johnmarkpainter

I know that W. Eugene Smith developed 35mm Film by inspection with a Green Safelight.

As far as I know, he only ever used Tri-X.

He was also insane and made great prints from Negatives that other people would have thrown away so I wouldn't assume

to be able to do everything the way he did.

jmp

When doing shots like that (which I don't do very often) I use a Hat to cover the lens while opening and closing the shutter.

Works great for photographing Lightning etc...

Remember that you are using up battery power when the shutter is open.

jmp

Check the epson store for refurb deals.

I have bought from them several times and have saved a lot of money there.

jmp

Try both TMax and HP5 in 1+50 Rodinal with minimal agitation.

It it is too flat, increase agitation (the agitation mainly changes the Curve)

Would you start to compensate after you get closer than 1.5 meters?

That is where most of the extension happens....

jmp

I think I have the same WLF. The sides fold down flat?

Just don't slam it down. Mine haven't left any marks at all.

If you REALLY want a nice view....I got a Maxwell screen for mine and it is another order of improvement above the Accute

Matte.

I've had Maxwells on a couple of cameras. NICE

jmp

The drawback of the mamiya 7 is the lack of close focus and the usual bummer of using Telephoto lenses with a

Rangefinder (I am a Leica shooter so I am well aware of the advantages of Rangefinders).

I sold my 'portable' MF cameras and prefer 35mm for that.

For me....

Rolleiflex for quiet low light (I like the Square Format).

Hasselblad for Film backs and I love the look of the Lenses.

Flash Sync at all speeds too

Pentax 67 for the nice big negatives and relatively CHEAP and EXCELLENT Lenses.

Flash Sync is slow unless you have the Leaf Shutter lenses.

The P67 isn't a general carry walking around camera.

With the P67 I can buy an extra Body for less than an additional Hasselblad Back!

jmp

I don't have a TTL prism and haven't yet shot any E6 to test this for myself....

Is there any light loss at the closest focus with the 135 Macro?

There doesn't appear to be any just looking through the finder.

Thanks,

john

Too slow?

The Plane of Focus is REALLY narrow and this shot was at f5.6 or 8.

That is one of the disadvantages of being up close with a Macro lens...very little depth of field.

For closeup work I always try to stay at least f8.

I have an old Nippon Kogaku 135/2.8 for my Nikon system but I am not as close to the subject with that one.

f2.8 is useful on that lens.

Soft...

I took a couple of shots of other things wide open and it is on the soft side but I will just keep that in mind and use it as

a 'feature' sometime :)

Short

I might also get a 200...the late model that focuses closer.

Will get a wide lens first though.

jmp

Do a google for "Pentax 67 Lens Info".

The MIT webpage and the Photoethnography Asahi pages will show up in your search results and are a good start.

This question pops up a lot...

I just picked up a 135mm Macro for $75 so thought it was worth a try.

So far, I don't find it it to be distorted at close range.

It doesn't focus as close as some of my other (35mm format) Macro lenses.

This is a shot at the closest Focus on a four year old.

Basically would give a tight head shot for an adult.

jmp<div></div>

Great info.

Thanks!

jmp

Which Holga? (Holgamod?)

Was it Sunny outside?

If it was cloudy, then you might be right on.

The Holga is supposed to have a shutter speed of 1/100 and an aperture of about f13.

Holgamod cameras are F8 when set to cloudy and F11 when set to Sunny.

The Cloudy/Sunnny Switch doesn't do anything on a standard Holga.

Raymond,

You would be much better served to just find a used Alien Bees light.

Less trouble, more light.

I too have Nikons and also have Large Format cameras.

Your Negative shouldn't be larger than your light source!! :)

jmp

Bear in mind that sometimes you need a BLACK reflection on silver items to give them dimension.

Experiment with both.

I had to shoot lots of shiny reflective microphones for this company: http://www.korbyaudio.com/products-blue.html

I did a totally white box at first but I thought it looked a little flat.

Then I mixed in a black card for some of the shots

What kind of shots were they?

Could you have possibly just had some slight flare?

I've had similar problem with wide lenses as I often shoot low light with side Window lighting.

Cool looking subjects

Fill Flash

Some Desaturation

Sharpening! (Google "Dragan")

Frank,

It can be an expensive hobby, but the Rollie SL66 ROCKS in that department.

It also allows you to reverse mount lenses for Macro.

jmp

You only need film backs if you want to have different rolls available at the same time (B&W, Color...different

speeds...Slide or Neg).

The Pentax 67 is the best quality for the money and the neg size.

You can get started non-metered with standard lens for $200 at www.keh.com.

There are Mamiya 645 systems that are good but 6x7 is such a dramatic quality jump.

Hasselblad is more money ESPECIALLY if you are going to want wide lenses.

I am aware of the size/weight/filter size differences between the early 3.5 and the later f4 versions.

Also that the later version is considered superior technically and that I can get the later version for not much more $$

I am not a technical photog however...

I prefer older Leitz, Nippon Kogaku, Zeiss, Schneider lenses on my other cameras.

That said....

If I prefer old Nippon Kogaku lenses, am I likely to prefer the Takumar (or even Super Takumar) versions on the P67?

I have shot with an SMC 55 3.5 before but didn't have an f4 to compare.

Is there any 'mojo' in the early 55?

jmp