john fleshin

Mark, have mentioned toilet cleaners that have been recommended with a brush for RA4 processors, and bleach will

actually disolve the emulsion from film, giving you a clear base, which is how we used to recycle X Rays to use the

base for other things. If you have a spoiled roll of film and a film strip projector, the kids can have some fun with

some markers and the cleared film.

 

William, remember those steps-- ;-)

 

I think I had the same tank, you could load the plastic reels from the inside and outside, and generally you punctured

your thumb in the process-- may have been the FR tanks.

 

I think I bought the 16 oz. size, and it has moved with me several times.

 

John

I also recall collecting a number of "Making good pictures" books. Even though the techniques were old, you can

learn by looking at someone else's work. Certainly there is more than one good composition to many scenes.

 

I can recall a few very basic books which demonstrated poor composition and lots of other errors (telephone pole or

tree growing from someone's head, etc.) , probably could publish a book from mine alone.

 

James, when you use a TLR, MF SLR, or other camera with a larger screen, it may be that you look longer, you

certainly have a different perspective. The image is obviously two dimensional.

 

I used to have my students turn the camera over to right the image in the view camera. ;-)

 

They liked the Graflex especially, the image was in color and it was like TV.

 

At the low prices locally for Graflexes, they are a learning tool themselves, even if you do not shoot them much with

film. Should be a book, 101 things you can learn from old cameras, sorry, wrong forum.

 

 

 

Regards, John

John, did not take you long to show me up, you could have made it look harder, please post elaborate directions. ;-)

 

Reminds me of a bit of edge burning I used to do in the darkroom, and it is a tribute to the very basic level to which I use Photoshop. I did learn to correct distortion in stained glass photography for the Sacred Landmarks folks here abouts, and had a good tutor to help me out.

 

Looks like a "wall hanger" now, the cat is going to be jealous.

 

Regards, John

If I make a full 16 bit scan Tiff from a 35mm slide with my Coolscan, the resulting file is 64 meg.

 

If I scan an 11x14 color print to 300 ppi, (have only done it once, so the numbers are not totally a wag) as I recall the

file was close to 100 meg or higher, I had one that was 250 meg, but it was probably scanned at 600 .

 

Assuming the scanner people are not just pulling my chain, is there information to that degree in these formats? I

am hoping it is not all interpolation. ;-)

 

I have been told a 24 meg digital file from a camera with good glass is superior to a scan, but even with a degree or

two of estimation, I would prefer a file of 24 meg. in my shooting camera to allow presentation size prints of quality

as similar as possible to the RA4 prints I made from medium format negatives, or even good 35mm negatives.

 

Otherwise, I may have to dust off my 45m. :-)

 

If you are making snaps or viewing on a computer screen, your requirements are obviously less, in fact, your perfect

camera might be anything over a couple of megs. that fits your pocket, or a one use film camera. A Canon Elph

makes terrific snaps.

 

If your requirements are similar to what I aspire to, you can begin by asking yourself, without regards to expense,

what would your ideal kit be to do fine work? The answer may be in the middle, but I am taking a hard look at the

Sony A900.

 

On the output end, am afraid that is for another day, and someone else will be producing my prints for a while.

 

Regards, John

Marc, I have seen in print and been told, without any great technical explanation, that for whatever reason, there is little to no degradation of the image from the use of almost any modern filter.

 

They may have gone further, but modern filters are evidentally not as much concern as the general consensus once held.

 

I think the basis for those more recent conclusions was the various series of tests tech people made, with and without, etc.

 

I do not use as many filters as I once did when I was shooting chromes out west and was looking for deep skies, and years ago some friends were trying for deep skies locally with a degree of frustration, until one actually went west and found out the skies were darker. ;-)

 

Oddly, my friend, to whom I had given a camera and set of lenses with a lifetime warranty ;-), had dropped her lens on to an appropriately hard rock which put a two inch canyon near the middle of the outer element. I wish I had asked the company to return the element they had replaced as a $100 souvenir, but we did shoot a test roll at the shop and while not a bench test, it was surprising to not find any visual effect pre repair.

