jurie

John,

Try the following and compare the results:

Put both cameras in RAW mode. For the following tests, use the same lens on both, and chose a prime lens if possible.

Under consistant lighting and on a tripod, put the DL on program mode, note the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed it suggests. Make an exposure for later comparison. I would recommend doing this indoors where you have full control over the light.

Set the K10D on the tripod in program mode, and note the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed it suggests. How do they compare to what the DL suggested? If they are different, one of your meters is off.

Set the K10D to manual and use the same exposure settings that the DL used. Make an exposure, transfer it and the one from the DL to your PC, and compare them side by side.

If they don't look the same, one of your sensors is more sensitive than the other.

If they do look the same and they both metered the same, try the above again in JPEG mode. Perhaps the processing algorithms are producing different results.

Let me know how it works out for you!

Thanks,

Jordan

Jordan,

There is no metal in a roll of 120 film, but security gets cranky when you try to walk through the gate with pockets bulging full of round objects.

A hand inspection or carryon-level scan won't harm slower speed film as is. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Jordan R. Urie

Yikes! This is beginning to resemble a very twisted Christmas.

Toss it in a shoebox and mail it off. I'll e-mail you with info.

I feel kinda bad about snapping at all three offerings though; if someone else comes along I'd be willing to share the plasticky craptastickness.

Jordan R. Urie

Glenn,

I'm intrested in the craptastic special. Can you ship it to Canada?

Jordan

I'll also second Bob's suggestion. It's the step-by-step guide that I used when I started developing B&W.

Jordan R. Urie

Christian,

<p>You don't need much in order to develop 35mm film. The following should be enough to get you started:

<ol>

<li>Developing tank - Jobo, Paterson, or one of their knockoffs will work just fine. Some hold one reel at a time, some two, some more. I'm happy with my two reel tank.

<li>Reels for the tank if it doesn't come with any. Plastic reels are much easier to load. I recommend them over metal any day of the week.

<li>Chemicals

<ol>

<li>Developer - DD-X will work excellently with FP4+, as will D-76. I use D-76 myself, but a developer that comes as a liquid is easier to start with.

<li>Stop bath - Some people will tell you it's optional, but it helps you control when your developing stops, and it doesn't cost much, so I say that it's worth having.

<li>Fixer - I use Ilford's rapid fixer.

<li>Washing agent (optional) - Photo-flo or a similar washing agent will help the water drain off your negatives when you hang them to dry and help keep water spots from showing up when your film dries. Depending on how hard your water is, you might need it. I just wipe my negatives down with a clean chamois when I hang them up to dry.

</ol>

<li>3 Beakers - Big enough to hold the chemicals.

<li>Tray of water to keep the beakers at the same temperature

<li>Graduated cylinders for measuring chemicals. I have one 50mL marked in 1mL increments and one 70mL marked in 10mL increments. Works great for my two-reel tank.

<li>Access to your girlfriend's darkroom or a changing bag. I'd recommend the changing bag, as it's portable. I keep it in my camera bag when I'm not using it just incase one of my bulkloaded films jam (every 10th roll or so jams on the rewind in my MZ-5n, so I'm just being extra cautious)

</ol>

<p>Shouldn't cost you more than the equivelant of $80 Canadian to put together. Have fun!

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Chris,

<p>What Beau said, but I should point out that it probably won't be any slower than a USB 1.0 device plugged into your iMac. The USB 2.0 scanner will just dummy down to USB 1.0 speeds (which are still way faster than the paralel port scanner I just tossed in the dumpster...)

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Franka,

<p>I'm not sure what (if anything) is available in Jasper or Banff, but in Edmonton check out Don's Photo, Carousel, and if you don't find it with one of them, McBain Camera. Service at McBain sucks, so I recommend the other two first. Of the three, I'm pretty sure that Carousel is the only one that will do E-6 120 on site, so check with them about getting your slides done. Don's can do it on a 3 business day turnaround, via their Calgary lab.

<p>As for film, all three should have Reala and Velvia 100F, but Astia is hard to get in 120 around here. Maybe McBains, but I know that neither Don's nor Carousel stock it as regular a item. You might have better luck getting Astia in Calgary.

<p>In Calgary, Don's does 120 E-6 onsite. I have no idea about what else is available in Calgary, so one of my neighbours to the south can no doubt fill you in.

<p>Have a good time, and pack twice as much film as you think you'll need. The Rocky Mountains are amazing.

<p>Jordan R. Urie<br>

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Bruce,

<p>For grainy & high contrast, I like HP5+ or Tri-X pushed to 1600. Remember, however, that medium format by its very nature is going to have smaller looking grain on a given print than if that print was made from 35mm.

<p>You might also try Delta 3200, but I've never shot it in 35mm or 120, so I can't offer you an opinion.

