cdewen

If you can adequately control (i.e., duplicate) the exposure conditions, this might be of use:

 

http://imatest.com/

You'll have to review features to see if they match your requirements: for photos I use Photo Mechanic from http://www.camerabits.com/ for most ordinary file renaming, I use THE Rename from http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1

 

Good luck!

Kelly:

 

You're a treasure. The old Garmin GPS III+ does show UTM. I had wondered how I was going to convert coordinates into distances, but I figured when the time came, I could just ask Nat Bowditch (*), and he'd tell me everything. Thanks.

 

(*) Nathaniel Bowditch, author of The American Pratical Navigator

Well, this has been an excellent thread - one for which I search the archives in vain some time ago. It's good to have all this knowledge in one place for the future.

 

A couple small points:

 

As I mentioned, I measure the distance between reference points by scanning the negative, then using the Info window in PhotoShop. I always wondered how accurate that was. I just plopped a machinist's dial caliper onto the Epson 2450 and scanned it. The PhotoShop measurement agreed with the caliper down to the thousandth of an inch.

 

In selecting horizon reference points, I wondered how necessary it was to have them perfectly equidistant from the center of the negative. I experimented by comparing different reference points at various distances from the center. I found that the resulting calculations varied by only a few hundredths of a millimeter - a meaningless level of accuracy.

 

Now, if only those folks across the lake will let me climb the cupola of their boathouse (a favorite reference point) with my GPS receiver.....

This is a somewhat less practical method for most, but I thought I'd add it for the record. Alan Greene describes it in detail in his book, "Primitive Photography" (ISBN: 0240804619 ), and notes that it is from a text by Grubb.

 

Focus on a distant horizon, and note an object to the far right and one to the far left of center. The objects should be equidistant from the center. Determine the angle of view between the two objects from the camera position. Measure the distance between the objects on the groundglass. Now try and remember your trigonometry: the angle from the lens to the two distant objects is equal to the angle from the lens to the objects on the groundglass. Inside your camera is this virtual triangle: lens to left GG object to right GG object to lens. Bisect this triangle by drawing a line from the center of the lens to the center of the GG. You now have two equal right triangles, and because you know the top angle (half the viewing angle) and the base (half the distance between the objects), you can solve for length of the bisecting line, which is your focal length.

 

In practice, I set up on a dock and take a picture of a distant shoreline. I measure the angle between a couple of objects with a sextant. I scan the negative, and use PhotoShop to measure the distance between the objects. I use an online trig calculator.

 

I'd appreciate any available guru's observations on this method. Its simplicity appeals to me, but maybe it just appeals to my simplemindedness.

I bought a couple new Copal 3 shutters from midwest (www.mpex.com) last year for US$359. A recent print ad showed a new price, US$379, but their website doesn't show any in stock right now. Might be worth a telephone call. They're an honest dealer.

I recall reading an article about this practice in the NY Times.

<br>

Here's a reference:

<br>

>METROPOLITAN DESK | February 16, 2004, Monday <br>

><BR>

>Bringing Back the Dead; Photographer Captures a Harlem Undertaker's

Art <BR>

><BR>

>By ALAN FEUER (NYT) 1202 words <BR>

>Late Edition - Final , Section B , Page 1 , Column 1 <BR>

><BR>

>ABSTRACT - Isaiah Owens and photographer Elizabeth Heyert <BR>>collaborate on book of photographs of people laid out at Harlem <BR>>funeral home where Owens has been beautifying the deceased for more <BR>>than 30 years; Owens prepares a body with same care a Hollywood <BR>>stylist might use to prepare actress for Oscars; photos (M) <BR>

 

<BR>

They want $2.95 to read the story (and more to see the photos), so if you're really interested, go visit your local library.

<BR>

Further recollections: she used an 8x10 Deardorff, and the couple of photos illustrating the article were marvelous. A search of Amazon doesn't show publication of the contemplated book, though.

Peter:

 

You didn't mention your reason for considering a Cirkut. If it's just to take panos, then Jim and Leonard's advice is sound. I was out on a frozen New Hampshire lake this past weekend shooting panos with a D70. I couldn't have carried my No. 10 through the knee-deep snow, and even if I could have, it probably wouldn't have performed well in the cold. That said, I love my Cirkut, and can't wait until warmer weather.

 

As inept an operator as I am, I've had no problem with exposure, even from the start. I'm probably just lucky to have a decent motor. The real difficulty comes from banding, when you get a little 'stutter' in the mechanism, and a portion of the negative gets more exposure than other portions. Good maintenance and attention to technique helps.

 

As to the Cirkut on eB*y, I'd avoid it. This is a relisting by this seller. It got no bids the first time, and he hasn't bothered to drop the price. Like Jim, I paid about $2300 for my complete setup - camera, tripod, gears and lens.

 

I would question the seller's contention that the lens offered is original. I'm not an expert, but all of the Cirkuts I've seen have had Gundlach TR convertibles. You have to wonder why an original lens on a No. 10 Cirkut would be mounted in a shutter. Smaller format Cirkuts could be used with a sheet film holder, but I don't think the No. 10 had that option. I could easily be wrong, of course.

 

If you're still interested, I'd encourage you to keep looking, as there will be others offered for auction. Cirkuts are simply the coolest things on three legs. There are lots of users out there willing to help a newbie. You don't have to be an engineer to operate one, but a little understanding helps.

 

Jim: never swapped an engine, but I did replace the gears in a Mercedes 190SL transmission, once. Just once.

Tom:

 

Sorry I was away, or I would have posted this sooner:

 

http://www.sullinsndt.com/reels.htm

 

I haven't shot 70mm for a long time, so I don't remember whether they're 12 or 15 ft reels. Likewise, I can't tell you where to get a tank for them. As I remember, I found one on feeBay.

 

Charley