moore_photography

Also check <a href="http://www.keh.com">keh.com</a> as they always have a rather good supply of Minolta MD equipment.

I use diafine with my TX. It is rated at 1600 and is the easiest developer to use.

look for the red eyes :)<div></div>

I'm really liking Diafine for my TMX because it gives you a little bit of ISO boost and the development is just so damn easy! It's also a great way of learning to make the correct exposure (though it really isn't possible to do N+/-) as development will always be exactly the same. (It also gives Tri-x a wonderful iso boost in 35mm with grain much like when it's developed in d76). Finally, if you want acutance, diafine will give you so much you might cut yourself on the sharpness! (Just a note: all of my experience with diafine is only in the 120 and 35mm formats)

Thanks for the suggestion about cameraleather.com. My IIIa is completely leather-free and I was wondering if I was going to do something about it. I emailed Morgan (info@cameraleather.com) and we're going to try a IIIc cover with a little bit of extra material that I'm going to shape to fit on my IIIa.<div></div>

<b><u><P ALIGN=CENTER>CONGRATULATIONS!</b></u></p>

Try diafine. Easiest to use developer and lasts for months on end!

Might I also suggest David Hume Kennerly, he just published a new book: Photo du jour (Or ~'photo a day' for the french neophytes). His autobiography "Shooter" in which he talks about his shooting career is also a good read--leica connection: when he was the personal photographer to the President he used leicas almost exclusively (M3's if I remember correctly).

You might want to try Diafine to get Hp5 to 800... note: I'm not too sure what this would look like in 35mm (I'm assuming) as I've only used this combonation in 120.

I'm partial to diafine... most no-hassle developer you will <b>EVER</b> use

just another thought, tri-x responds well to a one stop push or you could shoot tmax 3200 @iso 800-1000 and it responds quite well.

I like the look of Hp5+ in Diafine which gives you an iso of 800 (it's a 2-bath developer and the iso does not change as there are zero to few vairables in the development), but this was in 120 format. But I have just printed TMAX400 5x7 and 8x10 from diafine and they looked great (iso of 500 in Diafine).

I don't know of its uses for 4x5 film, but I've recently started using Diafine (a 2-bath developer) for my 120 TMAX 100. I switched to this as I'm too impatient (read: lazy) to use ice and drop the temperatures down to the usual 68-70F and keep it constant. Living in TX it's much easier for me to just use Diafine as it's pretty much time/temperature (up to about 80F) independent and it gives acutance out the wazoo!

I received my B800 today along with Large (32"x40") softbox and speedring. To my suprise the speedring is actually a Chimera speedring for the White Lightning Ultra series (which is compatible w/ Balcar and the Alien Bees) so if I ever decide to step-up to Chimera boxes I don't need to buy the speedring! The softbox is a Light Gear Softbox (another Paul Buff company) and while well-made is obviously not constructed to be torn down over and over (I just need it for my in-house studio and therefore won't be taking it anywhere). The construction is comparable to the Photoflex line of softboxes. The actual monolight is very small--about half the size and weight of my WL Ultra 1800's-- and in the softbox at a distance of 50" (the diagonal of the softbox) gives me a consistent f/16.4 @100iso on my Minolta IVF lightmeter. The built-in fan is very quiet, just a simple whirr that is easily ignored. I've just used it to take some back-lit photos of glassware and it never failed to fire on any of the 15 shots with my late-70's Mamiya M645. I'll use it to take some portraits in a week or so and if anything of note comes up, I'll re-post here. All-in-all I heartily recommend them for the beginning or intermediate studio photographer.

 

Jeremy

I've got an old pair of White Lightning Ultra 1800's, but I ordered an Alien Bee's B800 the other day to use as a background, kicker, hairlight, etc. When I get it, I'll let you know what I think! Jeremy

and don't miss Yousef Karsh exhibit at the <a href="http://www.oswaldgallery.com">Oswald Gallery</a>. He's a famous Canadian portrait photographer and if you don't recognize the name, I guarantee you would recognize the photos. (ex: the glowering image of Winston Churchill).

in photojournalism (and candids in general), you just learn to work with what you've got. And a note on that photo: crop it to a vertical shot and the mother's head just disappears... it'll even give you that artsy grain :) <disclaimer> this is a sarcastic comment to anyone who was thinking of flaming it, grain can be used artistically or not, depending on the photographer and his intentions </disclaimer> The only problem w/ that move would be printing the tri-x pushed 2 stops large enough to give to the father and do his newborn justice.

I can help on 3 and 4. I'm pretty tech savvy, but not too sure how techy I would need to be. (I build all of my own computers and run a number of ftp servers, but have no experience programming, using oracle, or playing w/ non-OS-X Unix based systems). I can work 5-10 hours and much more during the summers. I'm an undergraduate student in philosophy who will graduate in a total of 2.5 years (after this semester I'll be done w/ 1 year) and then go on to law school. About "job" number 3, I aced ethics this semester :)

Anything that I can do I will, I want to keep photo.net alive and well.

 

Jeremy Moore

If you decide to go to Caprock, let me know as that's where I'm also heading Easter weekend. The Little Red Tent camping area is probably the best (no running water or electricity though).

 

Jeremy Moore

Might I also suggest Palo Duro or Big Bend. I honestly have no idea how far away these are from Dallas, all I know is that they are a couple of hours from Lubbock, TX. There's also Glen Rose... not much for wildflower shooting there, though. Have fun camping! I'm also planning on getting outdoors for the Easter holiday.

 

Jeremy Moore