glenn_holden

Scott:

As a follow up, I am impressed with the INOi/Tiger response, they promised a replacement unit in 3 to 5 days, and it was at my door in 3 working days. I'm happy to report the replacement unit works fine, it will download (upload)? a full 512 mb card in about 4 minutes running on battery power. I downloaded 2 gigs and there was never a hick up. The only difference I can see is that the replacement unit was manufactured in 2005 whereas the original unit was manufactured in 2004. I'd say go ahead and get one, certainly my experience with INOi/Tiger has been good.

LGH

Scott:

Like you, I did some more research as well. I started out with the idea of buying a portable HD unit with a built in card reader and adding in a HD. Be very careful if you do this, some of the portable HD units that have a card reader built in do indeed specify the maximum transfer you can get- make sure you read the fine print in the specifications first. This seems to depend upon the type of card it is, SD, SM, Compact flash, etc. It ranges from 64 Mb to unlimited, if I remember correctly with a microdrive.

I bought the INOi because it didn't seem to have any limit, in fact the box shows 512 mb cards being used with it (including the SD card). I use SD 512 mb cards more or less as "standard" when shooting in Raw and 256 mb cards when shooting in JPEG. I'm paranoid about something going wrong with a card during a shoot and loosing everything.

Just as a follow up, the INOi service seems quite good, I got a response from them the next day, they've not heard of the problem and they arranged a return authorization, and Tiger Direct is sending a replacement. Tiger has offered my money back if the replacement has the same problem (ie: won't download more than 128 mb with a SD card). So far, I've been impressed with the service, I

'll let everyone know if the replacement unit works as advertised. I guess I am out of pocket for the shipping though.

Glenn

Scott:

I just bought one, and I am disappointed with it. Mine won't download more than 128 mb without locking up, and that's with a fully charged battery and the ac connected. Fine if you use 64 mb cards, but it just chokes on 512 mb cards. Also, it's flakey, even with a 128s mb card, it only works 5 out of 6 tries. Sometimes it even locks up when it's charging and you have to reboot it (by putting a pin in a little hole in the case. Also, it does not work on my portable USB 1.1 as the computer, with Windows XP, keeps telling me to put in a disk in the external disk drive. It does, however, work fine with my USB 2 desk top computer.

I've contacted Inoi but I have not yet had a response (to be fair to them, it's only been a couple of days).

I wish I had held off until some more people have a chance to use this device. I feel like I am the Beta test market on this one. If it just worked as advertised, I would be happy.

LGH

Alan:

To get a "wide angle" with the digital, you have to divide by 1.5, ie: for 28 mm you need a 19 mm lens. There are some technical problems in using a wide angle lens designed for a film camera with a digital camera. With a film wide angle lens, the rays at the extreme ends of the lens strike the outer perimeter of the film at an angle. With a digital lens, the design is such that the angle is reduced, that is, the light rays come into the sensor more straight on. It does make a difference, I tried it with my 19-28 mm zoom.

For that reason alone, I bought the kit lens. Yes, there is some distortion at the 19 mm end, but what do you want for the price? By the way, you won't have any problem with lens above about 50 mm or so though.

Glenn

Thanks folks for all the ideas. I didn't want to respond right away until I ran a whole bunch of tests myself on the weekend.

Reinhard, sorry, I did say green smiley face when I should have said green auto pic mode. The green smiley face is on my MZ. I tried several different scenics on the weekend under different light conditions, but I still got the f8, I could not get the f11 to f18 you got until I took the speed from 200 up to 400 then 800 (as you suggested). It seems like it ramps the f stop up once you get between 1/500 and 1/750 shutter speed. By the way, I really had to look hard at shadow details to see any difference between 200 and 400. I sure wouldn't be ashamed of 8 X 10 prints taken at 400 ASA.

I also ran a whole series of shots on each of the intelligent modes, at 200 (at 6 megs, highest resolution) and the same shots on Av at f8 for comparison. I used a graphic display monitor we have a work and blew everything up 200 to 400%. Here are my conclusions. The Green Auto Pic mode does more than just adjust the F stop/shutter speed combination. When it selects a scenic, it also appears to add in a step or two of sharpening, I think this is for more detail. When it selects portrait, it seems to put in a bit of softening. When it is in the flower mode, it does boost the color. The manual that comes with the camera does sort of hint at this as well.

However, when it is in the good old P mode, it doesn't seem to do any of these cleaver things, just acts more or less as I expect and doesn't add in any sharpening or boost the color saturation, provided you turn off the auto flash. I can post pix if anyone is really interested.

