mark.brennan

Wayne, like you I've regressed as well and couldn't be happier! When my FM2 was in the shop I tried picking up the D70 and just didn't feel like using it!

Wondering why the F3HPs are so much more than the F100s, though.

regards,

-Mark

Even on a US domestic flight I personally still wouldn't put any camera gear in a checked bag. The chance of theft may be less on US domestic, but it's still there. My checked luggage is often gone through, and I just don't want to tempt the personnel checking it.

Sounds like you have a lot of gear and carrying it all on may be tough. Good luck. Unfortunately, flying really sucks now. I'm not a pro, so I only carry one body and usually even only one lens, along w/ film. Hope things work out for you.

regards,

-Mark

Denis -

Good question. And there are some great answers here.

Lately I've been inspired by a bunch of interviews Mason Resnick has done w/ contemporary street photographers; check out the link:

http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=5&article_id=855

Most of the photographers have work displayed on this site:

http://www.in-public.com/site/index.php

I also suggest checking out John Brownlow's site:

http://pinkheadedbug.com

where he discusses street photography.

John Brownlow also runs a street photography discussion forum/list serve which he mentions on his site; it's worth joining and following the rich discussion there.

Markus - I really like your B&W work. The HP5+ looks great. I've been using Tri-X; I think the HP5+ has a similar look, right? (Or am I thinking of Ilford Delta?).

Thomas - great contribution. And I like your site a lot.

Denis - happy shooting.

Regards,

-Mark

What about a Nikon manual body, such as the FM2 or F3?

Having used digital (D70) and moved to a film manual body (FM2), I can tell you it's been a great learning experience and very liberating. Having to set everything manually (aperture, shutter, focus) is honing my craft. Having the auto-everything is a bit destructive, I feel; you make mistakes and don't really learn.

If you eventually go pro w/ PJ then you can get high-end gear. But given that you're still in high school I expect that'll be a while; and especially w/ digital gear it will get obsolete very quickly. You'll focus on the gear and all the technology and miss out on the basics of taking good pictures and trying to tell a story.

I say go manual.

All the best w/ your class and picture-taking.

-Mark Brennan

Hi Don -

I've put away my D70 for a while to shoot film, but nevertheless I'm not exactly sure why you wouldn't choose the D70 over the D100?

It seems to me it has several advantages over the D70 (check out dpreview.com), but I may be missing why you prefer the D100.

Regards,

-Mark

Loren -

Nice to hear your feedback on the F3. Do you think it's too heavy to do street shooting? In some ways the FM2 seems more appropriate - lighter, smaller.

thanks,

-Mark

Hi Paul -

I enjoyed your post and wanted to reply. Unfortunately I won't be able to provide as much substantive help as others here, but still I wanted to chime in.

I have the FM2n and love it. Of course, the FM3a is the latest and greatest model in this distinguished lineage, but I don't see that it adds a whole lot over the FM2n and its price is pretty dear.

I don't do any flash photography. I also spend a lot of time photographing my 20 month old daughter, and also my wife and any friends who happen to be around. I'm also trying to do more street photography.

For all of these purposes, the FM2 seems like the best choice.

What attracts me to the F3HP is its great viewfinder and high eyepoint. I wear glasses but don't need them to shoot. When shooting on the street I might have sunglasses on, but have gotten used to shooting in sunglasses w/ the FM2. I don't really need to see the settings in the finder and the scene comes through bright enough. I haven't tried an F3HP yet, but expect it'll be quite a joy to shoot with.

Aside from price, my one hesitation w/ the F3HP is its size and weight for the kind of shooting I'm doing - street.

I'm hopeful you'll get some better feedback on your specific questions.

regards,

-Mark

Hey! I just actually ran into Sam at A.S. photo lab on 17th street by accident!