 

Still, I prefer to shoot with unscratched well coated glass.

 

Regards, John

John, >>Why do you think it needs to be cropped?<<

 

I agree, it is certainly one of the good photos in the frame, over all a very good capture, but in an ideal world, my

eyes would not be as drawn to the slightly busy background, and it is not a simple straighten the horizon and crop

situation.

 

It could be more appealing as such, IMO, so my question about a technical post production solution followed.

 

In a darkroom, I might darken the background, but reduced focus and a creamy bokeh would add.

 

I certainly hope folks know more about Photoshop than I do, I may have to bite the bullet and find some appropriate

course work, maybe even read the manual ;-) .

While attending a series of classes, two classes by some chance, were taught by physics profs who were interested

in vision and the eye and had a few great demonstrations up their sleeves.

 

While you do not need a degree in physics, you may discover that some concepts in light and vision generate more

than a little knowledge in composition and extant art.

 

We all discover some of these concepts, perhaps some more easily than others, and I have met people who just

get "it" right off the bat.

 

The rest of us might be left on our own to discover them at our own pace.

 

The "rules" might lead us a bit quicker to discoveries, but are not the ends in themselves.

 

A fellow photographer once looked at a print I had made, and pointed out what is now to me, such an obvious flaw,

but now more easily avoided, but I knew something was there and had given me some feeling that the print was not

finished. That person did me a service.

 

Hope there is some service here to the OP and anyone else.

 

Bakker's saddle, interesting, I knew there was something wrong when I did not think my Rollei TLR's format was just

always wasting film to get to 8x10 all those years ago ;-) .

 

Good posts by several of "you guys", thanks.

 

Regards, John

I think you came close to answering your own question. ;-)

 

Perhaps you can take one for a test drive, buying lenses to test can be frustrating. With a lot of experience and

research you may be more able to narrow your needs and wants, with the latter more important of course. ;-), I am of

course paraphrasing Bob Dylan.

 

I think we all have a few "supplimental" lenses.

I recall someone commenting that I needed to open up more and reduce the focus on the background of one of my

prints, that said, I recall my lens was fully open, so it was not possible.

 

Good capture of the pooch, and yes, you are right, there are a number of good photographs in the original, I would

tend to proceed much the same way as the others, but now I think I might print full frame to a size near what I

eventually wanted and use cropping L's to try to find the best solution. I generally crop as if the print was going on

the wall.

 

Am not much of a photoshop expert, can you smooth out some of the busy background and open more options for

cropping, everyone seems to be working towards dealing with the background, and bringing the main subject out

from it?

 

It also depends on the ratio's you care to look at, I am perhaps more of a 6 x 7 fan, but sometimes really long as

well, but not 5x7, and a substantial mat size a bit larger on bottom. It is a major detractor to me if a print is framed

in too small of a window.

 

So, perhaps a Photoshop Guru might create a layer with a bit of "bokeh" for the background, and begin anew to look

at cropping?

 

You do have choices. ;-)

Regards, John

Perhaps the name should be changed to the "Suggestion of thirds?", thought it was implied, it might not be art if

rules were not actually suggestions or starting points? If I say there are no absolute rules, I have just given you

one. ;-)

 

Classes often have you print full frame and use cardboard composition tools to determine cropping or more pleasing

composition. Ideally you do some of this before you shoot, or in the case of "spray and pray" one of the shots

should have something of interest.

 

We also used to find and compose using a frame or viewfinder. Any number of ways to work on composition.

 

It can yet be another situation of "we know it when we see it", but you may wish to look here to begin.

I found a store selling Olympus cameras gray market, in Europe, it was an American Model, somehow the gray

market game may go both ways. May have to do with exchange rates at the time, but they too used different model

numbers for the US.

 

John, I assume you were speaking of Warranty returns? I would think you have plenty of non warranty repair folks?

First, customs in to the US is nil or low for small packages, they just generally do not bother.

Packages returned for repair are generally not subject to customs in either direction. Items going in to the EU attract

attention by the insurance often, but I am told if it is a repair, there is no customs. My friend will find out soon, his

repaired Nikon is on its way to the UK.

