pteppic

Thought this might interest you guys. Kyle Cassidy, a PJ based in Philly USA has decided to pass on his 85mm f1.8

MF Nikor (don't panic, he's got a AF version for himself). Cosmetically it's a bit battered, but this being Kyle,

the optics are still shiny bright.

 

All he wants to see if some of your work, a statement on a planned project with the lens and a promise to

actually act on it. Details are here:

 

http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/444606.html

 

Personally, I shoot Minolta MC/MD glass, but I'll be following the progress of this closely. Enjoy :-)

Ah, if it is 40.5mm then that should really be straightforward enough.

So, I've been shooting for a while with Minolta MF SLRs and am building up a

useful and practical collection of bodies and lenses. I was after something a

little more portable to keep in my work bag on a day to day basis, and asked my

partner to keep an eye out while she was in NY last week (we live in the UK).

 

She returned with a Minolta AL, a nice mechanical rangefinder with an f2 lens

and paralax correction. Apart from the Selenium meter having died a death, and

the light-seals needing replacing, it handles like a nice piece of kit so I'm

now after putting a few pieces together for it.

 

Simply put, I am looking for a set of B&W screw in filters (I *think* 40mm) and

a lens cap to throw on the front. I've been hunting in the usual places, and

have failed to produce anything useful. Does anybody know of a supplier, in the

UK or willing to ship to the UK, who stocks such things?

 

Many Thanks,

 

Kian Ryan

Nah, the 24mm MC Rokkor front-rotates.

 

Pain in the rear. Lovely lens otherwise.

My other half's just been in town taking "seasonal" photos.... BAH. CHRISTMAS photos with the 10d. I'm going to head that way this weekend and park myself somewhere with the X-700s, a thermos and a few rolls of Tri-X I think.

Ahh, ya git.

 

I'm stuck in the North West, and alas am still completely devoid of the white stuff. I'm hoping for some in the coming weeks. PLEASE!

Now that's just confusing...

 

I'm seeing double.

And another... BTW - Rodinal on pushed HP5 gives a pleasant, somewhat vintage feel to the image.<div></div>

I own the MC 24mm f2.4 Rokkor - beautiful plumage, and useful for a wide range of applications. I use it most for indoor sports shots, see atached.<div></div>

Well, Sony has a poor reputation with L-io technology dating back to 1995. It was at this point that the '95 Powerbooks went bang, with - you guessed it, Sony L-io batteries. Apple was forced to do a product recall and send out Ni-mh batteries as replacements.

 

We appear to be seeing round two of this happening.

 

I honestly don't think that the problems associated with the laptop batteries going bang are going to seriously effect the Alpha line. Sony do have good battery technology, they just occassionaly make interesting cock-ups. If you are worried about having an "untested, unstable nuclear accelerator on your back", or as close to your eye as you can reasonably get, maybe consider switching to an alternative power source.

 

Can you power Dynax/Alpha using Ni-Mh?

I'll try dropping Ed a line. Unfortunately I am unable to use the Minolta utility since I'm not running Windows.

 

Thanks

Thanks for your opinions. I'll keep them in mind. I have some confidence now in making a purchase, if anyone has any more to contribute I would be grateful to hear them.

I bought my Scan Dual approximately six months ago, and have been happily using

it since. I have intentions of upgrading to a newer model when slack-cash

allows, but since we've moved house my scanner has developed a problem.

 

I use Ubuntu 6.06 and Vuescan. Every time I attempt to scan or preview an

image, Vuescan requests that I remove the negative carrier for it to calibrate.

Now, this calibration procedure used to be requested on a relatively infrequent

basis (once per month?), but the scanner has now decided that it needs to

recalibrate every scan and preview.

 

What makes the scanner request a calibration, is it phsyical damage to the

scaneer or dirst and is it something repairable?

 

It's more of a irritation than a problem, since it will still scan negs, it just

takes twice as long.

 

Thanks.

I've been seeing bits of comments on Benro tripods for a while now, and I'm

attempting to upgrade from my God-awful twenty-pound back of the donkey cart

tripod to something a little more substansial.

 

Do members have any opinions on the Benro tripods and ball heads? I'm looking

for a combination for approximately ﾣ200 that will accomodate me for

backpacking, street photography and portraiture (I know a multitude of sins).

 

They appear to make an interesting range of Carbon fibre tripods. I would be

grateful to any links for reviews of the tripods and heads (or any products from

Benro for that matter) that members might have.

 

Thanks,

Kian Ryan

Thanks, I'll give Microphen a try.

I suffer unfortunately from an acute Metol sensitivity (I am now at risk of

anaphylactic shock is I come into contact with the substance), and as such can't

use ID-11, D-76, etc.

