midnightcommando

<p>I recently purchased a CanoScan 9000F Mark II - I use it with VueScan on Mac OS X 10.7 and have yet to regret my choice. <br /><br />For $300, it's an amazing negative scanner (so far as I have seen) and about as good at scanning documents as any other decent scanner on the market.<br>

<br />If you've not the thousands to throw at a proper scanner, it's the choice I'd recommend.<br>

<a href="http://imgur.com/52Ue0PN">An example, because the internet loves cats. </a></p>

<p>Hey everyone!</p>

<p>I decided a few months back that I really needed to add a Kiev to my little family - several months later and I just purchased a Kiev 4AM from Ukraine (ebay seller ua-project). I'm now eagerly waiting for PayPal to transfer money so I can pay, and then I'll eagerly be waiting for a leeeeedle parcel from Ukraine ;)</p>

<p>I gather that quality control on the M-series was far more variable than on the original 4, so I appreciate this is a gamble, but at the price I paid I won't feel too bad about opening her up and poking around inside should the need arise.</p>

<p>I purchased the camera with a Jupiter-8M after having the J8 in LTM and being very happy with its performance.</p>

<p>So other than the basic stuff that's been gone over on the internet (don't set shutter speed until shutter is energised, turn backwards when going below 1/125 to charge slow-speed mechanism initially, be gentle rewinding film, use the "contax grip", etc.) is there anything I should know in particular about how to shoot with the Kiev? Any model-specific quirks to a functioning M-series Kiev 4?</p>

<p>( My biggest decision at the moment is whether I use Acros or APX100 as the first roll to go through ;-) )</p>

<p>Regards!</p><div></div>

<p>I ended up getting some Panatomic-X (thanks very much Dan!) and loaded one roll in my Zorki and one in my Kodak Retina. Both superb cameras in their own right. ;)</p>

<p>Expiry date 9/1981.</p>

<p>This is one of the prints I made from it. (Caveat Emptor: I suck at printing.)</p><div></div>

<p>I didn't expose at ASA 50. I wanted to develop for that sensitivity to<br>

a) increase contrast<br>

b) compensate for lost speed over time.</p>

<p>I turned out developing in PQ Universal 1+29 for 12 minutes at 20°C, and it worked brilliantly.</p>

<p>Thanks for the recommendations. :)</p>

<p>Hey guys :)<br>

I was lucky enough to get my hot little paws on two rolls of Panatomic-X rated at ASA 32.<br>

I've exposed one of them with my nice little Zorki, and now have unloaded it and am ready to process.<br>

I'll be developing in a small tank, agitating as per normal (10 seconds out of every minute), and would like to know what time I should develop for with PQ Universal at 1+29.<br>

I'm planning to develop for the film being exposed at ASA 50.<br>

Anyone have a good idea what time and temperature I should develop at?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>All I can say is "thank god"...<br>

I am going to get myself a nice Rollei SL66 soon. I was looking for a nice film to try it out with.<br>

I read about Ektar in 135 format and thought "damn... wish i had that" ... and now I hear that a month after I get my Rollei the film will be available in MF!<br>

I want to squeal in delight, you guys have just made my year :D</p>

<p>Hmm, Ok, I'll try T-Max. I'll try it in both 35mm and 120, to be fair ;) I have a Rollei and a Leica here which I can battle against eachother if needbe ;)</p>

<p>I'd love to know where I could source Efke 25, I must say. That would be an interesting film to play with.</p>

<p>Usable my foot! :p</p>

<p>(sorry, I _really_ love the tone and contrast of panatomic)</p>

<p>Ronald: Yes, I toyed with a few rolls of Plus-X about the same time, and I've used the new PX also, I personally like the older one but then again I like contrasty negatives ;)</p>

<p>Michael G: Awesome, i'll hit up Ebay :)</p>

<p>Hey everybody.</p>

<p>I have shot a grand total of two rolls of Panatomic-X in my life. One was at a party, that was actually quite an amusing night and I got great photos. The other I was photographing scenery in the blue mountains.<br>

I used a Ricoh body both times, I forget which, it's long gone now, its shutter broke and it wasn't worth it to repair (i'd acquired a Pentax KX which used the same lenses) ...<br>

I'm soon to have a Kodak Retina IIc. And nothing would please me more than to shoot Panatomic on it, just for the sake of nostalgia (an age I never existed in, perhaps) ... Only problem is they stopped making the stuff twenty years ago.<br>

Does anyone know either where I might find some Panatomic, or if there is a widely available film today with similar characteristics? (You can't just walk into a shop in Sydney and ask for Agfapan APX 25 unfortunately, or Efke 50 :()<br>

I know about Pan F+ and would use that, but ideally I'd like something just a tad slower. Development isn't a problem, I can do that myself.<br>

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated immensely.<br>

Thanks.</p>

If you want the best RAW conversion possible, I suggest you use UFRaw or DCRaw. Both are free programs, and both are considered to be comparable in quality to the highest-level commercial plugins and programs.

Also, I think the K200D can shoot in Adobe DNG format directly, if I recall.

