alecu

I got my 500C + Planar 80mm f2.8 + Sonar 150mm f4 for $700 last year. The market value of the camera is going down. You can only hope to find an enthusaist and get somewhere around $1000 for your camera + lens, no more, I think.

I have seen photos of deserted factories and mines from Germany, I just don't know where they are, but FOR SURE there are some people who know locations like this.

 

I am sorry that I don't find it very relevant to compare a request for directions for a deserted location in Germany to a question about wildlife in NYC, these places are all over, you just have to open your eyes. Maybe you can't find any, that doesn't mean that they don't exist. Check out the 2008 Zara catalogue. You'd be surprised. I'll ask someone for some other photos with these kind of locations from Germany, check this thread in a couple of days, you may learn something new.

Hi all,

 

For a quick intro, this is the kind of photography I am into:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=783569 and 90% I will be in Germany in

March. I am interested in any deserted factories, castles or anythink like these

in the Munchen or Nurnberg arrea.

 

Do you know any and the directions to it?

 

Thanks a bunch!

www.photo.net/photos/radugrindei

 

www.photo.net/photos/Alecu

Hi David, maybe I was too vague in my answer. Depending on when you plan to come, I could show you around! :)

 

Take care,

Alecu

Calan is beeing demolished piece by piece and above that is filled with people that are stealing everything they can there. I don't know if it's a good idea to go in there with a camera.

 

David, Romania is a great target for what you're looking for, let me know when you plan to get here. I think I can give a you a couple of reasons why: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=783569 ! Enjoy!

I don't have any experience with the Epson, but I have a Nikon 8000 ED at home and I can tell you it's fantastic at color reproduction for both slides and negatives. You simply don't have to do any corections pre or post scan. Resolution and sharpness is great and afaik the 9000ED has the same specs as the 8000ED only a little faster.

 

If you are willing to spend the bucks, go for it. Great works, by the way!

 

Take care,

Alecu

I have both these lenses and what I can tell you is: Get the 85mm if you have room to move. For indoors even the 50mm may be too long. A zoom may be the solution for that.

 

Cheers!

I posted from my friend's computer above and he was logged on with his account.

 

Upsi! :p

I did some test prints of some Delta 100 Pro developed in R09 12min, which scaned pretty grainy. I did some 100%crop tests (out of a 75x75cm @300dpi print) and some 30x30cm prints (resized to 30x30cm @300dpi on the PC). Both look excelent, the full size crop would support easely more enlargment, grain IS visible, but looks WONDERFULLY!

 

I could post a sample, but I'm afraid it's gonna be useless to photograph the print and post it here (I don't have a regular scanner)

Thank you Robert for these ideas. I'm going to Prague next month, I may search for FotoSkoda for some Rollei Pan 25 rolls. Will my R09 be "gentle" on those or should I try to get some Rodinal?

Marc, this is an issue that's bothering me. I'll probably never go beyond 30x30inch prints (75x75cm), 15x15inch beeing the main size I'll use. I have prepared some crops and fullsize samples to print this week to see if the grain issue is worth bothering for.

 

@Robert: I'm from Timisoara, Romania and my main source of photo equipment and suplies is B&H and that's why I have to double and triple check what I want to get because the shipping costs are consideable for me.

 

Thanks all for your answers, I think I'm gonna get some Microdol anyway to test it along site the semi-HUGE stock of R09 I already have.

Great test, Robert, unfortunately, where I live it's pretty hard to get my hands on ANY developer I need/want. More often I get stuff I need overseas, than localy, so, I'll have to think about this long and hard (and read a lot of reviews, of course)

Wow, straight fast answers, thanks guys.

 

I still have to do some prints to see if the grain I get in my scans will be on a 40x40cm or 75x75cm print and after that, I'll make my choice of developers. The R09 IS wonderfull with this single disadvantage. It may very well be imposible to get everything I need from one developer so I'll have to judge for myself which characteristics I can do without.

I have some FP4 Plus (iso 125), Pan F Plus (iso 50) and Delta-100 Professional

(iso 100) Ilford B&W 120 negs I want to develop to obtain the finest grain

possible. The results I got with some R09 developer I had are not quite

satisfying in terms of grain (great shadow detail, contrast and sharpness). I

could use a recomandation for a developer to get the fines grain possible. Thanks!

 

ps: all negs go into a CoolScan 8000 ED, so i do my grain analysis are on 100%

crops of 8900x8900px 16bit tiffs.

For $710 I got: 500C + 80 f2.8 + 150 f4 + A12 + A24.

