stu dall

I have recently bought the above for my existing Lee filter kit, and was

wondering if anyone can help me with my vignetting concerns. I currently have

my existing holder set up with 2 filter slots, and I have the Polarizer ring

attached to the front of it at all times. I propose to attach just 1 filter

slot to the additional holder, which will obviously be attached to the lens

first. I shoot mainly large format, and am particularly concerned about

vignetting with my 90mm and 75mm lenses. The polarizer I use is the Heliopan,

which I believe is slimmer than the Lee polarizer.

I disagree. The Graflock back takes a matter of seconds to remove and sit in the camera bag. The 6x9 roll film holder also takes seconds to attach to the back of the camera. I really can't see a terrible nuisance there. If you were to follow Bruce's suggestion Mark, you would be limited to shooting '120' film only. By keeping the RSW45, you have the luxury of shooting 4x5 sheet film too.

Using a 6x9 roll film holder, you focus in the normal way through the ground glass (I have a cardboard cutout to 6x9 to slip on the ground glass). Then remove the Graflock back, and slide the roll film holder in it's place. The film should be situated the same distance from the lens as a sheet of 5x4 film in a darkslide or quickload holder, so distances shouldn't be an issue. Movements are easier, because the image circle of the lens is covering an area quite a bit larger than the area of the '120' film.

Usually a good selection of both on ebay. Hunts are based in Canada, and they've always got Fuji Velvia and Provia quickload film for sale at a very reasonable price. I've bought several batches of film from them, and it's cheaper for me to buy it from them than UK suppliers where I live. Stu.

I haven't had personal experiences with Fujinon lenses David, but i'm sure the quality would be excellent. The only slight concern for me would be the f/8 aperture, where you might find focusing a little difficult on the GG screen in lower light levels. Stu.

Thanks Ian, great help. Stu.

I have been asked to take a few 'people shots' at a restaurant tomorrow

evening, but my usual photography is Large Format, and always with available

light only. It's quite an occasion, so the pressure is on!

I'll be shooting black and white HP5 Plus 400 film.

My plan, keeping everything simple, is to use AV mode, bounce the flash, and

use centre weighted metering. Any help if i'm way off the mark here would be

greatly appreciated.

Epson Scan. I actually use the Silverfast Ai, but they all have gamma settings which can be adjusted. Give it a try, and see what you think. The obvious alternative is to 'Prescan' and make some curves adjustments, or bring the histogram up; or make all the adjustments in PS postscan. Of course the initial starting point is to have your monitor calibrated, and your scanner correctly profiled.

Steven. The only thing I can think of is to adjust the gamma setting. The default setting is 1.8 and I think you can take it up to 3.0.

Increasing it will bring out shadow details more, if you are finding that the scan is a little dark overall in the first place. I would give 2.2 a try, and work from there. Stu.

Hi Paul. The Horseman lensboards will not fit the Shen Hao camera. Look for Wista, Linhof, Ebony type fitting lensboards. The shutter will be in 2 parts, and fits/screws either side of the lensboard, and the lens, in turn screws to either side of the shutter once attached to the lensboard. The dimensions of the lensboards are approximately 98mm x 96mm, and come in Copal 0, Copal 1 and Copal 3 sizes, depending on the size of the lens. Stu.

Thanks Marc.

Thank you both very much. Stu.

Thanks for the reply. I won't be developing the film. I'll be sending it to the lab that I send my Velvia transparencies to. I've just looked on the Ilford website, and can't believe the reciprocity chart. A metered exposure of 8 seconds needs to actually be exposed for 25 seconds. Do I meter for the shaded areas, as opposed to the highlights?. Stu.

I'm off out later with a couple of rolls of '120' of the above film, which

i've never used before. I usually shoot Fuji Velvia 50, which I rate at 40.

My questions: Do regular users rate this film at Iso 50, and am I right in

thinking that I meter differently for b/w negative film as opposed to Colour

transparency?. Apologies in advance if these questions are a little on

the 'dumb' side. Stu.

Warren...i've never really thought about doing anything else while i'm scanning. I think if you're scanning at a decent ppi (reasonably high resolution), you're going to be using a large percentage of your PC's memory, and if you're scanning at a low resolution, it's only going to take seconds anyway. Please forgive me if i've missed your point here. Stu.

Dave, I have the Nikkor, and am very pleased with it. My experience in LF is fairly limited, but it didn't take much research to establish that both of these lenses would perform admirably. Both are extremely similar in design, and coverage. Just buy any one of them, go out and shoot, and enjoy. Stu.

Hi Ric. Go to www.aztek.com and they have some demo videos on there site. There is one for drum scanning, but also one showing the Epson Fluid Mount Accessory, which is similar to the ScanScience one. Stu.

No Gene, the lease agreement doesn't have a service contract, just the 1 year Canon warranty. I reckon i'll only need to sell 5 or 6 prints a month to break even, and if I can't sell that many, I ought to choose another venture!. Stu.

Just having approximately 25 MF and LF transparencies drum scanned, in order

to start selling my own prints. I have virtually decided on the Canon ipf 5000

A2 printer, but can't really afford to buy at present. I have haggled a

company down to ?45 uk pounds per month (plus vat) for a 3 year leasing

agreement, which doesn't appear too bad to me. I would appreciate thoughts on

leasing, as opposed to buying, and the plus and minus points for both. Stu.

Michael didn't say compatible, he said genuine.

Thanks Edward, but as I said, "I have decided to start selling my own prints", so I don't know what size. I really need to know if it's rare for photographers to sell prints larger than A3 size, and if it is, i'll probably settle for the Epson 2400 or HP B9180 for the time being.

I have decided to start selling my own prints, and need to buy a decent

printer. The prints sold, will be from drum scanned 6x7 and 5x4 scanned

transparencies, so I could print fairly large, and still retain quality.

My question is: how often do clients ask for a print larger than A3 in size?.

I will only be selling my prints locally, and don't foresee that changing in

the near future. Budget is a bit of an issue, and I don't see the point in

spending out for an A2 printer if I don't really need to. If an A3 is the way

to go, has anyone had any experience with the HP B9180?

I have recently entered a local competition, and have been fortunate enough to

have 2 out of 3 of my submissions go through to the final 50 photos. The

judges have said that they are now in the process of contacting those

photographers individually, in order to inform them where to send their "High

Resolution" files, in order for them to printed to 12"x8", and professionally

exibited in a local art gallery early next year. The problem is, that these

files have to be no larger than 1MB in size. My skills in this department are

still pretty basic, but surely a 1MB file is nowhere near large enough to

print at that size without a fairly substantial loss of quality. Is it?

Thanks Ellis. The likelihood is, that i'll buy the ScanScience kit in time, but I just wanted to give the Epson a go first. If I can't find the right fluids and mylar for the right price here in the UK, I might just go for it anyway. I see that the Scanscience is at $129 at the moment on a price hold, so I hope it doesn't increase by too much, too soon!.

Thanks again. Stu.

Just received the above from Epson, for my V750. I would appreciate help from

anyone on obtaining the fluid and mylar tape, in the UK if possible, and in

particular, the best fluid which doesn't damage the plastic parts!. I've heard

stories of certain fluids melting the plastic on the unit. Any useful hints

and tips on using the above would also be very much appreciated.

Rick...www.scantips.com will answer all your scanning questions. Stu.