heller_harris

<p>Take a pocket tripod, gorilla pod or some sort of camera support. Personally, I'd take both cameras if it's the 'trip of a lifetime.'<br>

have fun.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Be careful in the restaurants. Pickpockets and thieves used to work crowded restaurants, slipping away with handbags or camera bags that were left on the back of a chair. I used to work in restaurant management in NYC, and the thefts were a real headache for us. </p>

<p>How wide is the band? I had a problem with 120 film on a Minolta film scanner: the scans had a broad white band. Hamrick at Vuescan had me scan the lower resolution and the band disappeared. IIRC, Vuescan uses the scanner's native resolution, not the interpolated resolution, so it causes banding if the res is set too high. <br>

I suspect that it's software related, so I would send an email to Hamrick and/or try to other software before scraping the scanner. <br>

Good luck.</p>

<p>Go Salukies!</p>

<p>Not so long ago, I made the same sort of decision. I'm not sure that you really want a medium format camera; why not 35mm or 6X7 plus digital? </p>

<p>Medium format is not the best format for casual, everyday stuff. For starters, the 120 film will give you only 15 shots a roll in 645/10 shots in 6X7, so it means lots of roll changes. 645 negative is not that much bigger than 35mm. To get the full hit, you want to look at 6X6 or 6X7. (Don't want to start a format war here.) Moreover, the lenses are relatively slow, have a shallow depth of field (which I like, mind you) and rarely autofocus. Film choices are diminishing and have fairly slow speeds (by digital standards.) All together, it makes a difficult slog for events, candids, kids, etc. </p>

<p>OTOH, you could get a very good 35mm camera that could share lenses with a digital system. Or, you could find a digital camera to do the everyday stuff and get a MF system to do portraits and other, more formal work. I ended up doing that. I tried a 645 system for a while, but ended up going with a Mamiya RZ. Great kit that's very inexpensive from KEH. It is heavy, though, no getting around that.</p>

<p>Have fun.</p>

 

<p>Great time of year to photograph NYC, because the city will still be lit up and working when darkness falls. It looks great. The Staten Island ferry offers a great view of lower Manhattan at 5:00-5:30ish - get it coming and going. <br>

Have fun.</p>

 

<p>Email a question to Hamrick; he responds personally.</p>

<p>Last summer, I worked through the same decision. The viewfinder was the issue for me, too. I like a viewfinder, as looking at a LCD is a different experience and difficult in sunlight. <br>

I ended up buying a Pentax K-R (DSLR), which seems to be a good value. Performs well and takes legacy Pentax lens, which can be picked up for relatively little money. <br>

Try them out before you buy.</p>

 

<p>How are you going to use these lights? Video or still?<br>

This sort of light has been a staple of micro budget film and video, but they put out a pretty harsh light. You might bounce both of them into a large piece of white foam core, which would soften them considerably and lessen the fire hazard that softboxes produce. This method, however, sprays light all over the place, so you may have to control the light with flags or nets. <br>

Hot lights can look very nice in still portraits, but a small room can quickly become uncomfortably hot - especially for the subject. As noted, they don't put out much light, next to strobes.<br>

As everyone has suggested, you need to be mindful of the heat, especially in a home. Buy some leather gloves, as it's easy to get burned. Keep the barn doors fairly wide, or they'll get get way too hot. You can gel these lamps, but attach them to the barn doors with wooden clothes pegs, which don't heat up or melt. Be sure to use a fairly large piece of gel that billows out away from the lamp (don't try a gel frame). The single sheets of gel (not the 48" rolls) are the right size. You can buy metal screens that slide in to knock the lights down in increments without lowering the colour temperature; it's more common than a dimmer. Buy heavier extension cords and distribute the load to different circuits, if possible. Don't let anyone 'tie in' to the electrical box unless they genuinely know what they're doing. (Take it from someone who's been blown across the room!)<br>

Have fun.<br>

HH</p>

 

<p>Hi,<br>

Try this website: <br>

http://www.photographersrights.org.uk/<br>

Which takes on the issue in some detail. You (or better, your tutor) might contact the various transit authorities to ask for permission and/or their policies. Carry a letter from your college and anything that you receive from the relevant transit authorities, and you should be fine.<br>

Best,<br>

HH</p>

 

<p>Sure it will; I live in the UK...</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Sorry. They appear to be auto, but I've never used them before.</p><div></div>

<p>Hi,<br /> I just bought some Pentax gear - ME, four K-mount M lenses and these extension tubes - and I can't identify the tubes. The tubes are 12mm, 20mm & 36mm, and the only marking is "PAL" and "Japan". Anyone recognize them?<br /> Thanks,<br /> HH</p><div></div>

<p>Anyone try Art's suggestion of Direct Software Connection? Was it legit?<br>

thanks</p>

<p>Hi - Has anyone tried a flash drive in Readyboost? I believe that it moves the pagefile to the flash unit. Anyone see any boost with that? <br>

thankx</p>

<p>With the double L it's pronounced "Yo-mo".</p>

<p>IMO, the RZ is very heavy and awkward to handhold. So you might want to look for the Mamiya RZ67 Grip, which makes it much, much easier to handle. (The grip has a hand-strap.) I'm not sure about the usefulness of a strap; I don't think that it would be much fun to walk around with an RZ banging against your chest. </p>

 

<p>First, look for the newer, "PE" lenses. I had the 40mm MC, and it just wasn't a good lens. <br>

If you really want that wide-angle feel, then go for the 40mm. The 50mm won't deliver the same, palpable wide-angle quality.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Just noticed that the Canon G11 will be £569 (GBP) at Warehouse Express, while B&H offers it at $499 (USD). The difference is almost enough to fund airline tickets from London to NYC!</p>

<p>Actually, there's a guy from Wayne, just outside of Philly, who sells camera gear on Ebay under the name of "Volksphoto". I don't know if he has a brick-and-mortar store, but I bought a couple of pieces from him and he was nice.</p>

<p>So, your friend can buy it out of NYC. </p>

<p>Why don't you just buy it out of NYC?</p>

<p>Are you using the lowest ISO setting? What about an Ultra-Contrast filter from Tiffen? That might allow you to expose for the highlights and retain some shadow detail. <br>

I think that you probably have to meter it as though you were using fast slide film.</p>

<p>Steve,<br>

I love your portraits from the 1970's. They really nail it. Thanks.<br>

HH</p>