ruicardoso

Hello all,

Has anyone been able to buy a Samsung XL24 in europe?...

I'm in Portugal and I'm trying to get one for the last 5 months without much success. I allready tried several

resselers, all of them receive an indication that they'll receive the monitor in one month, but then nothing

happens. I allready tried to contact Sansung directlly, but they allways point me back to the resslers...

Before considering alternatives, I'd like to try online dealers, but I could not find any in the European Union

listing it. Was anyone able to get this monitor from an online shop in Europe?

Thanks All,

-Rui

Thanks all,

I allready decided to postpone the trip to end of Feb/March, and taking at least one month for it. I would only be able to take 3 weeks in Sep/October and considering that I would spend arround 4 days traveling (both ways) between NZ and Portugal I woul'd be left with the ammount of time I'd like to have over there.

Regards,

-Rui

Hello,

I'm considering traveling to New Zealand, and I'm wondering if I should go there during my next hollyday period,

by late September/Begining of october or if should postpone the trip to February/March.

I plan to drive through both Islands, so my biggest concern is snow and beeing able to drive to most places.

Any insigth would be appreciated.

Regards,

-Rui

Hello,

I use an hoya R72 with Rollei IR. I set my spot meter to ISO 6 and aim for an average reading just like when using any other film. The only difference might be that most times I don't include the sky in my exposure calculations, this probably means that my exposures will have a bias towards shadows, but I do get nice looking negatives this way.

Regards,

-Rui

Sorry Peter,

I missread your post and gave you my procedure for Rollei IR instead of R3. For Rollei R3 I also use the instructions that come with the bottle, I've been exposing Rollei R3 at ISO 200 and develop in RHS 1:7 for 14 minutes. As with Rollei IR I get good resutls this way.

Regards,

-Rui

Hello,

I use Rollei High Speed. I just follow the instructions that come in the bottle: RHS 1:15 for 8 minutes. Other than that I shoot the film arround ISO 6 through an Hoya R72 opaque filer.

Regards,

-Rui

Hello All,

I've been using Maco IR820c 120mm for some time with a B+W 092 (89b) filter with

good results. When my stock of Maco ran out I started testing with Rollei IR 400.

For my first tests I used the same B+W 092 filter, shot in the same conditions

and metered the scenes using my hand-held spot meter the same way I did for the

Maco. I tested using ISO 25, 12 and 6. The film was developed with Xtol 1:2 for

13 minutes at 20�.

Altough I have some frames that are correctly exposed and developed (most of

them between iso 12 and 6), I'm hardly getting any IR effect! Blue/cloudy skyes

come out nicelly, but the film renders green foliage much the same way a normal

b&w film would when exposed through an orange or red filter.

I saw in the Rollei brochure that they recomend an 88a filter instead of the 89b

I'm using, they seam too close to make a difference, but I'll try an 88a if I

can find one... Before going for another filter, I'll also try to overexpose the

film a little more as recomended in the Rollei brochure.

Other than these, does anyone have any ideas or experiences to share?

Best Regards,

-Rui Cardoso

Robert,

For now I was more interested on the 250 F5.6 models, and the information you gave me was just great. (I expect to do more landscape than portraits with this focal length, so I guess I'll try to get a PS version).

Other than this I'm also curious about differences between the 80 S and PS. My 80 PS, that came with the kit just broke and I'm wondering if I should go specifically for another PS or if I'll be ok with with an S version (I'm ok with the handling differences between the two series of lenses, my only concern is image quality).

Best Regards,

-Rui

Thanks Robert, that was preciselly what I wanted to know! Do you know of any place on the web where we can find the specifications for S lenses?

Best Regards,

-Rui

Sorry, I wasn't very specific in my question. I also have other PS and S lenses and know the basic technical differences between them. I wanted to know specifically about image quality differences between the 250 F5.6 S and PS Lenses because I have a good oportunity for buying an S version and I'm trying to decide if I should go for it or look for a PS lens.

