colin_lee3

I've also had scratches from using printfile sleeves, though it's admittedly my own fault. I seem to have a problem with dust being attracted to the prinfile sleeve by static. When it gets inside the sleeve, it scratches the negative when I slide them in and out. I never squeegee my negatives and always use photoflo, and the scratches always appeared after putting them in a sleeve.

Any suggestions on keeping dust away? Or am I somehow not using the sleeves properly?

Colin Lee

I think a Nikon F2 would be a great choice (depending on the cost, of course). There is so much good, used equipment out there, I feel like a kid in a candy store... . Prime lenses would be my first choice, though zooms are tempting just for convenience.

Another question would be, what kind of prints are you planning to make? Besides the technical issues of how to use a camera, there is the question of how you plan to output the final images.

If you have easy access to a local club or college darkroom, then a film SLR is a great start, since black and white film would give you a real experience in learning exposure, film developing, and printing.

On the other hand, if you don't have that kind of access, a digital camera can give you the flexibility of a darkroom at home (assuming you have a computer with image editing software).

The electrical standard in China is varied, as you might guess. However, there doesn't seem to be any kind of way to predict the electricity available to you.

While I was in Jinan for a week, we stayed in a hotel which converted the power from the countries 220V standard to 120V inside the hotel rooms. Of course, we didn't know that and somebody plugged in a transformer/converter to adapt the power for their charger and tripped the circuit breaker in the room. So the electricity there was fine, just the plug shape was incorrect. Later in the trip, we found the other scenario, with 220V as well as the different plug type. So the moral of the story was to bring both plug shape adapters, as well as converters/transformers.

I found a website which describes some of this:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

and gives a good travel tip. Check the lightbulbs in the room. It should have the voltage stamped on it.

If you need to buy batteries in China, it shouldn't be a problem to find. They've fully embraced digital cameras, as well as cell phones.

I saw a thread on this awhile back on apug.org:

http://www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13375

I hope it helps.

Where did you buy the XT from? If it's only been a couple of weeks, then you've likely got some recourse in going back to the retailer for another unit since this one is a lemon.

If you bought it second hand, you've got problems.

I was only there for a week in June, and couldn't spend alot of time at the tourist spots, so your experience may be different than mine.

The usual spots such as the Forbidden City and Tian An Men square are readily accessible, though I find the massive crowds to be a hindrance for nice, wide shots of the buildings. I found my 28mm lens often wasn't wide enough when trying to shoot in the smaller courtyards.

I also stopped by the Great Wall at Badaling. We got to the site at 6am sharp, and beat the crowds. Unfortunately, the morning was drizzling, and very foggy, so some of the sections of the Wall on the horizon were obscured. The crowds showed up by 6:30am, and poured down the wall like a slow stream.

I hope this helps.

I use this lens on an Elan 7N. For the price, I can't complain. I don't see any light fall off at 28mm. I also tend to stop down, so I haven't had any problems with sharpness either.

Colin

I guess the important question here is: Have you ever driven on icy highways before? How reliable is your car? Gerald is correct; get your car winter-worthy before you head up here. Also, what kind of tires are you driving on? Summer tires won't do you the slightest good up here. Tire chains are a rarity; never see people using them. Make sure you have things like a shovel (useful for digging yourself out when stuck) and windshield scraper for ice. Hwy 75 should be quite driveable, just don't rush yourself. I have friends who drive to Winnipeg from Calgary every Xmas and don't have any problems. But pay attention to the weather reports for icy highways and road closures.

I'd personally take Jason's advice and go to Victoria. While the drive from Manitoba to Alberta (ie: the prairies) is flat and boring, the rockies are spectacular. Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, are all gorgeous. Since you're driving and weight won't be a serious consideration, bring a tripod. The Drumheller region was my favorite stop on the family vacations to Vancouver, since I loved dinosaurs when I was a kid. I've never seen it in the winter, though.

I noted an interesting experience with street photography in China. It seems to be a North American (I've never been to Europe) "shyness" when it comes to getting pictures taken. I'm not certain if it stems from a feeling of inadequacey of our body image (it's all the media's fault!) or if we're fearful of what the images may be used for, but regardless, people shy away from cameras. I notice that children shy away less than adults, so I assume it's a learned response.

On the other hand, when I was in China, people seemed to love having their pictures taken, the adults more so than the children. People would literally jump into photo opportunites.

Just being polite, and presenting yourself well to the subjects in question will generate success all on its own. There will always be people who don't want to have their photos taken. But we've all missed enough potential photos in our lives to live with another one, haven't we? The only problem with asking permission, is that you lose the spontaneity of the moment. I wonder if Henri Cartier Bresson ever asked anybody before taking a photo?

I was in China for the first time earlier this summer. It was quite the experience.

