lightcraftsman

Dan, I grew up in Central Texas, so I can give you some tips on that part of your trip. When you get to San Antonio take I-410 west to Hwy 90, and then take 90 all the way to Alpine. It's a whole bunch shorter than taking I-10 across the Edwards Plateau. Not much in the way of scenery on either route, but you'll save a couple of hours taking the southern route.

 

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There are many good roads in the Texas Hill Country, but not much to photograph this time of year unless you have time for a side trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area. This is a canyon about 75 miles out of San Antonio, and you might get lucky and get some excellent fall colors this time of year. If you want to go there, take I-410 west in San Antonio to Hwy 16, then go north on 16 through Bandera to Medina. From Medina, take FM 337 west to Utopia, then go north to Lost Maples. I can't remember the highway number, but it is marked, and it is also the only highway heading north. You'll see the Lost Maples General Store where 337 turns west again, and can always stop for directions. Tell Norbert I said hello and my wife bought a Volvo 850

 

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From Lost Maples, you can take Hwy 337 west again, through Leakey and on to Rocksprings. Check a Texas map. I don't have one with me, but there is a gorgeous drive from Rocksprings to Del Rio. It's the only highway in that part of the state. Just watch out for a sharp curve about 20 to 30 miles out of Del Rio. People get lulled into the scenery on the straight stretch of road. You'll see all the skid marks leading into the corner. Just outside of Del Rio you'll pick up Hwy 90 to Alpine.

 

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After you leave Big Bend, go north to Fort Davis, and stop at the MacDonald Observatory. They have an excellent visitor center, and set up telescopes two to three nights per week for public viewing. The last time I was there they had five telescopes, ranging from 3.5 inches to 30 inches. The highway from the observatory to Fort Davis is one of the most beautiful in Texas. This is a must-see every time I am back in Texas.

 

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If you enjoy rigorous hiking, you can spend a day or a few in Guadalupe Mountains National Park after leaving Fort Davis. It is on the way to Carlsbad Caverns. If you try to get into the backcountry you had better be in excellent shape. You can stay in the lower country and get some good fall foliage shots in McKittrick Canyon. Ask at the visitor center. The rangers are very helpful.

 

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Good shooting, and post one of your best on the photo.net nature forum for us.

This is coming late, but anyone reading this and looking for wildflower photos in the spring, Willow City Loop outside Fredericksburg is a must-see. The rock formations are spectacular, and the valleys have some the state's best Bluebonnets. If you need directions, stop anywhere in Fredericksburg and ask. F'berg is a tourist town, and the locals are very helpful. The loop is also marked on maps.

 

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There are also some excellent spots north of Kerrville on Hwy. 39 along the Guadalupe River. Take any of the low-water crossings between Ingram and Hunt in the morning. The Ingram Dam is a nice spot for sunset photos. Farther up Hwy 39 past Hunt, you'll find a variety of river scenes to shoot.

 

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If you want to stay closer to San Antonio, take Hwy 16 north to Bandera, then either continue on 16 to Medina, or go west from Bandera on any highway. Hwy 16 follows the Medina River, while the western routes take you into some spectacular areas of the Texas Hill Country. Wildflowers are not abundant in that area, but you can almost always count on thunderstorms in late spring and early summer.

 

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Check a map before you go. Most of the highways heading west dead end after 10 or 12 miles, while the main highways can make for nice loop trips. Keep an eye on those storms, too, as the low crossings are subject to flash floods and can strand you for hours or days.

 

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If you have more time, take FM 337 west from Medina to Leakey. You'll find little traffic and gorgeous roads. From Leakey, you can head north on FM 336 as far as you want, and you'll find some interesting scenery along the headwaters of the Frio River.

For those who are interested, a customer sent me this URL:

 

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http://home.earthlink.net/~bitek/index.html

 

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This company specializes in digital imaging, and offer equipment from several manufacturers. For MF film printing they have the following options (as of this date):

 

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Mirus Galleria Pro Film Recorder: $11,995

5,000 lines resolution, 6-bit color depth, 120/220 camera optional

 

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Agfa Alto Film Recorder: $29,995

2/4/8/16k line resolution, 35mm, 120/220, 4x5 and 8x10 formats

 

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Agfa PCR Plus Film Recorder: $9,900

4,000 line resolution, 35mm and 120/220 formats

 

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As with any computer equipment, expect the price/performance ratio to improve dramatically with time.

Rick has raised some excellent points here. If you are simply looking to get your MF images into your computer and use them on web pages or print to an inkjet or dye sub printer, any of the scanners he mentioned will yield good results. The costly part comes if you want to get those images back out of the computer onto MF film. Dan Culbertson asked about this in a different thread.

 

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The bottom line is, you can get good MF images into your computer for a reasonable price. Thanks for the info Rick.