I was having lunch w/ my wife on 17th street and she needed a passport photo for an application; we stopped into A.S. across the street from where we had lunch. I noticed Sam's photos and remembered this posting. Then I noticed the guy checking out the hanging of the photos and it was Sam! Introduced myself and we chatted a bit about his photography. Very nice work. Regrettably I'll miss the opening.

cheers,

-MArk

Hey Everyone -

Thanks for all the responses - some good ideas.

Part of me is tempted to sell my D70 and kit lens to finance another good FM2 body, and

maybe a good manual lens (I'm using my AF 50 1.8).

i'm also looking for a cheapo FM - Adorama has one marked "G" for $80. Others there

and at KEH seem comaprable in price to an FM2.

Ricardo, I like your FM2 pics - nice B&W work.

Thanks again.

-Mark

Sorry - just trying to solicit some sympathy from the great Nikon

community here... I put away my D70 to shoot film; bought a used

FM2 which I fell in love with. But the rewind crank just broke

(posted separate about that - thanks for the replies). Adorama will

pay for the repair, but I'm without the camera for the next week!

Tempted to pick up another sub-$200 FM2, but don't think I can

justify it to my wife! I gather a number of you have 2 or more

Nikon bodies; do you suggest getting another? I'm really into

manual mode, so the F3HP is another temptation, but I expect it'll

have to wait!

Regards,

-Mark

Todd,

Thanks for the the link to the picture. Looks like I'm missing both the pin and the spring.

I'm hopeful that Adorama can stand by their merchandise and fix it for me. Otherwise,

I'm thinking of using Phototech in NYC for the repair.

The wheel still works, however, so at least the camera is still operable. It's better to have

the crank, of course.

Michael, thanks for the tip on the pin, but (pathetically enough) I'm not sure I'm handy

enough.

Regards,

-Mark

Thanks, guys. Looks like I'm missing the pin. I have the disc and the lever itself, but can't

see how to keep the lever fastened to the top of the disk (you know how it folds down

flush).

I was able to get the rewind disk itself screwed back on the shaft and thus rewind the film;

I got the back open and got the film out - phew!

I think I can actually leave the disk screwed on and use it for film rewind without the lever,

but of course I'd rather have the lever on.

I have the washer and what appears to be another washer with what looks like a raised

arm -- O=||

But it seems that without a pin underneath the disk I can't keep the lever attached.

Unless I'm missing something. Of course it's a bit hard w/out pictures.

Thanks again. I'll take it into Adorama. I have my receipt from 5/25. I've also asked

Phototech in NYC for a quote. I'm thinking a CLA might be worthwhile anyway. (Just hate

to be without the camera for more than a few days, though.)

If anyone has any further thoughts on the assembly of the disk and lever, let me know.

all best,

-Mark

Hi Everyone -

Happy holiday. I have an FM2n that I bought from Adorama for about $160 3-4 weeks

ago. The film rewind crank just came off the stem; i'm a bit panicked because I wasn't

able successfully to rewind my last roll.

I think this should be easy to fix. What do you think?

And should I bring this into Adorama to have them fix it? Or should I take it somewhere

else? Any recommendations in NYC?

Many thanks for any feedback!

Regards,

-Mark

Thanks, everyone for the great replies!

best,

-Mark

Another newbie question !

What's the general shelf life of B&W negative film in the fridge?

I'm thinking of stocking up on some TRI-X 400. I've been buying

film at 2-4 rolls at a time, but would like to shoot TRI-X

consistently for a while. (I'm a bit discouraged that Adorama's 50-

pack of TRI-X only saves you a penny! - $3.68 vs $3.69. But in NYC

I don't think I'd buy film anywhere but Adorama or B&H)

Thanks!

regards,

-Mark

Alexis, John, Hyacinth -

Many thanks for the quick replies. I think I will be shooting more TRI-X! (Though I have some Neopan 1600 in the fridge, and will at least shoot that). (Which leads me to ask how much I could actually push TRI-X. Again, my film is lab-processed, but they are pros. I shot some TMAX 3200 at 1600 and had good results, and wonder if I could rate TRI-X as high as that?)

