john_shaeffer1

Here is a response from B&H on what will happen with the mailers that previously went to Fair Lawn:

 

All mailers will be forwarded by the post office to the proper

remaining labs.

you may expeerience a day or 2 delay due to this

 

 

Date sent: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:58:06 -0400

To: Yehuda Goldstein

<yehudag@bhphotovideo.com>

From: "John Shaeffer" <jshaeffer@bgcgw.org> (by

way of Henry Posner <henryp@bhphotovideo.com>)

Subject: Closing of Fair Lawn Plant and Impact on

Mailers

 

> Does the closing of the Fair Lawn NJ plant in late August mean that

> Kodak will no longer develop film sent in Kodak mailers that B&H

> sells?

>

> Thank you,

> John

>

>

>

 

Thank You

Yehuda Goldstein

B&H Photo Video Inc.

420 9th Ave.

New York N.Y.10001

Tel.212 239-7500 Ext.2618

fax 212 239-7501

"Can We Use the Smallest Aperture to Yield Greater Depth of Field?

Unfortunately, the answer is "no." As the light rays passing the lens tube and the diaphragm, some may be diffracted ... If the diaphragm is large (i.e., a large aperture), because the proportion of the diffracted light and the non-diffracted light is so small and is negligible, diffraction does not contribute to the loss-of-quality very much. However, when the diaphragm is small (i.e., a small aperture), the amount of light that can pass through the diaphragm is reduced and hence the proportion of the diffracted and non-diffracted light becomes significant. As a result, the quality of the image is also reduced. Therefore, closing the diaphragm (i.e., using small apertures) all the way down to the smallest aperture may not increase the quality of an image. In general, the quality of a lens increases as diaphragm closes down. This improvement will reach certain point. After this, quality goes down because of the impact of diffraction."

 

I found the above explanation on the net--a good test of this is trying a macro lens, stopped down to very small apertures. It usually doesn't work well.

What will the below mean for cheap ebay mailers and mailers that we

buy at B&H? As I recall the mailers are preprinted with the Fair

Lawn address on them now:

 

Battered by changing consumer demands and the digital age, Kodak is

closing its 50-year-old film development laboratory in Fair Lawn.

 

About 220 people, most of them blue-collar workers, will lose their

jobs at the lab, most at the end of August, said company spokesman

Charles Smith.

 

The Fair Lawn site is one of nine across the country whose closing

was announced in recent weeks by the Rochester, N.Y.-based company.

Other closings in Montana, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Indiana,

and Nebraska will bring the total of lost jobs to about 1,000, Smith

said. The move will cut the number of Kodak-owned processing labs in

the United States from 22 to 13, Smith said.

 

The closing of the Fair Lawn lab marks the end of the road for a

business that charted the changing trends in photography. The lab was

opened in 1954 to process movie film shot in New York, and then

shifted to still photography in the late 1950s and early 1960s as

color photography gained mainstream popularity, he said.

 

Now, it has fallen victim to another consumer trend.

 

"Film is in decline," Smith said. "More and more people are using

digital cameras."

 

That decline has cut the demand for film processing, he said. And the

advance of kiosk printing technology means that consumers can get

their photos printed in the store, rather than send them to the

laboratory, he said.

 

The volume of film processed by Kodak in recent years has dropped 12

percent to 14 percent a year the past few years, he said.

 

In Fair Lawn, the laboratory - which is run by Qualex, Kodak's

photofinishing division, operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to

give maximum customer service, Smith said. The bulk of its business

comes from consumers who drop their film at retail outlets, where

Kodak picks it up, processes it, and then drops it back at the outlet

within 24 hours, he said.

 

The closings will change that level of service, Smith said, in that

the company will now offer only a two-day turnaround. But he said

that only 30 percent of consumers return to get their pictures within

24 hours.

 

Fair Lawn Mayor David Ganz, who said he learned of the planned

closing this week, called it a big loss for the borough. Though the

number of jobs at Kodak is not close to the approximately 800 who

work at the borough's biggest employer, Nabisco, the laboratory

closure is still a blow to the area, he said.

 

The workers spend money in area restaurants, stores, dry cleaners,

and other small businesses, Ganz said. The eight-acre property,

assessed at $4.3 million, generated $145,000 in taxes in 2003, he

said.

 

"Any time a plant closes down of virtually any size it has a

significant impact on the local community," he said.

 

Indeed, Nabisco in spring 2003 cut 100 jobs at its plant when the

production of Fig Newtons was moved to Mexico.

 

Don Franz, an editor at Photofinishing News, said the closings are

the latest sign of Kodak trying to "rein in its losses."

 

"Kodak for years was all things to all people in the photography

industry," he said.

 

"This is a recognition that it can't continue to fulfill that role.

And since the Qualex group hasn't made any money in the last few

years, it's probably a cost-containment step rather than the decline

of the overall company."

Jeffrey: Thanks for posting the link--I have copied the article below. No more cheap mailers on ebay, I guess! I wonder if they are going to still honor them?

 

 

Battered by changing consumer demands and the digital age, Kodak is closing its 50-year-old film development laboratory in Fair Lawn.

