danny_liao

Martin,

I have the glass carrier that rotates and the standard strip carrier. The reason why I

dished out the extra $$$ for the glass carrier with rotating feature was because when

the 8000 came out, there was a huge fuss over the standard strip holder not cutting

it. Supposedly it was not doing the job of holding the film flat. Anyway, as it turned

out, my strip holder worked just fine but to be on the safe side, I got the glass carrier

too to make sure the film does stay flat. It works great. Never had a problem with it.

Except, it does tend to attract dust. Which makes it a pain scanning black and whites

because the ICE feature doesn't work with b&W negs.

the above post is right regarding the status monitor. it will only display a graph of

the status of the ink when it's low not when it needs to be replaced. regarding

running out of ink but printer still prints. this happened to me last week. the cause

of this was a clogged head/dirty head. for me, my print was complete off in

color...like you said, it seemed like i was missing a set of color. i went through

epson's head cleaning set up and that solved the problem.

I hated and vowed to never use glossy paper. But that was until I got everything

calibrated. I'm not saying that I love it now, but it's a lot better than I thought it

would be. I'm currently printing with Epson 2200 with Imageprint driver and monitor

is calibrated by Pantone and I have no problems pulling good glossy prints. I tested

both Epson Premium Glossy and Lumijet Ultra Glossy. And to my suprise, both came

out pretty damn good. Would I used it to print my portfolio? NO. But if you are just

an amature or just wanted to print some family snap shots, than it should be fine.

But like I said, I was only able to pull good glossy prints after several $$$ invested in

my set up. I would not recommend printing glossy if your set up is not calibrated.

However, I do recommend printing with Epson Luster and Matte or Ilford Pearl on the

2200 with just the standard Epson 2200 driver. They seem to print fine with standard

set up, but like everything else, it does improve a lot if calibrated.

the glass holder works great. i never had a problem with it. what i do is, i use the

glass holder to scan my important work and the regular strip holder to batch scan my

my negs to do proofs/contacts. i actually never had any problems with my strip

holder. it seems to hold the negs just fine. i never had a problem with my films

curling. but because of the "urban myth" about it and to be on the safe side, i always

do my final important scans with the glass holder.

also for me, it's the only time where i have no worries in the world...no stress, no

bitching. it's the only quite safe place i have all to myself.<div></div>

one could learn so much by spending a day doing street photography with a manual

camera...NO AF. the ever changing challenges exposure, aperture, shutter speed,

and composition could make a amature into a semi pro in one day because it

constantly forces the photographer to think before he or she releases the shutter.<div></div>

I've used both the D40 and Q Flash on my 503cw. The D40 is good but does not

compare to the Q Flash. The Q Flash works like a little strobe pack with many

function settings...manual, multi, auto, and personal settings. Yes, it's slightly bigger

and you have to carry around a seperate battery pack but the functionality and power

is well worth it. You could also put it on a stand and us it as a portable strobe unit.

Of course, this is going to cost you more...Q Flash and Turbo Z battery will run you

about $800.00.

i recently purchased a canon 1d and it was a great camera but had to return it

because the quality is just not there yet. don't get me wrong, the image quality is

great, but compare to film, it's just not the same. if i were you, i would wait another

year or so to get one. i predict by than, it will definitely be cheaper and perform

much better.

chung,

if you haven't fixed the problem yet. this is what i do when this happens to my

503cw. hasselblads are known to lock up so this is not unusual. since you are

unable to remove the lens and back, what you need to do is open and remove the

insert (of course do this in the dark if you have film loaded). than reinsert the insert

and re-rewind the winder if needed. this will reset the camera.

anybody know of a website that sells Hahnemuhle paper at a good price?

thanks

you got the basic idea. however, there is more to it than that. i suggest you try

developing b&w film and printing b&w images first before you move onto color film

and printing.

Does anyone know if they carry 4x5 film in Taiwan? I was told several years back that

4x5 is not in demand in Taiwan, so majority of the shops don't carry 4x5 film. I

would greatly appreciate it if any of you could lead me to a store that carries and

processes 4x5 film in Taipei area.

I used to shoot with a Sinar in the field. After awhile, I got sick of lugging that thing

around. So I switched to the Horseman 45FA. Let me tell you, this camera is great.

It's solid, sturdy, lots of movements, and light. What else can you ask for? And the

built in hood is awesome for composition. I checked out the Toyo and the Canham

prior in purchasing the 45FA, and I have to tell you, they did not match up. The

Canham seemed flimsy compared to the rugged 45FA. I don't understand why

Canham get such high recommendation. I give it that it is light, but everything else

feels like it's going to break if you don't store it correctly. And when the camera is

locked down and ready to shoot, the damn thing is so light that when a slight breeze

blows, it shakes. And for the Toyo, its quality, in my opinion, is not up to par with

the FA.

The only way you could do this is:

1) Take your first shot. Do not advance film.

2) Remove back. With back off, advance the crank/shutter.

3) Re attach back.

4) Make second exposure and so on...

Well, that's how you do it on the 503 and I figure it's the same with the 553.

Danny

I agree with all that recommends the H1. But don't you guys feel that the price

and the camera is overkill for what she is doing? Wedding and portraits use

alot of soft focuse filters and vignetters, if she goes with the H1 for the

sharpness and pays and arm and a leg for it, doesn't the filters and vignetters

defeat the purpose of having that nice sharp lens? And that also goes for the

Contax. I personally believe that they are overpriced due to its name not it's

features. Anyway, I'm still sticking with my recommendation of the Mamiya

645AFD. I think it's fairly cheap in price and it performs extremely well. And

not to also mention that the lenses are sharp and resonably priced.

I agree with everyone that recommends the H1 but you are going to pay an

arm, a leg, and a big investment. For what you are doing, you don't need a

"top notch" camera like the H1 or the Contax 645 AFD. You are basically

paying for the name. I'm positive that you and your customers won't be able to

tell the difference between the image quality of the H1, Contax, or Mamiya.

Mamiya 645AFD is the least expensive one out of all three and it's image

quality is as good. You'll save alot of $$$. With the H1 and Contax, lenses

and accessories are expensive. Save the money and buy the Mamiya and

use the money you saved to buy a nice set of strobes for your studio. Also,

for some odd reason the Contax takes awhile to turn on. It almost seems like

it needs to "warm up." AND the AF is slower than the Mamiya. Anyway, that's

my suggestion. Do your own testing and see which one you like.

Sometimes old or bad or even poorly mixed developer crystalize causing the

developing liquid to have small chuncks or flakes of undesolved developer.

These chunks often stick to the emulsion causing hot spots on your negs.

This might be the problem.

Tony,

<p>

I'm suprised that Ed is the only person that mention DEKTOL IS FOR

PAPER! NOT FILM! If you use Dektol to process film, like ED said,

it will produce grains size as golf balls(exaggerated of-course)!

Highly not recommended. Just stick with D76...it's a all around FILM

DEVELOPER.