 

Second, when I was selling cameras, the US Warranty was US plus World, times may have changed, read the

cards. Gray market warranty was the rest of the world.

 

Third, Gray Market, normally had to be serviced under warranty out of the US, which might be Canada, or the country

of origin, there was a warranty, but the US Importer, if they looked at the warranty card, or if the markings on the

camera showed gray market, they were not responsible.

 

Fourth, Some importers would not service any product, for free, or for money, nor sell parts, for anything gray market

US, e.g. Bogen would not sell parts for Metz flashes, but it seemed they were charging about double. I had heard

some other companies were looking at serial numbers, but generally others charge enough for flat rates that they

may not care.

 

Fifth, I have had Nikon, and Olympus serviced at factory service centers in Europe, and they were quite reasonable,

and did not care the least where the item was purchased. They added a one year warranty after the service.

 

Sixth, most chargers are universal, get out the magnifying glass and see if the input is 110-240v, if so, just find an

adapter, or many of the new ones use the international dipole, and that part of the cord is normally available in

hardware or electronic stores with the plug for where ever you are for low cost, I keep one in my suitcase. Oddly, my

european Nokia charger would not work on 110.

 

Finally, some stores sell so much to European buyers, they carry European market items. NYC for sure.

In regards to giving up, "When you first fail to succeed, try, try, again, then give up, no point in being a damn fool about it" WIlliam C. Fields. Well it is a paraphrase. ;-)

 

My camera repair friend said, that on occasion and careful examination, he occasionally found a burr on the pressure plate of a camera that required polishing. Those scratches of course would have to be on the base of the film. Everyone has had scratches from time to time, mine mostly with commercial roller processors.

 

Many possible sources of scratches, for example, I found when bulk loading film, if you rest your fingers on the spring loaded knob, that keeps the cartridge centered, on the common daylight loaders, you could create enough friction to get the cartridge to rotate and put a loop in the loading film so you would get scratches on the base, and finally, loading more than 36 exposures would cause some cartridges to scratch the film. Bulk loading can be tricky, and I actually never saw much written about it. The pros preferred to use factory stuff and keep handling to a minimum, but you will remember when film was common and cheap.

 

We might all be bulk loading in the future.

 

J

Happened with me with Royal Pan sheet film, accidentally washed the film in very hot water, was interesting, never could repeat it, the emulsion came off on fingers when I picked up the film by the corner, was OK when dry. Seemed to be some sort of thermal shock in the gelatin, and the lines followed lines in the image, I printed it, was interesting. Tried to repeat it, going so far as to put the film in the freezer, got the emulsion to follow the lines of the frost formed.

 

Seems you need thick emulsions, which would all but rule out the thin emulsions on roll and 36mm film.

 

Am guessing the manufacturers were trying to avoid this "problem" so would try to formulate film that would not reticulate.

 

Maybe you could coat your own emulsion thickly, and experiment from there? I think we were also using DK 60a developer, and basic Kodak Fix.

 

10 percent HCl is probably about twice vinegar in strength, would recommend all kinds of cautions when using concentrated acids or bases, been in chemistry and industry long enough to see enough accidents from the casual use of chemicals. Lord knows what kinds of stuff I absorbed from early farm life as well.

 

Guys at the paper burning plates all had shoes eaten through and taped over, gave me a few clues to stay away from the concentrated acids, plus saw a few accidents, and lost a bit of skin from others not following basic chemistry handling procedure. Err on the side of caution.

 

I read a lot of the old books, great wealth of information, but seems they were a bit blase in regards to chemistry safety, as we all were in the pre child resistant bottles-- better living through chemistry days.

 

Some things about digital are good.

 

Regards, John

Seems as if this concept runs on a ten year cycle, I remember it in the 60's, when it came with a small plastic vial to put the cartridge in and a knob to turn the film inside the container. Would not recommend reuse of the cartridges. ;-)

 

I would caution anyone to be careful using anything that requires the handling of Sodium Hydroxide (Lye), it will eat through your skin and hair in seconds, which is why it is the principle ingredient in Draino. Oh, it also releases lots of heat when the solid is mixed with water, so you can get chemical and thermal burns at the same time.

