lawrence_smithers

Actually a 35 frame contact sheet is built into windows xp If you check the standing menue in my documents /my picures/and click on print ,you get a printing wizard .If you follow the instructions of the wizard you are led to a series of print formats from 8x10 to a contact sheet.

Faced with the same dilema I settled for the Epson 2450.Its cheap and produces satisfactory 8x10`s from Provia. Colour quality is actually very good with subtle graduation and sharpness is adeqate ,after fiddling with film holder height. But it is annoying to compare the original transparancy viewed under a 10 X loop with the image produced on either photoshop7 or picture pro3.1 even after careful image enhancement and sharpening with FM sharpen.Unfortuately i cant justify a Nikon 8000 for personal images.if Epson comes out with a 4800 version I would upgrade.

I would second Poc`s suggestions including the use of the Vivitar 285 which has a GN of 120 with ISO 100 film and allows shooting at a range of alternative GN values. It has thyristor control which will accomplish the same thing as TTL metering at the film plane. I would suggest you check out the syncronization with your Nikon unit by removing the film back ,firing the flash via the shutter release and cable while aiming the flash at a mirror.You should see the flash through the lens of the camera if it is synchronized. Check it at all shutter speeds to make sure since you need to be able to alter shutter speed for balanced fill flash. For fill flash double the GN determine the distance and aperature and find the appropriate shutter speed to set for the daylight component of you shot.

For a number of years I had an almost identical system to the one you describe. I paid $2000 Can for it in 1978.Linhof systems never really lose their value or price .I feel certain that any good used camera house would be able to get about 1500$ US for such a unit .They will expect to purchase it for about 1/2 the dollar value they will get for it.So the value appraised for you seems about right. You could almost certainly get 12 to 1300 for it if you sold it privately.

My Thanks to all for useful input,Lex put his finger on one of the most valuable cures to shake;the use of good skeletonal structure and body positioning. Taking a leaf from the sharpshooter manual. Sitting position with the undersides of the upper arms resting on the knees with a tight sling and a squeezed shutter is probably the firmest position next to a rest. At eye level the forearm of the left arm should be vertical with the weight of the camera resting on the open palm of the hand. A properly tensioned sling helps greatly. The key to soft shutter release is breath deeply ,exhale 1/2 and hold while squeezing ,not pulling or jerking is the answer. Too bad there isent a set trigger for cameras.

While I prefer to use a tripod whenever possible with MF

cameras,there are times when this is impossible or undesirable.Most

museums, cathedrals, and art galleries frown on tripod use;most

street photography must be handheld and many sports are better done

handheld.The steps I use to improve steadyness include;Use of faster

films,use of flash where acceptable,use of medium wide angle

lenses,use of an anatomical grip with coupled soft shutter

release,Use of eyelevel finders to brace camera against my head, use

of available supports;trees, posts, buildings, etc. Using breathing

control to reduce movement. I fail to see the value of mirror lockup

since framing will be lost.What have I missed??

I`m going out on a limb here but since I was taking photos in 1929 when both 120 and 620 were in vogue;my recollection is that although the 120 spool had a wooden shaft and the 620 had a smaller diameter metal shaft ,there was no difference in the film itself. At the time the spools were not interchangable because the cameras were specificly designed for one or the other film.

Yes to all your conclusions but I would add the following questions for confirmation. With the 285 set for wide angle the effective maximum guide number is one stop lower.With the unit set on tele the guide number is one stop greater. The reasons are that with a 50mm lens on the 645 the area coverage is twice that of a 75mm Conversly the are coverage with a 150mm is one half of the 75 coverage.

As a forest reseach scientist much of my photography took place in circumstanses similar to those you describe. In this type of lighting I found that Ansel Adams Zone System of exposure was a valuable tool. There are a number of web sites which descrbe this system in detail.While the zone method was originally developed for B&W film and involved exposure for the shadows and development for the highlights it does have application in colour photography. Rather that using the 10 zones described by Adams one must adjust the colour application for the shorter dynamic range of colour. For transparancy film 5 zones are appropriate in full sun and shadows while colour print film is less contrasty and can accept 6 zones. A surprising amount of shadow reduction can be accomplished through the use of half silvered masks in photoshop. The appropriate methods have been described in the luminous Landscape web site and on Norman Korans site.

While the MF or large format is the heart and soul of good nature photography we should not overlook the use of a digital compact camera as an assessory. In the past many great landscape photographers used polaroid backs to aid in setting up their large format work.Today the digital camera can perform the same function. It allows you to test the framing of various focal length lenses,you can quickly bracket expose with digital and get the best exposure, The histogram feedback quickly identifies burn out areas and dynamic range. But perhaps of most value is the automatic recording of image information which saves taking notes in longhand. While there are numerous small digital cameras which fit these requirements I have found that the Nikon cp 5000 or its newer replacement the cp 5400 performs this function very well.

If you are familiar with the zone system of exposure ,detailed white should be placed on zone eight or three stops above the grey card reading for B&W film and with smaller dynamic range of colour films should be on zone 7 .

While I use "sunny sixteen" in emergencies I have found that a combination method is superior for most situations. I take a grey card and zone reading for my first shot ,subsequent shots are adjusted up and down using sunny sixteen corrections. If the sun condition changes I take another grey card reading. As a check during an all day shoot I will take grey cards at appropriate intervals.This approach saves a lot of time reading the meter but avoids serious light change problems.

It appears than a number of people are capable of handholding MF at slower shutter speeds.It would be helpful to know what special techniques they employ to achieve this steadyness. Do they: use faster film to increase shutter speed;use prism finder rather than waist level;used flash to achieve max shutter speed;Use beathing control,exhale half and hold;Use wide angle lenses to reduce movement;Other techniques.