For instance, I've read reports saying that the 150mm F4 PS has a visible advantage over the 150mm F3.5 S; I also know from personal experience that there is no big difference between the 50mm F3.5 S and PS, I Just wanted to know wich would be the case for the 250mm F6.6 lenses.

Best Regards,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello all,

Could anyone tell me if there are any differences between Bronica SQ

250 F5.6 S and PS lenses in terms of image quality?

Thanks in advance,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello All,

I have a Bronica SQA that I use mostly for landscape with the 50mm S

lens, I'm also thinking about getting a PS 40mm in the future.

For filters I use a Cokin P Wide Angle filter holder with Hitech 85

ND and ND Grad Filters. Even with the wide angle adapter I get some

vigneting and I must be carefull in some situations for the filter

edge not to show on the immage.

I'm considering getting a bigger filter system that I can use with

the 50mm I currently own and the 40mm I intend to buy.

Considering the results I have with the 50mm and the Cokin P size

filters, I imagine this lens would be ok with the cokin Z-Pro holder

and 100mm filers (Hitech, Lee, etc), but I don't know about the 40mm

lens.

Does anyone have experience with these two lenses and any sqare

filter system?

Regards,

-Rui

Hello All,

I've been changing from DDX to Xtol for most of my film development.

I'm already set for Tri-X and Maco IR820c but still fighting with

PanF+:

I decided to start with higher dilutions assuming that I would get

more speed and sharpness (no problem here) with this film.

I tried the 1:2 and 1:3 dilutions with Xtol, keeping the 100 ml

stock solution per rol limit in mind, but it seams that I can't get

more than an efective speed of Iso 25 out of this combo.

I know this might migth be caused by my metering technique, the

subjects I've been shooting, or the fact that I use an orange filter

most of the time (I overexpose 2 stops when using the filter), but I

used to be able to get ISO 50 with DDX on similar situations (tough

I'm not able to test both developers with identical negatives now).

For instance in the case of one film I developed using 1:3 dilution

(300ml water + 100ml stock at 20 Deg, for 11 minutes, with pre-wash,

initial 15 sec agitation, agitation for 10 seconds each minute): The

highlights look ok for the shots taken at iso 50 and a litle over

for the shots taken at ISO 25, but the shadows look ok for the shots

taken at Iso 25 and under for the shots taken at Iso 50.

I know this means that shooting at Iso 25 and reducing the time to

10 or maybe 9 minutes I 'll be fine, but before setling with this

and mooving on with more testing, could you tell me if this is the

speed most of you are getting out of this combo?

Also this migth sound strange but I'm wondering if there could be

any situations where the higher dilutions of Xtol would not hield

the highest speed, any thoughts on this also?

Thanks all,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello,

I would'nt say that there is a bullet proof procedure for getting good negatives with IR Film, for me there have always been lots of trials, errors and bracketing.

Currently, I shoot Maco IR 820c 120mm (both versions) through a B+W 092 (89B) filter and develop in Xtol 1:2, for 14 minutes at 20 degrees celcius with good results.

I also started with the recomended time of 16 minutes but also found that to be generally too much.

I pre-wash the film for 1 minute, agitate for the first 15 seconds and then 10 seconds each minute.

I set my ligth meter to Iso 6 and measure for an average exposure. Most times I bracket one shot on the overexposure side, if I really want to make sure I get the shot I bracket one or even two stops on each side. I scan most of my film and use a condenser enlarger.

Before using Xtol I used DDX 1+4 at 20 Deg. for 9 minutes also with good results.

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

-Rui

<b>35mm:</b>

<br>

400TX: tried lots of diferente films, but this is the one that suits me;<br>

Velvia 50: The slide film I wished I had in the camera whenever I tried someting else. I'm stocking the most that I can before it runs out;<br>

<br><br>

<b>120mm:</b>

<br>

Panf+: My favourite for landscapes;<br>

400TX: My favourite for everything else;<br>

Maco IR 820c: More of a way of life than simply a film...<br>

Velvia 50: Same as above (135mm);<br>

Velvia 100 Professional: I'm trying to like it... I don't see it as an hands down winer, but with Velvia 50 out of the game I'll have to find my way arround it...

