bill_zelinski

Film is'nt dead, it just smells funny. I like the smell..

First, I want to really thank Phil from the bottom of my heart. I

would be a much poorer photographer if I had never found this forum.

Thanks also to just about everyone on here for thier help, assistance

and for their generosity and willingness to share with others what

they know. A big round of applause for all of you. I sincerely hope

its not time to turn out the lights yet.

While I hate to see this happen, if my experience with them was the

norm then I'm not suprised. Their membership fees were not affordable

to anyone on a tight budget. I tried a few times to volunteer and no

one even bothered calling me back and the ambience was just a little

to "its our little club here and you are who ?" for my taste. Still

its sad...

From the little I've gathered Hurrell's subjects used little or no

makeup (Joan Crawford was not too happy about that) and he lit them

pretty hard with hot lights and then retouched the negatives heavily.

If you look at some of his photos it often appears that eyelashs and

eyebrows were "drawn" in and the skin tones appear almost

"sandblasted" down. I'd suggest starting by studying the makeup and

hair styles from that era and either go that way or learn to retouch

bigger negatives, not as easy as you would think..good luck.

Pro Photo supply (415) 495-8640they do rentals also..

I just tried the new Delta 400 per Scott Eatons reccomendation on photonet and I am very impressed with the results using Microdol-X. However, in S. Anchells cookbook he states that higher dilutions (like 1:3)? of Microdol-X can give an increase in film speed. I tried some old HP-5 I had at an IE of 400 at the 1:3 dilution and the negs are very nice but a bit flat. I had never really had gotten good results before using HP-5 film but will now experiment with it again using Microdol-X. The one roll of new Delta 400 at 320IE and at 1:1 dilution (using the Massive Dev list time) came out really, really nice, maybe a bit contrasty for my taste but I will have to see how they print. Anyone tried the new Delta 400 at higher dilutions of Microdol-X ? I'm going to try this this weekend but thought I'd ask here for any opinions. thanks.

Thanks everyone, good advice. I have been going over the old threads

and absorbing a lot of Leica info. ONce again it all comes back to

the right tool for the right job, I will still have some nice Nikon

stuff left over if I do trade, so there will always be some AF Nikon

later on if I really need/miss it but tommmorw if this lecia is in

good shape I will probabley swap as I can sense how strongly most of

you feel about Leicas. I really would like to fell what shooting with

one is like, a rental is fine but it does'nt have the emotional

investment of it being "your" camera and it does'nt give you that

"take me out and use me dammit" thing that most of my older cameras

seem to have..

Er, does an old Canon rangefinder count? The reason I got the F-5 was

to do sports/action fast paced stuff, and I found out I just don't

cope well in that area. My concern is that the M4 is getting on in

years and I might be faced with some expensive repairs and the lens

is old too. That does'nt stop me from using my 75 year olf B&J 8x10

or my old TLRs but I guess I'm just a bit nervous as once the trades

made theres no going back. I really do look forward to having just

one lens and I admit the Leica mythology is very appealing.

Hi all, ok I've had it with my F-5, I just dont need/want all the bells and whistles any longer. I now have someone interested in a swap, my F-5, a 20 & 50 AF Nikon prime lens all in mint cond for a M4 (black enamel and brassed) and an non asph Summicron f2 35 chrome barrel lens, they've been used but in good/fair condition. Am I nuts? I don't think, so as I really enjoy my medium and large format cameras and the 35mm that I still do is mostly, low light/evening street stuff and some candid people shots. I know very litte about Leicas but I'm fed up with AF and buying batterys and this heavy camera , any words of encouragement or warning?

I am very sad about this whole matter, Dr Land was the Thomas Edison

of the UK and an amazing guy, all we seem to have these days are a

bunch of bean counters.. where are the visionarys? Its depressing to

consider what lies ahead for traditional image makeing. damn you

digital, cant you just leave us be.

Not really sure, but with both knobs in place you have a bette chance

of using back rise/fall without inadvertant tilts and once both

knobs are locked down maybe the back standard is more or less ridged.