 

Here's my dilemma - I shoot a wide range of subjects, and most of the time I

shoot Acros 100 and tank it in Rodinal 1:100 and everything is dandy, and it's

great for my portraiture and landscapes.

 

I do however also shoot indoor fencing competitions. My usual film is Ilford

HP5, rated at 1600 or 3200 and then souped accordingly in Rodinal. But I'm not

happy with this combination. Rodinal is great for slower films, but at this

speed it just looks far too grainy.

 

So my question is - what are my options? Can anybody recommend to me a better

developer for push processing HP5 (and possibly APX 400/Neopan 400 when I get my

hands on some of the stuff) with *DOES NOT* contain Metol?

 

Thanks :-)<div></div>

Change the batteries.

I'm quite curious about this myself. I've got a half dozen lenses for my X system and was considering getting them professionally cleaned/re-coated.

 

Do people have any experience of this?

In response to your second part, the piece on the lens that sticks out is the apateur coupling and it indeed should be sprung. It should return to wide when you let go.

 

The SRTs were the first cameras to use automatic exposure, so you don't need to stop down the lens before you meter, which is what I think you're trying to do. The only instance that you need to stop down the lens is either to check the depth of field, or for lenses which are not meter coupled (SR lenses, M42, etc).

 

It is somewhat disconcerting that the stop down does not work however. Try this as an exercise: Set your SRT to the B setting at f/16 or f/22. Press and hold down the shutter button and look through the lens. If the apateur is closed down whilst your shutter is depressed, then it looks like it's working fine. When you let go of the shutter, the lens should return back to it's widest setting.

Bear in mind that you would pay quite a bit for an adapter, and that you would lose the meter coupling (so you would have to resort to stop down metering).

 

You really would be better off going to the site-that-shall-not-be-named and hunting for a XG, SRT, or X-series for that lens.

You are indeed right that Nikon mounts and Minolta mounts are different. It would be unusual to say the least to build a system of Minolta bodies and Nikon lenses.

 

Someone, somewhere may very well make a Nikon -> Minolta mount adapter. But what would be point be? Surely it would make more sense to buy a Nikon body to match those precious Nikon lenses?

 

This smells fishy to me. I would ask to see photos of the goods before proceeding any further. Maybe the seller is not a photographer and as such doesn't know what he's selling.

 

If they are Nikon lenses, then yes they can be used on Nikon SLRs. Even more impressively, you can use them on pretty much any mid-range upwards Nikon SLR, including the digitals.

I've been using it quite happily for the past few months now. I used to shoot FP4, but I much prefer the grain and tones from Acros, they *feel* more natural. I develop for 18 minutes at 1:100 in Rodinal.<div></div>

If you're trekking, you don't want to carry too many lenses with you. To be fair, I carry a punishing amount of glass on my back, but I can't recommend it for everybody. At the very least, keep your eyes open for:

 

A good short to medium telephoto. Nice general purpose lens. The Tokina ATX 28-70 is pretty legendary.

 

A singular good wideangle will see you through most landscape scenarios. I own and use the lens below, and absolutely love the results. Sharp and crisp, even when shot wide open.

24mm f2.8 Minolta Rokkor MC

 

If you're planning on shooting wildlife, you'll need something long. If weight and size are an issue, consider a 500mm mirror lens. They can only really be used in good sunlight, but they're compact enough to throw in a rucksack. You'll probably not find the Minolta own brand, but Vivitar did an excellent 500mm in their series 1 lineup. A set of ND grads are useful for giving you some control over the shooting with this lens.

 

If you have space to spare, consider a *good* macro/short telephoto. Macro photography in the wild always yeilds interesting studies, and you should always consider looking small, as well as large. The Vivitar Series 1 90mm f2.5, Tokina ATX 90mm f2.5 and Tamron SP 90mm f2.5 are all excellent lenses. Also consider Minolta's own 100mm Macro (I find the 50mm far to short to use).

 

Take pleanty of slide or B&W and enjoy yourself. And remember, you can sacrifice a lens, you can never sacrifice your tripod.<div></div>

A friend of mine recently purchased an M42 version of this same lens for use with a Pentax body of his. He absolutely loves the lens and although he finds the mechanics somewhat stiff, he commented that the optical quality was superb.

 

Seems like a good deal, and I doubt that you're going to be wanting to use this lens point and shoot anyway, so you should be fine with stopping the lens down, provided that you can do it with your body.

I bought a second X-700 body a few months ago for a fiver (GBP) from Ebay. It was advertised as having a "faulty shutter". The shutter was locked in a semi-cocked position. Replaced the batteries, reset the mirror (can't remember how to do this but google can be your friend) and the thing fired perfectly first time. Asked a friend of mine to test the shutter speeds, all was good, relined the traps with fresh foam and voila, a working body.

 

If I were you, I would look at the batteries first, if it's still a problem, then send it back.<div></div>