alvin_wong

When I was last at Flatiron (in New York City) a few months ago, I was told something similar (i.e. reduced volumes). Basically, there's not a whole lot of people still shooting slides aside from amateurs, fine art photographers and other specialized niche photographers.

 

Not surprisingly, Flatiron was forced to hike their E6 processing fees earlier this year. Once, they were among the cheapest (at $5.50) in NYC. Now they are in line (at $8.00) with practically everyone else.

 

I don't see things getting better in the long run. So I guess we'll all have to bite the bullet if we still want to process our slides.

I hope you enjoyed your trip to New York. All of these pictures are of places located in Lower Manhattan.

 

1) Municipal Building looking east from Chambers

2) Tweed Courthouse (also on Chambers)

3) Foley Square

4) Winter Garden at the World Financial Center

The Fuji slide mailers should be usable with all types of E-6 film. I had no problems mailing non-Sensia with the 20 or so Fuji slide mailers that I used last year.

I wanted to add you can also speed up the process by using scale and/or hyperfocal focusing when appropriate (i.e. there is enough light). As everyone else here has said, fumbling with your camera controls is the surest way to miss a great picture!

<p>If anything, the D200 will improve the image by cropping the edges of the frame. Of course, the 1.5x crop factor will turn your 28-70 zoom into a 43-105. Therefore, I'd be more worried about the change in focal length, than in any aberrations that might appear on the edges of the frame.</P>

<p>Conrad is correct. The 1.5x crop factor changes the role of many film lenses. I seldom go wider than 35mm which is why my 24-85G zoom is good enough for my purposes. If you're a 28mm or 24mm person, you will want that 12-24G zoom, post-haste.</p>

<p>Again, it all depends on what you shoot. The 24-85G is no longer "very wide" on digital, but if you never used the wide end of the lens on a 35mm camera, you won't miss it anyway. Besides, I'd say that 36-130 (account for the 1.5x crop) is still a useful range.</p>

<P>You should choose a camera based primarily on your needs and then secondarily on price.</P>

<p>I recently bought a used D100 from KEH. Before buying, I gave some careful thought as to the features I needed. Ultimately, I decided that I needed the extra flexibility afforded by the D100's grip. I also appreciated the D100's better viewfinder and interface as compared to the D70.</P>

<P>Of course, I'm not dismissing the newer D70/D50 models. These newer models have some important refinements lacking in the older D100. Depending on your requirements, these refinements (i.e. the D70's 1/500 flash sync speed) may very sway your decision to the newer model. Also, the D70 has a faster engine allowing for faster burst shooting in RAW mode. If you shoot sports photography, you'd probably want the D70. And yes, I do find the D100's shooting delay to be annoying even though I don't do sports photography.</P>

<P>However, I didn't deem any of these refinements important enough to spend extra for a new D70s kit. Thus far, I've been very satisfied with the D100 and I saved a few bucks.</P>

<P>Ultimately, your choice should be dependent on what you need; if you can get a bargain <b>and</b> meet all your needs, all the better for you. Otherwise, buy new.</P>

<P>In general, you get what you paid for. You should not <b>expect</b> consistently excellent and clean negatives (much less good printing) from a one-hour photo lab. This isn't to say that there aren't minilab operators who aren't conscientious about their work. If you find such a quality lab, continue using it.</P>

<P>For cleaner negatives, you might want to use the mail-order service at CVS. I've sent slide film through CVS mailers and the negatives have always come back clean.</P>

It seems that Polaroid's pack film and TZ/600 film cameras get most of the

attention on the web. I've found very few websites about Spectra film. Is

Spectra film subpar compared to pack film and TZ/600 film? Or is it a case of

Spectra not being amenable to manipulations that can be done with pack film and TZ?

Both lenses have their place, and both can be used for the applications listed in your message. What focal lengths do you use/prefer? Which lens better expresses your vision? Only you can answer that question.

 

Having said that, I also agree that the 18-70 is probably a better starter lens.

Alkit might carry Maco and/or Efke.

 

BTW, Alkit is near Union Square at East 18th and Park Avenue South .

First off, get a current edition of one of the several directories of literary agents. These directories will have current address and contact information for agents and sometimes even a list of the types of books that they pitch to publishers.

 

Also bear in mind that unless you are proposing a photography book with mass appeal (i.e. a coffee table-style book), many agents may be reluctant to take on a small book. In particular, an established agent with many clients may not necessarily want to take the time to sell a proposal from a first time book author, especially if the book will only yield a $2000 advance.

 

Don't give up hope though. If your book is publishable, you will eventually find a publisher/agent to make your proposal a reality.

Your desire to take skating pictures would seem to make a camera with faster autofocus more useful for your purposes. For this reason, I suggest a digital SLR with some sort of telephoto lens. In general, digital SLRs have faster autofocus than compact cameras. Of course, you still have to master the technique of autofocusing...

