mark_baylin

Hello... great forum!... I've learned a ton here since buying my E-1... I have a couple of questions

concerning the storage of my digital files.

First off, I was wondering if anyone could give a recomendation for a reliable external hard drive for my

Mac (OS 10.4). I've considered the Lacie firewire units, but after doing some research, there have been

some nagging concerns about how rugged these drives are... any experience with these or what you might

consider a better option?

My second question has to do with Delkin Gold DVD's. I am currently giving my clients 3 gold Mitsui Cd-

r's for their wedding photos. I prefer to give the clients the longer lasting Cd's so their wedding images

will last as long as possible. I have to give them 3 because of the 650mb storage capacity of the Cd's. I

noticed recently that Delkin makes a gold DVD which they say lasts for a much longer time period than

standard DVD's. My question is,, does anyone have any experience with these DVD's?... Are they buggy in

certain computers, or drives... Should I stick with the Mitsui?

Thanks for any help!

Take care

Mark

Hi, Just a couple of questions for you Toyo 45 AX users...

1- Can this camera fold up with a lens attached?

2- Does this camera have the ability to set the front rise and the front tilt with independant controls for

each? (having one knob that sets both rise AND tilt on my Zone VI wooden camera drives me nuts!).

3- I'm a contact printer and I wias wondering if anyone has had any complaints about what they see on the

ground glass as opposed to what is recorded onto film. My zone VI camera is way off in this regard with all

my holders (apparently a manufacturing problem)... my old crown graphic camera was dead on wih the

same holders...

Thanks for any help!

Take care

Mark Baylin

Hello,

I just aquired a few (what I thought were) 5x7 inch holders made by Fidelity. While they are marked 5x7 in

very small printing at the very top of the holders, further down below, under the name "Fidelity Deluxe", it

is clearly marked 13x18 cm.

I've already noticed that, although the outer dimensions of the holders seem to match my other 5x7

holders, the inner dimensions are bigger. I've loaded some old processed sheets into these holders and

there is more play side to side than in my normal holders.

I was wondering if someone could shed some history on this type of holder and let me know if they can or

can't be used as normal holders for the 5x7 inch film/camera format. If they can be used, what

disadvantages might there be in using them. If they can't be used for precision work, I will be returning

them ASAP.

Thanks very much for any help!

Take care

Mark Baylin

Hello, I am currenetly using two formulas out of "The Darkroom Cookbook" for developing fiber based

prints (formula #66 - D-72, on page 145... and formula #68 - Agfa G.262, on page 146). Both formulas

mix up to one liter of solution, which I go through pretty fast.

My question is, can I double the amounts of each formulas contents to make twice the amount, so I can

cut down on the amount of times I need to make up each of the developers?

Thanks for any help and happy new year!

Mark Baylin

Hello,

I'm looking for a battery source from Quantum that will allow me to photograph without any waiting for

my flash to recharge. I use the Vivitar 283 in the red (auto mode) with Gary Fong's Lightspere attached to

the flash. I like to keep things at ISO 200 at F/4 or so. The quick recharge time is for wedding photos in

the church as well as at night during the reception. The best alkalines and rechargeable batteries cannot

keep up anymore...

Using the flash as described above, can the Quantum Battery 1+ give me near instant rechage time for

400-600 exposures? Or, do I need to upgrade to the Quantum Turbo to do this job? I'd like to keep the

expence and weight of the unit down, but, if the smaller battery won't do the job, I'll put up with the

expence and weight in order to get the job done properly... I will be using the this equipment every week

throughout the year... I just need to know whether the extra $200 for the turbo is realy worth it?

Thanks very much for any suggestions!!

Take care all

Mark Baylin

... very helpful and interesting... thanks to all for your answers!

Mark

Hi all,

Here's a view camera movement question that I've been finding difficult to get clarification on.

Since I don't do well with diagrams, here's a quick example scene to illustrate my question. Before me is

a landscape photo I wish to take. It contains many trees that I want to keep from leaning. There is a fair

bit of near to far subject relationships.