If your transparencies are too light, you are overexposing the slides. I shot Ilford HP-5 for many years, and overexposing a bit was a good practice with that film. Slides are just the opposite of negatives (no pun intended). Hence, underexposing a slide is equivalent to overexposing a negative.

 

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Keep in mind Fujichrome and other slide films are much more sensitive to correct exposure than most B&W films, especially HP-5. Which is why landscape photographers use graduated neutral density filters and spot meters.

 

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The short answer is you are giving your slides too much light. The best way to determine correct exposure with slides is to bracket your exposures and take copious notes on film used, lens used, f-stop, shutter speed, time of day, filter(s) etc. Get out, shoot and have fun.

Nick,

 

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I have had some B&W images that looked terrible on screen, but printed quite well. However, I don't think your printer has the RAM or the grayscale capability to print a high-resolution image. Printing smooth grays requires a Postscript laser printer with either PhotoGrade (Apple) or Resolution Enhancement Technology (Hewlett-Packard) or something similar in the ROM. Laser printers capable of printing good gray scales start between $1,500 to $2,000. I have amazed myself at some of the images I have printed out of my Apple LaserWriter Pro 630 with 32 mb RAM. The LaserWriter 16/600 is even better. HP has some higher end printers that are just as good.

 

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Don't worry about banding on your monitor. Monitors display information at 72 dpi, and desktop publishing software often uses a lower quality screen image to save RAM and time. What you need is a good printer.

 

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The new ink jet printers are remarkable. Epson makes the best ones under $1,000 for photo quality work, but they can be slow and fussy. Still, compared with traditional darkroom work they are fast and clean. The drawback to ink jet printers is the lack of archival stability and the cost of photo quality paper. Proof your work on the cheap stuff, as the photo quality paper runs $1 to $3 per sheet.

 

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When using ink jet printers your computer is is much more important than when using Postcript laser printers. This is because your computer has to process the image for ink jet printers, whereas Postscript laser printers receive raw data from the computer and process the image internally (hence the 32 mb RAM in my LaserWriter).

Nick,

 

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Let me give this a shot.

 

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Gray levels equals (output resolution divided by screen frequency) squared plus one. Adobe, however, limits black and white postscript output to 256 levels of gray. This simplifies things a bit. Use the Rule of Sixteen to determine your scanning resolution.

 

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Maximum screen frequncy equals output resolution divided by sixteen

 

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or

 

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Required output resolution equals screen frequency times sixteen.

 

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I got this information from the book "Real World Scanning and Halftones" by David Blattner and Steve Roth, published by PeachPit Press. Their telephone number is 1-800-283-9444. Address is 2414 Sixth St., Berkeley, CA 94710.

 

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Checked your printer's documentation for maximum screen frequency, and good luck. If you are getting flat results from your laser printer, you may be able to add RAM and increase the output resolution.

Lee,

 

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I'm facing the same dilemma with my MF images. Kodak charges $5 U.S. for Pro Photo CD scans. The Nikon multi-format scanner has lower resolution than the 35mm scanners. The second problem would be getting a print made once the computer manipulation is finished. MF film printers are even more expensive than MF scanners, with worse resolution problems.

 

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Flatbed scanners with transparency adapters are good only for previewing images. The image degradation on these units makes them unusable for my purposes. Phl G. even states on his web page that he switched to 35mm for these reasons. Our only hope is that the prices will continue to drop as the technology advances and the quality rises.

 

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I am researching all these options for a local photo lab, as I am in the process of setting up a custom photo service there, and will be working part-time doing custom printing and PhotoShop work. I have not found an affordable system that meets my standards. Drum scanners are too expensive for our budget, but nothing else has the resolution necessary for professional-quality work.

 

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I am afraid you are correct. There is no good-quality, inexpensive way to get 6x7 slides scanned into a computer. If someone out there knows of a way, please tell us.

Dan,

 

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Check out Agfa's info at http://www.agfahome.com/products/dtp/film-recorders/pcrii.html. This printer handles 35mm and 120mm films. However, the maximum resolution is 4,096 x 2,732 pixels for 35mm, and 4,096 x 3,072 pixels for 120mm. I doubt if you will get anything that "makes the pixels disappear" at these resolutions.

 

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The 35mm film printers I have checked into start around $7,500. I can't guess what this medium format version would cost, but I'd rather spend my money on an APO Rodagon and a Rollei 6008i, and print in a darkroom.

 

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Digital imaging is the wave of the future, as all the equipment manufacturers keep telling us. However, the future is still too expensive for most of us. Unless Bill Gates adopts you, you can't afford this solution yet. You'll need to spend at least $6k on a Power Mac and another $3k on a pro-quality monitor to even begin thinking about using a 120mm film printer. If you can afford this solution, let's talk about you hiring me as your PhotoShop guru.

Insufficient data. :-)

 

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Seriously. What type of film were you shooting? �What time of day? What lens?

