miles_hecker

Paul,

 

I was a dedicated negative printer for many years. If you intend to do analog printing in a wet lab, by all means stay with negatives.

Analog printing from slides is technically VERY challenging.

 

I must say that I agree with Scott that most of the current negative films don't have a color balance that is designed for landscape work.

Flesh tones and landscapes are very different beasts.

 

But, if you're not computer phobic look into the digital world.

Wonderful low cost, high quality 35mm film scanners can be had for $500. The Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 for instance.

In the digital world, IMHO for landscapes, transparencies are the way to go.

 

They scan with less visible grain and of course don't require a proof sheet for evaluation. Provia 100F is a wonderful, warm almost grainless emulsion. Velvia of course has it's worshipers and is great for certain situations, but it can drive auto everything scanning software nuts.

 

Best of all the computer dark room will give you the kind of creative control which is impossible to obtain printing color in the traditional darkroom.

 

See http://www.wyofoto.com/landscapes.htm

 

for some of my latest landscape work

 

Miles Hecker

Digital backs are available for the Contax and not for the Pentax.

The new Leaf Cmost seems to be very high quality and costs a mere $10,000.

 

Digital is instant you won't need a Polaroid.

At a cost of $10 per roll with processing plus ?? more for proofs,

the digital back will pay for itself in 1 - 2 years if you run 50 rolls of film per month. If you don't shoot a lot of film it may never pay for itself. The polaroid backs for the Pentax aren't free either.

 

An added benefit is the tonality of most Pro digital backs is superb.

I've had my LS8000 since May.

It's a wonderful scanner, by far the best of many I've owned.

 

Installation can be a problem with WIN2000, consult Nikon tech support.

WIN 98 installation works without a hitch.

 

Unless you have 1GB of RAM, use Nikon scan to do the scanning and load the saved images into PS5.5 after you're done.

Scanned MF images can be very big, 100's of megabytes! Using Photoshop adds at least 50% to the RAM used.

 

I recommend you have at least 512MB of ram on a PC, 768MB is better.

 

Miles

Actually its the CCD that needs to be cooled. It can get quite hot. The new high end digital cameras use a magnesium or aluminum body more to get the heat out of the CCD than to maintain structural integrity.

 

Astronomers actually use liquid nitrogen to cool their CCD sensors and get noise free images of faint stars! I don't think this is practical for a field camera. Some new low noise CMOS sensors such as the Leaf Cmost are incredibly quiet and noise free. I believe they will pass film and drum scans within the next few years.

 

See http://www.fillfactory.com/htm/track_record/htm/cmost_samples.htm

 

However for the $$$ the new LS-8000 and Sprintscan 120 are hard to beat. I think they come very close to the Imacon and 90% of the way to a drum scanner for 25% of the cost.

 

See http://wyofoto.com

 

The home page image on my web site had very dense forground greens and blacks. I think the LS-8000 16x resample scan penetrated them amazingly well.

A scanner can be engineered to see through a higher Dmax by using an A/D converter with more bits and turning up the light source used by the scanner. It's all meaningless of course because the real statistic of interest is the scanners range with real film between Dmin and Dmax.

 

Turning up the light source allows you to see through an incredibly dense emulsion but it blows out the Dmin values and highlights! The real limiting factor of course is the signal to noise ratio of the scan. Here photomultiplier tubes excel and CCD's lose. Their blacks are simply cluttered with noise. However, they've come a long way and my Nikon LS-8000 is so good, I rarely find myself needing to pay for a drum scan these days.

 

Last I heard the highest density slide films only have a Dmax of about 3.8, so I wonder what the Minolta was designed to scan.

 

How does the Minolta stack up? We won't know until someone bites the bullet and buys one. The software however is every bit as important as the hardware and Minolta isn't noted for it's software prowness. For that matter neither is Nikon!

The range of light in the Teton and Yellowstone landscapes is very, very large. Many people shoot Velvia but the high contrast makes the scenes look stark. Most shadow detail is lost, especially in sunrise and sunset shots.

 

If you need slides to submit as originals and must have that snap maybe you should use Velvia, but if you're going to be scanning the images and working digitally, I STRONGLY recommend Provia 100F.

 

It has 1 1/2 f-stops more range and is almost grainless. It is capable of giving you 13"x19" enlargements from 35mm with a high quality scan.

 

See: www.wyofoto.com for more examples.<div></div>

Miles,

 

First off, it is more like 14 to 17 miles into Assiniboine depending on what trail head you go in from. One thing some do to cut down on the hike is to mountain bike part of the way. You can't ride a bike in the park, but you can travel some of the way in on one.

 

There are basic cabins near the lake that you might want to stay in to save carrying extra weight. They are called the Naiset (sp) cabins and last I knew rented for $10 a night.

 

I'll be up there about the same time, but I'm cheating and going in on the helicopter. I'm getting too old, have too much camera gear and blew my knee out the last time I was up that way. We will be in the lodge. There will also be a photography workshop lead by Joe Lange at about the same time. There is plenty of room so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Mosquitos are bad at that time so go prepared. There are bears in the area too, so the cabins might be a good option. I also ran into an extremely large black wolf up there a few years ago. That was definitly the high point of the trip.

 

Any other questions let me know. I'll try to find the title of a book I have on the area. It would help you a great deal.

 

Later,

 

George Hager

I'm interested in hiking in to photograph Mt Assinboine in BC.

I'll be in the area about July 20-25.

 

All information as to the nature and duration of the hike to a good

vantage point would be appreciated.