<p>Have fun!

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Salman,

<p>Nope. The only way to check out other photos is to go up one level via the links in the top-left corner of the page, bringing you back to the thumbnails in their gallery.

<p>Might be a good suggestion for the people who program the site though.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Kevin,

<p>Quick check - is the A24 back for 220 film? Were you putting 120 film in it?

<p>120 film will produce 12 shots on 6x6 cameras, 220 film is twice as long, so you get 24 shots on it. The big difference is that 120 film has a paper backing all the way through, and the 220 film only has paper at the start and end of the roll. Backs designed for 220 film have a thiner area for the film to pass through, so putting 120 through there would definately be oddly tight.

<p>If that's not your problem, perhaps someone with more experience on the 'blad can answer your question.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Frank,

<p>You can find Manfrotto part numbers on their website. <a href="http://portal.manfrotto.com/jahia/Jahia/spareparts">This</a> should get you what you need. Just enter the tripod model in the product code box, and it hopefully will bring up a link to a PDF blowup chart of your unit.

<p>As for Erik's question, any shop that can order Manfrotto 'pods should be able to order Manfrotto parts. I ordered two locking levers for a customer's old model 055 with no problem. Shipping time might be an issue sometimes though.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Michael,

As far as I know, the largest negative that the RB67 will produce is a 6x8 (although I suppose an 8x8 would work, if you had the right film...)

Jordan R. Urie

Simon,

<p>An 80mm lens is an 80mm lens. Your 80mm lens will behave as an 80mm lens does on 35mm. The conversion only applies when you are looking at what one lens' field of view is when used on a film size that you aren't used to. An 80mm lens designed to cover medium format will have the same field of view as an 80mm lens designed to cover large format, both of which will be the same as an 80mm lens that is native to that camera system.

<p>A nice upside to using the hassy lenses on 35mm is that you are using the center of the image circle, the area that is usually best corrected and sharpest. In theory you should get some good results from using lenses designed for 6x6 on 35mm.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Off topic and all, but you wouldn't be Matthew Currie of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, would you?

Jordan R. Urie

Sitthivet,

<p>What you need are a flash bracket that has the option of flipping the flash, like <a href="http://www.tiffen.com/Stroboframe_ProRL_page.htm">this</a> (chosen at random, I don't yet own a flash bracket, so don't take this as an endorsement of that particular bracket)

<p>You also need an off-camera TTL capable cord, <a href="http://www.canoncompanystore.com/epages/annex.storefront?ProductDetail=2391A001AA">here</a>.

<p>Those would get your 580 over the lens in portrait mode.

<p>Have fun!

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Edward,

<p>Welcome to the wonderful world of bulkloading! I've been bulkloading for a year myself, and it's great for saving cash. A couple of warnings for you though:

<ul>

<li>Make sure that the cartridges are spotless before you load film into them. No dust, hairs, or fibers inside. I recently developed a roll that seemed to have a length of yarn pulled across the bottom of the frames. Never did find it in the canister or camera, but the marks are there all over the film.

<li>Make sure that the light trap and any rollers inside the bulkloader are clean and dust free. The smallest bit of grit in the light trap can scratch 100' of film, so be careful!

<li>Don't reuse the canisters more than you have to. I've noticed that after about three times through they tend to scratch film. In theory you can clean the felt light trap, but that involves a small high powered vacuum, which I don't have. Canned air is useless for the job, as all it does is blow the dust further into the light trap.

<li>I doubt this is a problem with all cameras, especially manual rewinders, but with my Pentax MZ-5n the rewind motor sometimes isn't quite powerful enough to rewind bulkloaded film all the way. About one in ten rolls jams halfway through the rewind, so I've taken to keeping a small changing bag in my backpack. I'm not sure if this is caused by the light trap being too tight, the film not quite being loaded square to the spool, or my camera needing an exorcism.

</ul>

<p>I've never used a Watson loader, so I can't shed any light on the core issue, however from what I've seen so far, every 100' roll comes around a plastic core that has a 1-2cm hole in it that you mount on the shaft insde the bulkloader. As stated above, the cores you have are probably from old rolls.

<p>As for cutting the leader, it depends on the camera that you are loading the film into. Older ones that thread through the takeup spindle will probably require you to cut the leader in the style of commercial rolls. Newer cameras that have a small hook and spring to catch the film on the takup spool shouldn't require it, but the only way to find out for sure is to try. My camera is the newer style, but I cut leaders anyway. It doesn't need to be as neat as commercial leaders, I usually cut straight up halfway through, 45° left to round the tip off, 90° left for 2-3cm, 45° left to lead into 90° up to the top of the roll. That should load in an older spool, but I've also seen people just cut 45° and leave it at that. YMMV.

