nickr

Since you didn't mention bokeh on your original list, I'd recommend the VC Nokton. It's OFA

isn't so bad; certainly not as bad as the 40. I own a tabbed Summicron, Summilux, and a

Russian 50mm. I owned a Nokton 1.5 and a coll. Summicron. Having owned all these, I

wouldn't hesitate to shoot with the VC if I still had it. I only sold it to add some value to a

body I was selling.

How is following an established optical design considered a knockoff? If a lens is good, it's

good. Quality of the image and the quality of construction for what you're able to pay is what

matters most.

Actually, you have blotchy, uneven development across the entire shot not just the left edge,

but it may be hard to see on some monitors. I had this same problem when I've tried to go

with reduced agitaion, and like Neil, it was when I used a two bath developer. Now I use the

manufacturer's recommended agitation and it hasn't reoccurred.

He was referring to the absence of paint on the edge of the element being a bright spot in

the assembly. But, hey, what do I know. My collapsible was so flare prone I was willing to try

anything.

I had something similar in my Summicron and it turned out to be black paint flaking off the

edge of a lens element. It wasn't an expensive fix ($80) and the repair guy said that leaving it

could lead to a flare hotspot.

At one time, a point-and-shoot camera user would have said the same thing about a Leica.

"Too complicated and difficult to use compared to my Brownie" Some things are complex

because they need to be to work better. Very little in the way of new technology can't be

handled with patience, diligence, and the willingness to actually take the time to read the

instructions.

Marshall, I'm thinking that instead of considering film speed you buy whatever is cheapest in

the size needed. Since, I assume you're xraying still lifes, you don't have to worry about

longish exposure times. Just find out what times work with whatever film you wind up

buying.

I take it you want to record the light beams themselves using the church interior as a

backdrop? You don't actually see the beams but rather the reflections off dust and smoke

particles. So think how you would record surface detail off of a reflector. Point your incident

meter at the beam the way you sometimes point it at the light source or reflector when taking

a portrait. The trouble is guessing what is the reflectance of said particles. I'd guess maybe

50% and bracket from there.

For a hundred dollars, you could probably get a good FSU camera and a couple of nice lenses

depending on where you live. I know a dealer of Russian cameras in the NYC area who sells

them for about $35 apiece. He doesn't do internet and I don't feel like being a middle man.

The cheapest new Bessa is the L sans lens and no RF/VF for $99.

If you do decide to go Russian, also consider the Keivs as Michael said.

Lisa,

From my experience, people don't really care that much about the group shot. It's the

individual that has to be right on. I'm assuming that your money maker is selling print sets

to the players parents.

I used to do this in the eighties, an individual portrait and a group shot of the team. The

group shot can be done outside no problem. For the individuals, we used a three light setup.

There was a hairlight and two Navatron heads without umbrellas. We also used a backdrop.

But, we always found a way to shoot the individuals indoors. We did dozens of these in some

of the crappiest fields around but we never did the individuals outside. There's gotta be a

clubhouse or pavillion you can use. Pressure the league; that's what we did.

Like everyone says, don't go out of your way to get the manual. I have it but when I want to

know something about the camera I go to Caruana's review and the comments that follow.

The rule-of-thumb is to remove more than one catch light. Multiple catch lights are

supposed to give a person a dumb, vacant look. Not sure if I agree in all cases, but that's the

rule.

Well for starters, I would use the Sekonic to meter for both ambient and flash and see what

percentage of flash to ambient you have. I believe your meter will do this automatically.

Often, when I set up fill flash according to settings when I do the actual measurement, the fill

is too hot.

Donald,

How do you arrive at 4-5 stops through the base. A red 25a filter is pretty dark and is a 3

stop difference. I would expect 4-5 stops to be almost opaque to the naked eye. Unexposed

and developed base is not that dark. Base plus fully overexposed emulsion is, however,

pretty dark. Is this what you meant. (undeveloped emulsion is pretty dark also, but since it's

light sensitive from either direction it doesn't count). I'm sure I'm missing something simple.

You can spend a lot of time exploring shots made using window light with a poster board

reflector.

I have an old Novatron 440. It's the 4 head unit. Are you sure the voltage is that high? I

measured mine at 8 volts and used it recently with my Bronica RF

The XA is an aperture priority camera, so like Jordi says, he can only go to 800. But as Rich

pointed out, Tri-x at 400 developed in Rodinal should do the trick for 8x10 and beyond.

Download the instructions for the Sekonic L-398M. It's part manual and part tutorial on

using a combo incident/reflective meter. The mechanics are different, of course, but the

principles are the same.

I just started shooting Pan 50 in 120 roll over this winter and like John I've found that

developing in diafine allows me to use its rated speed of 50. I shot only landscapes but right

now I'm half way through a roll of portraits.