henry_suryo

I hope I'm not repeating here, but I think some of the wording here is vague thus maybe a bit confusing. I think we all concur that diffraction is indeed the fault here causing your fuzzy picture. The term diffraction limited just means that the lens has corrected all optical aberrations and the only performance flaw present is caused by diffraction. When you stop down enough to this point, this f stop setting is the diffraction-limited aperture, beyond which stopping down further will degrade image resolution by diffraction. I regularly stop down to F64 on the 8x10, but would not go smaller than this. For 4x5, I think the diffaction limited aperture is around F32. Hope this helps,

Henry

Looks like the hinged lens cap for the Wide...

This can be a little frustrating indeed. But put the thing aside for now and give it try later with fresh torque when your hand is not sore anymore. I would be reluctant to put the lens in the oven as the drastic temperature change can shatter the soft optical glass. Some elements are very thin and I don't suspect would hold very well. Try taping double sided tape around the barrel of the rear cell for better grip and get that out of the way first. Then use a little oil or lubricant on the retainer thread and use a hair dryer briefly to let it work through. If this still fails, I remember reading on the SK Grimes site to clamp the spanner wrench securely on a vise and apply the torque by gripping the shutter and rotating it. Good luck, hope this helps, Henry

The Focomat IIC is a wonderful precision machine, built during the German opto mechanical golden age 50s-60s. If you only plan to do 35mm and 120, then I would recommend it highly. The lenses are great and the parallelogram design ensures precise alignment. It has an autofocus feature, and other bells and whistles, and you will for simple straightforward enlarging it is a joy to use. I use mine for BW only, but it comes with a filter drawer if you plan to do color. Not as convenient as a dichroic head, though. Make sure yours has the glass negative carrier and the masks. I got mine from a professional lab that had used it as their main workhorse, before upgrading, and has been used by me with no problems whatsoever for 8 years or so. It doesn't get used as much, as I've been contact printing mostly these days, but when it does, the enlargements were never less than perfect. Hope this helps, Henry

NY is a haven for the view camera, particularly if you love to photograph structures, unfortunately there are circumstances that make it less ideal for setting up a vantage point, things obstructing the view, buildings always in the shade, pedestrians, security both of self and in terms of restrictions for tripod photography. Not to mention getting around lugging around heavy and bulky equipment. Personally, I think the best place to photograph is atop the roof of buildings. Most apartment buildings have roof access, but unfortunately you either have to know a tenant or befriend the concierge and explain your situation. After you get access, you can set up at peace and wait for the right moment. You're free from ground vibrations, things moving in an out of view, etc. It can be an exhausting but rewarding experience, you have to survey the area in advance and if your primary interest is architecture, then bring a lens with generous coverage...them buildings are tall, you'll need it!

Attached is St.Patrick's taken with a compact skyscraper camera I designed. Pedestrians are plentiful there, but at least I can blur them. Good luck to you. Henry

Vintage jazz, curry dishes, and freckled redheads.

Hi William, I have a set of these 1 gallon tanks and this has to be the best investment I made for the darkroom. Mine are stainless steel, I think are/were made by Arkay, and have lids. You can develop a max of 6 negs, but it is a little tight, I do 4 and it's perfect for the one-shot developer capacity at my prefered dilution. It's convenient, saves a lot of time, and the best part is your negs are evenly developed with no scratches since any little particles that can scratch them settle in the bottom. Good luck, Henry

Thank you all for responding, I'm amazed on how much I can learn from this forum. The architectural photographer is indispensable for high quality post construction images for marketing presentation or simply keeping record. But they can't photograph something that's not built and this is the real merit of this technology. It's simply a tool in helping to produce a better design and helping clients to see it easier than the usual, sometimes confusing, line drawings. Attached is a blow-up detail of the cornerpiece and it helped the contractor see how the mullions are fabricated, how the brick courses and their ins and outs, etc. The amount of detail you want to include just depends on your needs and how much time you can spend modeling it. When rasterizing it, you can use you final display size as to determine the pixel resolution needed. This is where your processor speed and the amount of RAM you have come in. Anyway, I take a wholly traditional approach to my 8x10 photography, there's just no substitute for the joy in this. I love the look of certain lenses, like a Dagor, but on the computer, imagine a lens with continuously variable focal lengths, unlimited angle of coverage, and unlimited resolving power!

In this image, the people were added later from "people libraries", but it's possible to integrate them in the modeling phase so as to get correct height, placement and shadows. Jason, you're right, the notches are on the wrong side! Oops!. Sometimes to sell the image, I have to beautify in ways not possible in reality, such as lighting the north side of a building. There is also photomatch feature where you montage the design in an actual photograph in the right perspective. So, let me know if you want to add a new adobe church in the Moonrise photo! Thanks.

Hi all,

I am curious if any contributors here have a similar experience to

share. By trade, in the architectural profession, I use a

CAD/Visualization software from the schematic design phase to

producing detailed construction drawings. This is not an endorsement

or marketing pitch, the software is Microstation, and I'm not related

to the developer, Bentley. In the schematic phase specifically, the

design is realized by 3d modeling and photorealistic material and

texture mapping. It's a very powerful design tool with accurate

previsualization of the final product. More pertinent to this forum,

after the modeling is done, the software allows you to set a camera

very similar to a view camera. You can select the aspect ratio of the

view, choose the lens, use rise/fall and tilt/swing corrections to an

extent, and control focus, depth of field and depth cueing. The best

part is you can control the sun's azimuth and altitude angles, color

temperature and other auxiliary lights. The sofware raytraces the

light rays accurately based on the ambient, reflective, refractive,

absorptive and other properties in the scene. Anyway, it's not quite

like setting up my 8x10 on the scene and developing and printing in

the wet darkroom, but I find the process quite intriguing and was

wondering if anybody uses a similar software. I'm also interested in

how such software is written or programmed in what language. But I

don't want to digress too much, in light of recent postings on what's

appropriate and not for this forum. Attached is a sample image (using

my "digital" 12x20!). And wherever it may be, best of light always.

