ken_lo

Mohir, what is a Sharpie?

The filter is offered on the Buy & Sale section at a local photography on-line site. The price is really "dirt cheap"

compared to a Hasselbald or Fujifilm center filter. The asking price is less than $80! The problem is, since I don't

know the seller, all I can do is examine and make sure the filter is free of scratches. I don't think he will let me take

some pictures with it and then develop them before committing to buying it or not though.

 

Anyway, does anyone know if the original Hasselblad center filter has a two stops effect?

I haven't been able to find the original center filter from either Hasselblad or Fujifilm. And since I shoot primarily

slides, I would prefer to have a center filter for my newly acquired Xpan. I have found a used Schneider center filter

available but am not sure whether I can use it on my 45/4 lens. The 49mm thread fits right, but I doubt if the 1.5

stop offered by Schneider would work on my Xpan lens. Also, does how gradual the "darkening" fades out vary

among different center filters, even with the same stop? I guess I am concerned that the vignetting varies among

lenses and therefore you will have to get the right center filter custom made for that particular lens. And that's why

the Schneider may not work.

 

Obviousely I would prefer to make sure this works before I dish out my hard earned money for this well used filter

that is available. I would appreciate if anyone can shed some lights on this for me. Thanks in advance!

I will be making a short business trip to Los Angeles this coming week, and I

am planning to bring my camera and tripod to shoot some Pacific seascape

nearby, perhaps in Malibu before the meetings.

 

I can probably arrive a day early, and my plans are to stay in a closeby hotel

with the intention to shoot from dusk to dawn the next day. Would some locals

advise which beach(es) would provide the most scenic foreground/background for

sunrise/sunset shots? I will arrive mid afternoon so I may have time to shoot

at more than one location.

 

This will be my first time shooting seascape so any technical advice is also

welcomed.

 

Finally are there any reasonable hotels with internet access hearby that you

can recommend?

I will be traveling to the US for a week or so on business, and I can spare a

day in San Francisco where I would like to take some street photos. Anyone can

recommend a few good locations that can represent the city? Thanks.

 

Ken

Thanks to both Kerkko and Cameron for your feedbacks. I don't have a Flexbody by the way, and right now 903SWC is my only Hasselbald camera. I am thrilled to get this and can't be more excited to try it out!

 

For reasons Cameron stated, I think the RMfX is probably a better fit because of the angle at which you can view the image and also I wouldn't have to worry about the inversion.

 

Regards, Ken

I have recently purchased a 903SWC on ebay at a wonderful price.

Along with the superwide it also came with the focusing screen

adapter. Since I prefer to use both polarizer and graduated filters

for my landscape work, this accessory turned out a perfect bonus.

In order to take full advantage of this, I would like to find out

which available "viewfinder" is better from a user perspective.

 

I haven't been able to try either of them out, and I am interested

to learn if the image will be reversed upside down or sideways by

using each of these. Also from a practical standpoint, which one do

SWC owners find to be more convenient?

 

If I understand correctly, both provide the exact same function, to

act as a magnifying hood so that you can focus more accurately (and

hopefully rotate the polarizer or adjust the graduated filters).

The only difference is the angle at which the viewfinder is

presented. Am I right, or is there anything else I would need to be

aware of? Thanks.

 

Regards,

Ken

Melanie,

 

I didn't ask but it seemed to me that it comes in a kit. I doubt if you can get the body alone. Even so, you would be expecting to pay a premium for sure.

 

Regards,

Ken

I was at Tin Cheung, 100 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui, in HK today and they do have the GX617 in stock. Their asking price is HK$39,800, for your information.

Thanks Lucas for your clarification.

Lucas,

 

I think it is unfair for you to say that my post was "a bit misleading". I might have spelled Tin Cheung incorrectly, but the shop I referred to was excatly the second one that you have suggested. Look at the address, they are identical. I had never recommended the shops on Nathan Road, nor do I believe they sell highly specialized panoramic cameras like the Fuji GX617.

 

Man Shing is great and comprehensive in its product offerings, but as you have well said, buying grey market goods is perfectly fine in HK, and you can signficantly save some money this way. This is especially true if you are a tourist and don't need the local warranty.

 

Ken

Hi Philip,

 

I live in HK and have shopped numerous times from camera shops located in the Tung Ying Building on 100 Nathan Road. The GX617 is a highly specialized camera and not a lot of places sell it. I do know, however, Ting Cheung, a shop there, does have the Fuji GX617, and if you are interested, I can ask the price for you. You can email me at ksklo@hotmail.com for more details.

