rosemaryh

<p>Hi, has anyone tried the Plustek OpticFilm 135? I am checking because I would like to scan panoramic images (Xpan/Widelux) and it does have an adapter for this which I have found out can be purchased over the phone from Plustek. However I can't find much information about it online. I realize it doesn't have ICE but I usually take out dust in Photoshop these days anyway. Any experiences? Thanks</p>

<p>Bumping up the thread...<br>

I've come to really enjoy my Contax TVS. It's tiny and very portable, takes filters and has its own tiny lens shade, and I've gotten some nice results with it. I took it as one of my cameras on a recent trip to Newfoundland, and just have a question (sorry if it's dumb)...I used some Ilford 400 speed film with a yellow filter, was I correct to put the exposure compensation at plus one? The camera doesn't meter through the filter.</p>

<p>I agree, why not try it out anyway Kristjan, I didn't mean to discourage you, it's just that I can remember certain trips I've taken with only one camera and the photos didn't come out so well - so why not take both, maybe you will get great photos of your grandmother with both cameras. <br>

I can't tell you too much else about the Ricoh though I have a Minolta Autocord that also has an EV setting and selenium meter but can be set without them.<br>

But good luck, I hope you get great photos of your grandmother's birthday!</p>

<p>I have this camera also, I bought it a few years ago but as far as I can tell my selenium meter is totally dead. The design of this camera is really unfortunate because mine looks good, and the apertures and shutter all respond, but it appears it can only take photos at 1/30 (under the flash setting) and B. Without a working meter there seems to be nothing else you can do. You can move it to the flash setting by pressing the little button on the bottom in the middle and shifting the right hand dial to the flash symbol; same with the B. I've tried to test the shutter speeds when I move the EV dial but it appears they are all at about 1/30. I haven't actually put film in it yet though I'm thinking of putting some infrared in it and using it on the B setting, since the apertures do respond manually at B or flash.<br /> <br />If you want to take family photos with the camera before seeing the results perhaps you should bring a second camera as a backup? I've found in the past that it's a good idea with "new" cameras on important occasions.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies! I did finally get the camera to close again after a lot of effort. Today I got a new battery for it, loaded the film and had the problem again. I did clean off the inside with a microfiber cloth first, though there's very little sign of any dirt. It may be partly that the film I loaded was slightly curved. Anyway, I pushed hard, it finally closed and loaded when I set it to auto. It may need a little exercise, who knows. Interesting idea about leaving it unlatched when not used. I'll try to take it out tomorrow, it finally snowed in New York City today but I don't know if there will be a weather related reason to go out tomorrow. However, I'll see how it works anyway. I used my Nikon L35AF instead with a UV filter and lens hood today, so at least that one had a little protection from the elements.<br>

Nice photo Glen! </p>

<p>Has anyone had a problem with their Canon WP-1 back not closing? I just bought a very clean one on Ebay, it looks barely used. However, the battery appears dead and I haven't gotten another one yet. I tried to put the film in, finally removed it, and now the camera back won't close. The rings around the inside look totally clean as does the rest of the camera. Not sure what to do unless the latch is somehow caught? (I also tried opening the battery chamber which was suggested in the manual, but it made no difference) thanks</p>

<p>Hi, bumping this up...<br>

<br />I have just gotten an XPan 1 body from one store and a beautiful 90mm f4 lens from another, I have loaded it and it just looks lovely. I can't wait to try it out, tomorrow I hope. My question is, is it very hard at this point to find the 45mm lens separately? I see a few on Ebay but they are far out numbered by the 90s and the expensive (!) 30mm. I want to be sure it's in good condition so I guess I can wait but are they few and far between?</p>

I like my XA too. I bought another one after a family member misplaced mine. I do know some people who simply can't see through the viewfinder but I greatly prefer it to trying to guess the focus.

I had to delete my libraries and work one image at a time...however I don't know if that's convenient for other people.

