mischakoning

There are a few Hassselblad manuals online, that's how I know how to operate mine (that and carefull looking, trying and pushing buttons...).

<br>

Take a look at <a href="http://www.urmonas.net/manuals/500cm/500cm.html">Richard Urmonas' website</a>

As promissed, my Ser# is D 0090xxx. Seems a lot different from yours. Hope someone is able to help us. Getting curious myself now :o)

I have checked my Yashica D, which is most likely produced in 1967 or -68 and has the same logo as yours. Could you tell us which lenses are mounted? The later version, as mine, has the 4-element Yashinon lens. Will check for the serialnumber on mine later.

<br><br>

Some info on <a href="http://www.3106.net/photo/yashica.htm">my website</a>.

I have a Contessa Nettel camera too and do have some information about other Contessa-Nettel cameras from the 1920s. When you could send me some more information (names imprinted on the leather?) I might be able to find out more on the model you have.

<br><br>

My C-N camera can be seen on my website <a href="http://www.3106.net/photo/cam-cont.htm">www.3106.net</a>.

hi Ken,

<br><br>

funny, a few days ago I asked exactly the same question. Could open it but it still does not work however, but I keep on trying

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CIAu">link to my question</a>.

Thanks guys!

The Sixtar does not have a aluminium plate at the back, it looks like it's one piece of molded plastic but Wayne seems to be correct. On very close look, the "feet" do look as if they could come off. Will try to take them off one of these days and let you know the result of my repair actions...

Not sure where to post this but since there's many friendly people,

with a lot of repair experience in this forum, and my question is

about a vintage 1964 lightmeter maybe the best forum to ask?

<br><br>

As a very happy Gossen Sixtar user, I have recently acquired a second,

broken Sixtar. It seems the needle is stuck on the scale-plate. Seems

to be a not-too-difficult kind of thing but somehow I can't figure out

how to open the lightmeter?

<br><br>

There is only one screw at the bottom, which is for calibration of the

meter. Could it be opened by taking off the dial, which seems to be

removed by turning the little "chrome" thingy with the two tiny holes

in?

Hi forum,

I have recently acquired a FED Micron (probably version 3) and now

want to use it. There is some basic info on the 'net but not sure if I

have understood how to operate the camera. When I set the film speed,

the shutter speed seems to increase, maybe the light meter still

works, but how to check if it's correct?

 

Aparently the shutter speed is 1/30 when set in manual mode (set the

film speed to "--" ?). So I'll need some slow film as the aperture

only goes till 16.

 

Does someone have a manual in English or German for me?

 

thanks!

Mischa

just came across this thread after having ruined two rolls of film. Yesterday I used the wrong, i.e. older, bottle of Ilfosol S. Negs were severely underdeveloped. The bottle was opened about two years ago, and I discoved why Ilford recommends a shelve-life of 4 months only... :o(

A few years ago I have bought some SO-553 of a pro-photog. He told me it was especially manufactured for a large photostudio in Hamburg/Germany. He worked for them on a project and had about hundred rolls left over.

<br><br>

He sold me 5 rolls and I used them for some family/friends/travel pictures. Pretty low contrast stuff and more grainy than reala 135 but not bad and a C-41 / 100 ASA film.

<br><br>

Of course I'm talking about SO-553 here, not about SO-552 but when the story is true, it could be a custom-made or purchased on Special-Order (SO?) film. Always liked the idea that this film was very special and not for sale in shops. It came in generic film canisters and the print on the rolls looked very boring (very un-kodak-like).

"Knips" as previously suggested is imho the best shop for film in vienna. <br>Another one you might try is about 10 minutes walk away: <a href="http://www.orator.at/">Orator</a>. They currently have some problems and might not survive so it would be nice when everyone would support them and might help them sort things out. Last time I looked, they still had some Velvia 50.<br><br>Don't forget to bring your winter gear with you, it's cold and grey out here...

IF I remember correctly it was introduced at around the same time, mid 1980's(?)

as the DX coding, it was a different way of coding the film speed and maybe film

type. Cameras could either use the holes or the DX code on the film canister.

 

Still have plenty of old photo magazines laying around, when I find time this

weekend I'll check to see if there's any information about the holes in them.

Great picture and it does indeed look like it was shot with large format (with Tri-X? ... just a thought) tilt. Great expressions, spot on composition, beautifull dark mood.

 

One minor point of critique though: the shirt on the smaller girl is a little too blown out for my taste but all in all a keeper!

 

Could you enlighten us on the techniques used?

Rob,

 

seems that the responses are getting longer and longer... but this time I'll

keep it short.

 

The main reason for developing B/W myself is to get clean and consistent results.

Same for C41, B/W or colour. I've changed labs quite often, getting fingerprints

or badly stained negatives back is not a lot of fun, even though I also scan many

of my photos (also with a MInolta Scan Dual) and can't be bothered to clean

someone else's fingerprints off of scans anymore...

 

I'm not a man to freak out over different film/developer combos, also because, as

you said, when you make a mistake during the development, the entire film is gone.

Furthermore, I'm also not into telling people what to do but just sharing my

experience. For me photography is a hobby and as hobbies go: it should be all

about fun-and-games and not turn into another obligation.

 

Have fun learning all about photography!