 

In my opinion it doesn't quite make sense to fly all the way up from NZ with the sole purpose of buying a camera here. Unless you are here with other agendas, otherwise it would be much too costly to do this. You can easily ask a friend to buy it here and ship it to NZ. Even after duties and shipping charges, you would still be better off than buying anywhere else in the world.

 

Ken

There must be a lot of people encountering the same problem. Has anybody tried a different filter system apart from Lee? This is very frustrating because you really miss out a lot without the benefit of dropping in some filters.

I have recently invested into a Contax 645 setup with a few lenses,

including the ultrawide 35mm Distagon. Unfortunately this lens has

a 95mm diameter and most available filter holder would create some

significant vignetting at the corners.

 

I tend to combine ND grads with polarizers and occasionally some

warm-ups. Has anybody had some experience in fitting a filter

system that doesn't vignette? Right now I have a screw-in Contax

95mm CPL filter and I try to handhold the ND grad on top of the

CPL. If at all possible I would like to retain this CPL while

coupled with the new filter system. Note that this is a very

expensive yet high performance filter and I am very satisfied with

it. Looking forward to hearing anybody's valuable advice. Thanks.

August, the set screw is in silver. Thanks for the link, and I will be reading all of it in the next couple of days.

Thanks Edward and Steve for your comments. Unfortunately I did what Edward suggested and even loosening the thumbscrew after tightening the tension knob quarter of a turn, the ballhead remained pretty stiff.

 

What do you think that could have caused the roughness on the ballhead movement. I guess my last resort is to contact the Chicago number and get it fixed, but as I said I live in Hong Kong and it would be rather inconvenent to send it back to the US.

I just purchased a second-hand Arca Swiss ballhead but found that the

movement of the ballhead is not silky smooth as most users have

described. As a matter of fact it is very tight even when the

friction knob is turned to "0", the least resistent level. I have

also tried loosening the thumbscrew but it didn't help either. It is

now so tight that I would have to apply great force to move it even a

tiny bit.

 

I am very disappointed and thought that the Arca Swiss B1 ballhead

would perform even better than my Markins, but now it seems I would

have difficulty even using it at all. Could somebody enlighten me as

to what can be done to improve its performance? I did a simple

search on photo.net and somebody recommended simply cleaning it with

some kind of alcohol first. Should I try that?

 

Unfortunately I live in Hong Kong, and I doubt very much there is an

authorized repair shop here that is qualified to repair it. As you

can see, spending hundreds of dollars and getting a ballhead that is

practically unusable is really frustrating. I really hope some of

you can help me out here. Thanks.

I am considering getting an extender for my 70-200 f/2.8L. I happen

to find an used version I 1.4x on sale but wonder whether the

picture quality is identical or inferior compared to version II.

And if any of you recommend version I over version II for mainly for

price purposes, what do you think is reasonable for an excellent

condition verison I 1.4x extender. Thanks.

Hi John,

 

I own the Aria with a 21/2.8, 28/2.8, 50/1.4 and the VS 80-200/4. Years ago I also had the G2 kit until early this year when I replaced it with a M7 kit. I have to say both the Aria and the G2 are excellent cameras and offer excellent quality pictures.

 

Your question about which system is better suited for travel, family and landscapes is not easy to answer at all because each system has its own pros and cons. In my opinion the G2 is far better for family snapshots and travel photos (especially if you don't need telephoto lenses). The Leica M's have a lot of advantages over the G's but one thing that the G offers uniquely is autofocus. Imagine you ask one of your friends to take a picture of you and your family using a manual focus camera. It's not as easy as it seems especially when the lens is wide open and your friend has had no prior experience in focusing manually. I have two babies at home and shooting them with my M7 is practically impossible. Furthermore, when it comes to travel, both weight and size are extremely important. I brought along my M7 to a recent trip to Burma and loved it. I agree with you that the Aria is also very light in weight but the size of the lenses are still much bigger then the G's equivalence, and carrying a bulky bag full of photo gears would definitely attract a lot of unnecessary attention.

 

Unfortunately the rangefinder will not do it all. For landscape pictures you will encounter a lot of restrictions. Most notably is the use of filters, especially ND grads and polarizers which I use frequently on landscape pictures. These are the compromises that you would have to consider when deciding which system to go with.

 

My conclusion: if this system is your one and only system then I think the Aria will give you more flexibility in the long-run. However, if you already have a comprehensive slr kit then the G2 is hard to pass on. Hope my comments are helpful. Good luck.

