arthur_mcculloch

Try checking the battery - similar thing happened to my etrsi (though could still change lenses) on holidays recently, and the battery was dead. New battery, no problem

Arthur McCulloch

I've returned to B&W medium format after some time away. Developed a roll of

FP4 last night which produced absolutely nothing. The film was clear and

blank. Didn't have any frame numbers on the margins either.

I used Ifosol, though from a bottle that had been opened some time ago

(possibly over a year or so). The camera is a bronica etrs - they were photos

from a recent weekend expedition, at the commencement of which I found the

battery flat after one frame (would't wind on after that). Got a new battery,

and everything seemed fine.

Any ideas? Exhausted developer? Should the absence of frame numbering be

indicative of anything?

Any ideas greatfully appreciated

Arthur

I believe it is no longer manufactured, the Hungarian company having folded recently. Not sure if anyone has picked up the pieces and continued its manufacture.

I've used it a lot in 4x5, largely because it was cheap, and it was a good way to try out 4x5 - just starting - and because the oz agent was nearby. I was disappointed with its quality control (primary developer Rodinal)which meant it required lots of print touching up and knifing. I was not put off by the greater granularity, which, as you say can be used to great effect. I found the tonal range ok, but not as good as fp4, which I now use almost exclusively for 4x5

You've put a lot into testing this film. Pity the film appears to be gone.

Arthur McCulloch

Stuart

Wonderful shots - where were they taken - looks like parts of the macquarie marshes (depleted of water). Its excellent what 'primitive' technology can do. No doubt its a single element (or at best a double) with a sliding sheet shutter - but I thought the old box's took 620, not 120 film?

Anyway. again well done

Arthur

No. Stiff aperture change is not normal on any lens. I had a similar problem some time ago with an etrs lens (I imagine the construction is similar). It involved a plastic circular cam that was within the aperture ring (it acted to transfer the aperture reading from the aperture ring to the aperture mechanism itself). It had worn, producing difficulty in changing apertures - the shutter fired ok, and the aperture shut down in an exemplary fashion, just the aperture ring was difficult to change. For some time, I made do with f8, till having it replaced.

If you got it off eprey, you may well have been dudded - you should consider the appropriate response. Or a repair may be needed.

Arthur

Stuart

That is really a crisp shot - well done. Good composition. Do you do your own printing as well. The iskra is 6x6, I understand. I use a moskva 5, but don't get the crispness that's evident in your shot - I suspect that camera shake and the odd shutter release arrangement contributes to that. I too am in 'straya' and share your interest in the former soviet union's optics.

Well done (though, when I've got mine, thru eprey, they arrived within days - who was the vendor for your purchase?)

Regards

Arthur

I second Birk's suggestion. Don't do it. But I must say that the value of a camera is in the use to which its put, and the photos it takes. Use it, and use it regularly and well.

Don't re-paint it. If you're worried about resale value, re-painting would be a mistake.

But use it.

Arthur McCulloch

William, I second Yann's comments. I have a IIc and a IIIC. I rarely use the selenium cell meter, which makes the IIIC bulkier and heavier than the IIc. Theay are an exceptionally well made camera, solid metal. They can come with either Rodenstock or Schneider lenses - I think the Schneider xenon 2.8 is one of the best lenses ever made (six elements I think) - I carry the IIc with me loaded with b&w for everyday photos (using the sunny f16 rule). Problems? There are a couple to be aware of: first, part of the winder mechanism can wear - replacements are available. Second, the front element is detachable (to allow for fitting a wide angle and a short telephoto), so can often get mismatched. You'll find a serial number on the front element which should match that on the rear element. Third, like all shutters, they need occasional servicing. The first speeds to go are the slow, below 1/25, which slow up as the lubricant gets sticky. And finally, the selenium cell will eventually die, if it hasn't already, and anyway, probably shouldn't be trusted for colour transparency. There are asome good sites to look at, just do a google on retina, and there's a copy of the manual on butkus' manual page, I think.

But a gun sharp lens, great bokeh, and easily pocketable.

Arthur McCulloch

The weather at that time of year can be wet - see http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_015527.shtml. And the suggestion of a hat veil is absolutely worth following.

The indigenous people, who own the site, discourage tourists from walking up the rock - the track is a 'sacred' path (but of course, the search for profit erodes everything, for them as much as for us, and as much for the 'tourists'). As other contributors have said, the olgas are really worth a visit. There are places where photography cannot capture a sense of intimacy with the land, a heritage most have forgot. You will need to select film speed carefully, unless you are digitised, as it can be intense.

Nicholas, how did you re-engineer the colour. It has such dense saturation. Quite 'disco lurex', and actually, unreal. The great virtue of the Australian light, particularly in the north, is its desaturation - it's what made the Heidelberg school famous, Namatjira's Helmsburg paintings famous, and so on - they could capture such desaturated light. Your photo is just tropical. Do not take offence, your photo is exemplary, good composition, and so on. But, isn't it just another northern american remake of the colonies (I could refer you to good scholarly work on cultural imperialism if you wanted to read it. Relevant to photographic imaging).

Best wishes for your visit. Enjoy

Arthur

Dave

The manual was great. Thanks. Solved my problem

H.P. likewise.