One other thing to note (and of course very subjective) is that since starting to shoot B&W I find it requires more "vision" - it's more abstract, but also more attuned to light and shadow. It's not always an easy transition from mostly color snapshooting to B&W. Color is wonderful, and I like it as a compositional element, but there's an artistic purity to B&W (I was aware of this while looking at some of the prints on your website, Alexis - nice work).

Maybe it's the "look" and "feel" of TRI-X, maybe it's its age (some 50 years old), but my gut feel is that TRI-X better captures the poetry of B&W than T-MAX. I can see the uses of T-MAX, but TRI-X is looking like the film of choice. As a beginner w/ photography, I very much see the benefit of one camera/one lens/one film.

Thanks again. Good shooting!

-Mark

Hi All -

Apologies for the somewhat naive question; I wanted to solicit some

feedback from some of the more experienced among you.

I'm experimenting w/ these two films. I'm afraid I don't have a

scanner to post my results; and I don't do my own processing

(eventually, maybe I will). I've been using Duggal in NYC for my

processing and have been very happy w/ the results, though.

A friend loves T-MAX for its smoothness. I've tried both 100 and

400. But I'm leaning towards Tri-X (though of course I can shoot

both!). It seems to have more character. More contrast. More

flexibility. The T-Max seems heavy w/ grey midtones (maybe my own

poor exposures or a result of the conditions - mostly sunlight). T-

Max is smooth, but unless the scene has strong contrasts, I find the

results lack depth and punch. And the TRI-X almost seems to capture

more detail, though I thought T-MAX was finer grained, and therefore

would capturer more detail. Clearly, I'm a newbie w/ film.

I'm wondering what others think of these 2 films? I'd also like to

try to Neopan 400 and Ilford Delta.

Thanks for any feedback!

Regards,

-Mark

Hey - just learned from Ilkka Nissila on this thread

(http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CfPR) that

the 50mm 1.8 does NOT, in fact, need a lens hood because the front

element is recessed. Amazing - I had no idea; though w/out the hood

I can't say I ever noticed much flare, so I should have deduced this.

I recently got the Nikon HR-2 rubber hood and the biggest benefit

seems to be it helps keep my fingers off the UV filter.

But since I like shooting people on the street I worry that this

hood may make the camera a bit intimidating (I would estimate that

the hood extends somoe 1-2 inches beyond the lens).

I'm wondering what other users of the lens do?

regards,

-Mark

Wayne -

Thanks for the observations. I've been using an FM2 and love it. I believe the F3HP has an even brighter finder and higher eyepoint though, so it might be a camera to go w/ longer term.

Regards,

-Mark

Albert -

Thanks! Great feedback. Much appreciated. I'll play around and look into it further.

good shooting -

-Mark

Albert, Sanford

Appreciate the replies!

Albert, you may be right. I seem to recall seeing old, loose foam around the mirror right after bringing the body home and blowing out the mirror. If the foam is old can it be replaced easily? Can the repair shops handle this easily?

Sanford, to your question, it felt like an overexposre, as if I had accidentally set the shutter speed to 1 second, instead of 1/125 (I checked it it was set to /1/125). As if the shutter were sticking. So Albert's foam idea makes sense.

regards,

-Mark

Hi Everyone -

Just wanted to throw out there a concern I have about my FM2n (which

I bought used several weeks ago), and solicit feedback.

I love this camera. Yesterday, however, when I took a picture on

the street w/ shutter set at 1/125, the shutter remained open (and

viewfinder blacked out) for as long as 1-2 seconds. Alarmed, I

advanced the film, re-set the shutter speed, and took another

frame. It seemed fine.

Just wondering if other FM2 users think this is something I need to

be concered about? Should I proactively have the camera looked at?

Or just wait?

Many thanks,

-Mark