Jessica, I suspect you are right about the f8. My camera does tend on automatic to try and stay near f8 to f11. Come to think of it, that probably is the right range of f stop for maximum optical resolution.

Sometime this week, I'm going to take some of my other Pentax lens and see what it does using them.

Glenn

I just bought a DS Pentax and I've had it for about a week now. This

is not my first Pentax, I have 5 previous models going back to the

ME super with "program" modes, and in general, they operate the way

I expect them to, in fact there is usually a chart in the back of

their manuals showing how the program modes work.

However, there are no such charts in the DS manual and I am a bit

confused by the DS program. For example, in the green smiley faced

mode, it did select a "scenic" when it was obviously a scenic (lens

at 18 mm, focus at 50 plus feet, no motion in the field, etc.), but

it chose 1/350 @ f8 (at 200 ASA). In this mode I would have

suspected the camera to select something like f16 or higher and

lower the shutter speed (as my other Pentax's do).

So I tried zooming out the lens to maximum 55 mm (this is the 18-55

mm kit lens) again the camera picked a scenic and the exposure

remained at 1/350 at f8. It seems like the camera ignores the lens

focal length when calculating the exposure.

Then I tried a moderate telephoto shot of a sign in the field, the

lens at 55 mm- this time the camera identified it as a portrait

(when the sign was a good 10 plus feet away) and exposed 1/500 at

f8.

Then I tried some flowers, the green smiley face recognized this as

a macro "flower" shot, and exposed it as 1/500 @ f8.

This is all in the program mode, I checked to make sure it was not

in aperature priority.

What is going on here? My local dealer says that they program may be

different than I expect because the "sweet spot" of the lens is

about 2 stops down from the maximum amperature, and with the digital

lens, the focal lengths being smaller than film lens, small

aperatures above f16 are really tiny and lead to pin hole

diffractions, so the program may be trying to keep the aperature

near f8 as possible.

Anybody noticed a similiar effect? Yes, I know I can switch over to

Tv or Av, but that is a pain when you are used to the program mode

working more or less as one expects most of the time.

All comments welcome.

LGH

Good advice here, everyone has their own favorite way.

I like to pull the dark slides almost all the way out, then I dust out the holder with a vaccuum cleaner (use a dedicated brush, not one used for cleaning the house).

Next go wash your hands with a mild soap solution to remove any oil from your hands. Dry well.

I am right handed so I stack the holders on my left with the dark slides facing left when withdrawn. Open the film box and insert the film such that the notch is lower right, this will give the emulsion facing out. If you hold the film between the 2 nd finger and thumb you can feel the notch with your first finger.

Take your left hand thumb and first finger and place it on the film guides, then you should have no problem sliding the film in the correct slot.

If you have never loaded a holder before, I second the idea of "wasting" a sheet and trying it in the daylight, then with your eyes closed and see what works best for you.

Have fun.

LGH

Ray:

Add another vote to the silver/white side as unexposed.

Having been schooled by a press photographer many years ago, when Speed Graphics were in vogue, and newspapers had their own labs, it was white or silver out, unexposed film, black side out, exposed film.

However, the locks or pins were also used as indicators. Pins over silver, loaded and ready to shoot, pins over black, exposed, film still in holder, black, but pins not over slide- empty holder, not re-filled by the lab. Boy would you catch it if you screwed up!

LGH

Absolutely right- the hot shoe is simply a normally open electrical contact between the body of the camera and the tip in the center of the shoe that closes when you press the shutter. It does not require a battery to operate.

I have a K 1000. The hot shoe is X sync, but don't forget to set down the shutter speed to 1/60 th. You can also get a hot shoe to Pc adapter and use the pc cord on any flash, this will allow you to get the flash off camera.

I have a Cokin multi flash unit, and some of the pins on it are too close to the edge of the hotshoe and short out. I use the pc adapter to use this flash, but the dedicated Pentax Sf-1 I have flash works ok as is (except of course, it doesn't work dedicated).

Go ahead, load it up and try it, you cannot hurt anything.

Glenn

Kar:

Very interesting, I had heard the comment before about the tape manufacurers but if you look at their web sites, they seem to be different.

In other words, if I understand you correctly, just about any manufacturers tape is the same except Sony, at least as far as the wet/dry lubrication is concerned?

Thanks for the information.

