucky. (Again, straight print scan. No dodging or burning in both images): Development time should be specific for a given scene contrast in order to get an easy to print negative. If not, too much work under the enlarger is deserved.

Backlit scenes are somewhat difficult to control. A few weeks ago I printed a couple images, I was just testing an updated box of 320TXP that I exposed at 200ISO. I was relatively lucky. Basically, I spot metered the darker areas in the brushes and the surrounding white area of the blind. The separation between them were 5 stop readings so it was a normal contrast scene. I wanted the blind to be almost white with little texture so I developed the negative a bit more to get it brighter (N+1). On the print I found the highlights were right, but the shadows a bit soft, so I had to print it with a grade 3 filter. This is how it looks (straight unedited scan):

As BeBu says, why do you think it`s incorrect? Anyway... think that it doesn`t matter at all, as soon as you can achieve different contrast grades with it. Think that with a split printing technique, you only need two filters to expose the sensitised parts of the emulsion; yellow and magenta (something like 200Y and 200M, although it will depend on the enlarger). Midway filter settings just give you intermediate contrast levels, but here you need to have a bit of control to achieve perfectly linear results. So don`t worry so much. Just print your negatives and check results!

Well, the Mamiya 6 is almost the same bulk as the F6. It do away with the dilemma image quality vs load to carry, The rangefinder makes it possible... even the smallest 6x6 reflex (Rollei,Hasselblad) are not as "handholdable" as the 6. After a while, you get used to rangefinders and appreciate their advantages...unless there is a need of checking the image on the screen (DoF, plane of focus, precise framing). In this case, RF cameras are not the right choice. I'm stuck to Mamiya, and depending on the task I take the 6 or a RZ. So the perfect option is... to have both, RF and SLR 😉

Good one... ! Frightening!

Personally, I love Technikas. It is my favourite camera for field work, compact, practical and faster to setup. The F1 is also a good one, but as a monorail, more bulky and awkward to carry, although maybe easier to work with once on the tripod and with many affordable accessories. For the kind of work you mention, indoor, low paced work, focusing on composition, the F1 could be maybe more suited. But folding field/press/technical cameras are (IMHO) way more practical and versatile cameras, being the Technika a piece of art by itself. Whatever the camera you use, a fresnel add a lot of comfort, and the right angle viewer will make it luxurious... 😉

The fresnel lens just help to avoid the hot spot at the center of the image. You can use a right angle viewer with or without fresnel... obviously for better image viewing (that`s the purpose of the viewer, isn`t it?) a fresnel will be more confortable for framing, composing the image, checking corners, etc. In the same way you see the hot spot without the fresnel the right angle viewer will show the image. Is it useless? The only difference is that the image is not upside down. Cheap or good fresnel? It all depend on how tricky with the gear you are. I try to remember Tecknika Vs use over-the-GG fresnels (my IV use the fresnel shimmed between the lens and the GG). You can put a plastic cheap toy fresnel, cutted to size, to simply gather more light over the GG. Or buy the right fresnel and have it permanently attached to the camera... it depends on how much you use the camera. I personally use the right fresnels, or simply won`t use them. What I never use is the right angle viewer! 😄 (Disclaimer: I don`t have a Linhof right angle viewer but a Sinar one that I rarely use with my Sinar monorail. BTW, Sinars use an easy to remove fresnel that I keep permanently attached).

Multigrade filters makes traditional printing way more convenient IMHO. Over or under the lens, it doesn`t matter at all if the filters are clean and in good shape. The split printing technique is also a very useful approach. The way of working is first to get the right printing time for a desired highlight texture and brightness. Once after that you decide how dark you want the shadow areas; if darker increase contrast, if softer use a lower filter grade. Experience will tell if the starting point (filter #2) can be superseded in favour of a different contrast setting.

I have experienced Dektol of the 2020 batch, mixed before the expiring date (2023, cannot remember the month). It came out dark chocolate, making it unusable. The excuse "This has no impact on product performance" is simply ridiculous, just because 1. the solution is such dark that you cannot evaluate the print submerged in the tray and 2. the paper result stained with the developer. So for this quality reason, and given the crazy pricing policy Kodak branded products have around here, I have had to change to another brand.

Nice piece Shun. I have enjoyed it. What someone said, video can kill the still image (at least sometimes... ) 😉

Thank you very much Shun. Actually, your work and Matt's are way more worthy of recognition! I am always happy to browse around here and read many old acquaintances (and also new interesting ones), which I do almost every week. Unfortunately my photographic work has been very limited for some time now. It's funny... I've never met other photonetters in person but I have the feeling that they are lifelong friends. I even miss some that are not around here for a while 🙂

Ilkka i Are you focusing at the working aperture? Field curvature is a tricky characteristic, so I wonder if your plane of focus can vary when shooting at the working aperture. There is also focus shift, where the plane of focus change with the aperture. I have some very good lenses that show this annoying issues. When I just received the AFS 24-70 G back at the release time I checked focus as usual, and compared it to the lens I used to use before (AFS DX 17-35). The 24-70 was quite odd in comparison, so I remember to spend a lot of time trying to set the fine focus feature. At the end I left the lens at the factory settings, the most useful one. As Shun says, is not a lens for that task, or at least in the way you are using it. Despite of this I consider it an amazing lens for indoor people photography and portraiture. For copy work I use the old 55/2.8 and 105/4 Ai-S Micro-Nikkors (size depending), with good results even on my D850. Another practical option (faster to use) is the AFS105VR.

(A bit out of topic but it's interesting to see that almost six years after the releasing of the D850 it is still on top... just a thought... )