Thats my guess. I have noticed some forward/backward creep on the

back standard despite tighting up and adjusting the locks, I'm afraid

the lock design itself is not that great, maybe someone has found a

better solution?

No expert here either, although I do own an nice B&J 8x10, if you

look on EBay, old Burke and James catalogs sometimes show up, they

might be a source of further information. good luck.

Geez, I just had the old grey paint matched at a good paint store and

then put a nice new red bellows on it, but what do I know, I like

grey. Otherwise, I agree with the 000 steel wool, great stuff for all

sorts of polishing. My only gripe with the otherwise good camera is

the way the back standard locks down, sorty cheesy.

I have the 150mm that I use with the Calumet adapter ring on a Copal

shutter and get very decent results, I picked up the lens for

$45.00...

thanks, its trial and error time.:)

I have found 1891 B&J lens for 8x10 in a Unicum shutter that I want to use for portraiture but the iris blades have been destroyed (were made out of some sort of paper) I was wondering if I could just insert a piece of paper of a fixed apeture ala "waterhouse" type stop so that I can use this lens on my beat up old 8x10 , the Unicum shutter actually still works on T & B..so my shutter is working But how do I calculate the size of the hole to make my stop? It was set up for stops from F6 to F128 but I was thinking a stop around F11 or F16 would be about right or would it? Any suggestions? Thanks.

I'd love to find a LF club in my area, I even tried starting one

myself..this seems like a better idea.

A chance for a date with Trib?

I just got my 8x10 B&J back from the UK and they did a very good job

of remanufacturing the original bellows. Took about 5 weeks or so and

cost about $350.oo, inc shipping. Lee Filters in LA (ask for John

Adler) is their USA rep and he was very easy to deal with. Just send

them the camera and wait. Really fine job.

Josh, I live in a small studio (SF rents are the highest in the

country and the only darkroom rental house in town just got evicted

for the dot.commers), the first thing I got was a Harrison changing

tent (should have got the biggest one) this works very well for

loading and unloading all formats of film and I can also take it on

the road. My Eenlarger is on a very solid heavy desk (used office

furniture) on one side of the room, across the room is my "kitchen"

and I place a plywood top over the entire counter area and this gives

me a level worktop for my trays and access to some running water at

the sink. The 3 level drying rack from calumet sits on the nearby

kitchen table (folds up when not in use) and I darken the whole room

with blackout cloth and usually print after the sun goes down. I use

my film and print washers hooked up in the bathroom tub and store

them there when not in use. Cramped? you bet..but it works. good

luck.

Edmunds Scientific sells iris's in various sizes and mounts, not sure

how that would work out and not inexpensive either.

Schnieder makes a nice adapter ring that goes from 39mm to a Copal 0 thread (available thru Calumet) so you can use all your 39mm enlarger lens on a Copal O shutter. I have used it with my Rodenstock 150mm APO Gerogan lens with some success, however I have found a 210 APO Gerogan which appears to have a larger 49.5mm mount. Any suggestions for mounting this on a standard lensboard or even better in a shutter? I guess S Grimes could make something up but any other suggestions would help. Thanks.

Can anyone reccomend a good repair shop for older Mamiya and Yashica

TLR's near San Francisco? thanks.

Whats been working for me lately is keeping a jug of distilled water

in the fridge and then using that to mix with another jug at room

temp. Don't know about your area but in mine I find used darkroom

thermometers all the time under $10.00, sometime for as little as

$3.00..

I picked up a fair condition Eastman View #2 about 8 months ago for

about $200.00. After cleaning it up and patching the bellows I have

found the most limiting factor is the lack of any f/s and tilt.

Maybe yours is in better shape and more rigid but I would not

consider backpacking with mine as wind vibration is something to

really consider. For indoor use its fine within limits. I have since

picked up a Burke & James Commercial which I'm fixing up and it is

much sturdier and has all the movements you could want. The Raptar

and THC lens are fine for B&W if the condition and price is right.