Of the places you are going to, I was only in Beijing. We went a bit off the beaten path, and ended up spending most of our time in Jinan, He Ze, Qu Fu, and Liaocheng (sp?). These are my impressions:

I was very surprised by the amount of pollution in Beijing, and the haze did show itself in my photos. I should have had a filter....

We visited the section of the Great Wall at Badaling early in the morning (6am) and found it very dim at that hour, plus we still had the morning fog covering the tops of the hills. It made for slightly slow shutter speeds. The advantage of going to these sights at an early hour, is you can take photos without hordes of people passing in front of your camera. Needless to say, "Bring a wide angle lens!".

The Forbidden City is another sight, along with Tian An Men Square in Beijing. I found my 28mm lens not wide enough for some shots, depending on the size of the courtyard you happen to be in at the moment. People walking in front of my camera was my biggest problem.

I wouldn't risk buying film in China at any tourist attraction. Surprisingly, many chinese now have digital cameras. I don't recall seeing anybody actually buy film from a vendor at an attraction, which is a good thing. The film largely sits outside, at high temperatures (30+ C) for weeks on end. Strangely, ISO 400 film was hard to come by. I brought my own film with me. Vancouver airport's security didn't have a problem doing a hand check on my film when I departed, nor did the Chinese security when I left. However, don't try to bring any alcohol back in your carry-on. It's considered a flammable liquid, and the Chinese airlines won't allow it. They actually open all bottles and smell them to verify.

If you want to shop at a North American type of store, go to the Friendship Store or the area called Wang Fu Jing. Some stores will still let you bargain. But if you're looking for camera equipment, you're probably out of luck. From what I saw of camera stores in Wang Fu Jing, you're basically paying North American prices.

Alot more fun, was the Silk Market Road. Everything can be bargained (and it's expected) but nothing is of really high quality. Still, it's alot of fun just bargaining with them. All of the street vendors speak enough english to chat with them.

My favorite thing about China? The food. And more food. And then some more. Beijing of course being more expensive than smaller, less traveled cities. It was a bit disconcerting to see "Dog meat" followed by "Dog meat with sauce" on a menu.

I hope this helps,

Colin Lee

I've only shopped at B&H, and unfortunately, I went the UPS route and got charged a ridiculous $80 brokerage fee. I still saved money in the end, but was much less than expected.

I've seen all the posts regarding USPS, but do companies provide a way to track the packages? That was why I went the courier route to begin with.

As far as used equipment, I believe KEH ships internationally, and has a good reputation for used equipment.

Thanks Lee! I'll give it a shot. It certainly isn't an overly large investment to try.

Colin

Does anybody have any experience with the Giotto MT series tripods,

which they can offer some insights into? I was looking for an

aluminum tripod, and came across an adverisement for their tripods,

showing their versatility. They look pretty flexible (as far as

adapting to many needs) but I haven't a clue as to their

construction and quality over the long haul. But based solely on

design, does it compare favorably with the Gitzo G2220 Explorer

series?

Thanks in advance,

Colin

Can you pull out a bit of the leader from the cassette? I seem to remember that they don't look identical (different color).

Colin

I went through this earlier this year. I ended up buying an Elan 7N, more for having an autofocus camera than any other reason. I still shoot my AE1 Program, though. For some reason it relaxes me.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the EOS 33 or N80, and since you're planning to buy lenses available for both mounts, cost is the same. An option may be the new replacement to the Rebel Ti announced yesterday?

www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/pressrelease/20040819_eosrebelt2.html

If you're going mountaineering, how's the weather? Batteries don't do so good when frozen. I live in Winnipeg, and it sucks when your batteries are ice cubes. Older, used cameras have metal bodies, and are a bit smaller than the ones you suggested. Perhaps a fully manual camera might suit the mountain climate.

Just a couple of suggestions.

Good luck,

Colin

Just a quick clarification:

Did you mean sodium carbonate (as it the title of the post) or sodium bicarbonate (which is baking soda)?

Colin

I just left Beijing a couple of weeks ago, and found their security to be quite reasonable. However, they have one practice which is may be quite problematic for you.

When you get your carry on luggage x-rayed, they specifically look for bottle/containers of any kind, and open them all and take a smell. I presume they are looking for flammable liquids of some kind. In the case of darkroom chemicals, I don't know if they would let them on or not. They don't smell like hydrocarbons which are commonly found, but they sure aren't run of the mill things like water, juice, and sodapop. They would most likely err on the side of caution and stop them from being carried onto the plane. Better put your stuff into checked baggage.

The strange thing, is they will stop you from carrying alchohol through the x-ray check point, but you can purchase duty free liquor in the shops immediately afterward...

