matt.bigwood

<p>Thanks Steve, that's great.</p>

<p>Hi Steve, that's great news. Any chance you could scan the cam you made on a flatbed scanner so I could have a go at making one for my 135mm Xenar?</p>

<p>Hi Steve<br>

I used to sub-edit the MPP Users' Club magazine, and I think there is more interest in producing cam plates for the Micro Technical series than the press camera simply because more people are using the technical camera.<br>

I've just tried to remove the cam plate using the thumb screw but it's stuck solid, so I'll try some penetrating oil on it some time, and if I can get it free I'll scan it for you.<br>

Measured roughly in situ, the longest side is 4cm, the leading edge is 1.3cm, but the side that rubs against the rangefinder follower is gently curved and measures 3.5cm. The short side near the rear is approx 7mm. Bear in mind these measurements were done with my daughter's school ruler so may not be entirely accurate.<br>

Hope this is of some help.</p>

<p>Hi Steve, just found this thread. I've got two Micro Press cameras and looking at your camera it looks like the rangefinder cam is missing.</p>

<p>On my two cameras, one of which is older than the other, one has the cam plate attached by a thumbscrew (as on yours) and the other camera (which I think is sightly newer) has a 'SS' cam plate signifying a Schneider Symmar, but the plate is attached by a screw to the rail.</p>

<p>Unlike some other manufacturers MPP matched each cam plate to a specific lens, so unless your camera came with the original lens fitted at the factory it probably won't be accurate. Apparently even if your camera came with a (for instance) a Schneider Xenar 135mm lens and you fitted the same type of lens with a different serial number that may not be accurate, but it really would need to be examined against the ground glass.</p>

<p>Unlike some Speed Graphics etc the MPP Micro Press rangefinder can't be adjusted for other lenses unless you have the correct cam plate. Finding a cam plate for a Micro Press would be very difficult I'd image. I did manage to buy a few over the years for the Micro Technical but these are different designs and won't fit the press camera.</p>

<p>

<p>

<p>Thanks for the advice, I'll try tonight and see how long the battery lasts.</p>

<p>I've been asked to shoot some timelapse in an industrial location and I thought my D3 would be the best choice, instead of a conventional video camera.</p>

<p>I don't yet know how long the camera will need to be in situ, but it may not be possible to power it from the mains due to the location, so does anyone have any experience of how long the battery will last in this situation? I'm guessing the shutter speeds will be 1/30 or 1/60 second and taking a picture every minute or two.</p>

<p>Sorry to be vague, but some rough guidance would be appreciated.</p>

<p>

<p>I made a light-hearted short film on Good Friday featuring a chap who has never shot film before, and given the challenge of using a 1960s British MPP 5x4 technical camera to use hand-held on an Easter event. Some of his pictures from the event are included in the film. <br /> <br /> The photographer from the local newspaper is also featured in the film, shooting on digital.<br /> <br /> The film is the beginning of a longer piece which I will be filming during the year about the differing disciplines of shooting film and digital.</p>

<p>Regardless of equipment, the big advantage of using digital for night photography is that it doesn't suffer from reciprocity failure as film does. Depending on the film one needs to compensate for long exposures - it might be the case that a meter reading of 15 seconds needs an actual exposure of one minute or more to compensate for the film losing its response.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks Joe - funnily enough I noticed that in the photo, but not on the camera! You're right - I wouldn't want the camera to drop on my foot....</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/9170152-lg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="634" /></p>

<p>As Colin said, the idea of the cone mount is to allow use of the rangefinder with the front bed dropped.<br>

Ironically, having tried unsuccessfully to use my MPP Mk8 with 90mm SA and cam, I spoke to founder of the MPP Users' Club Neill Wright who advised me to make a focusing scale and forget the rangefinder with the 90mm.</p>

Nothing contentious or overly dramatic, but I took some photos of my church's 350th anniversary year.

Constructive criticism would be welcomed, in particular things I have missed and should have photographed!

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=870567

 

 

Matt

Hi Ian

 

That sounds like a good price for the lens - I bought mine for £500 a couple of years ago from a studio that was closing down and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the 17-35mm is a superb lens.

