hyunyu

<p>I've found that it does horrible corrections to my scanned film images--Auto Tone will usually WAAAAAY overexpose the image with the histogram bunched up to the far right with highlights blown like crazy--but does great job with images from my DSLRs. </p>

<p>They also apparently get sent to Dwayne's, in Kansas:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157626096048475">http://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157626096048475</a></p>

<p>Well, I got my test roll back and I must say the pictures put my mind to rest. There were no shakes or blur and the shots came out very nice. Here are a couple of my favorites from the test roll (Kodak Ultra Max 400):</p>

<p>World War II Memorial at Santa Barbara Municipal Airport:</p>

<p><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7240/7033931493_e3e126a280_z.jpg" alt="" width="438" height="640" /></p>

<p>My kids:<br>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/7032445639_e8b3aa5d10_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="434" /></p>

<p>Thank you to both Stephen and Maciek for the confirmation of how the shutter button is supposed to work! Great (not so) little camera.</p>

<p>Thank you both for the replies. I took it out again yesterday and finished the test roll. The shutter button's behavior is not consistent--sometimes it requires a lot of pressure, sometimes not so much. I'll see how the roll comes back. Given the pittance I paid for it, it'll cost me more to ship it back than the refund I'll get, so I'll keep it in any case. </p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

I recently took delivery of the Sure Shot Mega Zoom 105, bought on eBay. Everything looks good, except that the shutter button requires

an inordinate amount of force to take a picture. The half-pressing is about what I'd expect to be "normal," but the actual actuation take a

LOT more effort, to the point that I initially thought it was broken. I've got a test roll in it and I'm afraid more shots than not will be blurry

due to the camera shake induced with the effort to take a picture.

 

Is this normal?

 

Thanks for any help.

No experience myself, but you are likely to get more help

on Adobe's own support fora.

<p>+1 for FastStone Image Viewer. I've been using it for the past five years, and have been so happy with it that I've made donations twice, even though it's a freeware.<br>

<br /> Lately I've noticed that's rather slow reading the ORF files from my Olympus E-PM1. But no issues with CR2 or NEF files.<br>

<br /> It's a very capable, full-featured, program. And free! With it I batch convert, batch rename, create contact sheets, batch resize, screen capture, "draw" on the images (text overlays and arrows and such), etc. It's also a great thumbnail manager that stores cached thumbnails in its database, so that you don't re-generate thumbnails every time you go to an image folder.</p>

<p>Yes, but the editing tools available are rather limited. There's list of RAW files Picasa recognizes here:<br /><br /><a href="http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=15625">http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=15625</a></p>

 

<p>Just comment on the Plustek 7600i, I've had mine for two weeks and am very happy with it. Prior to purchasing mine, this forum thread from the Leica camera forum helped me a lot:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/153571-plustek-7600i-se-very-good-money.html">http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/153571-plustek-7600i-se-very-good-money.html</a></p>

<p>There are lots of inline sample pictures, but you'll need to register on the site if you want to be able to see them all. Good luck!</p>

<p>As Jeff said, digital data--the zeros and ones--don't degrade over time. The media they're stored on are, mostly, mechanical devices and thus subject to wear and tear, which is why you should have redundant backup system in place. I use three backup sets--a network area storage at home online, which is the main backup. Then a USB drive, which is not online but backed up to on a regular interval (once a week or so, depending on how much shooting I do). Then an identical USB drive that's stored at my work, which is rotated with the home USB drive on a monthly basis. I feel having a regularly rotated set of backups offsite (i.e., not at home) is crucial.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I've done a few tests, and it's pretty darned sweet. I've used three scanners previously to scan film--a Minolta Scan Dual III (nice scanner, no Digital ICE), CanoScan 8400F (flatbed scanner, very lacking when it comes to 35mm film scanning), and Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED (it was a loaner, and was very nice while the loan lasted). The 7600i looks to be a keeper--I'm seeing great results straight from the scanner, with only minor tweaks needed afterwards. I tried SilverFast 6.6 before upgrading to 8, and the new version's interface is soooo much nicer. I like that it's got six or seven different "sharpen" settings (including USM with the three value sliders), not just a generic "sharpen" function. </p>

<p>My biggest reservation prior to buying the scanner was that it did not have motorized feeder mechanism--you have to push the film strip holder by hand. In practice, it's not turning out to be that big of a deal. Certainly it removes the issues associated with the automatic feeder malfunctioning (which happened frequently with the Scan Dual III and occasionally with the Coolscan 4000 ED).</p>

<p>I'll post some samples later tonight. If you have any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer.</p>

<p>Hyun.</p>

<p>P.S. Plustek just announced 8200i SE and 8200i Ai--according to their US rep, the hardware is the same as the 7600i SE/Ai, it just comes bundled with the newer version of SilverFast. I've read elsewhere that the newer ones have a sightly higher dynamic range, but nothing definite. Still, I felt that for $300 the 7600i SE was an exceptional value.</p>

<p>I bought a Plustek 7600i SE last Monday from B&H, and took delivery today. <br /><br />It came with SilverFast 6.6 SE, and upon registering it on the LaserSoft website, I was given a free upgrade to SilverFast 8, with a new serial number. Here's the upgrade blurb, following registration:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.silverfast.com/reg/en.html" rel="nofollow">www.silverfast.com/reg/en.html</a><br /><br />"Dear customer,<br /><br />Thank you for registering your copy of SilverFast!<br /><br />Your serial number was automatically upgraded from a SilverFast 6.6 to a new SilverFast 8 serial number due to an agreement with the hardware manufacturer.<br />Please replace your old serial number with the new one provided below. You may download the Installer of your latest and greatest upgrade of SilverFast 8 here. Please make sure to run the installation before using your new serial."<br /><br />I don't know how recent the purchase has to be be, in order to qualify for the free upgrade, but thought others might find this useful. For all I know, this might apply equally to the 7600i Ai scanners as well.<br /><br />Hyun. </p>