I recently bought a JVC mini DV camcorder and I bought a 1/2 dozen

JVC mini DV tapes. I previously heard that you should not use the

tapes more than twice, so when I used these up (recorded on once)

and I went to buy some more the local camera/video store. The owner,

who is really into Video, and I trust, tells me there is a

difference in the tapes, some are dry lubricated, and some wet

lubricated, and you should not mix up the tape from different

manufacturers as it will/could clog up the drum, and I should stick

with JVC since I started with them. He does have Fuji tapes on sale,

so I don't think it's because he sells JVC.

I looked at the tapes, and I cannot tell which are "dry" lubricated

and "wet" lubricated. Is this urban legend, or is he being overly

fussy?

GDH

Peng:

I have a Dimage IV scanner. While you can scan mounted slides, I find that in the slide holder, there is more variation in the focus than if you scan a strip of slides in the negative holder. The negative holder holds the strip flatter than the slide mount does, so you get a better scan because there is no compromise in the focus. I now specify the slide film be returned unmounted, I then scan the slides first, the ones I want to digitize, at least, then hand mount the slides that I want to project. It's not that difficult or expensive to do the mounting yourself. In fact, the last batch of slides I specified un mounted, the processor threw in 36 slide mounts for me!

It's hard to handle slides not in the mounts once they are cut.

Glenn

Ken:

I gather you are in Toronto.

Also check out Burlington Camera (in Burlington) when you have a chance, they usually have a good selection of used 4 X 5 cameras and accessories at fair prices.

Glenn

All kinds of good advice here. Johnathon, I thought I was the only guy that vaccumed the holders before loading them. I find the vaccum better than blowing as the vaccum seems to remove the loose dust whereas the blowing just seems to drive it further into the holders.

I also highly recommend keeping the holders in zip lock bags in the field. One thing that I do that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that I take a can of dust off in the field with me, and give the holders a quick squirt before they go into the camera. I do this because I seem to get a lot of dust on the exterior of the dark slides. I suspect the plastic dark slides get statically charged or something, and they tend to attract dust which gets brushed off by the felt of the light seal when you pull out the slide. I'v e tried wiping the dark slides with an anti-static cloth, but it doesn't seem to help too much.

Enjoy.

Good choice for a large format starter camera. You should have lots of fun going against the digital craze, and at limited expense.

I have both Fidelity Elite and Regal holders, both work fine. I think I paid something like $10 to $15 each (USD), used of course. Photo flea markets are good places to find them. Look for deterioration of the felt in the light seals by removing the dark slides from them. Also, look for deterioration of the hinge material, and check that the black backing doesn't have scratches on it, it should be a uniform flat black in appearance.

I find 6 holders (12 shots, they are double sided) is usually sufficient for one shoot, but buy yourself a double lined black bag and learn to re-load the holders by feel. You can take the bag with you and a box of film in the field and re-fill them as you require.

Polaroid backs run about 75$ us for a good one- I like the ones that slide in under the ground glass and use "consumer" film rather than the individual 4 X 5 sheets. Good for checking your lighting, etc.

You can generally pick up expired sheet film at most large photo stores, a pro won't buy it if it's expired, but generally the film has been kept in the fridge, and for an amateur, it can be a real good buy. I call around about once a year and see who has some expired or near expired film and buy it from them. Try 50% of the list price for a starter.

Also, look for a 120 roll film back, but they are hard to find at a reasonable price. I'm not too sure how much longer 4 X 5 sheet film is going to be available.

Glenn Holden

if you look at the edge of the film above the sprocket holes, you will see that it is Fuji Sensia II. I use a lot of it as it is inexpensive.

Good film for the average subject, a little "snapper" than Velvia. Best buy is when you get 10 at a time and get processing included. You can buy Sensia II without processing, but it doesn't save you much money unless you are doing the E-6 yourself.

I think the film is under rated at 100 ASA, it tends to wash out a bit.

You'll find that it saturates a bit better if you use it at 125 ASA rather than a hundred. On occasion I've shot it at 160 ASA and it works ok out at that too. Try different exposures and see what you like.

By the way, I understand that Black's in Canada is now owned by Fuji, the origional group sold it a few years back.

LGH

Nick:

I've shot Fuji 100 Sensia at 125 ASA and cross processed (C-41)successfully. It's a good starting point, but again, you'll have to experiment if you want exhibition/competiton quality results.

I do (will did) a fair amount of cross processing, I like the effect, but lately Photoshop has taken over, but that's another post. If you just want to try it, fine, go ahead and shoot a roll. But if you want to get serious, I found that it was best to shoot the scenes you think you want, on normal slide film, then copy them and have the copy film cross processed.

