New to MF, and low on cash...

I've recently gotten into using a MF cam. It's a Hassie 1000F my

grandfather bought in '58, and my dad used after him. I want to use it

for outdoor shots, as well as extreme sports (rollerblading to be

precise). I've been told the best (in price and quality) flash for

this use is the Sunpak 555, but I'm having a lot of trouble tracking

them down. B & H is the only place I can find them so far. I want to

be able to set up the flash remotely from the camera, but don't know

what type of cable I need to look for (eventually i'll use wireless,

but for now a cable would be fine). I believe I also need some sort of

module for remotely using the flash. And lastly but not least, I want

to develop my own film. Does anyone have any suggestions on a

reasonably priced enlarger? I went into a shop in the area and the guy

was hellbent on selling me middle of the line pro equipment which

honestly would probably go to waste on a beginner like me. I expect to

spend about 100 - 150 on everything else (trays, graduates, bottles,

chemicals, etc.etc.etc.).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

-matt

I can give you some good news about the flash. I use the 544, and the nice thing is that since the flash uses the pc post, all you'll need is a pc cord extension (no module needed, the flash won't know the differance), only costs a few dolars, and a cheap tripod to hold the flash. Of course you've sitll the cord to trip over, and bring the camera and/or flash crashing to the ground, but it'll give you a good start anyway.

 

Peter

I think the bad news is that the 1000F is a focal plane shutter camera

which would be particularly bad for outdoor sports or anywhere there

is bright light. You will get ghosting any time you use a flash.

This may ruin your shots, unless you somewhat perversely like

the effect.

 

Medium format cameras are generally not used for sports

shots these days. They were used for sports (e.g. Rollei TLR)

when the alternative was something like a Speed Graphic.

Now I suspect most pros use digital. But if you want to do

sports on medium format film, more power to you. Just that

focal plane shutter + flash + fast-moving subject + bright ambient light = trouble.

 

 

You can often get good darkroom kits on auction, but you might do

better looking around at garage sales. Much of this stuff is clumsy

or delicate and you need to find a nearby amateur who is giving up

the hobby.

 

As a beginner, you might consider taking a darkroom course before

buying any equipment. You might decide that a rental or school

darkroom fits all your needs and more.

<i>particularly bad for outdoor sports or anywhere there is bright light...</i>

<P>

On the other hand, it won't make any difference if you're shooting in low-light and the flash is providing all of the illumination.

If you want a nice inexpensive MF camera with a leaf shutter, try an old Zeiss Ikon folder � mine cost me £15.

 

When you can afford it, The Metz 70 MZ-5s are great for wireless remote: I use the fill wired to the camera, as master, and the slave hand held or wherever.

 

When you get a 503 or 555, you can use remote wireless TTL with the Metz system.

For enlargers, check B&H. They sell the Beseler Printmaker 67 and the Omega C700 darkroom kits for around $350. I believe that they both are complete B&W set-ups, including the lens, trays, and doodads. The only thing they lack is a negative carrier for 6x6, which will cost another $70 or so. Of course, you can always look at eBay for used stuff. Just be aware that you'll need an enlarger that can be used for 6x6 and not just 35mm film.

Matt,<br><br>Great camera. What lenses do you have?<br>to be able t use a flash unit at all, you need to find a flash-contact bar, if you don't have one already.<br>If you don't, keep an eye out for them on that auction site we all know but dare not mention.<br><br>This thing comes in two distinct guises: 1) as part of a frame viewfinder and 2) just as a flash-contact bar.<br>Each in turn comes in two versions: 1) with "American style" dipole connectors, or with "German style" PC contacts. Most, if not all flash units come with PC-style cables, so that's the version to look out for.<br><br>Each flash contact bar has two sets of contacts, marked "flash" and "strobe" respectively. The contact marked "flash" is intended for use with flash bulbs (with various synchronisation delay settings), the contact marked "strobe" and is the one to use with electronic flash (X-synch). Synch-speed using "strobe" is 1/25, or slower. That is slow, but quite usable.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm unclear why focal-plane shutter and flash is a bad combination... Isn't that what you're using every time you pick up a nikon f5 and go shoot... anything at all?

 

I presume your concern is the low synch speed, but that's not such a terrible problem; the flash is going to freeze your action in low light, and if you're not using the flash, a focal-plane shutter is typically going to be able to give you a much briefer exposure than a leaf-shutter would.

 

(Yes, for fill-flash on sports, you're going to get some blur, but for 'extreme sports' it seems that might give you a bit of the rough dynamic feel that they're all about.)

 

Aside from the Sunpak, I'd check out the vivitar 285 (rugged, inexpensive, relatively powerful, and with a battery pack like the dynalite jackrabbit or quantum turbo, a quick turnaround and the power to shoot all day) or the quantum q-flash. The vivitar is a lot lighter than the sunpak, and the q-flash is more powerful and extremely versatile. The Sunpak is a potato-masher style flash, which while helpful for top-viewing camera like the hassy, is very large and (i feel) unwieldy. I have the Sunpak 544, and rarely use it for that very reason.

For an electronic flash to work on this camera, the shutter speed may have to be set at 1/60 or slower. If you have high speed film in the camera, and the aperture is relatively wide, you will have enough light to make a ghost image of everything. Your moving subject will be

blurred in a strange way. The same thing happens with a 35mm focal

plane camera, except that many of them have a higher speed for flash,

especially the vertical shutter SLRs, so it is not as pronounced.

 

The extra expense of in-lens shutters of newer Hasselblads, etc etc

is largely because focal plane shutters don't work for flash well

enough on these cameras.

re: <<why focal-plane shutter and flash is a bad combination?>>

 

As Richard alluded to, a focal plane shutter on a medium format camera cannot sync fast enough to stop fast action. In other words, the maximum shutter speed you can use with the flash on the 1000F is probably 1/30 s, 1/50 s, or 1/60 s, which is not fast enough to shoot most sports. The top 35mm cameras with focal plane shutters (like the aforementioned Nikon F5, as well as the Canon EOS-1V and the Minolta Maxxum 9) can flash sync at 1/250 s or 1/300 s. (Yes, I know about the 'high-speed sync' up to the maximum shutter speed from Minolta and I think Canon and Nikon, but that is not a true sync and will not stop action the same way that a true sync does.)

 

Realistically, this is not the camera to use to shoot extreme sports, especially if you need a flash.

Gentlemen,<br><br>There's no need for guessing what synch speed the 1000F has. It's 1/25 or slower. I'm sure i did mention that. ;-)

You get the same problem with big (6inch) leaf shutters - but they work OK if you can persuade the performer/dancers or whoever to work in the dark... well 1/30 at f6 should not be a problem in a poorly lit dance studio or theatre, but... outdoor?