robert_macdonald

I dropped my M3 yesterday, after looking it over for cosmetic dings I

looked through the viewfinder. All I could see were the framelines,

everything else was black. I think something moved out of place. As

you can imagine a lengthy stream of curses erupted out of me. My

question is how much do you think this will cost to fix? The camera

landed on the lens a Canon 50 f1.8, the lens has a dent in the filter

ring, but since I don't use filters I don't really care.

Well I switched flashes, the result was great! The flash was a Sunpak Auto 2000 DZ. I did up some contact sheets tonight and was quite pleased with the results. Thanks for your help guys.

I'm running the flash in automatic. I set the guide to 100 where it indicates 7 feet at f8. Tonight I tested some more. I went down to 1/25 at f8. It was a little better, I think If I open up one more stop I'll have it.

Im using a Vivitar 215 auto. I am usually around six feet away from my subjects. I'm thinking that I need to move down to 1/25 or open up another stop. It could be the flash isn't powerful enough, but I figure at six feet it should be able to do the trick. The shutter is a Synchro Compur on a 127mm f4.7 Ektar lens. I probably just need to experiment with it more. Thanks for your imput thus far.

I recently picked up a Crown Graphic. This is my first 4X5 camera.

Anyone who has used one of these knows they're not hard to use. My

problem is with the flash. I have it set to its proper X setting and

am using 1/50th of a second as my exposure at ususally f8. My film

was HP5. The negs I developed with a flash were very thin, while ones

I shot sans flash were fine. I tried the ground glass and saw the

flash through it when I fired the shutter. The negatives I shot today

using FP4 had the same problem, but were a little better, but not

much. Any advice?

Sounds like reticulation to me.

I seem to have been pretty lucky. I found a user M3 for $423 on ebay, it was an early model converted to single stroke. Like you I started off with a russian rangefinder, a Fed 5. I moved on to a Leica IIIa last year and picked up the M3 this past November. As much as I liked the IIIa I love my M3, I'd reccommend one of these, there are deals out there you just have to be patient.

When I had a chance to meet him he said it was a III model, but he wasn't sure which model. As for lenses He told me he used a 50 and a 90. In a Ginsberg essay I read he said he had a Zeiss Sonnar. I would guess he used an elmar as his 90.

BL's are easy to load. In my opinion.

Try and get a Bolex H-16 Reflex model. And if money is no object an Arriflex BL. The Bolex only takes 100ft daylight spools, while the Arri BL takes 400ft mags.

Having shot a few rolls of APX 400 in 120, I have come to this conclusion: it stinks. The rolls I shot were shot at 200 and developed in rodinal 1:50 and it was still too grainy for my tastes. Whereas using tri-x the results were much better. I just found tri-x to be sharper. Perhaps Rodinal would be too grainy scanned, maybe you could try D-76 or HC-110. You could still get the grain but it would be a bit more pleaseing to the eye.

In a book I read entitled "The Camera At War" Capa is discussed. It is also revealed that the person who messed up the negatives was none other then Larry Burrows, who would go on to photograph and die in Vietnam.

"My Leica IIIf red dial screwmount almost edged out the Prominent for least value, because of difficulty of loading film, quirks of high and low speed selection knobs, need to avoid to avoid touching high speed knob while releasing shutter, need to set speeds only after winding film."

 

Funny, I've never had a problem loading my IIIa. I liked it enough to save up to buy an M3, now there's a camera.

Hi,

 

Christopher, I live in Nova Scotia also. Have you tried Carsand-Mosher? Maybe they could order it in for you.

I had a 43mm UV filter before I bought this lens. Now that I have it, I lost the filter. Shucks.

"But please what camera and lens and film did he use? If anyone knows I'd really like to know"

 

When I met him last summer he told me he used a 50 and a 90. In a book by Allen Ginsburg, Ginsburg states that he used a Sonnar(most likely a 1.5). I would assume the 90 was an elmar. Camera wise is tougher. He said a Leica with two windows when I talked to him, which definetly means a III series. Not sure which one though, either was he.

"Robert Frank came over as a snappy, morose, bitter, self centred, terse and irritable old git! "

 

I met him last year, we talked about cameras and his photography. He seemed like a nice guy.

Hi,

 

The screw is on the lower left of the leatherette. The shutter sounds fine, and I see no need for a CLA (can't afford it anyway).

This week has been rough. First I notice the leather is starting to

come loose around the lens mount, and then one of the for screws on

the front fell out. The screw fell out before but I was able to find

it (to my amazement), but this time its gone for good. There was a

roll of tri-x in the camera at the time, when I developed the roll

half of the frames (near the end) had a black bar going through

them. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was because of the

screw. So I need a solution to two problems; What kind of adhesive

should I use for the leather, and what should I do about the screw?

For now I just have some black tape over the hole, but I want

something more reliable than that.

 

Thanks

I recently won a auction on ebay for three tins of tri-x (old). I am

in Canada and the seller is in the US. Could anyone tell me how to

have it shipped it so it is not damaged by x-rays.

 

Thanks

Well, the packet was old. This is probably the problem. Oh well.

 

Thanks

 

Robert

Hi,

 

It was a package, mixed with tap water.

Hi,

 

I mixed up a batch of DK-50 and have two questions: What colour is it

supposed to be? There is powder that has not disolved in the bottom of

the jug (Dev. was mixed in a brown 1 gal. glass jug) and when I shake

it it turns the DK-50 into a milky colour, is this normal?

 

Thanks

 

Robert

Hi,

 

Well I suppose I was a little vague there. Anyway i don't have the lens yet, I just wanted to know what to expect. Also I develop film and print my self. Just thought someone might of had some opinions, thanks anyways.

Hi,

 

I just purchased a Canon 50mm f/1.8 off of ebay. I have read that this

is a good performer, this is why I bought it (the price was right, and

the fraction of a stop didn't hurt either). My current 50mm is a

Jupiter 8, I am pleased so far with this lens, but I feel my photos

could be sharper. They say you pay for what you get and since I only

paid $18 shipped for the lens it would not surprise me if the Canon is

sharper and an overall better performer. But the question, is it?

 

Thanks