tom_bowling1664874721

<p>Hello. Thanks in advance for any help people can offer to my question. I am taking the same landscape picture monthly over a 12 month period. The scene includes a painted building. Obviously the colour will change from month to month - though the pictures are all taken at noon. But I have scanned a couple of them and want to know how to get the painted wall of the building to roughly match, so the viewer doesn't move from photo to photo and wonder 'what the hell is going on here?' Obviously with a digital camera I'd have taken extra pictures with a standard white or grey sheet in them and then adjusted the white space, but I was using a film camera and didn't. Is there an equivalent control in Photoshop or Aperture where I can take a colour (it will be pink not white) match it and get the rest of the colour range (gamut in ordinary English but I've the feeling Photoshop uses that in a technical sense) to follow?</p>

<p>By the way, bizarrely, there is nothing at all white in the picture!</p>

<p>Dear all,<br>

A bit of an update. If I have a handheld meter with me I always ignore the camera's meter and use the camera manually. Elsewhere on this site I reported my Sekonic 508 meter had died ten days after I first asked this question. Now I wonder if I have been making bad exposures based on the metering. I've acquired another - Pentax Spotmeter - and will find out tomorrow.</p>

<p>Thanks for advice all. I bought a second hand but perfect Pentax Digital Spotmeter as a replacement. I thought the Pentax was more likely to be repairable if it went wrong in the long run. I was unimpressed by Sekonic's attitude.<br>

I've tried the spot and it works fine. But it seems to read a stop under my Lunasix on a grey card. Now I know a 1 deg spot and a relatively simple reflective meter is comparing apples and oranges, but I wonder what might account for the discrepancy. I'm not bothered by the discrepancy by the way - my experience is that you get used to a meter and accomodate it, as long as its quirks are consistent.</p>

<p>I don't think I have the Silicon Blue Cell. I have a European Lunasix 3, which has a grey body, took mercury batteries (got the converter) and had goodness knows what kind of light sensitive cell. CDs I expect. It isn't specified on the meter. 9A00121 is the number, in case anyone is an expert. Anyway, mooching around info on line, I'm by no means certain the spot attachment will work with my Luna Pro. Nice idea, though.</p>

<p>Yes I have a Lunasix - built like a tank. Never thought of Gossen for a spotmeter. </p>

<p>Damn. Whose not who's. Why do keyboards induce this?</p>

<p>No irony, though wryful smile may be directed at myself. I can't find the item you're referring to even when I add the US into my search. Maybe someone Bought It Now. t`here's a scruffy one near me in England. Maybe I will buy that for the innards.</p>

<p>very wise JDM. Thanks for empathy. What's a BIN?</p>

<p>I have had a Sekonic L508 from new - probably 6 or 7 years. I never treated it roughly, never got it damp, always kept it in a case in a camera bag. Just recently it showed the E5 fault code mid reading. I sent it to the official Sekonic British repair facility who replied in a handwritten scrappy note 'Owing to a recent announcement by Sekonic parts are not available.' So that's it - hundreds of pounds out and no way to service. I'll have to replace it - but it won't be with a Sekonic! So who's spotmeter doesn't break?</p>

<p>Thanks for the info on bridges... it makes sense and explains why we don't have wooden bridges in England, generally. It's too wet here.<br>

Regarding the advice on film etc, thanks to all. I really appreciate the answers you've offered. I have been photographing seriously since the early 70s and have a lot of experience with transparencies up to and including 5x4, so I know that's not the solution. Maybe I was hoping someone would say 'Try unobtainia, the miracle new wide latitude slide film.' The contrast in the particular scene I'm trying to photograph is just too wide for slide. One answer would be of course 'don't photograph at noon.' But that's not possible for a technical reason to do with the project. Some of you have suggested looking at scanning software. I tried the Vuescan and I was quite surprised to discover it was quite a bit easier to get a printable scan out of difficult negs with Vuescan than with Silverfast, which is what I have been using. So that's one way forward. The other is to use an slr or view camera and use grads. I always knew that but was loathe to give up the Mamiya lens! Anyway, thanks again to all.</p>

