lawrence_smithers

Bronica used to make supplimentary closup lenses of high quality for the etrs camera. they were available in 58mm screw mounts for the mc series of lenses. but could also be used with a step up ring in the 62 mm lens mounts. I have a pair which are very handy when travelling light. The need for greater dof usually means you will be working with the smallest apperatures therefore vignetting is not usually a problem

The only point in having to let the camera know the asa film speed is if the camera is going to automatically set the exposure for you .i.e a point and shoot camera. The ETRSi is definitely not a p&s

machine. You determine the correct exposure by reading it from an exposure meter and set the shutter speed and aperature manually employing the asa setting of the film from the packaged guide in the film box. With experience you will find that reading and interpreting the best exposure value for a given scene is just as much fun as in making the exposure.

Hi : I believe you will find that the exposure factor for and orange is two f stops .This filter will increase the overall contrast of your images substantially . the orange is slightly weaker than a red filter and is stronger in contrast than a yellow K2. I think you might as well continue using a UV.

Hi : In case you havent visited the Bronica reference site here is the url http://medfmt.8k.com/brons.html there is a substantial section devoted to the early model "s"

sean: The Gatineau Park area just outside of Ottawa in the province of Quebec has more than 100 miles of trails which are basically crosscountry ski trails but are also suitable for hiking. Depending on your mobility ,car ,bicycle,etc you can enter the system via the Gatineau freeway getting of at either Old Chelsea, Meach Lake road ,or Kingsmere Road. or you can start from the west side of Wrightville outside of Hull Quebec and enter on the Gatineau Drive at Pinks Lake. While I havent been on these trails recently I spent more than thirty years skiing on them and helping to maintain them . Its basically second growth hardwood stands with smaller areas of spuce balsam on the low spots.

The Ottawa Kingston linear Park waterway from the Rideau Canal through the Rideau river to big Rideau lake thense down several small canals and rivers emerging at Kingston Is a very historic route having been built to provide a water route from Montreal to Toronto which was parotected from American incursions. I believe that there are guided trips available or you could rent a small craft.

HI: Assuming that what you have is a standard Technica You need to first remove the lens board from the camera. There is a small spring loaded catch at the top of the lens board. Lift the outer edge of the catch and the lens board will tip forward and can be slid out of the camera mountings. The lens and shutter can be removed from the lens board by unscrewing the retaining ring on the back of the lens board.If you are removing the lens to replace it with a different lens ;remeber that the rangefinder cams are cut for individual lenses and are not interchangable.

One of the difficulties in macro photography of subjects with

considerable depth is the ability to focus accurately on the ideal

spot in the image. Usually one focuses on the closest part of the

subject But this locaton may have poor definition. It would be

desirable to have a target of some type which can be temporarily

located in the right position within the subject and which can be

removed after critical focus is achieved. I would appreciate sound

advice on the best approach to use.

If you go to this site and search for Hasselblad you will find every concievable model thoroughly covered.http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/cameras.html

WoW I`m even more nervous. When you pass the eighty mark you tend to imagine the worst. For years I took amateur movies on an 8mm Bolex on Kodachrome. Edited the original footage and copied a print to chrome. For years I used adox kb 14 bulk 35mm in a pair of Leicas Where did I go wrong I shouldent have been able to do it.Well maybe the price of MF digital backs will come down but I`m not holding my breath.

These predictions of the dissapearance of MF Film and replacement

with digital backs at 12000 bucks has me nervous. However I dont

think that transparency movie film will ever dissapear. In which case

those cameras which accept either a 35mm w ,24x54 back or a 70 mm

back will be leading the pack. I know that the Bronica ETRSi takes a

35mm w back and that there is a 70 mm back available. Has anyone used

the 70 mm and may we have your comments.

Christopher: Indeed it was inadvertant and unintensional. In a photograph is there a difference between a dead soldier and a dead civilian. Both show pain and distress Both are ultimate. Do you honor one and despise the other.Churchill said it best when he told us ,soldiers and civilians;where we would fight.War has changed it is allinclusive.

Andrew: To my mind time changes ones perceptions of right and wrong. To those of us who served in WW2 Every bomb dropped on Germany reduced the riskd of our dying when we landed in Normandy.In the same way it must have been felt by american sevicemen that Bombs on Hiroshema Meant less chance of dying in an attack on Japan. Obviously such values are somwhat selfish but I defy you to think selfish when you are sitting in a slit trench dug 6 inches too shallow. In contrast the current generation which includes most of you thinks bombs for survival is gross Maybe thats because your chances of survival are greater. Just compare the deaths of troops in Iraq with Troops in Germany

It Is always interesting to hear the outspoken views of Americans ,particularly those who in most cases wer`nt even over there in 1939. The bombings of Germany were in part retaliation for the german bombings of London and Coventry ,in part the gaining of air superiority in Europe by Britain and its allies as a prelude to D day and the reduction of the German capacity to wage war in Europe. Not pleasant it`s true but necessary. Just as necessary as retaliation for the world trade center bombings in the current era.

The images of these bombings I can assure you were even more horrific than the photograph could convey. As were the Images of Lancasters and spitfires going down in flames.

Hi Mike: I recently tested out my Bronica ETRS with 150mm MC lens and Bellows using a pair of Vivitar 285 flashes on 1/1 macro images. I had not used this form of lighting for about 40 years. All exposures on Fuji Provia were acceptable and scannable. I did not employ ttl but instead calculated all exposures. Lens to object distances were 26 cm and flash to object the same. Corrections for magnification were roughly 2 1/2 stops and all expoures made with varable output to give apperature values of f22. All exposures were calculated for single flash output. and were balanced.

just lucky I guess.

