rajmohan.

Rob - in some cameras with a motorized film winding mechanism, when you load film, the camera automatically winds the film on to the end. Usually the frame counter on the camera will show that as soon as you load film, the motor will activate and the counter will count up from zero to 24 or 36, and then stop at that number. It then exposes from the end backwards to the beginning of the roll (like a slow rewind, counting down to zero), and when the last frame is exposed, it completes the rewind. I suspect this is the case in your camera.

If you are prepared to spend time with a DSLR and macro lens, you can certainly scan at extremely high resolution. As an experiment, I have scanned 6x7 negatives with a 22MP DSLR and a 100mm macro lens - by scanning overlapping sections of the negative at macro distances and stitching them together, I can a get a 74MP (~300MB) DNG file. If you use, for example a 180mm macro and scan even smaller sections of the negative at high magnification, you could obtain files with even higher resolution! Whether such high resolution (and attendant enormous file size) is overkill for any given negative is an individual decision, but for select/favorite images, it can be a cost-effective (assuming you already have a DSLR/macro kit) and efficient means of producing a high quality result. Example below:

Hello, how much are you asking?

Great finds, Rick! The Canon 7 is a fine machine with a great VF/RF. It is sought after, not in the sense of being rare, but more due to its solid build and ease of handling. If the metering still works, I suppose that is a bonus. The lens is very good indeed - somewhat soft and low contrast wide open, but showing ample sharpness and contrast when stopped down. I think that as a package, you did very well!! :)

If you are using a 50mm with M8, it sounds like your current shooting preference is for longer focal lengths. Are you happy with this, or would you like a wider angle of view? As Wouter says, only you can make the decision about what is right for you. I also like to have a range, and so I chose (for my film M) older lenses, which allowed me to fit a 35mm, 50mm and 90mm lenses into a budget smaller than the cost of a single current lens. But if you prefer the modern lenses, you might be best off to try a few different focal lengths (and possibly different versions - eg do you really need a Lux over a cheaper Cron; again a purely personal decision) before spending a sizeable amount on a single lens. Good luck!

Hi everyone, Sorry it has taken a while, but I have finally managed to put a roll through the XE7 that Mike (mjferron) kindly sent me. A lovely camera, from which a few examples are below. (Thanks again, Mike!)

Thank you, Gerald. I took a fairly gentle approach using Lightroom: Perspective correction, crop (to match natural curve of stone wall at top with edge of reflection at bottom), reduce highlights, mild increase in clarity, very mild increase in vibrance, Grad filters (increase temp top 3/4; decrease temp bottom 1/4; mild increase in shadows right 1/3), brush (very mild dodge and mild increase in shadows - darkest boats).

Ed - thank you for sharing your workflow. The results look great. I also photograph my negatives, but use the tone curve for further processing of the RAW files. I had not thought of using Silverfast to do this - I'll give it a try. :)

Great selection from everyone. Just one from me this week - Olympus Pen FT with OM 50mm f/1.4.

Hello CMC aficionados, I am thinking of disposing of some of my camera gear (I know that this is blasphemy to many CMCers, but I need the room, and would rather see the gear used than sit idly for years). I have given some of it away, and ideally I'd like to trade some of it for (hopefully a smaller volume of) gear that I am more likely to use. I am a little apprehensive about doing this on some of the open fora (eg FB film sale groups). Some of the items on the list - Kodak Medalist II, Olympus XA2, some Yashica ML lenses (CY mount) etc. Please reply, or message me if you are interested. Thank you, Raj

I'd like to pay forward MIke's (mjferron) generosity, and offer a Canon EF camera to anyone interested (free shipping within the USA). The camera is in nice shape. I haven't put batteries for it (reason below), and have always used it with an external meter. The only issue: it will only fire if the switch is turned to "ON" (even without batteries, although all shutter speeds from 1/2 to 1/1000 are fully mechanical), and the switch won't stay at the "ON" position. Being clumsy, I didn't try to fix this, but just wedged a small piece of card under the switch to keep it in the "ON" position, which solves the issue and leaves the camera ready to shoot at all times (hence no batteries). I don't know if I still have any FD mount lenses to marry with the camera, but if I can't find one, I'll throw something else in the package. First person to reply gets it :)

I've seen many wonderful photographs made with both of these cameras. I think that my inability to get the best out of them is due to my limitations rather than to those of the cameras! :)

Mike's Minolta XE7 arrived yesterday (thank you, Mike!!), and it is lovely. I'll post some pics made with it in the next week or so.

Most definitely an incentive to visit The Apple Isle! :D