I set up my view camera (folding wood field) and bring up the back to it's neutral position (it gently

locks into place). I then use the tripods head to adjust the forward and backward pitch of the camera

until the bubble level on the back standard of the camera reads in the middle. I then pop up the front

standard to roughly level. I then use a pocket spirit level on the top of the front standard (the front

standard has none by design) and then use the base tilt (forward and backwards) until the pocket level

resting on the front standard reads in the middle. To the best of my ability, the camera bed is level and

the front and rear standards are also now level, thus parallel to each other.

My question is: with the camera set up this way, can a front tilt (through the base or axis) extend the

zone of sharpness without stopping down? I've tried to experiment by actually doing this, but the

results are difficult to observe while stopping down. The first thing that seems to happen while looking

through the camera wide open, is the top or bottom (can't remember which just thinking about it) of

any vertical object in the foreground of the scene goes way out of focus.

What I do know is when the back and front standards are parallel to each other and the camera is

pointed down into a scene, a front or rear tilt extends the zone of sharpness. The effects of tilting with

the camera pointing down, into the scene can clearly be seen without stopping down the lens, but I'm

having trouble seeing a similar effect when the camera bed and the front/rear standards are all level in

such a situation.

Sorry for the length of this letter... hope the terminology makes sense... Any help here much

appreciated!

Thanks

Mark

Thanks for all your help!!

If memory serves, there's a shot section on bellows flair in Adam's "The Camera" which

describes the problem I was having with my Crown to a tee...

Incidenatlly, what would you all consider a fair ball park price for a used Master Technika

in V.good to Exc condition?

Thanks again!

Mark

I've posted the following question in another thread that sort of got buried... sorry for the repeat here...

My start in large format was a Crown graphic camera... great camera except for the lack of back

movements and one other problem. When I began using the camera, I was using the 135mm Optar... not a

great lens, but fine for contact printing and it certainly taught me alot!.

When I began using lenses that projected a much larger image circle, I started getting a line of extra

density along the edge of my negs... no inner painting with matte black paint would solve the problem.

Both my Nikkor 135mm and Schneider Symmar 210 produced this problem, but never the Optar. The

working theory was that the press camera's bellows were narrow enough to throw some of the light being

projected from the lens back onto the film edge...

I have heard that the standard Linhof technika bellows (on cameras like the Master and Master 2000)

shape is not that much different from the Crown. Have you ever had any of these kind of problems with

the Linhof cameras you've used?

PS- I had tried lens shades with my Crown and newer lenses to no avail... The Zone VI camera I now have

(and want to update to a metal field camera) does not exhibit this problem. It's bellows are much wider

than the Crowns...)

Thanks for any help!!

Take care

Mark

Thanks very much for your post Brian... very helpful! I guess you were able to put up with

the Linhof back system in the end after the Ebony difficulties...

One other question I forgot to ask was concerning the Linhof bellows. My start to large

format was a Crown graphic camera... great camera except for the lack of back

movements and one other problem. When I began using the camera, i was using the

135mm Optar... not a great lens, but fine for contact printing. When I began using lenses

that projected a much larger image circle, I started getting a line of extra density along the

edge of my negs... no inner painting with matte black paint would solve the problem. Both

my Nikkor 135mm and Schneider Symmar 210 produced this problem, but never the

Optar. The working theory was that the press camera's bellows were narrow enough to

throw some of the light being projected from the lens back onto the film edge...

I have heard that the Linhof bellows shape is not that much different from the Crown. Have

you ever had any of these kind of problems with the Linhof cameras you've used?

Thanks!!

Take care

Mark

Thanks to all that have answered my post... the candle wax thing really works!

I have a further question for Brian if he's about...

Concerning the plus's and minus's of both the Ebony and Technica camera systems, which

I know you have extensive experience with (I went up your website and read your excellent

review of the tech V... nice images on your site by the way!!). I was really considering the

technica camera myself, until I read that there's some vigntetting of the image with

210mm lenses and longer... I don't think I would spend that kind of money on a camera

and have part of my already small contact image cut off, even though I think the tech

camera offers me pretty much everything else I would need in a camera. I'd have to try the

technica out to see if the back tilt would bother me or not...

