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I agree with Steve Barnett and harvey platter. I'd ditch the EOS booster and 70-200mm lens. Live with the EOS 3 and three Canon primes (similar in focal length to what you might choose for the Leica anyway) for awhile. A Leica M can never replace an SLR completely like someone sez. You may get yourself onto an expensive trading merry-go-round.

 

It is like ditching your wife for a mistress. There are hidden problems which may not be apparent upon infatuation. Better to keep the wife and have the mistress later :)

Ever figured out that English is not Mr. Lee's language of choice? He has a problem writing it, much less speaking it. Is it any wonder he did not return your calls? Can you speak Korean, Mr. Wisner? That will help very much.

When all reason fails, blame it on the consumer, of course.

 

This is not a sport. This is a business. Customers like Mr. Lee do not part with serious money (priced a 16x20 lately?) on a product, sight unseen, based on faith alone, just so that they can have a go at Mr. Wisner in forums like these. What any customer wants when he parts with his hard-earned dollars (or clams in my case. Thank the great Poseidon that Dr. Phillips loves baked clams. Make mine bearded ones.) is to get his product on time as promised by the vendor. Is it unreasonable to expect this? Is that too much to ask? Nobody parts with his hard-earned money to get into a sport of slagging the manufacturer online. There is too much money and pain involved.

 

What is glossed over by the apologists is this: Mr. Wisner made Mr. Lee many promises to deliver his camera and broke every single one of them. I accept on face value Mr. Wisner's claim that Mr. Lee changed his order in December 2002 after his payment in April 2002 (nine months). (Is this substantiation?) If so, Mr. Wisner allowed it. Is Mr. Wisner doing Mr. Lee a favor? The cynic in me sez that the 16x20 costs more than the 12x20 thus making Mr. Wisner more money. Okay, bad cynic. It is called giving the customer what he wants.

 

This is the rub: what delivery schedule did Mr. Wisner promise Mr. Lee now when he allowed the change in order to a 16x20? It has been another nine months since December 2002.

 

There is more to this than meets the eye. Let's hear more from Mr. Lee before we decide that Mr. Wisner is being crucified.

 

A someone who straddles both sides of the fence, both as a consumer and a service provider, all I can say is this: as a service provider, I make a promise, I make good on my promise. Do not take advantage of the customer's good faith. I have only one chance to make an indelible bad impression that is bad for business. As a consumer, all I want is to get what I had paid for as promised by the vendor on time.

 

Slagging is not a sport. Stop muddying the waters. Those who feel that Mr. Wisner is right should pony up with their own money and then be put on the carousel that Mr. Lee is riding now. It is not your money and thus not your pain.

 

Put things right, Mr. Wisner. Deliver Mr. Lee's camera and put it all behind you. Stop casting aspersions on Mr. Lee. It will only make things worse from a business perspective.

We will have to wait till Monday to see if Mr. Lee gets his camera as promised by Mr. Wisner. As it stands, it is just another promise and I bet Mr. Lee has had enough of them. It is easy for Mr. Wisner to redeem his reputation: deliver Mr. Lee's camera with NO QC problems. You have had eighteen months to work on it.

 

I am sure we will hear from Mr. Lee in due course of time when Mr. Wisner fulfills his end of the contract.

 

Given Mr. Wisner's reply, I think I will park my dollars with Dr. Philips or Mr. Canham.

Profoto softboxes are Chimera! At least, mine are. I'm not sure about the latest ones but the ones I have circa 2001 are Chimera. If you're talking about the hexagonally shaped ones from Profoto, I have no experience with them. However, since Profoto used to re-brand Chimera softboxes, I am sure that they are just as good as the Chimeras.

 

If you love Chimera, stick with them. They are great. Ellis would also recommend Plume Wafer, I'm sure, and Plumes are great too.

Capacitors. These are the things to look out for. And replacement flashtubes.

 

Broncolor is very expensive to repair and flashtubes to replace. Find out how much these costs are before you put your money down. You may find that these negate any price savings you may obtain. Consider also the cost of Broncolor accessories like light modifiers, etc. Newer Broncolor accessories may not be compatible with these older series flashes.

 

These units precede the Pulso series and at least 10 to 12 years old.

 

I do not think that they are that great a deal. I'd rather spend twice the money on a brand-new flash with less power (600ws).

As a value for money battery system, it is hard to beat the Hensel Porty 1200B or the Elinchrom Freestyle aka Ranger in the USA.

 

However, I am hot on the Profoto 7b system.

 

Two things you must consider: flash duration and recycling times between pops. The Hensel Porty has a recycling time of 5.8 secs between pops at full output. It has flash duration of 1/980 secs.