 

This is not to say that a compact digicam (i.e. Canon Powershot S2 IS) is not useful for your purposes. It happens to have a pretty nice range of focal lengths. I only wish to say that technique and vision are more important in the final pictures than the camera itself. You can get quality pictures out of any camera, provided that you know how to use it.

 

You should also try out any camera before buying it.

I second the advice about checking the price of completed Ebay auctions. You should also look at the websites for used cameras such as KEH.com. Keep in mind that the price you get hinges on the condition of the camera.

 

FWIW, I sold a 5xi on Ebay in early 2005 for a whopping $35 dollars. The 28-80 xi zoom lens I sold at the same time went for $49. So it would seem that the Minolta Maxxum lenses are worth more than the cameras themselves. The Maxxum lenses may become even more valuable if Sony's entry into the DSLR market is a success.

In your case, the lighting conditions were sufficiently bright to mask the two stops of underexposure. Negative film has generous latitude when it comes to overexposing/underexposing highlights.

 

However, Reala is no better than any other color negative film when it comes to shadow details. Underexposed negative film turns very grainy and ugly in darker areas. For this reason, I prefer slide film; shadowy areas simply go black, which is a much more attractive effect in my opinion.

 

In short, I wouldn't consistently underexpose Reala by one or two stops.

Several websites list the HN-3 hood as the matching hood for Nikon's

35mm f/2.0 lenses. However, the hood does not stop the flare when I

am shoot toward the sun with my Nikkor-O lens; I still have to "shade"

the lens with my hand.

 

Given that the HN-3 hood does not effectively work with my lens, what

is the proper hood for the Nikkor-O? Please note that I am talking

about the Nikkor-O lens made between 1968 and 1972. I am not

referring to the the later Nikkor-O.C, AI, AI-S or AF lenses.

I remember seeing a stack of new $50 copies at Strand Books two and a half years ago. I'm kicking myself for not buying this "expensive" book back then.

 

If you want to buy this book as an investment, you might think about buying one reading copy, and another copy to be kept in mint condition.

 

Of course, most books are not worthwhile investments. Good stocks and bonds are a better investment for the most part. I'd rather read a book rather than lock it away in a safe.

Is the lens properly mounted on the camera? A few weeks ago, my Maxxum 800si also stopped functioning. After I removed and remounted the lens, everything functioned normally.

<p>Thank you for sharing your story with us. This is a reminder to never put all your eggs in one basket. I occasionally take chances and give one lab an order of 15 or more rolls of film. Although I haven't gotten burned yet, I know it's only a matter of time.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about your experience. I buy plenty of used books online and I have only bought one or two price-clipped books. I'm not a fan of price-clipping either, but if the book is really cheap, I don't object. I do agree with the other posters though; the bookseller should have noted that issue, especially for a $250 dollar book.</p><p>In the future, you might want to stick to highly-rated book dealers on places such as Amazon Marketplace. There are many good places that clearly spell out the condition of the books they sell (i.e. remainder marks, price-clipping, missing dust jackets etc.) Hamilton Books and Symposium Books are two good places to deal with, and there are plenty of other excellent booksellers.</p>

<p>The XD11 is an excellent camera. It is the second highest spec camera in the entire Minolta manual focus line. I love the SRT 102, but I admit that the aperture priority mode makes the XD11 a superior camera. Just think of the XD11 as an "almost modern" manual focus SLR in the same league as the Nikon FM/FE series cameras.</p>

<p>The low price is a result of a market demand, or the lack thereof. The Minolta manual focus system was more or less abandoned twenty years ago, which means great bargains for people getting into it right now.</p>

<p>I've been using 10/2003 dated Sensia and 1998-dated Velvia for the past two and half years with no ill effect. Having said that, I only want to use fresh slide film in the future.</p>

<p>In general, the slower the film, the less color shifting involved. Black and white film can be used decades past the expiration date. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule. I've used recently outdated (one year past) Ektapress 800 that aged very poorly, and I've used 2001-dated Ektachrome 160T that had color-shifted significantly in three years.</p>

<p>Your best bet with outdated film is to buy from a reputable dealer. With this kind of film, it's not worth taking a chance to save a few bucks.</P>

<p>Thanks for the responses.</p>

<p>I tried the camera again this morning, and everything was back to normal! All the buttons and dials were responsive. I was even using one of the batteries that "failed" to work yesterday.</p>

<p>The abrupt failure and recovery of this camera was very strange. Now that I think of it, I may have incorrectly mounted my 35-105 zoom lens yesterday. I suspect this because the problems disappeared after I removed this lens and mounted a different one.</P>

<p>For starters, I recommend reading the excellent Photo.net tutorials written by Phillip Greenspun, the founder of this site. I think you will find that many of your basic questions will be answered by these articles.</p>

<p>Saw a review for this <a

href="http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/movies/13cart.html">film</a>

about Henri Cartier-Bresson on the New York Times's website. This

film might be worth seeing. The article lists Quad Cinema as the

current exhibition venue.</P>