shiva_mayer

I received the "Subscription Confirmation" email as well (identical to the one pasted above).

 

I agree with the others in this thread: not sending out an email to affected people (or barring that, all subscribers) is near-Equifax levels of irresponsible. Very few people will think to check the Photo.net homepage and fewer still may notice the black bar with 0.5em font.

 

If you're savvy enough to be commenting on this thread, you probably already realize that a safe assumption is that Photo.net was breached and your account information was compromised. While they continue their investigation, it's probably smart to change your password (and passwords on accounts that share the same password -- not that anyone would do this, of course!). Given the lack of expedient and forthright communication from Photo.net today, I wouldn't wait...

At the farm...<div></div>

"There isn't: in this respect all Hasselblad SLR cameras are created equal."

 

Except, I would point out, that the 501CM and 503CW are both equipped with the Gliding Mirror System, which eliminates the characteristic vignetting on the top of the viewfinder image seen on the 500CM and other non-GMS cameras when using lenses longer than 120mm (or with bellows/tubes on shorter lenses).

 

From that respect, the 501CM and 503CW you are considering both have better viewfinders if you like long lenses. Otherwise, as has been pointed out, the image is almost identical (provided the focusing screen is identical of course, which it may not be -- there have been many different versions of screens, both standard and optional, sold over the years).

 

Hope this helps.

Oh, I should probably also mention, you're going to want to point your flash AT your subjects. Bouncing it just eats your power, increases recycle time, and removes the cool colors and high-contrast look.<div></div>

In order to achieve the effect you're looking for, you need to fill in the background ambient light in order to match the flash exposure. This is done by "dragging the shutter", that is, holding the shutter open either before or after the flash to allow the ambient light to register.

 

What you need to do is meter for the ambient light in the club. Clubs are usually pretty dark, I get anything from 1sec to 1/15sec at f/5.6, ISO 640 or thereabouts. (Your mileage may vary.) Regardless of the ambient light level, you then use those settings and choose (or let the camera choose) a flash exposure that freezes your subject at the instant it goes off.

 

In order to do this, you'll parobably find it easiest if your camera is in MANUAL mode (manual exposure that is), and I also find it easiest if the flash is set to a manual power setting. I also turn autofocus OFF, since it tends to do more harm than good when the lights are flashing and people are jumping around.

 

Most importantly: experiment. With practice this technique can yeild some awesome results.<div></div>

I know this thread is long dead, but I just noticed that the question about how labs handle 120/220 has gone unanswered. So, for everyone's interest, I'm dragging this thread out of the ashes...

 

In labs that use a continuous feed 'minilab' type processor (as opposed to a single-tank rotary processing), the film must first be removed from its spool. This is done to get rid of the backing paper and allow the film to be taped directly to the leader card (which pulls the film through the processor).

 

With the Fuji C41 and Agfa E6 machines at work, the procedure I follow is this: I take the roll of film (still sealed) and a 120/220 "cassette" (a little box which holds the unspooled film in a roll and allows it to escape through a felt light trap) and put them in a changing bag or dark box. Inside the dark box, I tear the sealing tape and unroll the paper leader until I feel the start of the film.

 

I remove the film from the paper (with 120 this is easy since this end isn't actually attached to anything, with 220 it needs to be untaped), and start coiling the film into a tight little roll. When I reach the end of the film I untape the film from the backing paper and then put the now-free roll of film into the cassette, leaving just a little bit sticking out for later.

 

Then I lock the little cassette, open up the darkbox, and now in the light I tape the end of the film I left sticking out to a leader card and stick the whole thing in the processor. Once the processor is shut, the film is slowly drawn through the light trap (in the dark of course) and into the first developer. After it has finished unspooling, the machine can be opened and the cassette can be saved for later re-use.

 

The astute reader will notice that there are at least two things that can be gained from this. One is that edge fogging with 220 film is very rarely the fault of the lab. Unless some bonehead unseals the roll in the light, the entire procedure is done in the dark so there is no chance for the last frames to be fogged. (Even if the light trap in the cassette is leaking, that would fog the first frame, not the last one, since the film is rolled up starting with the end of the roll.)

 

In my experience, 220 edge fogging occurs because some cameras don't keep enough tension on the film spool, causing the film to be wound loosely. Since 220 has only just enough paper to protect it from fogging, if the roll is even slightly loose light will leak under the edge of the paper and fog the last few frames. To wit, I've never seen edge fogging on even the sloppiest 120 spool.

 

It also follows that since the start of the roll is left sticking out of the light-trap to facilitate taping it to the leader card, it is possible for a sloppy lab tech to pull out a bit too much and ruin part of the first frame. I've never done this myself, but I do know of others who have. (Keep in mind that in a smaller lab, the bulk of film is 35mm and you can haul out the first 6 inches of 35mm film and usually not worry about it.) The lesson here is that since there's usually a bit of leftover film at the end of a 120 or 220 roll, I wind medium format cameras a bit PAST the "Start" mark when loading since that way, there's a bit more space left at the beginning of the roll where it's most prone to fogging. (This is especially important with my Blad, since it likes to start right at the beginning of a roll.)

 

Hope this helps!

For those of you unfamiliar, "Yad Vashem" in Jerusalem is Israel's national

memorial of the Holocaust. As part of a Holocaust education campaign at Queen's

University, a temporary exhibit was erected in the student center. I took this

photo while covering it for a campus newspaper.<br>

<br>

<center><img src="http://qlink.queensu.ca/~2bsm/Our Yad Vashem.jpg"><br>

<br><i>

Our Yad Vashem (Leica M6 TTL with 50/2 Summicron, on Fuji PRO800Z)</i>

</center>

And I thought I was being paranoid when I worried about <i>drenching</i> my M6 TTL and a friend's 28 Elmarit in a sudden downpour!<br>

<br>

Pantelis, I think you'll be all right...

Raymond, I think that's the funniest thing I've read all week, and I don't even own a Leica.