Whoa Doma Whoa: Are we taking pictures of landscape or are we taking pictures of horses. Of course there could be a horse located somewhere in the landscape possibly a rich meadow with scattered shade trees and a horse sheltering in the shade on a hot day.Or it could be rangeland with a horse and rider framing the scene to show us the nature of the landuse. But Neigh Doma Neigh no horses in game farmsthat are called landscape. Land is land and horses are horses.

Landscape is and always will be one of the most important outlets for photography. One Doctoral student of my aquaintance spent three years in Europe studying landscape in the fine art galleries as a basis for his doctoral thesis on the design and creation of estheticly pleasing landscapes in forest areas. He used photography as his major tool in gathering data. I think that both a forum and a gallery are warranted and I would hope to see much discussion of composition within the forum. While it is true that scientific knowledge of land and landscapes is intrinsicly part of the natural sciences field it is significantly different from what I see and read in the nature forum. Pleas give us a Landscaoe Forum and Gallery.

Bill has it right there are few biting flies of any kind in the Alberta Rocky Mountains. A few perhaps just as it is getting dark but very few during the day. My opinion is based on ten years spent at Banff and Kananaskis at the forest research station. There are Horseflies later in the summer during hot weather.Few if any deer flies and I dident see a barn fly in ten years. Blackflies hatch from running water while mosquitos from still. However I still think it would be a good idea to have some Deet with you just in case.

An interesting read but as usual we are blinded by words and ignore the statistical implications. How many photographers are there in the world who consider themselves artists ,a million ,ten million;how many could possibly be hung in such a gallery, half a million? We are comparing these self designated artists with a handful of painters who we considered to be outstanding artists. Of course the odds are that much of the work of these photographers will be boring.

For a dedicated film scanner the best performance for the price is undoubtedly the Minolta multi scan pro equipped with the custom film holder manufactured in Holland ( the designer Erik de Goederen contributes to this site).An Epson 2450 or a 3200 will give acceptable full frame prints to 11x14 from either colour negatives or transparencies and from B&W negs. If manipulated in Photoshop 6 or 7 using Fred Mirandas actions . The minolta will cost about 5 times the price of the Epson.

Hi: Maybe my etrs is different from Jasons but in order to roughly check shutter performance;simply remove the film back,set diaphram to largest f stop,set the double exposure lever to the on position, forward with red dot exposed, aim the camera at a bright light and fire the shutter while looking through the open back of the camera , be sure the shutter lock is turned off by turning the rim of the shutter button counterclockwise. Wind film crank till it locks,set to the next shutter speed and repeat. You eye will tell you the relative length of time the shutter was open.You can also test the performance of the diaphram by setting the shutter to long exposure,or to bulb by releasing the set screw on the diaphram ring and stting to bulb. and firing it at each f stop while looking through the camera back . Remember that with the film back removed the shutter will only fire if the exposure lever is set forward with the red dot showing.

Make sure the the green dots on the front rim of the body lens mount are aligned,and that the green dots on the lens are also set properly befor attempting to mount a lens. You will not be able to remove a lens unless the shutter is cocked. You can take the tension off your shutter springs if the camera is not to be used for an extended period by moving the green dots to the off position with your fingers.

When using a combination of supplimentary lenses and filters for

macro which should be placed closest to the camera lens?

supplimentary or filter.

When using several supplimentary lenses in combination which goes

closest to the camera lens/1 +2 or 2+1 ,or does it matter?

Just so you will get an impression of the cp5000 wide angle image on basic jpeg format image at 538k I am attaching a smash and grab image<div></div>

Admittedly the CP5000 has many deficencies for landscape work. One of the more serious in my opinion is the image in the lcd screen. In full daylight it is almost impossible to see.With the addition of the accesory lcd hood it`s better but still hard to see.However by inserting a low power film loop inside the hood the lcd can be used as an eye level viewfinder and all screen data can be easily read.<div></div>

You might want to take a look at the Nikon cp5000It`s not up to 35mm image quality but will produce acceptable 11x14 prints and excellent 8x10 when sharpened with fm sharpen in PS. The standard zoom lens is 28-85 (35mm equivalent) and a nikon tele assesory lens will give you the 120 eq. Its a 5.2 meg ccd giving raw,tiff or jpeg fine images. It has full manual settings for f stop,shutter,and focus. Its certainly not a substitute for either MF or good 35mm but as a go anywhere,simple to use camera with fair macro quality,its a very usefull accesory to film systems.

As has been noted any macro system either bellows or tubes is going to reduce the effective f stop of your lens but there is a simple calculation of the chang and how much increase in exposure is required.F stop is simply the relationship of the diameter of the lens opening in relation to the focal length of the lens .By putting in extension tubes you are increasing the effective focal length ,for example at 1/1 the effective focal length has been increased four times requiring 2 stops correction.

Keeping insects in one place long enough for good macro images is a problem. The professional photographer at our laboratory who specialized in insect work used several tricks to reduce or eliminate movement. I seem to remember he used a small drop of honey which many species feed on to keep them ocupied. he also use a fine atomizer spray of ether to slow them down. You might want to experiment.

I have found when comparing prints of the same subject from my 645 Bronica with a Nikon 5000 (5 meg) that while the resolution in film is slightly better than the digital camera the real difference is in the quality of the colour. Even using tiff format in the cp5000 the colour is somewhat harsh compared with the smoother film scanned material.I have no objective data on the colour rendition but there is a difference.