Have fun

Glenn

Had the same problem when I was doing multi-projector slide shows. Getting permission to use music is a nightmare.

There are a couple of answers-

The New England Camera Council, I think it is, has a bunch of royality free music you can load and use without charge. I don't know if it's on the net, or you would have to go get it on a loan and return basis. You might check their web site.

Also, one of my friends does profesional Video, commercials for local television, weddings, etc. He has a set of Music CD's that give him the rights to use the music in his videos, but they were not cheap. If you can find a Video person in your area, you might want to try this approach.

Both of these sources provide "background" type Musak, not pop tunes though.

Glenn

Go to the nearest Heating and Ventillation outlet that does custom work, and ask if they have any surplus aluminium eggcrate. It's used for controlling airflow in large commercial ducts, and it's anywhere from 1/2 inch to 2 inches deep, with different grid patterns. Works beautifully, and it's usually free for the surplus pieces.

Glenn

Lynn:

There are lots of Local stores, but if you are in Toronto, try Henrys or Vistek, they both have extensive used sections and have used lens on their web sites.

Burlington Camera in Burlington, On is good too, but they don't have a web site.

Also try Stan Reade in London if you are in that area.

Also don't forget to try *bay auctions.

Glenn

Neil:

I did the same trip last year. I took a 60-300 on a MF body and a Sigma 170-500 on a AF body. (I also had a 28-105 for people pictures). I found most of the time I used the 170-500 at somewhere around 400 mm, but the autofocus sometimes went crazy especially with bird pictures. One of the people on the trip had a 1.4 X adapter, and it would have been quite handy to have one on occasion, especially if you are interested in birds.

I like to shoot with the lens at about 2 stops down from maximum amperature (widest that is), this is usually the best optical point. Try not to shoot wide open.

I shot 400 ASA Sensia in the MF body and 100 ASA Sensia in the AF body. (I shoot 100 Sensia at 160 ASA this helps with the saturation). Take lots of film, you will use it. I didn't have any problems with x-rays, but I didn't put any film in the baggage either.

I took a tripod head and a Manfoto multiclamp which I could clamp to the top of the Safari vehicles. Worked out quite well as long as the vehicle was stopped and people were not moving around in it. I took a gunstock as well, but was advised not to use it. I also found that most tour guides do have bean bags available if you ask at the lodge before starting out.

I found that most guides there do have some photo savy as well, you can ask them to move a couple of feet forward or back, or even move around where the light is better and they won't get upset.

By the way, when you go through the army post at the Okavanga Delta, best to temporarly put your camera with the big lens back in your bag or cover it with your jacket, it will save you some time explaining to them exactly what you are taking pictures of.

Have a good time.

Glenn

CK:

The Bowens book that comes with the copier is about 30 pages, but I will try to give you a few sentence run down.

You didn't say what model you have, does it have the contrast control unit ? I will assume that it doesn't. If it doesn't there is a problem in that the copy will be a higher contrast than the origional if you copy on regular film. You can either live with this, or get some low contrast copy film. I bought 100 feet of this stuff from Kodak, but you may have to filter since the film I bought was for incandescent light. For trial purposes, go ahead and use regular film. I assume you have the right camera and lens adapters for the bellows, if you don't try Calumet's web site.

You first have to do a trial run to calibrate the unit. If you don't have a standard test slide, pick a slide that has normal contrast and color range. Place it in the holder on the power unit, mount your camera on the stand, set up the shutter to the flash sync speed (usually less than 1/60 for older cameras, and set the bellows for a 1:1 extension. Now, turn the big black knob to 1/2 range, that is, between the lowest and the highest setting. If you have high speed film, that is, anything above 100 EI, use the low power setting. The high power setting is for low film speed copy film. Focus by moving the camera rig up and down, and start with a 1:1 ratio.

Now, start making exposures, the first at f22 and work down to your largest lens opening. Wait a minute or so between exposures for the flash to re-charge. Write everything down. Get the film developed, pick out the best copy and the f stop you used for the copy, this is your base setting. Place the origional slide back in the copier, swing the photocell over the slide, turn on the illumination, and zero the meter for this setting.

From now on, you can copy by simply putting the slide in, and swing the photocell over the slide, then turn the black knob up or down until the meter zeros. This will give you a correct exposure for that film and lens f stop.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

ps: Have fun, this is a great unit, you can change colors, do montages, etc. but you have to play with it to really get to know how to use it.