tmorgan

My 'other camera' is a Minolta 370 (and now a 7D).

The main one is an M7.

...Tom M

Christopher,

For me it was an X-370, purchased on flying pass thru Seattle, on my way to the Olympic

Mountains. I forgot my camera (some kind of Voigtlander proto point and shoot) and

bought the X-370 in a downtown department store in a 20 minute layover.

This was the first 'real' camera I had, and it is still around and used all the time.

I also do like you say, pick one lens (of course, by now there are a bunch to choose from)

and go out and shoot for the day with just that lens.

...Tom M

Tim,

Here are two jump off points into some of the forest of information that is on the net

about making panoramas:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/">http://

www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/</a>

<li><a href="http://ptfaq.org">http://ptfaq.org</a>

</ul>

These sites are centered on an open source set of tools for panorama making, which has

quite significant user community surrounding it. This <a href="http://ptfaq.org/fom-

serve/cache/80.html">link</a> discusses exposure variation and what to do about it.

<br><br>

...Tom M

Gee, make that three.

I like the 135mm focal length, also. It is noticeably long, but you can still walk around and

just shoot with it.

...Tom M

Ian,

<br><br>

I put a sample of the 70-210 F4 for you to look at <a href="http://www.photo.net/

photodb/folder?folder_id=574208">here</a>. The camera was a 7D, hand held, with the

image stabilizer running.(*)

<br><br>

I can't compare the two lens, but maybe this sample will be useful to you.

In terms of durability, the 70-210 is built (and weighs) like a tank; it could double as a

field expedient weapon, should need arise :-)

<br><br>

In general, I have been pretty happy using the older Minolta lenses purchase used. I like

the look they give images. The main drawback to this one can be slow or cranky auto

focus.

<br><br>

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp....Tom M

<br><br>

(*)If you are wondering where I got the model, I happened to be down under the

Manhattan Bridge and came across a commercial shoot. It offered a nice test of the lens

and the image stabilizer

Randall,

-For some variety in around Island in the Sky, you can try driving back to Moab via the

Shafer Trail, which drops down off the plateau. It's driveable with a decent 4 wheel drive

vehicle. Check for early season conditions.

-It takes lot's of time and you will have to carry water and gas, but the Maze district

provides some views that are much less often seen.

...Tom M

Fred,

Thanks alot, that's just what I was looking for.

...Tom M

I am looking for an image that shows the exposure 'red dot/triangles' as seen thru a Leica

view finder.

I searched around some and found a picture of frame lines, as seen thru the view finder, but

haven't come across one showing what the exposure dot looks like.

The purpose is to show, rather than tell, some one how the exposure scheme works.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

...Tom M

Igor,

I spent some time thinking about this, and decided to continue with Minolta gear.

I've been looking bargains and maybe some spares.

...Tom M

Peter,

The 7D noise reduction function won't be active for shutter speeds under 1 second.

(Reference: page 77 of the user manual).

...Tom M

I bought a unit new, it had the back focus problem.

I sent it in to be corrected and the camera has been satisfactory since.

...Tom M

Noah,

<br><br>

I've been satisfied with Baboo on 20th Street. I've only done 4x5 with them.

(They are on the Kodak Q-Lab list).

<br><br>

...Tom M

Robert,

<br><br>

I haven't tried all of the items on the <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=3852662">supported feature list</a> of the SCA3302 + film 7, but I've used

the film 7 + SCA3302 for on and off camera flash, including HSS and never noticed

anything peculiar, everthing worked as expected.

<br><br>

I don't have any experience with the 5600 Minolta unit.

<br><br>

...Tom M

R. Korporaal,

<br>

<br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Do75">This

thread</a> is about an 54MZ-4, and the 3302 adapter. It may lead you to some info that

will help understand the behaviour of the Metz units on the 7D

<br><br>

...Tom M

Has any one done left/right as opposed to up/down checking of these finders?

I ask, because I just chopped the top off a bunch of buildings in portrait orientation, using

a Voigtlander 15mm finder on an M7. I did okay with a Bessa T, but miserably with an M7.

After looking, it's pretty clear why: the Voigtlander 'hot shoe' is directly above the lens

center line, while the M7 hot shoe is offset to the right (which is 'up', the way I hold the

camera in portrait orientation).

...Tom M

Bryce,

<br>

You're welcome.

