tedharris

They've been out of production for 5-6 years. $99 is about it's worth, if that. It won't do as

good as a new Microtek i800 for around 300. Waste of money IMO.

You can read my preliminary review in the January issue of "View Camera." The tested

resolution is slightly better than that of its competitors. It does an acceptable job for

prints up to 11x14 and sometimes 16x20 from 4x5 negatives and transparencies, 11x14

from 6x7 (sometimes) and I wouldn't recommend it for 35mm. No comments yet on DMax

as it hasn't yet been tested.

If you already own an Epson 4990, V700/750 or Microtek 1800f the marginal gains may

or may not be worth the price of a new scanner. IMO, none of the consumer scanners give

you a top quality scan suitable for making an exhibition quality print any larger than 8x10

but I am very picky and if you are doing this as a hobby it may be just fine.

If you have the negatives or transparencies and access to a high end scanner you can get to

quality.

Kieran, OxYgen won't run on OSX 10.5. Kodak expects to have a 10.5 versio available this

Spring. I simply run the scanner on a separate hard drive.

No, nat at all as straightforward as it seems. The purpose of these backs is to use the digital

camera in conjunction with stitching software to use 20+ 35mm size frames stitched to

approximae the full 4x5. The ones you see on eBay are probably the bottom of the line for

these devices so figure accordingly. I have tested one that is in the $1500 price range from

Camera Fusion and it did an acceptable job. The one I tested was a fairly early model and

they have since improved it. I ran some fairly casual side-by-side comparisons with 4x5 film

and the film results were still superior in terms of shadow detail and edge sharpness.

This is the workshop that we've been offering for the past several years. Kirk Gittings will be doing the

workshops with me this year. So far we have one scheduled at Midwest Photo in Columbus, OH, Jan 25 -

27; Jun 2 - 4 at Foto3 in Ft. Collins, CO and we are hoping to do one in the Pacific Northwest but finding a

location where we don't have to bring in EVERYTHING has been tough.

These are small, hands-on intense workshops limited to 8 people.

I'll also be doing a slightly different, shorter, less intense but still hands-on workshop in Toronto at the

end of February.

Email me for details. The brochure should be up on the Midwest website in the next day or two

www.mpex.com.

Lots available in all flavors .... you just need to search a bit. See the table I did at http://www.viewcamera.com/pdf/2006/5x713x18filmtable.pdf

It's a little out of date but pretty much still ok. J&C is OOB, Kodak is not making any color neg

anymore and Velvia 50 is now also available in 5x7.

Correction, Richard's website is www.lg4mat.net. BTW he can do major as well as minor

repairs to Wisner and other cameras. Richard is also a camera builder.

Leo,

You can domit without a RIP. at least you can on the ps GP model by just setting a custom

paper size.

<p>

Foto3 is grand in design and simple in concept. It is dedicated to the art and craft of photography.

Bringing together the ideas and resources of three conferences that have been held separately in the past--View Camera, APUG and Calumet--Foto3 provides a venue for all photographers to display their work, to

learn, to share and to broaden their interests and advance their skills and knowledge.

</p>

<p>

Foto3 includes 3 days of seminars, a trade show, a competition with a Grand Prize of $2500, 4 exhibits

and many pre conference workshops.

</p>

<p>

See the details at <a href="http://www.foto3-2008.info">www.foto3-2008.info</a>.

</p>

Have you called Canon tech support? I have neveer had to wait longer than 48 hours for a

tech to show up ... and I am in the boonies.

"The 1.4 is better in all regards than the f2. The f2 is the worst of the Nikon 85's and the 1.4

is the best (particularly the AF-D version, which outperforms the AI-S f1.4)"

I've done a side-by-side comparison of the two AF lenses and found the 1.8 to perform as

well or better than the 1.4 despite lot of press to the contrary.

My suggestion is try 'em both or just the 1.8 for half the $$, you won't be disappointed.

Bohdan,

Steve may not define it as art, I may not define it as art, you may nit define it as art and

yet there are those that do. When we go three issues in a row with nothing except

portfolios of more or less traditional images then folks who want to see the edgy fringe

images screech. Of course, when something like the images you refer to are published,

others shriek. Publishing a magazine is a balancing act. BTW, you'd be surprised at what

the art community considers art when they are talking about photography. I know I am

every month when I read magazines such as "Art in America."

Like Ellis, I am on the list to get one of the first machines for evaluation. AFAIK, the

machines are sitting in the warehouse waiting to be shipped. They had to redo some labeling

and that is the only thing that has further delayed shipping.

The 1800f, properly used should give you good scans from 6x6 film. However, there is no

question that for MF you will get better results from the Nikon 9000. To maximize the

quality of your scans get the optional glass holder.

The 4990 should do OK. I stress OK because none of the under 1K scanners will do a superb

job, especially with source material such a san autochrome. That said, I have scanned

autochromes on my high-end flatbed scanners with great success. From the Epson 4990 you

will get an ok scan and it should be good enough for publication but you will likely loose

some of the subtleties of the original.

The price has dropped a teeny bit to 1800 but that is the REAL price and anyone offering it

for more than a hair less is a scammer. At that price the dealers are only getting a very small

markup.

f you are interested in fall foliage in the pristine wilderness of far Northern new England check out the

details on our Fall Foliage Workshop at www.finefocusworkshops.com

This is just a short reminder for anyone who is thinking about the workshop that, unlike our other

workshops, we may not be able to take last minute registrations. Lopstick Lodge is already nearly fully

booked for our workshop weekend and I have promised to turn back to them any unneeded lodging space

by next Tuesday, September 4th .... at the very latest. So, if you would like to join us, please let Bruce or

Richard or me know by Monday, September 3rd. There is only the smallest chance that we will be able to

recapture this space after we let go of it. Lopstick is in a pristine, remote wildnerness area (lots more

moose than people) and it is the only lodge in the area that holds its reasonable summer rates through

Fall Foliage Season ... all the others are much much more expensive (and most not as nice either).

There is no good answer to how old is too hold. Too much depends on how it was stored. If

it has been frozen since it was fresh you should be able to expect 5 years for sure and

maybe more. At some point gamma ray radiation will start to interfere. However, I'm not

sure that is the problem with the OP's film. Original Velvia, ans to a slightly greater extent,

the new Velvia 50, have a fairly strong sensitivity to magenta in some lighting conditions. I

have found this to be the case with light very near sunrise and sunset when the light is very

'warm' bu tnot true at all after the light temperature comes into the 5000-5500K range.

David,

The Imacon 646 has nopw been discontinued. If you are buying new you are looking at the

X1 or X5. They are good machines, definitely superior to the current crop of consumer

scanners buit IMO not worht the price you pay for them. You can get a Kodak/Creo IQSmart2

for teh same price as the X1 and an IQSmart3 for the same price as the the X5. You can get

factory refurbs of either model for several thousand dollars less. The Creo's have higher real

resolution and far better dynamic range than the Imacons. Contact me offlist for more

detailed info.

LOL, you will get as many yeses as no;'s on this one. I feel that dynamic range is a very

important issue and it is one of the reasons I chose the S5 over the D200 or the Canon 5D. It

is not a well understood concept with many consumers though, hence the lack of industry

concern.

I use the S5 with the 18-70, 70-210 (early AF), 105 2.8, 180 2.8 and 300 4. All work fine, no

problems.