<p>I find that about 2 frames is usually alright for the waste at the end. If you load in total darkness, then you don't have to worry about that at all, but then you don't want to load 50 rolls of film in the darkroom, right?

<p>Jordan R. Urie

David,

<p>Hate to rain on your parade, but I've done a similar experiment in the past, to see if a roll of expired colour film was sensitive to microwave radiation. Unfortunately, 30 seconds had no effect on the film whatsoever. Mind you, it was still in a metal canister, so your milage may vary with rollfilm or bulkload plastic canisters.

<p>The higher ammount of silver in B&W film might give you a different result though. If anything cool happens, be sure to post pics!

<p>Jordan R. Urie

David,

<p>Encryption should not degrade the quality of the photos, unless you forget the password ;-)

<p>In simple terms, when you encrypt something, it takes the password and uses it to re-arange the bits in the original file in such a way that you can only restore the file if you have the password. When you un-encrypt the data, be it image files or nuclear secrets, they are back exactly how they were before they were encrypted.

<p>For a USB thumbdrive, I wouldn't bother encrypting photos unless they were so sensetive that you keep the negatives and prints in a safe, as that's the real world equivelant of using the encryption feature on the USB thumbdrive.

<p>So unless you think you are working for the CIA, I suggest that you just leave the encryption off and use it like a regular drive. Less hassle.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Adam,

<p>I have an Orion Trekker, and I can fit my RB67 with 90mm lens and film back attached and have enough space left over to fit my 180mm lens vertically. It's a tight fit for the first few times, but the bag adjusts to it pretty quickly. You should be able to fit your spare film back where I have my 180mm without any trouble at all.

<p>The top compartment is just an open hole, designed for daypack type stuff. I've put everything from my lunch to a change of clothes in there. Plenty of space to work with.

<p>As far as tripod support goes, it's not the best. If I don't want to carry my tripod, I usually slip 2 legs and the center column down through one of the side compression straps. This leaves the tripod hanging down by my thigh, and if I'm moving fast or it slides to the side it sometimes bangs against my leg. Not a huge problem, but I'm not sure that I would want it there on an all day hike.

<p>I don't have any experience with the Mini Trekker, but I think you can get a tripod attachment that lashes your tripod to the side of the bag at both the top and the bottom, so it might be more secure.

<p>Good luck!

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Brad,

<p>You might want to consider Alien Bees. They're made by the same company that does White Lightnings, just not quite as high-end a build. The casings are lexan instead of metal, and the modeling light is just an edison bulb, although it is proportional. Lots of people seem to be quite happy with them.

<p>If I understand right, they take the exact same accessories as the White Lightnings.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Now, what would be real interesting is ink that tasted like what it looked like. Then I could print out Brooks Short's lighting demos and get a real taste for the product.

Jordan R. Urie

Mendel,

<p>I agree completely. If Pentax came out with a digital version of the MZ-5n, even if it was just a re-packaged *istDS, I'd be all over it.

<p>In the meantime, my favorite digital camera in the showcase at work is the Minolta Maxxum7D. It's built with the same principles in mind that our MZ-5ns are: everything is a knob switch or dial; there's no digging through menus for things that you would change in the field or in the middle of a shoot. Even ISO changes can be acomplished on the fly simply by holding down a button and spinning a wheel.

<p>The only downsides to it are that shutterspeed and aperture are changed via wheels instead of knobs or aperture rings, just like every other modern SLR, and I've got enough invested in Pentax at the moment that I wouldn't really want to re-buy everything all over again.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Jason,

<p>A scratch like that could be caused by either the camera or the lab. If you had a rough bit on the camera's pressure plate or winding mechanism, that scratch should show up on each and every roll.

<p>If it happened in the lab and you had multiple rolls processed at once, I would expect it to show on half of the rolls, assuming that their processor handles 2 negatives at a time, which seems to be standard in my experience. There's a chance that a bit of grit worked its way into the processor and was knocked free after your roll passed, however that seems unlikely to me. When I've seen a minilab processor scratch, it was pretty consistent until the grit was removed by hand.

<p>Seeing as it only happened on one roll, I would be inclined to blame a speck of sand or the like on the pressure plate of the camera that got knocked free when you rewound or loaded the next roll.

<p>There is, however, no way to know for sure what caused it. That's the downside of shooting film.

<p>Jordan R. Urie

Chase,

<p>Short of a custom solder job, there's no way to make the 420ex run off of the internal batteries in the camera. And, as others said, if the flash drains the power from the camera's batteries, you're screwed. Run off of NiMH AAs, or check out the external powerpack options.

<p>Trust me, a heavily used flash will drain your camera's lithiums in no time flat.

<p>Jordan R. Urie