 

Regards,

Ken

Yui,

 

I did check with the agent yesterday and discovered that up to now Rollei has not introduced any filters yet for the Variogon. Since it has a huge filter size, about 120mm, do you know if the Lee filter system would fit the lens? Erik did raise a good point and I have now become more concerned with the odd size of the lens. I have had no experience with other Rollei or other MF systems before and never had I experienced any lens size larger than 95mm. If the Lee filter system would work then I think I would be fine.

Thanks Erik for alerting me about the filter size. I never considered that to be an issue before but since I use a polarizer frequently while shooting sunrises/sunsets, that could potentially be a problem. I spoke to an agent today and he said that Rollei will be introducing a polarizer in the near future, but that would probably cost $700-800 or more...

 

And Roland, I realize that the AF and zoom may not be really necessary for my purpose. But I like the versatility offered and I am almost certain that I will be shooting some portrait photos of my kids in the future, and then these features would definitely become handy. I did consider the Hassy 203FE but it is even more expensive in Hong Kong where I live, and with its comprehensive lens lineup, I know that I will go bankrupt even sooner.

I am about to enter the fascinating world of MF photography, and my

first acquisition will be a Rolleiflex 6008 AF along with the

Schneider 60-140 AF zoom.

 

I would be interested to hear from anybody who has had some hands-on

experience of this zoom, especially its quality when compared to its

prime counterparts. In view of my selection, I can either go with

the zoom or a combination of the 80 standard plus the 180 tele. But

since I will be doing mainly product shots with this and some

landscape work ocassionally, I believe the versatility offered by the

zoom is a big advantage compared to the combo. Of course, that would

not be the case if I would have to sacrifice substantially on the

quality of the images. I would appreciate if anyone can offer some

advice on this lens' performance.

 

Thanks and regards,

Ken

Thank you for everybody's comments. I think I will very likely buy the Rollei 6008AF along with the 60-140 zoom to start off with.

 

Somebody mentioned about 4x5 for better quality images, and I do agree absolutely. In fact, along my studio setup I will be acquiring a Toyo 4x5 view camera to complement my MF. The type of studio work which I will be doing is mainly product shots. Therefore I would prefer to get the Schneider zoom which is not only more versatile, but with apertures as small as f/64. I need this for maximum depth of field. Moreover, I think when I need to travel with my MF, the zoom has a wider range and would fit my all-around purpose.

 

I thought about Mamiya which is at a fraction of the cost of either the Rollei or the Hassey. However, if I were only to invest into one MF system, I might as well get the best, and based on my limited knowledge, images produced from Mamiya is quite different from Zeiss.

 

Regards,

Ken

Hi, I am new to medium format and am considering either a Rollei

6008AF or a Hasselblad 203FE body. I have been both a Contax and

Leica 135mm format user for years and have been addicted to good

quality images. Both Rollei and Hasselblad have renowned brand

recognition and I am trying to decide on which system I would want to

be married with.

 

While I will be doing mainly studio work with this MF camera

occasionally I will also be lugging this out onto the field for

landscape work. Reliable metering is essential whereas AF is only

secondary since over 90% of my work will be done on a tripod with

lots of preparation and thinking beforehand.

 

I have read the brochures of both and am now leaning toward the

6008AF not only because it is more technologically advanced, but the

price is also more reasonable given its functions. What are your

general opinions on the two systems and which would you recommend for

a newby in MF? Keep in mind that I have nothing at the moment and

will invest substantially over time. This will be my only MF system

and I don't intend to change anytime soon. My highest priority is

image quality and have been very satisfied with Zeiss in the past.

 

I am also wondering how Schneider lenses are compared to Zeiss ones

and since the AF dedicated 6008 lenses are all Schneider designed

lenses, would that affect the picture quality that I will be

getting? More specifically, I am considering 60-140 zoom and does

anyone know the performance of it compared to primes? I know that it

will be somewhat inferior, but is it still acceptable with a high

standard? Does anyone know whether they will also be introducing

some AF wide-angle primes anytime soon?

 

I really appreciate all your feedbacks and understand that there are

a lot of questions I am asking here. Thanks again and I look forward

to hearing from some of you.

 

Regards,

Ken

Thank you everybody for your valuable feedbacks. I understand the benefits of a view camera and was prepared to invest into it, but was only attracted by the FlexBody's description on Hasselblad's website. With all your comments, without a doubt it will be a view camera that we will be acquiring for the product shots.

 

I realize there will be a lot of hurdles to overcome with the steep learning curve at the beginning, but I will remain patient and learn through assisting other photographers in the meantime. Note that our office will move at the end of the year, and our studio will only be setup then. It's not a lot of time, but with the right mentors, hopefully I can learn quite a bit in the next three months. Thanks again and I really appreciate all your inputs.

 

Regards,

Ken