@ Daniel : I have primes. 28mm, 55mm, 100mm, 135mm, 400mm. Zooms however do have an advantage in that I don't

need to switch lenses differently for shooting different things.

@ Les Lammers : I have a powerful enough computer I assure you.

@ Tommy Lee : Wha?! Thyristor mode? (insert mumble about "jesus, and I thought _I_ was getting on a bit") I

haven't used a Thyristor since I used a Vivitar 283 with my Ricoh XR-1s! Also, with the TTL of the Pentax body, I

see no need for it really. I have plenty of full manual flashes and thyristor flashes aroudn here. I would

honestly love a Pentax 540 flash :'(

BTW I have no concern about trigger voltage - I've used a T-series Canon flash on a Digital Rebel (cheap digital

eos 300) before to no ill effect so I think a camera is seriously underengineered if a 283 blows out its circuitry.

I'm considering changing to a Sigma 530.

@ John Ferguson : Yep, using Linux. I'm thinking of changing the EXIF headers to say "Leica IIIm" to be a

smartass using ExifTool :p

@ Tom Maher : Nice to see my naïve youthful words were recorded for posterity. I'm shooting a lot more than I

used to and for some things film is no longer practical. I use films which aren't widely available where I live.

Also, I only can develop panchro and ortho films :(

@ John Kelly : Lightroom doesn't run on Linux. And I'm willing to wager you that an artist experienced with gimp

will spend less time screwing around and getting no-where than one who has to use lightroom and is completely

novice at doing so. Also, I assure you I am more into photography than shopping, but I expect to have a camera

which can be used quickly at pretty much all times without having to drop new lenses in. Also, as you told me to

think like a Leica user, I shall. I once had the rare pleasure of actually using a Noctilux with my Zorki body,

and it is arguably the finest lense I have ever handled. Now tell me there's a f/1 or at least an f/1.2 of

comparable quality for a Pentax body.

I have taken in to account a few things said, and i'm revising my list to :

-K20D body

-Sigma 2,8/18-50 DG

-Sigma 4-5,6/70-300 APO DG Macro

-Sigma EF-530 Super DG (Flash)

-The cards will still be 16GB.

Oh, and I do hope John Kelly isn't implying I'm one of those idiots who buys a DSLR and does nothing but

photograph their pet cat in a gazillion myriad and boring ways with it ;)

I've been shooting film most of my life, and so I have some fairly good ideas about what I like in lenses, films,

bodies, etc. Bear in mind I shoot with a combination of 1 Canon AE-1P, 1 Pentax KX, 1 Zorki 6 (Leica clone), and

1 Walzflex 3,5 (Rollei clone).

<br><br>

I'm planning to throw that in for a while and finally try out some digital work. My proposed kit is:

<ul>

<li>Pentax K20D body</li>

<li>Pentax 18-55mm zoom lense</li>

<li>Pentax 50-200mm zoom lense</li>

<li>Pentax battery (an extra, that is)</li>

<li>Nikon Speedlight SB-600X</li>

<li>2 16GB Transcend Class 8 SDHC cards.</li>

</ul>

I guess my question is, will this all work reasonably well together?

<br><br>

My planned workflow is camera - PEF/RAW - dcraw - gimp - hard disk \ print.<br>

In this i'm attempting to stick as close as possible to a "traditional" workflow, and to get the better results

provided by the RAW image being transformed on the computer rather than the camera.

<br><br>

Also, to anyone who owns this camera, are there any "quirks" I should be prepared for when shooting?

JDM: There are people here who were not yet born in 1989!

Oh and by the way I have in my hands a Zorki 6 - a clone of the Leica, I forget which one. Aside from the fact that the whole body is one chunk of steel, most of the mechanical aspects are the same.

All I know is if I'm going into the Block (local indigenous turf, rather full of druggies) to do photography, I'd rather have that than any other camera, because it's literally as quiet as a whisper, and because it doesn't look as valuable as my TLR (a Walzflex 3.5) does.

Hell yes. I'm 100% film, and I don't ever envisage that changing as long as there is film and paper and my lab in the world :)

I do my own processing too :D

I am going to be doing the formal photography at a wedding soon - and I understand your concerns.

I am using a Pentax KX with a: 3.5/28mm, 1.8/55mm, and 3.5/135mm. Also a Walzflex with 3.5/75mm builtin.

The films I am using: Ilford FP4 plus 35mm (for versatility, tonality, and grain) at DIN 22 (ASA 125) on the KX, and Fujicolor Superia 100 (120/60mm) at DIN 21 (ASA 100), for the same reasons as FP4.

I personally would always use medium format or large format for color shots at weddings... just personal preference.

My flashes are a Sunpak Auto SR22, and a Vivitar Thyristor.

Just my opinion on what an optimal loadout would be :)

Um.. Kodachrome-X WAS a commoon film... but it'll be costly to get processed.

It's 24x36 (Leica Format) 20ASA. It is a slide film, noted for vibrance and keeping properties. It will develop in in K-14.. but it gets sent to specialists.. not many labs process it anymore. E-6, the Ektachrome process, is far more common now.<div></div>