 

I think you can do better. Ride ebay for a couple of weeks and you'll nail one as well.

The pixel desity of the 400d aplied to a FF sensor would give us a 26mpx resolution. So, we're still good to go! :b

How much did you dig after this "very often encoutered" scene? :))

 

 

You people are talking about exceptions, I don't think the guy in the 1st post need this kind of BS. The answer for him would be: yes, you can use this method for 99% of cases when you'll want to hdr-ate freeze-action shots. This method will not work when you'll want to expose your WHOLE DESK in the dark with a BRIGHT spot light in one place. Goddam it, who does that? How much time did you spend trying to come up with an idea for a scene "to shut this guy up once and for all"? :)) (thus, I am not certain that I can't get similar result from the 3rd or 4th raw file as the final hdr image)

I am sorry I'm not at my computer so I can upload some more samples.

 

A -2EV from the camera will look almost identical to a -2EV in a raw processing software (depending on the software's recovery capabilities). I'm not saying you'll be able to squeeze EVERYTHING out of that raw, but tell me the crop you've found is relevant?! Come'on,... how much time did you spend on a 100% zoomed image to find a spot where there's a difference? I didn't say IDENTICAL, but did you have a "WOW" moment when looking at the images first? Will a hdr from RAW satisfy you in 95% of the times? Are you shooting each scene over a EV range SO big that this method is unsatisfing? Come'on ... tell me a 12bit raw (4096 shades) does not have a greater dynamic range than a 8bit jpeg (256 shades). That means 16 shades in the raw per one in the jpgeg.

 

Try exporting 3 jpegs from a raw, generate a hdr from that. If THAT result will not satisfy 99% of users (except the 100%zoom freaks that scroll through a pic like maniacs to find differences), I don't know what will ...

Tone Mapping in Photomatix:<div></div>

Isaac, I hope the above post has clarified the issue, seems that Bernie, Rainer, Emre and all the others have been reduced to silence.

 

I don't make it a habit of talking without knowing what I am talking about.

 

Just get Photomatix and play with it, whether you open a raw file and generate a hdr from there (not recommended because the result will be noisy and soft), or you export yourself three jpgs from that raw (i recomend -2, 0 and +2 for best dynamic range) and generate a hdr from those three jpgs. Results will be stunning, you'll be able to hdr-ate all those freeze action shots you've got :).

 

PS: don't forget about the Tone Mapping in Photomatix, that's where the magic happens.

 

PPS: you can also checkout www.stuckincustoms.com, one of the best HDR resources on the net at the moment.

Have you ever tried to compare a -1EV from camera with a -1EV from a raw file?

 

Just my luck I have some bracketed shots that I have captured in raw. Here's what I have done:

 

1. I have generated a hdr from a single raw file (HDR_FROM_1_RAW)

 

2. Exported the thee bracketed shots and generated a hdr from them (HDR_FROM_CAMERA_BRACKET) - The only way YOU are suggesting it's possible

 

3. Exported 3 jpgs from the same raw file with -2, 0 and +2 EV. Notice how they resemble very much the camera-bracketed shots. THE MAGIC OF RAW IS THAT IT RETAINS DETAILS IN THE HIGHLIGHTS AND IN THE SHADOWS THAT ALLOW YOU TO COMPENSATE UP TO 2 STOPS (see samples). And then, generated a HDR out of these 3 jpgs (HRD_FROM_PC_BRACKET).

 

Please compare the results yourself:

 

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/9753/hdrfrom1rawnb5.jpg

 

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7094/hdrfromcamerabracketok3.jpg

 

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5641/hdrfrompcbracketog6.jpg

 

 

All three solutions are possible, results vary in sharpness, noise and white-balance (could have obtained the same WB if I wouldn't have modified it before exporting the jpgs)<div></div>

PSCS2 probably reads the exif of the jpgs and "sees" that they are at the same exposure and won't allow you to open them. try renaming them or erasing the exif data, if you don't want to use Photomatix

 

hint: don't forget about the Tone Mapping feature. That's the whole fun part of HDR generation with Photomatix

Photomatix can open ONE RAW file and generate a HDR image from there. Results are okay, BUT A BETTER SOLUTION is to export 3 JPGs from one RAW with -2, 0 and +2 exposures and merge them into one HDR image. It works GREAT, at least in Photomatix, sharper result and less noise than the HDR resulted from one RAW file.

 

So, the answer is YES. Export 3 jpgs from one raw and generate yourself a great HDR image.

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