<br><br>

I develop black and white films mostly with Xtol and Rodinal at times...

You've all been quite helpfull, I'll be fliyng to Stockolm next monday... I'll le you know how it went when I get back.

Regards,

-Rui

By the way Ray, how long did all that take?

It sound's like an amaizing trip. I've been dreaming about doing the "Raid Paris - Cap Nord" for some time, that's almost the same trip you did!!!...

Thanks for the answer's, they've been very helpfull!!!

BTW, I'm from Portugal, so I guess that any of the countries will be quite different from what I'm used to...

I have almost 3 weeks for my vacation...

Another thing I was trying to understand is how easy is it to find accomodation in the northern part of the three countries. I usually don't book anything in advance when I'm traveling in order to be able to change plans if needed, I'm just wondering if I should pre-book some of the hotels for this trip.

Thanks all!

-Rui Cardoso

Hello All,

I shoot mainly landscape (and some street) and I'll be going on

holydays to scandinavia on August. I was only able to decide when

and where to go a couple of days ago, so now I'm spending the most I

can searching the web and reading all the guides I can get in order

to plan my trip.

I'll be flying in and out from Stockholm, from there I'm thinking

about hiring a car, spending some time in the High Coast

(Skuleskogen) area, then going up to Lapland (maybe Abisko) and

passing by Rovaniemi (Finland) on the way up (my girlfriend want's

to go to Santa's house...)

From Abisko, and if I have the time, I'd like to cross the border to

Norway (maybe to the Lofoten area), and then drive back to Stockholm

(I still did not have the time to plan this segment of the trip, I

don't even know if I'll be able to make it).

If you could give me some advice regarding nice places to explore in

this time of the year, I'd really appreciate it!

I'm also having some trouble in understanding the dificulties and

timings for driving large distances up there, is it feasible to

drive 400 to 600 kms in a day, or is it too much?

Best Regards,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello All,

I know there have been several threads about this film and developer

combination but in most of them I see that there are several persons

starting with it but I could not find much conclusive ideas.

I'm about to try the this combination using the 1:2 Xtol dilution as

suggested by Maco, but I'm tempted to cut the development time to 14

minutes (Maco suggests 16) as I've noticed that Maco times are

usually too long for my purposes (I mostly scan my negatives and use

a condenser enlarger from time to time).

I know the best way is to test and figure by myself, and I'll do

that anyway, but it's allways good to know in advance if anyone has

new experiences to share regarding this combination.

I've been using this film for some time, mostly in 120mm, with an

89b filter, iso 6, and developing in Ilford DD-X. I'm changing to

Xtol as DD-X has become almost impossible to get, the other

developer I have at hand is Rondinal, but I'd like to try it first

with XTOL as it seams to be closer to DD-X in terms of grain and

speed.

Thanks All,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello,

I'll be working in Toronto for two weeks and I guess I'll have two

free weekends over there. Could you tell me about some nice places

for landscape photography in the area or within a 5-6 hour drive?

I've been searching the Internet for the location of Canada National

parks, but they all seam to far...

Thanks all,

-Rui Cardoso

Hello All,

I just bougth a used Bronica SQA, I do not have a user's manual but

could figure out almost everyting besides how to do exposures of

more than 8 seconds.

Does anyone know if there is some way to use it in Bulb (b) or Time

(t) mode? (Except using multiple exposures of 8 seconds ;)

Thanks All,

-Rui Cardoso

Kevin,

Thanks for your answer!

I've been using Rondinal 1+100 for 17 minutes at 20º. I still did not have the time for printing but scans came out great.

My negs seam a little thin (this is good for my scanner but I still do not know about my enlarger). I'll try your combination and see what I get.

Thanks,

-Rui

Maybe this is a little overkil for what you're looking for:

http://www.photo.net/photo/912246&size=lg

When using 2 filters is no problem, I preffer a yellow/polarizer filter combo instead of a red filter, but I end up loosing almost the same 3 f stops.

Regards,

-Rui