<p>Thanks Wolf, I just got done reading the thread. Looks like the main focus of the thread was the as-yet-unannounced multi-format scanner, but I did glean this bit from the Plustek US rep's comments:</p>

<p>"So here is the scoop on the OpticFilm 8XXX scanners. The hardware as the 7XXX series. The only difference is they come with SilverFast 8." <br>

<br /><br>

That's good to know, as I just bought a 7600i SE intending to use it with VueScan! :)<br>

<br /><br>

For anyone interested, there's an excellent discussion thread at the Leica camera users' forum regarding the 7600i. You really should register in order to see all the inline photos and samples.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/153571-plustek-7600i-se-very-good-money.html">http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/153571-plustek-7600i-se-very-good-money.html</a></p>

<p>I see on the Plustek Germany site that they have released OptiFilm 8100 (no infrared), and 8200i SE/8200i AI. Just looking at the specs, I can't tell what's changed all that much except increased Dynamic Range (from 3.5 to 3.6), and inclusion of Silverfast SE Plus 8. These new products may explain why B&H is selling the 7600i SE for $300... :)</p>

<p>http://plustek.com/de/products/opticfilm-series/</p>

<p>(if you use Google Chrome browser, the browser can automatically translate the website into English)</p>

<p>P.S. Great Holga pictures, Steve. Were those with the plastic lens, or does your Holga have a glass lens? I understand those are available as well.</p>

<p>Steve, Richard, and Jim, thank you very much for the replies. I actually shot 16, so the images are overlapped. I think I am going to turn it in for developing--a local lab can develop it for under $6--and then scan at home using my Canon flatbed scanner. I will end up ruining some images because I'll need to cut them to scan, but that's OK, there's really nothing on the roll that I need. Just for kicks, to see what it turns out. <br>

Thanks again, guys.</p>

<p>I just had a thought: Would all the pictures be slightly overlapping with the frames next to them? If that's the case, I could say I did that on purpose for artistic fun. :)</p>

<p>Can 120 rolls be developed and not cut? Sorry, I really don't know anything about medium format.</p>

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I'm very, very new to the world of MF, and mainly just for the fun of it, I started out with a Holga 120N. Yes I know it's a toy camera, and yes I know it's not a good representation of what the MF world is about, but I thought it'd be a fun, funky camera to have a go at.</p>

<p>Well, being so new to it, here's what I did. I left the 6x6 mask inside the camera that sets the 120 roll to 12 exposures, but on the counter window, I left the arrow pointing to "16". So I merrily took 16 exposures around town, with the film mask inside set for 12 exposures. I've finished the roll, and took it out according to the instructions, but I'm now wondering what the result of this mismatched shutter action would be. When I drop the roll off for developing, do I tell them that it's in 6x4.5 format, or 6x6 format? It would seem the latter, but I did take 16 pictures! The counter on the film advanced all the way to sixteen...</p>

<p>Please help me wrap my head around this. Thank you.</p>

<p>Hyun.</p>

<p>Guys, thank you all for the great replies. You guys are getting me excited about the camera! It's scheduled to arrive from KEH on Friday. Just in time for the long weekend--I plan on putting it (and the 50mm f/1.4 lens) to a good use. </p>

<p>I've been shooting Canon EOS and Nikon DSLRs for the past eight years, but never got rid of my Elan II and 7N, nor the Olympus Stylus Epic, which used to be my go-everywhere camera. Lately I've really been bitten by the film bug and been enjoying the heck out of it. Digital AND film--the best of both worlds.</p>

<p>Thanks again, guys. I'll report back later after I get my T70.</p>

<p>Haha, yeah it doesn't "help" that so much good FD glass is available for so cheap! </p>

 

<p>Hi again all,<br>

I really appreciate all the replies! I just went ahead and ordered the $17 copy of the T70. KEH will provide 6 months' warranty, so that's good (sorry to hear about your situation, Ashley--that stinks). </p>

<p>I'm looking forward to using it with the 50mm f/1.4 lens! I read Ken Rockwell's (!) review and he raved about the viewfinder--looking forward to experiencing that, too. </p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

 

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I've been buying some FD lenses to use on my m4/3 camera: 50mm f/1.4 BL, 28mm f/2.8, and 100-300 f/5.6. Now it occurs to me how fun it would be mate that 50mm on a FD body and take some pictures around the town, kids, etc. So, in browsing KEH.com for a basic SLR, I see they have some T70 bodies for pretty cheap. Before plunking down $17 for the body, I was wondering if there are any known issues about this camera? Are the batteries for it readily available still? Was it considered a "good" camera?</p>

<p>Thank you for any help. I appreciate it.</p>

<p>Hyun.</p>

<p>Wow, Olympus and Nikon take <em>years</em> off the subject! Don't know what's wrong with the Canons.<br>

:)</p>

<p>Do you defragment your drives on a regular basis? As you use your computer over time, files don't get saved in one contiguous stretch, which makes the hard drive head hunt all over the drive looking for all the parts for that file. It can significantly slow down your drive operations, which is usually the bottleneck for computer operations.</p>

<p>You can defrag by right-clicking on a drive, choosing Properties, then Tools, and then Defrag. Alternatively you can download programs like the Auslogic Disk Defrag and use that (it's a freeware):</p>

<p>http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>I ordered mine from Amazon at the beginning of May. Just got an e-mail yesterday from them saying that it'll ship on Tuesday. Course, they might run out of shipment just fulfilling preorders like mine.</p>