Regards

Arthur

Hello. I have acquired (through a friend's donation) a gossen sixtomat,

probably dating from the 50's or 60's (I'm afraid I cannot post a picture as I

remain digitally challenged, confining my photography to the use of a bronica

system for b&w, an ensign selfix 820 for colour panoramics, and a small

collection of retina IIc's and a IIIc for 35mm. One of these meters is for

sale on ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Gossen-Sixtomat-Cased-Light-Meter-NO-

RESERVE_W0QQitemZ170066772056QQihZ007QQcategoryZ4702QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcm

dZViewItem, if that's any help). The sixtomat looks like a small star trek

vox, with a sliding cover much like those found on the old roll top desks you

sometimes see. It has two scales between a bar which records f stops. These

scales move to the left and right by turning a dial on the right hand side of

the unit - this also allows me to align the moving needle with a sliding

marker at the bottom. The dial is clearly there to adjust ASA. The top scale

goes from 4' to '1000, and I presume is a time scale (It's in blue). The

bottom scale has a top line (in blue) that is exactly the same, and a bottom

line in red that goes from 1 to 19 (I suspect that this may be an ev scale).

It's clearly a selenium cell system (that much I do know). On its back is a

pop up red covered window.

Sorry for the 'thick' description.

Has anyone used this meter? Do you have any advice on how to use it? More

importantly, the dial at the side does not seem to allow me to change the

ASA/DIN setting. Before dismantling it (it has a central screw and a small

pin near its circumference), is there a special manouver to change the ASA

setting.

I have plenty of selenium cell meters, relying on a horvex and a weston II for

most of my retina use, but I'd like to use it (I suppose I could always pull

it out of my pocket in a packed train, slide open the louvres, and speak into

it 'open channel B, then beam me up' if worst comnes to worst.

Thanks for any help

Arthur McCulloch

While poor re-assembly by some tinkerer in the past may be a problem, as noted earlier, you could and should also check the lens collimation. There's a good site by Mike Elek, which tells you how to do this by yourself. I cannot give you the address, but a google on mike elek lens collimation, should find it. I have used his advice a number of times, and been impressed with the outcome. I have a couple of balda 6x9's (with the quaint triplet radionar lens), one in metric, the other in feet. I suspect that at least, post war, they came differentiated for different markets. Not so sure about pre-war, but it may have been possible.

Best of luck.

Arthur

Terry, its amazing. I'm just in the process of negotiating the purchase of a monorail, and saw this and an earlier posting of a back pack variety of carrying. The outfit I'm interested in is a cambo, which I think is pretty much the same as a calumet.

How does it work on less than well defined trails - or no trails at all. I would guess that you are still tied to well defined trails, with few or no steps.

But, it looks good. Well done. I hope you enjoy it, and that we will see the results on the site soon.

Arthur

Why not think about a real classic: a kodak retina. I have a retina IIc, no batteries, a reasonably fast lens (and gun sharp - the schneider xenon has to be one of the all time good 35mm lenses), pocketable (though solid metal so a bit heavy, but nowhere near that of a slr), no batteries, doesn't have AP, but the cute EV setting can be used almost as an equivalent, and an absolutely impeccable (other than some problems with the shutter cocking rack) build quality. It's magic

Arthur

My retina IIc has developed a shutter problem - the wind on lever

does not return until the shutter is released. That is, I cock the

lever, and it stays at the fully extended position until the shutter

release is pressed.

This developed while on holidays - the loud 'clack' when the lever

hit the rewind button on the baseplate became a dead giveaway when

photographing.

Is this something that an amateur (I have re-collimated lenses, but

never dismantled a shutter) can handle, or should I hand it over to a

professional

Any adavice will be appreciated - Arthur

Thanks Santiago

I've got the cell and will try this out in the next week or two.

And thanks for the supplementary information. I've been trying to standardise my b&w processing around fp4 and hp5, and this will help.

Regards

Arthur McCulloch

Santiago

A brilliant homebrew idea. Just wanted to check the formula for negative density. I thought it would involve subtracting the film base fog reading (not log nothing)from the negative density reasding.

But I was never any good at maths. Let me know.

Thanks

Arthur

Thanks for that. You've been really helpfull.

If you're ever coming to new south wales, in oz, let me know. I'm close to the hunter valley vineyards.

Thanks again

Arthur

I should add that I'll be at UBC from late october thru to early december

Thanks Arthur

Thanks for that advice. My interests are street scenes and landscapes. I'm one of those poor sods who has yet to master the art of photographing people.

Arthur McCulloch

I will be spending a few weeks at UBC/ Vancouver in November (first

time, coming from australia). I hope to get up to the rockies, and

maybe a few days in a couple of the other major cities.

Any advice for things to look out for - places worth going to; the

places that are an absolute 'must see and photograph'(I've extracted

some info/advice from other postings on this site); weather

expectations. My equipment is a bronica etrsi outfit, with a backup

old perkeo I as a pocketable. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Arthur McCulloch

Dan

Just checked this thread to see your question. I'll measure it tonight and post the results. Sorry for the delay. In the interim, I'd also purchased a moskva 5 (having been impressed by some of the comments on this forum) very cheaply from the ukraine (no self timer). It is very heavy. While its front standard is a little 'wobbly', and looks like it tilts slightly, it has produced very crisp and contrasty negatives. The selfix has produced negatives that are a bit flatter in comparison.

Arthur

Thanks Skip. This is the first flash meter I've used.

Arthur McCulloch

I have just acquired a Sekonic L 358 (as part of a 'new for old'

insurance claim). After reading the manual, I still have a question

about how the flash measurement works. I presume that when I am

using it in incident light mode, with the cone up, that I put the

meter near the subject and facing the flash; but when I?m using the

lumigrid and doing reflective light measurement, I put the meter at

the camera facing the subject. Is that the case?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Arthur McCulloch

I have recently acquired a sca 386 and metz 45 cl4 for use with a

beronica etrsi (with wlf). the sca module didn't come with a manual.

Can anyone advise me on how to use it for TTL? I guess that you set

the dials on both the flash and module for appropriate film speed,

but can you then set any f stop and speed on the camera?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

Arthur