Colin

I also gave up on digital, though that had less to do with its abilities versus film, and more to do with cost/performance ratio in the short term. I had a Sony F717 for awhile, but found it too unresponsive compared to a film SLR at one third the price. Still saving for the DSLR... When I need a P&S digital camera, I borrow one from a friend.

Strangely, all my friends who have gone digital have the same problem. Nobody gets their files printed. They're all stored on CD's in a nice box somewhere. Nobody ever sees them.

I recently came back from China, where I had a chance to get together with a group of people to reflect on the loss of somebody important to us, and somebody pulled out an envelope of old photos dating back as far as the 1950's. Never mind the photos are all brown, faded, poorly composed, and even stained. Every single photo was precious to us. As I see it, digital will inflict loss upon us in the coming decades without us ever knowing it, as photo albums and scrap books become things of the past and memories slip away. Let's face facts: the majority of people aren't going to browse CD's of pictures the way they look through photoalbums. For that reason, one friend went back to her SLR to force her to get prints made.

Still clinging to film, but praying for a cheaper, easier way to get digital prints without spending time in photoshop.

Colin

I don't think I paid duty on anything photography related, but PST is supposed to be collected somewhere....

I bought an EOS mount Tamron 28-75 f2.8 with a box of Fuji NPH from B&H, shipped by UPS to Canada. Great savings buying from the USA, but had to pay the brokerage fee of ~$80 Cdn. Beware UPS. I think Fedex might be cheaper in the long run, even though Fedex shipping is initially higher. I've had nothing but excessive brokerage fees from UPS.

Colin

I have to agree with the above statements about not re-using/replenishing film developers. We've had a few mishaps at our univeristy with somebody who screws up the film developer, and then puts it back in the bottle to hide the fact. Unfortunately, there isn't any way to recover the negatives, and some rolls of film are rather important (projects for fine arts students, weddings, etc.).

But the problem is keeping the stock concentrate available for general use. As a graduate student in chemistry, I can tell you right now, that somebody will screw up the stock bottle sooner or later (usually sooner). So you're going to need to aliquot out the stock into smaller portions and make it available in small doses. Liquid concentrates will be your best friend.

You'll need to weigh the membership fees versus the maintenance costs of the darkroom after the first year. At our university, the membership is only 45 people @ $20 per person per year. However, there are only 10 very regular users. Most people pay their fees, use the dark room twice, and never come back. Don't forget to include things like enlarger bulbs in the budget (people will leave enlargers on overnight).

A few members (myself included) bring our own chemicals since we hate relying on luck with regards to the freshness of chemicals, and we like to try different products. Thankfully, we have some lockers available for regular users which saves us from carrying a rubbermaid tote full of stuff every time.

We also sell film to the members from bulk loaders. HP5+ and FP4 are very forgiving, so alot of people like them. We sell it for minimal profit, but that is just to encourage more shooting and interest. Another idea would be to have a display board for the members to show off their work. At our university, that in itself generates more interest in the photoclub than anything else.

I hope this perspective helps.

Colin

A simple, cheap, and temporary solution is to just wrap the bottle in aluminum foil, and a bit of tape. It won't stand up to much abuse, but is always available when no brown bottles are around, and you're in a bind.

Colin

I'm pretty sure the problem is the batch of Rodinal, since we shared everything else (stop bath, fixer) as well as the water from the tap. Winnipeg tap water is very good, and relatively low in minerals as we draw it up from a lake in the area. The 400TX was split from the same cassette, so that was consistent as well. I may need to add this to my list of unsolved mysteries, and just go buy another bottle. I'll keep the old bottle, and experiment in my spare time.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Colin

I know there was a recent post on a Rodinal and the appearance of a

base fog when using 400TX, but I have the same problem, and I think

I have it isolated to the Rodinal, but I still can't understand why?

I developed my 400TX in Rodinal 1:25 and got a base fog, but

initially assumed it wasn't adequately fixed. Re-fixing didn't

help, so I was stumped.

My next roll of 400TX was split onto two different reels, and

developed with two different bottles of Rodinal (my friend had a

bottle from about 10 years ago kicking around). I was shocked when

my bottle of Rodinal gave the same base fog, but the ancient bottle

yielded negatives which were perfectly fine.

I had purchased the Rodinal back in December. I looked back through

my negatives, and found some 400TX developed in Rodinal from 3

months prior, and they look fine.

Any idea what could have happened to my Rodinal in 3 months?

Colin

Thanks a bunch guys! I'll try to find a store with one to try first. It sounds a bit light...

Just as an aside, I had a machinist make up a metal bar to mount on the underside of my Elan for weight to dampen vibration. The thing weighs a couple of pounds, and feels like a boat anchor around my neck. However, it does do the job dampening hand shake as well as give the user a nice workout.

Colin