 

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Shooting Fujichrome Velvia three hours after sunrise is a lost cause. OK, any film three hours after sunrise is a lost cause for scenics, but Velvia has notoriously poor shadow detail.

 

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Having started in photography with a Canon AE-1 Program, I can tell you from experience its light meter is not very good. You'd be better off getting a hand-held meter. If you can't do that, use the old trick of metering on the palm of your hand and opening one stop. Of course, you'll have to stand in the scene to do that, then go back and set up for the shot.

 

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Using a graduated filter works only on scenes where there is a sharp line separating the light and dark areas. If you are shooting in trees or where the light is dappled, well... don't.

 

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You also commented on depth of color. If you are shooting slides, you are overexposing. If you are shooting negatives, you are underexposing. My AE-1 program tended to underexpose in the middle of the day, so I suspect you are sleeping late and shooting negatives.

 

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Tips:

1) Get out of bed at least one hour before sunrise and get to the scenic spot you found yesterday afternoon.

2) Shoot slide film (Sensia, Elite 100 or RSX 100) and take detailed notes on location, shutter speed, aperature etc.

3) Bracket your exposures.

4) When you get home, compare your slides with your notes.

5) Go out and take more pictures.

6) Have fun.

From the other responses it sounds like I am lucky in that my wife and son enjoy camping, backpacking and photography as much as I do. For my real vacation this year, my son and I decided to spend two weeks photographing Bristlecone Pines in California and Nevada. (My wife had to work, so the son and I went by our ownselves.) Great trip, and some good images too. We also get out to the Sierra Nevadas as often as possible, and plan to spend as many weekends in Yosemite NP as we can this winter. Next year, my wife and I plan to ship the son to her parents and take ourselves backpacking in Hawaii.

A quick search of Kodak's web site yielded no hits on this information. I suspect anyone who knows the answers to these questions would be under a non-disclosure agreement. Short of finding a chemist to who is willing to perform a chmeical analysis of the film, I doubt if you will get your answers. Even if you could find a willing chemist, you would have answers to the first two questions only. Have you tried sending Kodak an email? I sincerely doubt they would divulge this, as someone at Fuji and Agfa may be interested in this information also. :-)

Now is the time to show the power of the internet. I urge every MFD reader to send an email to Rollei Fototechnic at "info@rollei.de" requesting they resolve Dr. Chow's issue. Having worked in Apple Computer's Customer Services Division for almost four years, I can assure you that any company worth supporting will take care of issues such as this. If enough of us email Rollei in Dr. Chow's behalf they will have to do something. Don't flame them, just politely inform them that you will track this thread to see how Rollei responds to Dr. Chow. If, like me, you are in the market for a medium format camera system and considering the Rollei, make sure to mention so in your email.

Olevia,

 

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Before deciding on a school, you need to decide on what you will do to make a living while you are taking your nature photos. Very, very few photographers make a decent living shooting nature photos. You could go to one of the specialty schools such as the Art Institue of San Francisco, but this will give you one job skill only and severely limit your marketability when you graduate.

 

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A better choice would be to enroll in a college that has a good journalism program, major in photojournalism and pick an interesting minor. This opens the choice to major universities, or a community college for two years then transferring to a university. The advantage to a commmunity college is you will get more practical experience in your firs two years than most students get in four years at a university. The disadvantage is there are only a few excellent community colleges with top-notch journalism programs.

 

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The Chicago Tribune gives annual awards to the best college newspapers, called Pacemakers. San Antonio (Texas) College consistently places high and wins these awards regularly. Other regular winners include The University of Texas at Austin, University of Missouri Columbia and, well, that's about it. However, I know several photographers who attended small, little known schools but still produce excellent images.

 

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Also, take a look at the images on photo.net and some of the photograhers pages linked from here. Man of these shooters studied computer science and other unrelated topics in college, yet are excellent photographers. You don't need to major in photography to take great images. Pick the best college you can attend, take some art appreciation and photograpy along the way, and get out in the country with your equipment as often as possible. You will need a little technical training in photography to get started, but the only way to develop your own style is to shoot a lot of film, take copiuous notes and be there when the light is best.

 

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The competition is fierce in nature photography. Having a career (or a spouse) to pay the bills seems the best ticket. Don't get discouraged. Go for it.

Send an email to info@rollei.de. I found this on their German languange web page, but they should have someone who speaks English available to assist you. I worked in Apple Computer's customer services division for almost four years, and can tell you to not give up on this. Keep after Rollei and they will take care of you. Save the MFD as a trump card to relate your experiences, good or bad, with Rollei's customer service. If your product failed in warranty, Rollei should take care of it, regardless of where it was purchased. BTW, the serial numbers should be intact and you should have your original purchase receipt available. Good luck.