<br>

Here's two observations, for what they are worth:

<ul>

<li>I originally used the Metz 54mz with an Olympus C5050 digital camera (not an SLR)

with the corresponding 3202 SCA module. This combination worked just liked you'd

expect, supported TTL and so on. The C5050 uses pre-flash. This and the fact that the

Minolta flashes are reported to work with the 7D makes me think that an 'M6' providing

TTL might be possible.

<li>Since the Metz doesn't do TTL with the 7D, it made me realize there was little reason

to leave the flash mounted on the camera.

</ul>

For taking 'party pictures' (which was the reason this whole thread started) it works pretty

good to use a remote trigger adapter. Just stand the flash head with a remote trigger in

the corner of the room some place and trigger it from the camera's builtin flash. Set the

builtin flash to manual and a low power output. You get your 'wink light' from the builtin

flash and use the corner of the room as a giant reflector. It's pretty easy to set up, and

you can move around freely, just don't let the camera to subject distance be too much

different than the flash to subject distance.

<br>Notice that there's nothing special about the 7D or the Metz here, this would work

with any camera (preferrably digital, so you can do a quick check on the lighting) and

reasonably powerful flash.

<br>I put <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=556743">two

examples</a> in my portfolio to illustrate.

<br>Of course, if you have the Minolta flash unit, you should be able to do even better.

<br>

Happy New Year!

<br>

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp...Tom M

Jeff,

If your Polaroid was completely unexposed, here is a possible failure mode:

Sometimes the *negative* comes back out with the paper, too.

There's a little grabber that is supposed to hold the negative back as the paper comes out,

sometimes the frame around the sheet gets a little bent and doesn't hold the negative

back, or perhaps the sheet wasn't pushed all the way in so the grabber could engage.

You can feel this if it happens; the bump from the chemical packet will still be there after

the "paper" is pulled out.

This hasn't happened to me often, but it was pretty mysterious the first time it happened.

...Tom M

Here is some more information about using the Metz 54 + 3302 + 7D. I figured it was

worth documenting for others.

I spent some time shooting with it today and stumbled on something, which is "of course",

once you notice it.

I have never shot a flash in 'automatic' while it was on a camera before. I've either set the

flash output manually, or let the camera control the flash.

With the flash on auto, and on the 7D, my first couple of shots were way under exposed.

It took awhile to figure out what was going on.

I have the habit leaving a Stoffen diffuser on the flash. It turns out that the Stoffen sticks

out far enough, and throws enough light down and back that the flash sensor picks some

of the light up, and shuts down too soon. This doesn't happen when the camera is doing

the metering.

With the diffuser off, or with a piece of cardboard under it, the exposures were fine.

...Tom M

If your buyer is in the U.S., here is

<a href=" http://www.bogenimaging.us/faq/rightscreen.php3?

sectionid=25&itemid=200&begincount=0&pathtype=sectiontree">

a link

</a> to the info on upgrading an SCA

unit to

newer model number.

<br><br>

...Tom M

Here is the end of the story.

I contact Bogen, the USA Metz representatives, and they provided a link to table from Metz

which specify which flash functions work with which camera.

The short summary is that the flash only works in 'Auto' with the 7D.

I've attached screen shot of the tables for the Maxxum/Dynax 7D vs Maxxum/Dynax 7D

function comparison

Here is an update.

I received the upgraded adapter from Bogen today. It's been updated from an 'M4' to an

'M5', according to the sticker that's been attached to it.

There's good news and bad news:

The good news is that the updated flash now fires and exchanges aperture and zoom

information with the flash. This is an improvement, the 'M4' version wouldn't do anything.

The bad news is that in the TTL and wireless modes, there appears to be no effective

control of the flash output :-(

If the flash is set to 'auto', then reasonable exposures result. In TTL mode, the flash

seems to be firing at full power all the time.

==

I will engage the various support functions of Metz and Bogen, but for now my judgement

is that the 3302 M5 is *not* supporting the Maxxum 7D.

...Tom M

I looked around some more and contacted Bogen Imaging, who are the U.S. distributers

for Metz.

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.bogenimaging.us/">Bogen Imaging</a> inform me that there is a

<a href="http://www.bogenimaging.us/faq/rightscreen.php3?

sectionid=25&itemid=200&begincount=0&pathtype=sectiontree"> complimentary

update</a> offered to make older SCA

models compatible with new camera models.

<br><br>

I sent my older model SCA 3302 in today, I'll report back when I received the updated

adapter.

<br><br>

...Tom M