 

I would rate it about as dangerous at concentrated Sulfuric Acid, opposite end of the pH scale of course, but unlike Sulfuric Acid, it is under many sinks. Also used for older Oven Cleaner and chemical hair removers.

 

Pretty vigorous when added to developers, but be careful.

 

The Polaroid thing came free with new Nikons, and was some sort of mechanical contraption that processed Polaroid 35mm slides. I sold mine as soon as I got it, it had some success.

 

Regards, John

Plastic trays become discolored, as do the plastic parts of commercial processors. A friend owns a good processor

and they break down the unit and clean the rollers every day, they will still show some discoloration, but appearance

does not seem to affect results. Some processors swap out the rollers on a regular basis with new rollers arriving

with the chemistry. More to prevent scratches I believe.

 

I doubt if you could see silver contamination on metal reels, but if everything is loaded and working properly, I could

estimate less physical contact with the film, but most of the mess ups in processing from students seem to involve

SS reels, and with MF I feel you will see more of the dark marks from excess cupping or creasing of the film as it is

handled more during loading, which might out weigh any potential contamination from stains.

 

If you are processing that much film, you surely can afford to buy neplacement reels, and as mentioned, students

drop metal reels and they never get aligned again. Any silver solvent or, as I recall there are published formulae for

tray cleaners, and either should spruce up the reels, but it very well may be unnecessary.

 

If I am changing to E6 from B&W, I might use new reels and tanks and keep them for one process or the other.

 

Does any major film or chemistry producer have any published data on contamination of plastic/ nylon / stainless

reels specifically?

 

J

Christopher, if you do not have an Inland Marine Policy, you may not be covered. First you have a deductable, second, they may have set limits on the value of various items. I just changed policies, and if my house is blown away, etc. I would be out far more than the limits of the policy. If you have an agent, get an opinion on your coverage if you are relying on "normal" homeowner's insurance.

 

I am much more comfortable using good equipment around the world knowing I will have some compensation. You can lose a lot in cases, etc.

 

It is true about the common thief ignoring film cameras, I loaned a Leica Mini to a son of a friend, who was on an over night train trip, all the digital cameras disappeared during one night, and they left the Mini.

 

My friend's daughter lost her digital camera, and the card with a month's worth of photos, in Europe.

 

Maybe a few rolls of film tossed in with your digitals might throw them off. ;-)

 

Regards, John

Mr. Faster, do you feel you have a sufficient answer? I used to recommend the "Golden Guide to Photography" as a primer for students, and when you get to a photo show, pick up some old books and see what you see as good work. I have found plenty of books for a few dollars, and if you get one idea or clarification, it is money well spent.

 

Regards, J

Micheal, sounds perfectly reasonable, plus I have the dropper bottle of Photo Flo and am conservative in its

application.

 

Long ago, for some reason, I did not get spots on MF film and did on the base of 35mm, so began with photo flo.

 

I also use a Cepap machine, and found the water in Puerto Vallarta did not leave any deposit, and at home tap water

leaves a deposit of CaCO3, which easly disolves in dilute acid, and I know the city really does not want low pH water

disolving metal pipes.

 

I have seen some various silver deposits, but I have never first hand confirmed any sort of "gunk" on reels of any

kinds, including when I was running up to 30 rolls a week at the university darkroom.

 

I have seen these discussions from time to time, and can only surmise the causes, but it seems a bit of good house

cleaning takes care of it.

 

If I am lucky enough to keep my reels long enough for some atmospheric chemical weathering to occur, I would

simply chalk them up to a useful long life, which I hope everyone in this thread can aspire to personally in a

porportional manner. I think I get my money's worth out of them. ;-)

 

BTW, I used to sell Foma, they had a long standing problem with their MF films, hope they fixed it.

 

If a serious problem occurs, and a solution is not obvious, then by all means, post a sample to the quality control

people with the film company, they have always given me a well thought out answer.

 

 

Regards, John

Not much Oxygen in the air, less than 20%, so the air inside the bottle, if not a great volume, has limited ability to react with developer.