Rob,

 

You won't have to start with 40 developers and 40 different films. Depending on what you

would like to accomplish you choose the film and take some more-or-less standard developer

for that. I know some people wouldn't agree with my choice of film and developer but the

results I got were good and above all CONSISTENT.

 

When you make, as Lance implies(?), a series of pictures, it would definitely show

on the pictures when every roll of negatives look different. When, using a standardized

developing method and film/chemical combo at least it will all look very similar. When the

lab screws up your negs, that's it, not a lot you can do during printing to get around.

 

I used to shoot HP5 as well and had it developed by the same pro-lab in D-76 as well, yet

every time the resulting negs looked different. One time the contrast was so harsch that

it more looked like document film, i.e. real blacks and real whites but not a lot of grey

in between. Another time there was a lot of grey but neither real whites nor real blacks.

 

Even for a newbie it's not always difficult tell what quality is and what not, just compare

what you get back and what you got back the times before, it should all look very similar

and should definitely not have dust or fingerprints on the film. Of course when you're

just shooting B/W film occasionally, using different films, you might be fine with any

B/W lab that gives you CLEAN negs, comsistency won't be a big issue then.

 

Besides that I'm an engineer by trade and spend too much time behind the computer anyway.

Got a fully equiped digital darkroom but wanted to do something else then sitting in

front of a screen in my spare time and it's a lot of fun playing with water, chemicals

and things. It's really like cooking: you got a recipe and the ingredients and you first

try out the recipe, try to repeat the results and when you're confident enough you may

start to experiment.

 

As for costs, used darkroom equipment is so cheap nowadays that the initial setup cost

is very low. Chemicals will only cost you a few $ and in my calculation, the cost for

the setup will be on the break-even point after 10-15 rolls of film, really not a lot.

 

In many cases C41 B/W negs would be as good and definitely a lot easier to get processed.

I also used C41 B/W quite often, especially for weddings or portraits where smooth

tones are very important. But for architecture or general picture taking I prefer the

real B/W films.

A little late but nontheless my input.<br><br>I've just started developing BW myself, it's real easy and does not cost a lot. Get yourself a good tank, the Jobo 1000 series I have was bought via *Bay for u$10 in "like new" condition.<br>I then carefully read

<a href="http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html">the instructions</a> (PROCESSING YOUR FIRST B&W FILM) on the Ilford site and my first film was an instant succes: good contrast, good blacks and whites so I was very happy. <br><br>My experience with the commercial BW labs was very bad, every film I dropped off looked different when I got it back. Sometimes the contrast was very high, other times very low. The other so-called pro lab I've used didn't do a much better job either. My thusfar 5 self-developed films all look very similar (using Delta 100 in the very easy to use Ilfosol) and all very good so I'm happy. <br><br>Developing one film would take you about 20-25 minutes (loading the film in the tank, developing/fixing/watering and taking it out) plus another 15-30 minutes for preperations which you will do only once per set of films. Using a larger tank you could develop more films in one go. A lot faster than the turn-around time using a lab and, at last in my case, resulting in a much better overal consistancy and quality.

another vote for the Canon. I've only worked with the Canon but the results exceeded my expectations. I'm using a Minolta Scan Dual II for 35mm and assumed a flatbed for 6x6 would only give me good results for pictures for the web but it scans really well, is not too slow and you can easily enlarge photos to 30x30cm (approx 12x12"), have not tried to go beyond that.

Ray,

for a good deal, have a look at the non-obvious places. I was lucky with 12x12" frames at the large Swedish furniture store called Ikea (all over Europe, not sure about USA though). They did, and still do, sell many square wooden frames, often including matts and glass for a very reasonable price.

I've also been looking into the Toyo but decided to wait a little before going LF.<br><br>

For a short review of the camera, take a look at

<a hreF="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/toyo.html">this page</a> and for a list of many more camera reviews

<a href="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/roundup4x5.html">here</a>. Good luck!

Gold used to be my preferred film but a few year ago I switched to Supra 100. The colours are nearly as strong as Gold 100 but it doesn't seem to have Golds tendency to block up the strong reds and strong greens. I also prefer Supra 100 for scanning. <br><br>As the previous poster said: use what you and your lab are confortable with!

Try to clean the battery contacts in the Rebel and replace the battery, just to be sure it's not a battery problem. <br><br>My Rebel had problems when the pop-up flash was out, the BC message came on immediately. It seems that there was a short somewhere inside the cam, never dropped it or used it in the rain, it just happened. Didn't really bother me as I never used the built-in flash but it might bother the person who stole it....

I agree partly with Isaac, try to use the non-pic modes more often

and stop the lens down to around 8 (best apperture for your lenses).

<br><br>

I found my Rebel body to work fine (I think it's was the EOS1000's

follow up) but decided to buy a used 630 as second body. I loved it,

sure enough, the AF is slow but I love the heaviness of the body plus

it has options for fully manual control, which I use quite often now.

<br><br>

Best would be to use the camera you have now to it's full extend. All

in all it's not more than a light thight box to hold the film and

lenses. Well, there's more to it than just that but why upgrade

something that works fine. Having said that, when you need the faster

AF, go for a 50 but when you don't, try to stop down your lens, to

use the other camera modes and then you can decide what you miss on

your current camera and would like to have.