 

About 220 people, most of them blue-collar workers, will lose their jobs at the lab, most at the end of August, said company spokesman Charles Smith.

 

The Fair Lawn site is one of nine across the country whose closing was announced in recent weeks by the Rochester, N.Y.-based company. Other closings in Montana, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Indiana, and Nebraska will bring the total of lost jobs to about 1,000, Smith said. The move will cut the number of Kodak-owned processing labs in the United States from 22 to 13, Smith said.

 

The closing of the Fair Lawn lab marks the end of the road for a business that charted the changing trends in photography. The lab was opened in 1954 to process movie film shot in New York, and then shifted to still photography in the late 1950s and early 1960s as color photography gained mainstream popularity, he said.

 

Now, it has fallen victim to another consumer trend.

 

"Film is in decline," Smith said. "More and more people are using digital cameras."

 

That decline has cut the demand for film processing, he said. And the advance of kiosk printing technology means that consumers can get their photos printed in the store, rather than send them to the laboratory, he said.

 

The volume of film processed by Kodak in recent years has dropped 12 percent to 14 percent a year the past few years, he said.

 

In Fair Lawn, the laboratory - which is run by Qualex, Kodak's photofinishing division, operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to give maximum customer service, Smith said. The bulk of its business comes from consumers who drop their film at retail outlets, where Kodak picks it up, processes it, and then drops it back at the outlet within 24 hours, he said.

 

The closings will change that level of service, Smith said, in that the company will now offer only a two-day turnaround. But he said that only 30 percent of consumers return to get their pictures within 24 hours.

 

Fair Lawn Mayor David Ganz, who said he learned of the planned closing this week, called it a big loss for the borough. Though the number of jobs at Kodak is not close to the approximately 800 who work at the borough's biggest employer, Nabisco, the laboratory closure is still a blow to the area, he said.

 

The workers spend money in area restaurants, stores, dry cleaners, and other small businesses, Ganz said. The eight-acre property, assessed at $4.3 million, generated $145,000 in taxes in 2003, he said.

 

"Any time a plant closes down of virtually any size it has a significant impact on the local community," he said.

 

Indeed, Nabisco in spring 2003 cut 100 jobs at its plant when the production of Fig Newtons was moved to Mexico.

 

Don Franz, an editor at Photofinishing News, said the closings are the latest sign of Kodak trying to "rein in its losses."

 

"Kodak for years was all things to all people in the photography industry," he said.

 

"This is a recognition that it can't continue to fulfill that role. And since the Qualex group hasn't made any money in the last few years, it's probably a cost-containment step rather than the decline of the overall company."

F8 is often the optimal setting for lens sharpness and in normal outdoor conditions allows wide depth of field (meaning most things will be in focus) for a standard to wide angle lens. On many of the old Zeiss cameras the aperture setting of 8 was in red, so if you set your camera that way you were pretty certain that you would get a decent shot, as long as your shutter speed allowed you to use the camera at 1/30th of a second or faster, to avoid camera shake. Remember a lot of the old cameras were zone focusers, so there was an element of guess work anyway.

 

Ya gotta be there for the shot, or none of the above will matter :).

Thanks!

ended up getting this:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3825708582

Frank-looks like that is the best option--an SL35M went for $25 last week. That's scary in a way. I feel pretty good about getting two years use out of mine, actually.

 

Mike--now that you mention it--the roughness of the advance could have been caused by deterioration or misalignment of the plastic gears. I am not a camera expert, but I seem to remember that most of the Rollieflex SLRs that offered open aperture metering were made in Singapore--they had an SL 350 model (or something like that) that was made in Germany and was open metering just before production was moved to Singapore. The original SL 35 (made in Germany) had a stop down button on the top near the advance lever and I imagine worked pretty much like the Praktica L series--you just push it to stop down while you are metering. On the later models, there is a button down about five o'clock, near the lens where you can stop down the older lenses that don't have the pin needed for open metering.

 

I think Rollei made most of the Planar f1.8 HFT lenses in Singapore--that may be the only ones they made there for the SLRs. I have always thought that by using the SLR Rollei I have been getting the sharpness of the Rollei 35 Sonnar HFT lens, on the cheap--well not quite as cheap anymore I suppose--but the prices of the little Rolleis are just a bit too much for me to rationalize :).

 

Thanks, guys!

I got a Rolleiflex SL35M from Certo 6 on ebay about 2 years ago for

less than $100. The film advance has always been a bit rough while

I've been using it. Then last winter the shutter started hanging up

in cold weather. In warmer weather it seemed fine until the last

couple of days when it jammed for good. I had read someplace that

Rollei used teflon to coat the parts and didn't use a lot of

lubricants. I'm not sure about that--all I know is its jammed and

I'm not going to attempt to fix it myself because of mechanical

disability :).

 

 

 

I checked the Essex Camera Repair website and the estimated price to

fix it would be $120--so it would be roughly $135-$140 including

postage both ways. I am not really into the system as the only

Rollei QBM lens I have is the standard Planar HFT lens. The thing

that troubles me, is that this is such a good lens on its own, I'd

like to have the option to use it, but don't really want to spend

$140 for the privilege.