 

Having bought and sold bottles, it seemed even the best of them leaked from the cap, and Saran (not other brands) wrap has a density able to add to the shelf life of chemistry.

 

If you need larger bottles, the 5l bottles used by one hour labs for RA4 is high density, I believe B&H might sell them as well.

 

Have not experimented with the bottles of compressed air displacement gas used to preserve wine, might help, especially if the bottle is half empty.

 

For the eternally vigilant, you need those custom ground and fitted glass stoppers matched to the bottle ;-)

The safety factor was said to be removed from all of Kodak's B&W films, Kodak said the film was not changed, but

regardless I would gather photographers knew how to expose it, and while really accurate light meters were evolving

and becoming more common, so the word was if whatever you were doing was working, keep it up, the sun remained

relatively constant ;-).

 

Last I heard, one of his processors still operated a lab in LA.

I believe you can add hardener to the liquid rapid fixes, generally a good idea with film. If the powdered mix is sodium thiosulfate, it is not rapid, but film clears quickly and you can do it by inspection. The only rapid fixes I have seen are liquid.

Kelly, municipal water supply often add minerals to protect pipes. If you just let the water boil dry in the kitchen you might get an idea of how hard the water is. I think across the country you are going to get a pretty broad range of minerals before the Photo Flo. When I use distilled water as a rinse, it does not not seem to drain or dry as fast as using a wetting agent.

 

Probably the water supply people could tell exactly what is in municipal drinking water as they are required to test it.

 

Well water (most of the liquid fresh water in the world is ground water) can have a number of chemicals.

 

Still have that first bottle? It does last, shoelaces wear out. The original question is not so simple.

 

Regards, John

I believe Varta stopped making them in Europe about 8 years ago, I bought some of the last boxes, and I was told that the companies could have applied for an exemption, but failed to do so.

 

CFL's and other devices still have small amounts of mercury. Mercury persists when improperly disposed of, but I too wonder how much of a threat they are. I did hear the Mercury switches in cars for the old hood and trunk lights had to be removed, and lord help you if you drop a mercury thermometer any place in public.

 

It is expensive, but I was chatting with a repairman at the last camera show, and he did say he could adjust most cameras to use something else, some were more difficult than others.

 

We should have also been more careful with our old Ni Cads, Cell Phones, Fridge Shelves, and lead batteries when they went bad. Not easy to be truly green.

 

The local schools paid a lot to get rid of pounds of mercury, there are companies which process it and resell it.

I had friends who used to bragg that they carried only bus money, so if they were mugged, the criminal would get

little. I convinced my friend it is better to carry at least $20 or more so the mugger would not take out their frustration

on you if you had no money. It worked exactly that way for a woman friend.

 

That said, if someone confronts you with serious intent, get out of the situation as easily as possible.

 

As someone spoke of earlier, an inland marine policy, called a "floater", can be negotiated in several ways with your

insurance rep. I chose my current home owner's policy from companies which offer such services, and the price is

up to about 1.5% per year for an all risk, zero deductable policy (it used to be 1%). You list what you have

(equipment, jewelery, etc. likely to be at risk) and the value, and pay accordingly. I have used it for cameras I have

damaged and the unscratchable sapphire watch crystal -- which I broke.

 

If you damage your equipment beyond giving it patina or character, you can choose to have it repaired or replaced up

to the value you stated.

 

If your claims are reasonable, and few, you will have peace of mind, and be able to work with your equipment without

thinking about the liabilities more than the images. If you file a bunch of claims, they may choose to non renew you.

 

I do have a friend in Mexico who clobberer an attacker with a strong strap and a Nikon F, but not my style, and you

could end up in Civil Court, hardly worth the 1.5% per year.

 

If I am doing a job, I have back up equipment, I have to put it down to work, and if I am constantly guarding it, I am

probably not doing a very good job shooting.

 

Seriously, you can eat your cake and have it too. Enjoy your cameras.

 

Regards, John

 

p.s. Excellent condition Dicks and Duck above, are they mint or used? ;-) For sale? Sounds like a pub in England.