c_p_goerz

My 2 cents also for the Majestic, the gear head is excellent and you'll use it more than you think. Davis and Sanfords are also handy though I would give the edge to the Majestic for a smoother(though a lot heavier) head. Another one to look out for is/are the old wooden movie tripods. I have a big French one that can even take my weight which shows how strong it is!

CP Goerz

When you are off axis from a fresnel the darkening of the corners can/often occur, try looking at the overall composition about twice the distance from the groundglass than you normally would. That ought to help.

CP Goerz

NO! Unless you are willing to develop the film/print the way you want it to look you will never be happy with the results. This will be only more true as time goes on and you are more comfortable with the equipment etc. LF is ALL about what shows up on the final print NOT what size of neg you use. Whether it be 35mm or 16x20, having someone else make your prints is a waste of both your time as you'll never really get what your minds eye sees. Save time and money now and when both come together to allow you to make your own prints then that is when you will really see what B+W is all about.

CP Goerz.

.

There is also a section in 'Edge of Darkness' by Barry Thornton devoted to the Mortensen look and how to achieve it.

CP Goerz

I would put a red dot or LD up against any lens whether modern or old. Just my 2 cents worth. The compromise is the slower starting aperture but you gain in compactability and weight.

I agree about the Planar, totally useless lens that was a waste of glass even in its own day. Thankfully Zeiss realized they were bad at making LF lenses and got out the business of making them. The Planar is great if you love 'bokeh' which I believe is Japanese for bu!!$hit ;-)

CP Goerz

Hey L,

I haven't seen any difference in coverage between goldens and regular Dagors, you will see a difference between the even older Berlin Dagors and the series III and gold versions though. Even contrast is a close match with an edge given to the gold versions but thats because they had later coating while many older Dagors have none at all. There are only four surfaces for light to splash around in so even an older Dagor will perform well.

When you see those prices up there and translate them back through inflation those guys back then were paying a fortune for their glass!

CP Goerz

Before I forget since I am uploading spec sheets here is the one for

Dagors, again I'll leave it up for a few months for you to copy. It

came from a 1914 catalogue and ranges all the way up to the

legendary(but never actually seen...yet) 35" Dagor.<P>

<img

src=http://home.earthlink.net/~aglover1593/dagor-coverage.jpg><p>

Has anyone actually heard of the 35" Dagor out there? I once heard

that a 100" version was made for one the worlds Fairs but it was a

vague rumour at the most.<P>

CP Goerz

I was asked a while ago about the specs on these lens designs...Here

is a link for the Fax Ortho...

http://home.earthlink.net/~aglover1591/fax-ortho.jpg

And for the 'plain' Fax Nikkor....

http://home.earthlink.net/~aglover1591/fax-nikkor.jpg

I'll keep them up for a couple of months so please make a copy if you

need.

CP Goerz

The Artars are sharp at infinity, its a matter of finding a lens you can afford as above 24" they do tend to get expensive for the most part. Have you considered using a slightly finer grain of film(since you are shooting the brightest thing we have to look at) and just cropping in?

CP Goerz.

Possibly look into a Rollei too, since most shots are of people at about ten feet a Rollei would be perfect and faster/cheaper to use. 6x6 negs can be enlarged quite a bit though I assume you mean inches not centimeters so some experimentation may be needed with the emulsion.

Don't worry too much about the negative/shocked posters as they are probably the type who think a naked woman is more dangerous to society than say a 1000lb bomb that has gone a little bit off target.

CP Goerz

Sharpness and contrast is on par with a red dot artar but it had a slight edge in resolution.

CP Goerz

The 100 will have a bit more grain than the 25 speed emulsion and have a bit more of an 'edge' to the grain giving an apparent visual sharpness greater than the lower speed film. The very excellent book by the recently deceased Barry Thornton called 'Edge of Darkness' goes into this quite a bit and is a must read.

I have shot the 25 speed in 5x7 but only made contacts, I love the internal contrast that isn't there in such great amounts in the higher speed films(400+ ISO). It is a bit touchy to develop as even thirty seconds of development either side of 'normal'can make a difference. You never have to worry about getting flat shadows thats for sure. Perhaps a lower dilution of your normal developer may allow more control that would ease any fears of over/under timing development but since you are familiar with the emulsion already there is no need to explain that, sorry!

Second vote on rarely if ever using high shutter speeds. I think the fastest speed I have ever used is 1/15th and that was ultrafast as far as I was concerned.

Since you know the shutter speed is a little off you can always 'touch-down' the aperture a little to make up for its deficiency.

CP Goerz

Here is a handy table you may find useful...

<img src=http://home.earthlink.net/~dagor77/fstopscale.jpg>

Another vote for the Agfa T1200, it scans up to 8x10 negs/plates and does and incredible job of it. The standard scan bed is one of the smoothest and evenly illuminated ones to boot.

They can be bought on Ebay for around $300 last time I looked. I have a G3 and G5 Mac and run it on the classic mode. I never did get around to the OSX switchover for it but can't imagine that its a problem.

CP Goerz

One way to screw with these types of guys is to bid the thing up to half a million bucks then don't pay or string him along forever. It does sound suspicious for a high end item to be sold by a 1 feedback seller so buyer beware is really the main point here.

CP Goerz

I was asked if I knew the focal lengths of Apo El Nikkors but lost the

E mail address of the questioner.

They are as follows...

105mm for 2/1/4" Sq to 4x5 at 5-20X

210mm for 4x5 to 5x7" use at 2-10x

300mm for 2 1/2 X 3 1/2" to 5x7 at 5-20x

and finally 485mm for 5x7 to 10x12 at 3-10x.

Hope that helps!

CP Goerz

A 200mm F18 won't do it, the 300mm one will though. Possibly a 16 1/2" Dagor might work but certainly a 19 will.

cp goerz

The lens has been overly tightened, try loosening it a little and it should work again.

CP Goerz

Used polarized light to avoid 'sparkle' from the brushstrokes etc. Its the only way to go, I had that job for about ten years and its the only thing guaranteed to work in all but the worst case scenarios. A ripped and badly repaired canvas will always be tricky to shoot but slight 'out of true'adjustment of polarizer alignment can save the day.

CP Goerz

If its just a hair off why not use some teflon tape from the hardware store to make it fit? That may work..and be cheaper than finding the exact shutter.

CP Goerz

To add even further weight to the pile of considerations....

I tended to find that the lighweight cameras wiggled a little in the breeze and felt a bit more comfortable with a slightly sturdier/heavier camera. A few of my faves are the Deardorff Special, Zone 6(early versions-not the last ten years), and of course the Gandolfi/Sanderson option. Sandersons are very nicely thought out but the smaller cameras(half plate) can be adapted to a rollfilm back as the chassis may be too small for a full 4x5 frame. Sandersons can often be had for $300-450 depending on condition, don't get the Tropicals as you end up bidding against serious collectors but the hand and stand models are just as good but without the 'collector' sticker.

CP Goerz

Use larger screws than the ones you replaced them with and get a Brubaker wind stabilizer kit.

CP Goerz

Its a nice little triplet that later had its name changed to something else I can't for the life of me remember right now, it'll cover 8x10 stopped down.

cp goerz.

Its made with lanthanum glass and gives beautiful colour and is very sharp, you'll love that lens!

cp goerz