Henry

Hi Dan, I see you decided to pursue the lens based on my initial inquiry. I have seen this lens listed under 8x10 on the MPEX website, and also a couple of other people who have used it on the 8x10 reported at least 2 inches of movement. Do you mean 2 inches combined total rise and fall, or 2 inches in either direction? I have also heard that this is the most corrected focal length, sort of like the cream of the crop of the RD Artar series. All the examples I have seen were later vintage above 800000 serial number. Good luck, Henry

I think the definition was termed traditionally based on the film area and size, so how about this threshold...large format is where a negative size is large enough to make presentable size contact prints as the end product. It's a loose interpretation, I know, and it varies with different people.

YoU MeaN tHiS CoOl ThiNg: <br><br>

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2942832485&category=15247

Michael,

I look forward to the EW book also. I'm certain it will have superb reproductions. It's rather unfortunate that your well-intended efforts are misunderstood on this forum, this and the Azo incident. That said, my book project is still in progress and when I'm at that respectable point of publishing, I would like to consult with you first and foremost. Thanks, Henry

Is this the same Condit fellow who manufactured the film punch register for unsharp masking? How does that gadget work BTW? Henry

Hi Wally, sometimes this is better if you have a tight image circle; tilting the front standard with the camera bed level can move the image area right out of the circle, whereas when you point the camera down and tilt the back vertical again the image area is still within the circle. Two ways to get the same degree and effect, but one more practical than the other. Hope this helps, Henry

Eggleston?? What about Strand and Weston? I think this is too vague a criteria to pick only four. Henry

Hi Ben, if you can't find any locally, please email me at hsuryo@bellsouth.net. I have in the fridge a fresh box (01/04) of about 92 shts Tri-X. I used approximately 8 shts for testing and have found FP-4 to suit my needs better. Hope this helps,

Henry

Hi Wolly, I'm sure there are several good brands out there, and Seal seems to be a trusted one. Mine is the older cast iron model and is built like a tank. It works like a charm, in fact it's probably the money-best-spent item in my workspace. Mine has a 26"x32" plate, sucks in 2000W and 18 Amps. It's on a separate 20 Amp line (most appliance lines are 15 Amps). eBay is a good source for them, and if you can pick one at a reasonable price, I'd recommend it. It really will make your photographs more presentable, smoother and flatter, especially fiber base ones. You have to keep everything clean and make sure nothing is on the surface before you mount, otherwise it will emboss into your paper. Get one with a plate size as big or bigger than your biggest photographs. It's not very convenient to do in sections. Make sure the thermostat works, too. Hope this helps, Henry

Thank you all for your response. There's a lot of work to do still before I really get to the publishing phase as I'm still working on the photographs and the writings. Michael and Jnorman, I would like to get in touch with you sometime, perhaps as I do more more research along the way. I really appreciate your extended courtesy. Sincerely, Henry

Hello, I am working on a book project, and would love to hear from

friends on the forum who have published their work. It will be a

coffee-table grade photography monograph and I'm interested to hear

anything from how to find the right publisher, pricing the printing,

self publishing, laying out the format and choosing the stock, cover,

slipcases, etc, to post printing sales and marketing. What is the

general criteria for publishers to undertake your project? What is

the typical production run, i.e number of copies, softbound vs

hardcover deluxe edition? How does the printing fee relate to the

final price/profit? Thank you in advance, Henry

Richard, the RD Artar is a wonderful lens. A 24" is fairly long for 8x10, and is usable on the Deardorff 8x10. I had one, but the original bellows on my camera were streched almost to the max as were the rails. Extra caution is required to avoid vibration and to shield the bellows if they have pinholes. I ended selling the lens, because I didn't use it that much and needed the funds for something else. After I replaced the bellows on my camera, I wish I had the lens still. When you can't get close enough, there's no replacement for it. Of course if you ever decide to go bigger, this will also come in handy. $700 seems like a good price for it. Hope this helps,

Henry

Hi Eric,

I use a 165mm WA lens on my Deardorff and it can be a little tricky to maneuver. I have used both a recessed board, which makes the bellows less compressed, more workable, but makes the sliding front not operable and also with a regular board. Before I replaced the bellows, the recessed board was better because the original naugahyde bellows were very stiff compressed. With the new, more flexible bellows, using the regular board I can get about an 1.5" rise on the front standard plus about an 1" or so with the sliding front. So that's been quite well for my purposes. A 150mm should be just a little harder. Hope this helps. Good luck, Henry

HI Scott, I use both equipment and have been quite happy with the results. One thing about the Deardorff is to look out for is separating bed, which is a major effort to repair. Bellows can be fairly easy to replace. All in all a fine camera. The front swing comes handy for my use. I scanned my negatives for proofs on an older Microtek scanner with a transparency adapter. The optical resolution is 600 lpi, somewhat low by today's standards, but have found that for the 8x10 negs they do quite well. Good enough for proofs and in turn used to evaluate how you want to adjust for the final print in Photoshop. Good luck, Henry.

14" Swiss Gold Dot Dagor MC. IMHO, until you see the image made with the lens, you can only partially justify the mystique associated with the Dagor lens. This is the ultimate, best of both worlds, a silky smooth classic Dagor look with incredible flare and contrast control from multicoating. Stunning!