Hi: Bronica Lenses can be set a full click stops with total accuracy.They can be set at intermediate stops with whatever degree of accuracy your eyes will deliver.To Test ,Remove the back flip the mirror up open the shutter,rotate the iris control ring. You should see the full stops and in between values.

While we hear with some frequency how importand composition is in

yielding an interesting image which holds your attention;we seldom

give much time to the rules of composition which deal mainly with

the "convering of mood" It is probably reasonable to say that a

photograph which does not convey the photographers mood and reaction

to a scene;is a photograph of no intrest and value.In defining mood

it is not unreasonable to suggest that mood is a continuum ranging

from great excitement to virtual dullness which has at its core a

series of significant emotions. These might

include;peace,solitude,lonliness, claustrifobia,anger,dismay

excitement anticipation etc . While I have viewed examples of the

methods of composition which clearly demonstrate some of tools which

convey moods ;It would be interesting to hear how you convey mood in

composing your images. The classic case of displaying lonliness for

example is the placement of a very small but clearly identifyable

subject ,probably a person or child ,at the cental point of a broad

detailess area of the subject. references to existing literature

please.

There is no felt light seal between the camera body and the film backs of my ETRS .The shoulder and grove excludes all stray light in any of my three backs and two Bronica bodies. The manual suggests it is good practise when changing backs once it is securly in place to slde out the dark slide and reinsert it to make shure the shutter lock is in place.I originally was surprised to find that with the mirror cocked a light tight seal is formed allowing lenses to be changed without the dark slide in place.

You will find very little colour change in the vegetation of the Banff Jasper area.In ten years spent at the Kananaskis Forest research Center I found myself shooting mainly B&W . The forest is very simple mainly,Lodgepole pine, White spruce, Engleman spruce and Alpine fir which are forever green,scattered eastern Larch which does turn bright yellow in early October,and aspen groves in the valley bottoms,which turns yellow.You might find swap birch around beaver ponds and perhaps occasional sumack ,turning red.The entire area is a colour palet of grey rocks blue sky and puffy white clouds. Beautiful but monotonous.

I found that to inroduce strong colours into the scenery one needed a companion wearing bright coloured clothing.Well placed figures can add much to the scenery.

As a sidelight on your question;some years ago I was designing a new research laboritory to house 150 scientists in a variety of natural science fields. Part of the design was the location of a series of 6 small meeting rooms. I proposed that each room feature a different important forest ecological type and that it be paneled and furnished with items formed from the typical wood of the region. I was able to secure the cooperation of the office furniture industry who agreed to create the furnishings. I also proposed that a series of paintings depicting the classic scenery of each region be commisioned and that the paintings themselves be hung in the main foyer with copies hung in the approriate meeting room. To make a long story short I was told that since the concept came from a scientist ,it could not be considered to be fine art and therefor not approved. It appears that only professional artists can concieve fine art

Many thanks to all who provided useful answers to my question. There were several good links provided to evaluations of the two scanners. one of the best was a report by Norman Koran and some of his associates on his web page. Norman a former Kodak expert does a very thorough job of evaluation I interpret his conclusion somewhat freely : That if you already have suitable software for image management and profiling there is no significant advantage to the 3200 pro model. For general home use for scans to printer of less than 16x20 there is little advantage of the 3200 over a well adjusted 2450.

Can anyone provide authoritative information on the difference

between these two flatbed scanners. It appears that they both include

the same software,scan to the same speed and definition

3200x6400.Perhaps the pro model which costs an additional 200 $ may

be better adjusted to yield superior results. Before I trade in my

2450 buy either could someone give me an authoritative answer.

Slight burnout in skies is very common with Nikon cp 5000 and 5700. Most users key in a permanent correction anywhere from 0.3 to 0.7 minus ev correction to adjust their cp meters. Try some test shots and check for burnout on clouds in the quick histogram playback. If the cloud area flashes in the playback keep adding negative EV correction untill it dissapears. You may want to set up an array of corrections for various conditions.

I`m using my speedgrip on an ETRS I find that I have to be careful to crank the film forward fully or the shutter release fails Sometimes the film lever stops just before the shutter fully cocks.

Hi: I woulden`t give up on slide film nor would I abandone the zone system even if it was developed primarily for B&W . Bob has given you the key ,slow speed ISO 100 slide films have a dynamic range of only 5 stops. I prefer to use zone 6 for clear blue skies and reserve zone 7 for detailed whites , Neutral grey 18% goes on zone 5 and shadows fall on zones 2, ( no detail), zone 3 some detail. If the light values exceed the 5 stop range ,and they often will. Try to use composition to place deeper shadows in effective ways .Place them at the base of the frame or along edges and crop so that they are not excessive. There are a variety of methods for minimizing shadows and bringing out detail in them.In the chemical darkroom it was customary to use a half silvered mask to reduce contrast.In the digital mode you can use software such as Fred Mirandas Shadow Reduction . Or use duplicate exposures as described in tutorials in Luminous Landscape to bring out detail in the shadows.Finally dont make the mistake of trying to hold both ends of the light range If you overexpose losing detail in the highlights there is no way I know of to get it back.Expose for the highlights and work around your shadows. If you have a digital camera which allows you to preview an image you have just taken and shows you the levels histogram you can quickly see whether or not you have burned your highlights. Most TTL metering systems seem to be biased towards overexposure I have to set mine to minus 0.7 ev to avoid burnout.

My Bronica ETRS has frame spacing with similar variability.I doubt if it is a problem. I would guess its due to irregularity in the film transport gearing I notice more irregularity when I am using the speed grip rather than the transport lever. I canst make any guesses as to the second problem