<p>Epson v750, Les. I did have some scanned by the film developers but they were worse. My usual exposure technique is to use a spotmeter and find the middle tone. Thanks for posting the photos - they made me wonder why American bridges are sometimes covered like that! Snow?</p>

<p>I'm looking for suggestions to solve a problem in landscape photography. I'm trying to repeatedly shoot a particular area of East Anglian landscape over a year using a Mamiya 7II and Kodak Ektar. One particular view I'm shooting has to be done at noon and includes a lot of sky. But I'm discovering 1) the landscape colour on the negative is eccentric, sometimes bluey green, sometimes intense green 2) it's very easy to exceed the film's latitude so I'm always teetering between bleached out sky and under-exposed areas under trees and the like. I do use grads where I can, but they're not really a great solution on a Mamiya 7II. I'm loathe to use a different camera, as I have the 50mm lens and love its crispness. I've got 6x6 cameras but the 6x7 format seems much more natural for landscape. Any suggestions? I'm no great colour film user, so even a suggestion for a modern negative film more likely to give natural colours and have a decent spread of latitude would help. I have no objection to reversal film, but they're not known for latitude.<br /> Thanks</p>

<p>Good points both. I'll get the rubber (eraser in US English) out and see if that makes a difference.</p>

<p>ps I've tried it with a couple of lenses - always the same so I don't suppose it's a lens thing.</p>

<p>My e30 and flash have stopped talking to each other. It's weird because the flash will fire when I press the shutter button, but the two devices don't seem to be exchanging information so I have to manually set the flash, or take a frame or two and close down the aperture depending on what the picture looks like. Anyone had this problem? It feels like it must be software rather than hardware - but I'm guessing.<br>

Thanks in advance</p>

<p>It's a bit late to return to this, but I just thought I'd report back that Graham Playford made a fuss free, timely and perfect repair to the camera. He was inexpensive too.</p>

Thank you all. I'm very grateful for the suggestions.

<p>It's all in the title. My Mamiya is electrically dead, so it needs repair. Despite searching, I can't find where I should get it done. Are any UK based users able to offer advice? Thanks in advance</p>

 

<p>Hi, I have been using an Epson 1290 with some success. I wounder what desktop photo dedicated printer people upgrade to from one of these. Lyson and similar companies seem to treat the model as venerable! I must say I didn't have to upgrade my enlarger every five years... I know. Fogey.</p>

<p>I beg your indulgence, ladies and gentlemen, but I am struggling with the Oly e-410 menu system. At one stage the square button on the back toggled between 'screen off' and 'screen on view through the lens.' Now it toggles between 'screen on - view through the lens' and 'screen on grey menu page'. I've obviously changed something but resets, searching the manual, toggling endlessly through menus won't get me there. My Rolleiflex and my Mamiya 7 II never treated me like this. Any advice?<br>

Thanks</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply. Of course I don't much use auto, but had switched it to auto and got the greyed out cancel reset, but for some reason it never occurred to me that was the problem. Oh dear!</p>

<p>The cancel reset button is greyed on my Olympus e410's menu system. No doubt I've caused this by getting some other setting wrong, but which? Any advice gratefully accepted.<br>

Thanks<br>

John<br>

ps I would try to factory reset the beast but the factory reset is hidden behind... the cancel reset button. Weird.</p>

<p>The cancel reset button is greyed on my Olympus e410's menu system. No doubt I've caused this by getting some other setting wrong, but which? Any advice gratefully accepted.<br>

Thanks<br>

John<br>

ps I would try to factory reset the beast but the factory reset is hidden behind... the cancel reset button. Weird.</p>

Thanks Hugh and John,

I think John's right. My regular walking about camera is a Mamiya 7 and I think moving off

the Mamiya lenses has been a bit of a shock! I do use the sharpener etc in Photoshop and

I'm sure I'll get used to what the Olympus delivers and get the best out of it eventually, but

I may have to buy a better lens. Digital is certainly very convenient.

There are lots of books on digital photography aimed at the tyro. Leaving aside Philip Greenspun's

excellent primer on this site, which technical book on the subject have forum members found most

useful for experienced film photographers?