 

Matt

These were taken with the set-up mentioned - MPP Mk8, Metz 45 flash and 135mm Graflex Optar

 

http://web.mac.com/mattbigwood/iWeb/Site%205/Large%20Format%20Photography.html

 

Matt

Hi Ben

 

I've managed to collect a few cam plates over the years for MPP Micro Technicals. As regards the specific plate for specific lens, this is correct, but in the real world non-matching cam plates and lenses can be used.

 

I've used an old MPP 135mm cam plate designed for a Schneider Xenar successfully with a 1940s Graflex Optar from a Speed Graphic. I used the ground glass to set focus at infinity, so it coincided with infinity on the rangefinder. From then on all worked OK.

 

The MPP Mk7 and Mk8 rangefinder cam plates share a common fitting and can be interchanged.

My guess would be yes... I use a Sony FX1 HDV camcorder and edit on a Dell desktop PC with

Core Duo 2.4 processor, XP and 3 Gb Ram - editing on Adobe Premiere, and it works

perfectly. Rendering times are perfectly acceptable, and the set-up is very fast when editing

SD footage.

 

Hope this helps!

Hi Ian

 

Is it still possible to buy those flash bulbs in the UK, or do you have a stockpile of them? I'm guessing they are relatively small bulbs, because I'm considering doing a project using an old 5x4 press camera and would love to use flash bulbs as opposed to electronic flash.

 

Matt

I just stumbled across this thread, and I think it's funny that my short film has found fame across the Atlantic! I made it in about an hour one afternoon to amuse my daughter

 

Matt

You've pretty much covered most of the lenses produced for the Mamiya Press, although I have a 65mm f6.3. You are limited to the lenses produced specifically for the camera as they are bayonet mount, unlike large format lenses which can be swapped between lens panels for different models.

 

The Mamiya lenses are very good - I owned a 50mm f6.3 in the past and it was very, very sharp and a great wideangle on 6x9.

Thanks Torben. What kind of paper did you find worked best?

 

Matt

I recently bought an Epson 7500 24-inch printer for a very good price, and

having done searches of photo.net and the web, I can't seem to find very much

information about it.

 

I'd really like to know how to get the best out of it. It was supplied with a

couple of rolls of 24-inch plain paper, and some smaller rolls of Epson glossy

photo paper. I'm using a PC with XP and a Mac with OS-X, and have downloaded

the drivers from the Epson site.

 

Would Vueprint or similar programs be advantageous?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Matt

Another scan.<div></div>

This is very similar to an ongoing problem I am having, trying to diagnose a light leak in an MPP Micropress camera (English camera, very similar design to a top rangefinder Speed Graphic).

 

I photographed a local football match (to see how it was done in days of old) using HP5 rated at 800asa.

 

I used six different double darkslides, some old MPP ones and some newer Fidelity.

 

Each negative has fogging in the same place - all the shots were taken using the focal plane shutter at 1/1000 second.

 

I've checked in a darkroom with a torch for bellows leaks etc, but nothing is apparent.

 

The shooting method was: cock shutter at 1/1000, load darkslide, withdraw sheath, focus, shoot, replace sheath and remove darkslide.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

ps I can confirm it's not a processing fault as the edges of the negs are clear, and I processed a couple of sheets from another camera at the same time and they were fine.<div></div>

I need to get some 5"x4" colour negative sheet film processed in a couple of

weeks time in the Bristol/Gloucestershire area, ideally with same day

turnaround - can anyone give any recommendations?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

Thanks for the responses - the pictures worked out technically, but my friend says he'd prefer a picture of his wife where she's smiling!

 

Matt<div></div>

I shot some portrait pictures the other day using my MPP camera and Kodak

203mm Ektar and maximum aperture f7.7.

 

Deoth of field was tiny and it occurred to me, what is the best way to shoot

in this situation - I focussed on the subject's eye, closed the shutter,

cocked the shutter, loaded the darkslide, took out the sheath and shot the

picture.

 

During that time there's a high possibility the subject may have moved even a

couple of inches, meaning the neg will be out of focus.

 

What tips can anyone recommend to minimise that risk?

 

Cheers

 

Matt