 

In my limited experience, there are three kinds of battery packs: low power ones like the Quantum and Lumedyne (<400ws); higher power ones like the Broncolor, Elinchrom and Hensel (you could get 2400ws out of the Lumedyne with an increased number of battery packs but why bother); and the Profoto 7b which stands in a class of its own because it is essentially a studio pack on battery juice. What that means is that it has 1) long battery life (250 pops at full power) 2) short flash duration even at full power 3) fast recycle time even at full power (essential for fashion and sports) 4) color temperature consistency between pops and 5) asymmetrical power distribution between heads.

 

All these features come at the price of weight and cost.

 

If you do not need these features, the Hensel Porty 1200B and Elinchrom are some of the best bets around. (I'd have loved to add the Broncolor Mobil except that you pay through the nose for their flash heads and accessories). The Hensel has a ringlight that is popular with users. Others have The Flash Clinic modify Profoto Acute ring and heads to use on the Hensel Porty 1200B . Please note that there is an earlier version of the Hensel Porty 1200B known simply as the Porty (an unfortunate name). This earlier incarnation has a bottom-mount battery pack instead of a side-mount.

 

If you can afford it, I'd spring for the Profoto 7b and and the regular Profoto 7 heads. I take the power, quality and control of my studio packs with me on the road with the Profoto7b. If this makes me sound like a shill, so be it.

 

Do it right by doing it once.

 

P.S. Rental houses rent the Profoto 7b so do check them out before putting your money down on any system. Mamiya USA gives great service. As Ellis is quick to point out, Profoto-es are pretty expensive to repair should they fail. However, they rarely fail because the quality of the parts is very high. And high quality parts translate into higher costs if they need to be replaced. As my friend, who is a high-end hi-fi electronics designer, sez: you can pay a penny for a resistor or a dime for a capacitor; you can also pay $10 for a Vishay resistor or $25 for a Black-Gate capacitor. Not all equipment is built the same way although they seem to be functionally the same.

I like the square and shoot my pictures to be printed square. If you are not thinking about digital back compatibility, I'd say that the Bronica SQ-Ai system offers the best bang for the buck.

I am sorry to learn of this. They were stolen in Germany, I presume? I'd call around pawnshops and used camera shops. I'd also keep an eye peeled on Ebay.de.

I'd knew that I'd regret not taking three deep breaths before I posted the last message.

 

I wish to apologise unreservedly if I had offended anyone with my words and expletives.

 

Like David, I shall leave.

 

Thanks for everything, photo.net.

Jay, you should talk to photographers who are successful in their fields and you will get a completely different and positive take on it. Of course, those photographers are not to be found here because they do not have the time to chat on forums.

 

Often, comments tell the reader more about the person making the comments than they do about the subject at hand. Talk to a loser and you will get comments from the perspective of a loser.

 

Thankfully for you, Jay, this is not 1958 nor is it 1970. This is 2003 and you are 18, not 68 nor 55. You are at the beginning of your journey, not at its end and you have a whole life ahead of you. Use it to study what you are passionate about. Life will be a tragedy if you do not harness your passion. Yes, one can fail at being a Physician's Assistant too. Just as one can succeed in photography where others have failed.

 

Nobody guarantees that it is going to be a bed of roses but that does not mean that we should all go out and kill ourselves right now.

 

You make a mature decision and you be prepared to take the lumps or the rewards.

 

One lousy day of photography is better than one good day without it.

 

There are losers in every field. There are winners too. You decide if you want to be in the camp of losers or winners.

 

John, Richard, Claire, Henry. If that is what you guys feel about the state of photography today, get out of it right now. You are way past your sell-by date. Make way for the up and coming ones or has the market already decided that for you?

 

And Jorge, f**k you.

 

Don't trample on a young man's dreams and passion. That is a reprehensible crime. We were all 18 once upon a time too. If you guys feel that you have made the wrong career choices, that applies only to you. Be mature enough to accept it.

 

You are all right on one point: the photography market has changed. Trouble is, you guys did not keep up and thus made yourselves irrelevant. Don't blame photography, blame yourselves.

 

David, hang in there. You will make it.

 

P.S. Contrary to what is said, I do not hate what I do for my living. Yes, I have demanding clients who often do not understand the process, I get into shouting matches with art directors, running a photography business pains me at times. But when I see the final result, it is damn satisfying. That comes with the territory of any artistic endeavour. How can making a living doing what you love kill your love of it? It does not square unless you really do not love it to begin with. If you truly love photography, there will be struggles to achieve your results. There will be compromises. This is where the challenge and the art lie.

Yup, there is a fire-engine red one, a marine blue one, a verdant green one and a sandstorm brown. And basic black. Mustn't forget ICE.