Your latest post to my question suggested that your use of ebony cameras is now in the

past tense... if thats the case, I'm very curious to know which system you've moved on to

and why...

Thanks VERY much for any help!

Take care

Mark Baylin

Hi all... I'm trying to move up from my Zone IV 4x5, and I want the camera I replace it with to be solve

some of the Zone VI's "issues". Since there's little chance I will ever see an Ebony camera in a store around

here (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). I was wondering if any Ebony owners could shed some light on some

questions...

My Zone VI is a decent camera, but is not very precise (as I'm sure many of you already know). The worst

thing about the sample I have, is that the ground glass assembly does not sit in the same place as the film

holder and I must shift the front standard over a small amount so I get on film what I saw on the ground

glass (my old Crown Graphic camera was better set up then the Zone VI camera I now own). I'm a 4x5

contact printer, so this issure is important to me...

So, here's a few questions...

Do you find your Ebony records 100%, or close to 100% of what you see on the GG to film?

I've seen some photos of larger Ebony ground glasses (on their 8x10 models) that are cut off on their

corners. Are the 4x5 models made like this?? (SV45U)... I really prefer the GG to not be cut off...

The wood channels on my Zone VI's focusing system are very dry. This makes focusing very rough,

especially fully extended... How does the focusing feel on the Ebony? (can you recommend a lubricant to

cure this problem with the Zone VI?)

And finally, can you set the front rise controls independantly from the front tilt controls?

Thanks for any help!!

Take care

Mark

Thanks for your responses so far!

I just took the lens out for a test drive... some interesting things happened...

I took the front cell off and mounted the lens on my zone vi 4x5 and extended the bellows

as far as it could go. I then pointed the camera far out over the water at the hoizon. No

matter what i did, I could not get the distant horizon in focus... even with the camera's

bellows racked out to over 19 inches! Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a 420mm

lens focus at infinity somewhere in the 16-17 inch range?

The next thing I did is mount my 210mm lens and focused it at the same distance.

measuring the front and rear standard, it read a little bit past 8 inches... right on. I then

re-mounted the 240/420 lens with both cells attached and focused it at the same

subject... the bellows measured 240mm's... right on the money...

I then wated to make a reference of a building on my ground glass with my 210 lens... I

placed and memorized the top and bottom of the building against lined etched on my

ground glass. I then mounted the 240/420 lens WITHOUT the rear cell, and voila, the

building was easily twice as big on the ground glass as it was for the 210 lens...

It looks as though I cannot use this lens on my camera with the rear cell only, even at

almost 20 inches of extension. But, I can get the 420mm focal length with the front cell

only, even though the camera is only extended about 12 inches... go figure!

I guess the last thing to figure out is whether the 420mm F# scale on the lens will work if I

use the lens with the front element only...

Thanks all!

Mark

Hi all!

Just picked up a rather nice Schneider 240/420 conv. lens and have a question or two...

I've looked elsewhere on photo.net and learned a great deal about this lens. I now realise

that I must remove the front element to be able to use the 420mm focal length and the

alternate F number scale on the barrel of the lens, as well as checking for focus shift.

However, I have tried the lens with only the front element and it does give an image

seemingly somewhere in between the 240mm and 420mm focal lengths.

Does anyone know approx what focal length this lens gives when you remove the rear

group AND how would one use the F scale when using the lens in this manner?

Thanks very much for any help!

Mark Baylin

Hi all!

I'm planning on making some panoramas with my Olympus E-1. I can afford to buy one of

the Manfrotto levelling bases and I was wondering if anyone out there has had any

experience with them...

They seem to have a levelling base with 3 "wheels" that you adjust to get the tripod head

to level (in 5 degree increments) and they also have another base which you manually

adjust for level by unlocking a lever, moving the base (which pivots on a small ball

beneath it) and relocking the lever when you've achieved level (by looking at a spirit level

mounted on the levelling base itself).

If anyone has any experience with either of these bases, i would really appreciate your

input as to how well they work.

Thanks very much!

