jmf

with a good flash bracket like the stroboframe, you can hand hold it. there are motorized backs for the rb, and I happen to like the flipable backs. Or you could look at the RZ which is all electronic.

 

You'll find lots more RB's floating about than Bronicas, but if you like the square format, I'd try and find some classic Hassie

I've got mechanical clockwork type shutters on my RB67 lenses. If all the speeds are within 1/3rd of a stop of whats on the dial, I figure I'm good to go. I don't bother with a CLA till it gets beyond a half stop, and if it's consistant, I might just leave it, and make adjustments via aperture. If you recycled developer, you might have a 1/3 stop drift just in your process.

 

Tell me about banding or fringing or something else that will actually show up in a printed image.

 

I do believe we've just witnessed the redefinition of AR

Low pressure sodium is monochromatic. High pressure (much more typical now) is poly chrome, although it is not a continous spectrum. For that matter, xenon strobes aren't either.

 

High pressure has a lots of red/orange/yellow, and bands in the green and blue. Still a good idea to try and shield away from it though

Sounds like a warehouse. Any chance you could fly an opaque panel above the shooting area to limit the light to one type? Have you tried using a greycard to set the white balance?

I've 3 strings of them on my back porch. Nice '60's retro feel to go with the Tiki Torches

The lab may do this for you, but you may want to try out PhotoZoomPro

http://www.benvista.com/main/content/content.php?page=ourproducts&section=photozoompro_1

 

or Genuine Fractals

http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2

probably BHC Aerovox? If it is, thats not good news. They specialize in custom caps. The PF caps are obsolete and they don't have the decoder on line. If I'm reading this right, the NP stands for non-standard, pin type (vs screw or snap in). You could try contacting them and see if they can decode.

 

Call Flashclinic? (if you're in the USA)

I while ago I saw the original RB acc. line and it included both a ground glass option and a sheet film holder. That being said, I don't know if I ever saw one pop on on ebay.

could be they had massive debt and balanced against the assets...

you can get ND sheets big enough to cover a 19" sb face. You can also use grey fiberglass window screen or denser ripstop. I've seen 3rd pty "variators" for the 900 series norman packs, but not for the 20x/40x series

I have to say I was suspicious when it took then so long to get their ZD stuff to market. Add to that, how many pro's were dumping the medfmt gear, the new market must of looked abysmal. Hassie still seems to be a player, but the market may be so specialized that there's only room for one. I've always liked by RB stuff, warts and all.

I just plug the packs in for about 5 minutes, fire off a pop, wait about 5 minutes (not rocket science here) and pop off 1 or 2 more and call it good. seems to be working.

just got mine from mid january. GFS does their rebates and they've been such a pain that Canon rebates are now meaningless to me.

Things to think about:

 

Where do I get spares? Flash tubes, fuses, modeling lights.

 

Who fixes it? Both in and out of warranty.

 

What light modifiers can I get. They say they're bowens compatible, but I wonder?

What the previous poster is seeing is called capacitor deforming. You need to charge the packs up monthly or you have to reform them by letting the pack charge for awhile. The bigger the pack, the longer this seems to take. I haven't found a real good reference as to why, but the effect is well known.

 

As to the OP, it's time to send that off to repair.

ok, lets say you're a moderatly high volume shooter, say 50k images/yr/body. So about every 2 years you need to send the body in for a shutter and cleanout. Given the changes in DSLR's, you'll probably only swap that shutter once or twice before selling or junking the body anyways. So, a SWAG would be that you add $500 in maint. to the cost of a $3000 camera over a six year life. Even if you hold onto the camera, thats still not a bad cost. Medium format gear can cost lots more than that to keep running (shutter in every lens, body and filmbacks)

That does look like a pretty clean ProS. I'd suspect that something pushed/fell on the bellows. As long as they're pliable and light tight (and it's good deal), I guess i'd go with it.

 

I like to use a mini-mag light with the head off (barebulb). I trip the shutter, remove the film back and get in a dark room. I stick the flash light up into the extended bellow (as best I can). If I can't see light coming through the body/bellows, it's probably good.

It's my understanding that most generators are pure sine, it's cheap and some not so cheap inverters that put out square or modified sine. The big thing is that most packs draw very high surge currents during the start of the charge cycle. If the generator can't keep up, the voltage will sag and start to square off the sines.

 

It wasn't scientific, but a pro who does a lot of location work told me she doubles the wattage. In other words, a 2400ws pack should be powered by a 5kw generator.

GE introduced the flashbulb in 1930 (invented by Philips, from what I can find). Given the massive increase in safety, I'm guessing not many photographers were using flash powder beyond there.

 

Burke and James was a Chicago photographic store that made in house brands to compete with Kodak and others.

The 150mm IS the designated portrait lens. You stop it down a few stops and it's reasonably sharp. Leave it open or use one of the three internal diffusion disks. The effect is very unique and not like sticking a soft filter on the front of the lens. It's sort of sharp and soft at the same time. Having said that, I like the 180mm, but I almost use it on a tripod.

 

Please be careful about KL lenses on ProS bodies. Most, but not all will fit once you remove the spacer ring that makes them fit on a ProSD body

but the 285 has the same voltage issues. Even the new(er) ones are around 8 which is too high to the cameras that want 6

Let me clear up a few points.

 

The main reason for the change in the RB ProSD lens mount was to accomodate the larger mount needed for the shift lens. It will NOT fit on any earlier model.

 

The 65mm non-C or C type lenses didn't have the floating element. Only the 50mm had it. All the wide angle (through 90mm) KL series lenses have it. It's essentially a fine focus ring on the lens. Many of the current KL lenses will fit a ProS if you remove the spacer ring, but you should ask. All RB lenses use mechanical shutters, and need to be serviced periodicly. Just assume any lens you buy used will need a CLA unless told otherwise.

 

If you are very serious about arch. photography, you will be using a bellows/bag body view camera. Field style probably won't have the front standard rise you'll need for tall buildings. The operative phrase being, "very serious" which also translates to at least about $1000-5000 for the body and about a $800-1200 for the lens. You can still go medium format, with 6x7 and 6x9 film holders being commonly available.

 

Or you could scan the images, and fix the perspective correction in photoshop.

I think all of the 285's exceeded 6v. Even the new ones were around 8. A Wein safesync will fix that.

 

Can't comment one the Metz. What are your intended uses?

Good question. It was shot using Norman pack and head strobe systems. I don't remember exactly... Seems like I was hitting the head underneath with 200ws from a P800D pack and I was varying the light even more with a set of barn doors. The 5ft octobox/head above was being driven by a P20/20 pack which has about a 1 stop variator and I'm pretty sure I was dialing in somewhere between 800 and 400 ws. Sorry, it was 6+ months ago. I should of made more notes. I was more concerned with the quality of the light and controlling reflections.

 

Can't really equate that to hotlight wattages.

Classic reticulation caused by temp shock to the soft emulsion. I've also seen a form of this when an acid stop bath was not diluted properly and "pickled" the emulsion.

 

Not to sound too old, but 20 years ago this would have never happened at a decent lab.

 

It's just too easy to do b&w yourself.