Have you seen the latest Shen Hao HZX57-IIAT in teak and titanium? It weighs 4kg and has bellows draw from 65mm to 600mm.

 

Front standard: Rise 60mm, Fall 30mm, Shift Left 50mm Right 50mm, Swing L 20° R 20°, Back 90°, Center tilt +/- 20°

 

Rear standard: Rise 60mm, Swing Left 10° Right 10°, Base tilt front 90°, Back 30°, Center tilt +/- 20°<div></div>

Thanks for the capsule review, Brooks :) I hope that you will post a comprehensive review on the static pages of PN once you have got the full measure of the 14N. I'm aghast at what I had read about the 14N posted by reviewers who did not test this TOOL as was intended by Kodak.

Brooks, yours is the first voice of reason regarding the Kodak 14N. Would you care to post a review of it?

3.142.............

Yes, there is one big disadvantage of using HMIs: the CT of the bulbs are good for only about 500 hours after which the colour temperature starts to shift towards green. That is why HMIs have an hour-counter in them to help you keep track of the number of hours the bulbs have been burning.

 

PAR stands for parabolic aluminised reflector. PAR luminaires are usually employed in the movie industry for their punch; their highly reflective parabolic reflector makes them efficient. They are commonly diffused with silks or bounced off foam cores. Accessory lenses are used to shape the throw of the PARs somewhat. However, they are not adjustable finely like Fresnel HMIs.

 

I'd defer to Mr Brooks Short's advice and expertise to use studio flash instead (wonderful simulation of morning light, Mr Short, and great styling too). However, if you insist, for small set-ups there is a company out in California called North Light Products (www.northlightproducts.com ) which you may do well to look at; check out its Sunspots.

 

Oh yes, on the issue of ballasts: there are magnetic ballasts and electronic ballasts. Magnetic ballasts are far heavier and cheaper than electronic ballasts. Electronic ballasts are essentially flicker free which means that you can shoot at almost any speed. Magnetic ones cycle according to the AC frequency; you are limited to shooting no slower than 125th of a second in the USA.

You need CTB filters of different grades depending on the CT of your yellow lights. Or you need Tungsten balanced film.

 

That said, if you're trying to save your company a few bucks, you should hire a real professional with a portfolio to show that he really knows what he is doing. There are too many fellas out there calling themselves pro just because they have a camera. Don't make that mistake. Make sure they have the portfolio to show.

 

First, if pictures do not turn out as you planned, you will be wasting man-hours getting the people to regroup for the shoot until you get it right. Second, there will be downtime as the report is delayed because the results are not up to par. Third, your company should be paying you rightly to shoot the job; just because you are handy with the camera does not mean that the company should not pay you fees, even if you do not ask for them. Being an employess and being a photographer are two different things and you should not abuse yourself by being a free photographer.

 

I am not doubting your abilities. You may be a fine photographer in your own right. However, it is a very basic question that you are asking and I cannot imagine what else may crop up during the shoot that you have not forseen nor the experience to handle. Tungsten lights are HOT!

 

The simplest and cheapest solution is to hire a real professional, watch him work and learn something. Then you can shoot next year's report! And charge your company for it.

 

P.S. If you need to ask what CTB, CT stand for and where to get them, you really shoot consider hiring a professional.

Hmm, all-time great? The ZBE Sentinel is a contender. No longer manufactured.

 

Current champ for 120 roll film? Durst M805 with Multigraph head for VC papers, modified with the Heiland Electronic Splitgrade system.

Hi Kev,

 

Please write a short review of how you liked the Imacon 343.

Would you care to try : www.bowensinternational.com ?

Thank you, daniel. I stand corrected. I was wondering about the vignetting. Guess I did not have on my lateral thinking cap. And they do look contrived. Not one of Keith's better moments.

Steve, you mean you've done everything except DIVED with it? Isn't that like going everywhere with your Leica except take pictures with it? Oh, I forget. That is what most people really do :p Mea culpa.

DR Scholl's Footpowder tastes PLFFFFP! It is spelled ECLECTIC.

I have a Polex, bought in the night markets of Bangkok, Thailand. Yeah, it started life as a Rolex but its leg dropped off. My other camera is a Voigtlander made in Japan, and a Lieca made in the ex-CCCP.

 

Besides, didn't Mama warn you that wanking made you blind? Gazooks. Oh, Leica Forum. We're all blind one way or another, anyway.

 

What's an 'Eccletic', Jay? Is it a new religion where acolytes flagellate themselves with straps made only in Solms or better yet, an OB original made in Wetzlar, soaked with the sweat of German elves?

 

Guess that makes you an ecletic ascetic. Or make that an ascetic ecletic?