Take care

Mark

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows a supplier in Canada who carries Matsui Archival Gold

Cd-r's? I live in Ottawa, Ontario... the closer the better, but I'll be grateful if someone can let

me know of a supplier anywhere in Canada I can order from...

Thanks very much for any help!

Take care

Mark

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced the following... I was out photographing

with my E-1 and after about 10 SHQ photos (in aperture priourity) the camera completely

froze up. The settings on the outside LCD screen froze as well, and no other pushing of

any buttons would reset the camera. In fact, even turning the camera off didn't solve the

problem, the display still stayed on the screen even when the camera was off!... I finally

managed to reset the camera by removing and reinstalling the battery and the camera

worked for the rest of the time I was outside (another 45 minutes on a cold, but not

freezing, winter day... ie, I didn't need gloves to shoot). This is the second time this

problem has occured, except the first time, the camera could be reset by simply turning it

off and on again.

The first time it happened, the camera was with firmware 1.0, the second and more severe

time, version 1.4. The camera was bought new and is only a month old. It's never done

this inside, only outside... I only have one cf card and it's a sandisc ultra II... I'm using the

camera with a 14-54 and it never comes off...

As I have another 3 months to get used to this camera before using it for commercial

work, I would greatly appreciate any comments!

Thanks very much!

Mark

Hi, my name is Mark Baylin. I just bought an E-1 recently... So Far, I love the camera. I

think it's the best engineered body and lens that I have ever owned (I've been shooting for

over 25 years!). I have a couple of questions about it's performance.

1- Am I correct in saying that it's pretty much a must to set in-camera sharpness higher

than "0". The SHQ images I've been making at factory settings seem very soft. (I'm using

SHQ because I'm intending to use the camera for wedding photography and need the

speed and storage capacity of JPG's).

2 - I purchased the camera this past Sat. and charged the battery (it had no charge in it

out of the box). I charged it for 2 hours (as per the manual) and the green light was on

when I took it out to put it into the camera. I used it for MOST of the rest of the day AND

the next day (sunday). I probably spent more time going through the various menu

options than actually taking photos. In the end, I only shot about 60 photos or so.

The next morning (monday), the battery was exhausted. I've heard that this battery is very

powerful and would last for much longer than this. It's true, I spent some time going

through the menus, but I didn't let the camera sit in the menu mode all day. My question

is, should I be concerned about the battery I got with the camera? I know I will get a spare

when I start shooting weddings, but a 60 shot capacity combined with a few histogram

checks will not cut it during a 9 hour wedding day...

Thanks for any help or advice in this matter!

Take care

Mark

Hi there, my name is Mark Baylin

I'm in the market for a good 75mm lens for my 4x5 camera and I

was wondering if anyone out there has had any experience

photographing with the Fuji 75mm F/8 SW lens. Info on Fuji

lenses seem hard to find (especially on this particular model). I

would be interested in how this lens measures up to similar

types from Schneider, Nikon and the like...?

Thanks for any and all opinions!!... greatly appreciated!

Take care all!

Mark

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any direct experience with the

Gorez 16.5" F/9 Red Dot Artar for use with the 8x10 format? Does

this lens cover the format comfortably in your experience?...

sharp right to the corners...? I'm used to a 250 Wide Field Ektar

and I've never been able to find the limit for this lenses

coverage... I would love to find a longer lens that would perform

the same.

Also, any experiences with your favourite lens in the 16-18" inch

range (for 8x10) would be great;y appreciated!

Thanks for your help!

Mark Baylin

Thanks Michael...

The reason I asked is that I'm getting alot of conflicting data on

whether the lens will cover or not. Some folks are saying yes,

some no...

What lenses would you suggest that would cover the 12x20

format (new or old). The camera that I will be using has 23

inches of bellows draw and I'll be using this lens on it's own for a

while...

Thanks very much for your time (as always!).

Take care

mark

Hi, my name is Mark Baylin

I was wondering if anyone knows whether the 16.5 inch F/9.5

Goerz Red Dot Artar will cover the 12x20 film format? If so, does

it cover with "room to spare" or will it just barely cover?

Thanks very much for any help!!

Mark