 

I like the open aperture metering that the SL35M provided and the

focusing screen on this camera is about the easiest I've found to use

on any manual SLR. Appearance-wise it ain't the prettiest camera ever

made and not too light either. I'm checking out ebay and see Ms and

MEs coming up pretty regularly--anybody have any thoughts on other

options or have one sitting around you aren't using anymore, that is

fully working?

I use Kodak and A&I for most of my C41 processing via mailers. If I want something scanned I send film to Mpix.com. Something like $3.95 for 24 exp and $5.95 for 36 exp. The downside is to get your negatives back you have to pay shipping. I usually get proof prints so the shipping is not a big issue. You might want to ask if you have the option not to get the negs back.

My guess would be Sun Optical that made lenses that were branded as Spiratone in the US. I have a Sun MD lens that has a circular zoom--not the push pull type that are so prevalent. My experience with the Sun 28-80 that I have has been good--it is large by today's standards--the size is probably the same as a 28-200 modern zoom. I paid $30 (US) for mine in new condition and for that money you can't beat it. If you are interested let me know, as I am getting rid of my Minolta stuff as I just don't have time to use it anymore.

There seem to be lots of galleries, but I don't have time to pick any and am sent to just one gallery. The pics that I can see are good though!

Richard--I've looked at a lot of the photos you've posted with Olympus fixed lens rangefinders, etc. Frankly I think you'd be wasting your money on Leicas, but it is your money!

 

Since you use Olympus cameras--have you ever tried a film ZLR made by them? Great cameras but the antithesis of Leica :). Hell of a lot cheaper, though :).

I highly recommend Mpix.com for this. You can look at your scans from negatives on line and see how they will look in color, b&w and sepia and then order whatever you need. They are great for getting the same service from digital scans. In fact you can chose to have your prints on conventional or metallic paper, which is pretty cool.

There are lots of old P&S autofocus cameras from the early 80's that are fantastic bargains in this digital age. Canon MC, Canon Sureshot, Ricoh FF90 are a few of my favorites. Can probably be found for about the same price as the Chinon.

I have a great deal of expired 400 speed film in the fridge that I use regularly, with no problems. Most is within 2 years of the use by date (10/02, 11/02). This is Mitsubishi MX-II (rebranded Konica) and have noticed no problems with it. In fact I bought it because I liked the film more than the latest MX-III version.

 

I also use a good deal of expired Kodak Gold 100 film. I don't bother putting this in the frige because it will keep well past the use by date, in my experience.

 

How much cheaper is the Super G 800 compared to the current Fuji Press or Superia 800? At that higher speed, considering the age and the fact that you don't know how it was stored, I'd be inclined to go with newer film.

Might be somewhat underexposed.

http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member.tcl?user_id=158139

 

Check with the photo neter above--but my guess is that that the wire is loose for the spot meter or the meter sensor is shot.

Well, just a few thoughts--wonder if the lens on the camera is an SX lens? As you probably figured out you have to pull the film advance out a bit to activate the meter. There is a switch for using the average or spot meter. Set it on spot meter, activate the meter by pulling out the film advance, then push in the film advance toward the camera as far as it will go, to stop down the lens while you are taking the spot reading. This should work on any lens that can be set to automatic. I would try it with another lens other than the lens that is on the camera now, to make sure that isn't the problem.

 

The great thing about the SX cameras is the spot metering--so if that doesn't work, it really doesn't give you any advantages over any other M42 mount camera. Remember that doing it the way I say will work with any M42 mount lens, although the literature that comes with the camera doesn't tell you that.

Mitsubishi or Konica print film.

http://www.pacificrimcamera.com/buy/kardon/kardon.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15234&item=3817005315&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Look for Agfa Vista film. That is what the Prestige film was just before Mystic got sold down the river to District/Clark. Before that the Mystic film was Agfa HDC.

I'd go with color negative film. I would go to B&H Photo and purchase some mailers from A&I for both slide film and color prints and see if your results improve, especially with the slides.

 

As for Perfect Touch, I've had mixed results. Highly saturated prints are the order of the day with PT, and you don't just get it with HD 400. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. A&I processes prints that look a bit more natural to me, but it is all very subjective.

Though a bit more scarce than the choices you mentioned, I would steer toward a Zorki 6. It has a hinged opening back, a rewind button that is not the blasted collar around the shutter release, and is easier to focus than the other Leica screwmounts. It also has a nice diopter built on the camera near the rewind knob.

 

I really like the Industar f3.5 standard lens, made in 1993, that I took off a Fed 5 of lesser quality than the Zorki 6. Incredibly sharp results.

 

The Zorki 6 has the wide focusing base similar to the Kiev 4am, but is not as big and you will not feel like you are carrying a boat anchor around with you, like you will with the Kiev.

 

From the names you named of the Japanese cameras that you now have, I would say that the Zorki 6 is a bit smaller than the Konica S2, uses smaller lenses and doesn't have a meter built into it like the S2. When do you have time to use all of those cameras, by the way?