Dan and Bill,

 

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I just returned from a two-week trip shooting bristlecone pines in California and Nevada. The only thing that kept me from shooting when I wanted was bad weather. It rained in the White Mountains of California from July 15 through 17, but I managed to get some excellent shots between showers. About 6 p.m. on the 14th I drove back to the Patriarch Grove in the Bristlecone National Forest. A shower had just passed, and the sun was casting a soft, golden glow through the thin western clouds. I parked my truck and hiked about one-quarter mile to a tree I wanted to shoot. Just as I was ready to set up, I saw a flash of light behind the mountain and immediately heard thunder. I didn't care how good the light was, I wasn't about to muck around with lightning at 11,000 feet. I hurried as much as I could at that altitude and got my self out of there. BTW, my son and I saw sleet and snow on the way back to the Grandview Campground.

Dan,

 

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Yes, I am getting better pictures with my newer gear. The advances in electronics the past few years have allowed camera manufacturers to design light meters for sub $500 cameras that are far more accurate than the meters in top-of-the-line professional cameras of the 1980s. This alone makes the new gee-whiz do-everything cameras worthwhile. However, your point on complexity is well taken. I use a Canon EOS Elan II for my 35mm work. Because I am shooting landscapes, I don't use autofocus. I set the camera on a tripod, hit the timer, let the camera lock up the mirror and bracket my exposures, and then go merrily to the next subject.

 

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However, my newest acquisition is a Yashica Mat 124G. This has relegated the Canon to the role of a cumbersome light meter. As soon as I get a hand-held meter the Canon goes to my wife and I will be back in the dark ages, getting better enlargements than possible from 35mm film. I guess this means I answer your last questions "yes." I don't need all the bells and whistles the new cameras have.

 

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Mirror up and auto bracketing are nice, but I can do that manually. Autofocus is useless for landscapes, but essential for moving subjects. (Hey, my refelexes were never great and my eyesight isn't what it used to be.) One of my coworkers recently took a trip to Alaska with his A2E, and came back with some incredibly sharp photos of bald eagles in flight. No way he could have done that with his T90. So he would answer your last questions "no."

 

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Guess it comes down to what you need. That Toyo 4x5 would be excellent for my uses.

Laurent,

 

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I am currently using a Yashica Mat 124G for landscape photography.

My polarizing filter has a dot painted on the outer ring. I simply

look (and meter) through the filter, mentally note the location of

the dot, and make sure I hold the filter in the same orientation when

taking the picture. Seems to work quite well, as I have had no

unexpected results on my slides.

 

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Darron

Mike,

 

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Doesn't everyone else out there have a 20-inch monitor? :-)

 

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Actually, I have found that Netscape Navigator does a good job of soft-wrapping text. What kind of computer are you using?

 

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Darron

Mark,

 

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Any lab worth using will reprint these photos for no charge. If they won't, find someone who will work with you and not force you to pay for unacceptable prints. If you gave the printer clear, concise instructions (and it sounds like you did), there is no reason for you to pay for these prints. The pink cast alone is enough reason to _politely_ demand a reprint. You may want to look for a lab that uses one-shot chemistry, which is expensive but the only way to get truly consistent results. Most labs churn out one print after another through an automated processor which replensihes the chemistry automatically. In theory this should work. In practice it makes it very difficult to achieve consistency. I know this from experience at as a photographer and as a customer printer. The best printers are also good photographers.

Does anyone out there have experience using graduated filters with rangefinder cameras? I do a lot of backpacking in wilderness areas, and would love to get a Mamiya 7 to carry, for obvious reasons. However, when shooting landscapes in the High Sierras, I find my Singh Ray ND grads indispensible. Any tips on using graduated filers with this camera? If I have to carry the weight and bulk of an SLR, I'll probably get a 4x5 field camera and a 6x7 back for chromes.

I just noticed the web addresses didn't come through in my reply above. Lesson: don't use angle brackets inside responses.

 

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Web sites for Yosemite information:

http://www.halfdome.com

http://www.nps.gov/yose/yo_visit.htm

 

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My email address is below.

 

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Darron

Any time is a good time to visit Yosemite. The waterfalls may not be in action, but there are plenty of other scenic attractions. Check out <http://www.halfdome.com/> and <http://www.nps.gov/yose/yo_visit.htm> for some enticing information.

 

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The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley conducts photo walks on Sunday and Wednesdays, so finding a local photo tour group is as easy as showing up at 9 a.m.

 

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Staying in the park hotels is very expensive ($75-$200 per day, I believe), but compared to overseas travel probably not out of the question. I always stay in my tent when I go to Yosemite, but then I'm only four hours from home. If you want to stay in a tent, you will need reservations for Yosemite Valley campgrounds. However, there will be camping space available outside the valley. If you need more information, feel free to email me at <sspohn@concentric.net> and I'll do my best to get you prices on hotels in the Valley or other information you need.