 

I am hoping it can be done as a single night pack trip. Go in one long

day. Shoot at sunrise and head out. I live in Wyoming and am used to

hiking at elevation so a 10 mile day in and out is just fine.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Miles

I have both Tiffen and Singh-Ray ND filters. The Tiffen filters show noticeable contrast reduction and slight optical distortions when viewing prints 11x14 or larger. It is barely perceptable at 11x14, more so at 16x20 and even greater at 20x30. These are prints made from 6x9 negatives or transparencies. At 8x10 the only difference you can see is a slight non neutral tint to the images. The exact nature of the tint depends on the lighting conditions, but it is there.

 

The homepage image at http://wyofoto.com was taken with a Singh Ray 2 stop ND filter.

 

The above comments are for normal or wide angle lenses. Telephoto lenses magnify the distortions and worsen them.

The buffalo herd are often on the area known as Antelope Flats.

You can drive to within about 1/2 mile on antelope flats road and snowshoe. The flats are about 2 miles square, but buffalo herds are large in size, so seeing them is easy! Respect the buffalo they kill more tourists than the grizz, Safe distance 15 yards plus behind a fence or tree.

 

Moose hang out along the Gros Ventres river between the town of Kelly and the Snake River. A road follows within 1/4 mile of the river most of the way. The buffalo also might be near Kelly on the North side of the road. Safe distance for moose can be as close as 10 yards, but watch your position.

 

I saw a wolfpack near Oxbow Bend on Dec 30 at a distance of 100 yds, but they tough to sneak up on.

 

Get a map at the visitor center near moose to find these locations.

Good luck!!!

You can have it all! Keep the hood in place. Buy a cheap or used cheap 67mm skylight filter. Break the glass out. Now screw the Polarizer into the skylight filter. You have an assembly which will clear the hood. Hold up the polarizer, look through it rotating until you achieve the desired effect. Note the number at 12:00 facing the sky. Screw the whole assembly in and rotate until the same number faces 12:00 vertical. Use a like brand polarizer on your 35mm slr to meter. Voila, perfect polarized shots with your Fuji 690.

In the last year I've become a convert to digital printing.

The quality of a Lighjet {or similar technology } 20" x 30" print made from my best 6x9 negative or transparency is astonishing. I can take out a 7x lupe and look at individual branches on trees hundreds of yards distant in my landscape shots. The range of tonality finally equals what you can see on the light table. The quality of the scan is the key. A drum scanner is only as good as the operator.

 

On a similar note, the technology has led me to shoot Provia 100F almost exclusively. The range of tonality and lack of grain is exquisite when digitally printed. If I want a Velvia look, I just boost saturation and contrast. I think in fact it would not be an exageration to say the days of ISO 100 negative film are numbererd at least in the world of nature photography. Thr Provia 100F has almost the same tonal range as any negative stock I've seen and is virtually grainless when scanned. Even the best 100 negative film has way more grain visible after scanning.

 

The super gloss paper is superior when viewed directly, but the visual difference when viewed behind glass is small. When viewed behind non glare glass it's non existent.

The Teton fall color seemed to be approaching its peak this past week.The Snake river color was great. The last snow snorm didn't hit thearea hard at least at the Snake River level. Things will be fading inthe next week, so enjoy now!

Natural light exposures with 100 film will be in the range of 1/60 - 1/125 at f5.6-f8.0 if its not overcast. So a monopod will work well.

A flash is a good idea to create a velvet black background for some shots. Use TTL metering as the foliage can confuse a simple flash meter. Enjoy...

 

Miles

I intend to spent about four days in early March photographing Mesa

Verde. The Chapin Mesa area is open this time of year although the

more remote Wetherill Mesa area is not.

 

Any tips on especially photgenic sites or suggestions as to a which

focal length lenses would be appropriate?

 

Thanks in advance..

At -4 degrees F both NIMH AA and Lithium CR5 batteries are down to 1/2 normal capacities. At 32 degrees F both are down to between 90% - 95% of capacity. Alkaline AA cells are down to 65% at 32 degrees F and useless at -4 F.

 

Four NIMH cells will give you about 4.8 volts, while the Lithium batteries will put out about 6.0 volts. Most voltage regulators drop out when the supply voltage drops below a certain level, thus all things being equal the Lithium batteries will probably run longer.

 

The daytime temperature in Yellowstone will probably be between 10 - 30 degrees F in the next month. The best solution might be to keep the grip under your coat with a power extender cord running to the body. The 90 degree temperatures near your body should extend battery life considerably.

 

From central Wyoming..

Most of Yellowstone is at an altitude of between 7500 to 8300 feet above sea level. Early June snow storms are quite possible. In a normal year wildflowers should peak between July 15- July 30.

Severe afternoon hail/snow/rain storms can develope in short order so carry your rain shell and and sweater.

 

Mosquitoes also peak at this time so bring your bug juice! Watch out for the moose as they're not cows. A cow moose will kill to defend her calves. The buffalo are also not domestic in any sense of the word, they are not to be trifled with. Needless to say the grizzlies are best viewed from inside your car!!! Enjoy the flowers and don't feed the wildlife or become feed for the wildlife.

 

From central Wyoming...

I'm in the process of looking for a general purpose TTL capable flash

for my Contax Aria which will do well for Macro work.

 

I,m looking at the Contax TLA360 and Metz 40Z3. Does anyone have

experience with these flashes in Macro apllications?

 

Miles Hecker