 

I find it very slow also.

Thanks Carl will try that.

 

Mark I am using Windows XP. My C drive doesn't have a lot of room left, I wanted to point it to another drive as I do with Photoshop's scratch disk.

 

Maybe I'll have to delete some things from C also...

Does anyone know if Adobe Lightroom has a "scratch disk" setting similar to

Photoshop, so that your computer can have enough resources to draw on? I like

Lightroom a lot, but it is crashing with large image files.

 

I want to be sure it's not using my desktop as the scratch disk...(I'm using

Windows XP). Thanks

 

Rosemary

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any experience with this:

Is there any problem with storing cameras indoors near the ocean over a period

of months? Meaning the effect of the salt air, etc?

 

Thanks

 

Rosemary

Hi I'm bumping this up because I am wondering if Ilkka or anyone else has any further comments on the Katz Eye for the D70. I might ask for it for my birthday next month :)

 

I'd really like a split image for my D70 if it would work well.

 

Thanks,

 

Rosemary

Hi

I contacted Alamy about this as I have just been accepted there. I use a D70 also and I use Photoshop 6 which can save at Level 12 at most. Here was their email reply:

 

Hi,

 

Please note that we do accept JPEG at level 12 setting as of

now. Your images must be saved at the highest quality setting. They must

be at least 48Mb once uncompressed (opened). We are not concerned with

the compressed filesize.

 

As an example, if producing Tiffs, your images should be at

least 48 MB prior to saving as a jpeg. The resultant jpeg file, as

guidance, is likely to be between 2 and 10Mb compressed. When

uncompressed, the file will revert back to 48 MB.

 

I hope this clarifies things for you.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

Luke

Member Services

Alamy

 

-- Hope that helps, I have sent them a new disk today. R

Hi, I have signed up for both Photoshelter and Exposure Manager. Photoshelter works great for storage, I have not tried it for sales since you would need to set up your own merchant account or use paypal.

 

I have ordered some prints of my own pictures through Exposure Manager. I had one framed and put in in a small group art show and the other artists seemed to like it a lot. They do request that you check the colors against their RGB profile. But printing for your own use is quite affordable. I did ask them to put on my own site's name on the back though, but they have not done that yet, they just print Exposure Manager instead...

 

However I do like them. Have not had a sale from either site, but I'm not sure how to direct people there except by a link from my own site.

 

Rosemary

Hi I just got this lens (the Mamiya 645 80/F4 Macro) from KEH and was surprised to see that it has the spacer on it. However I don't think I really need the spacer at the moment but I'm not sure how to use it, or how to remove it, and if it would be simpler without it. Are there instructions anywhere? Mamiya's site doesn't seem to have anything.

 

I'm interested in taking flower pictures, not insects :)

 

Thanks a lot,

 

Rosemary

Thanks everyone, thanks Ilkka for telling me about the Katz-Eye site. I may look into that.

 

I did finally upgrade the firmware so perhaps that will help but I am definitely going to think about a screen replacement.

 

R

I was just playing around with my old Rollei SL35m and

thinking "what a joy to use this focusing screen." The Rollei has a

split image finder that is great to focus with.

 

In contrast, I am beginning to think that I should attempt to focus

manually with my D70. I don't think it's defective because I have

had some perfectly sharp pictures, but I've also had way too many

that were fuzzy even though the shutter was fast enough to freeze

action. This has often happened when I've try to shoot pictures of

ocean waves for example.

 

Maybe the autofocus just doesn't work well for all purposes? Any

advice on how to get the best out of the manual setting? Of course

there's no split image (sigh...)

 

Thanks Rosemary

Matt, I don't know where you live but here in NY there is a place which will clean out the dust for about $40. I believe they are called Photo Tech Repair. There's a link to them from the Nikon USA site.

 

They cleaned my D70 after it acquired a noticeable dust spot that was showing up in all my images.

 

Rosemary