andrew n.bra hrefhttp
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Posts posted by andrew n.bra hrefhttp
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I've been using PanoTools software for years now, remapping fisheye images so I can
stitch them together to create equirectangular format 360-degree panoramas
(for display via QuickTime VR).
The trick with remapping is that, as another contributor pointed out, the more radical the
remap, the more your image will deteriorate. No free lunches here.
If you really need a wide image, why not instead stitch together two or three separate
images? Three 80mm 6x6 images would create a final scene which covers 100-degrees
horizontally and won't look too weird.
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A fortnight ago I bought a HBlad 501cm from KEH. They didn't have whole-camera kit, so
I had to assemble what I wanted from separate items. I was careful to buy the lens (a
80CF)/ body/ A12 film-back in Ex or Ex+ condition. For the B60 lenshood, I decided
(what the hell) to buy one in "bargain" condition.
Camera arrives a week later (I'm in Australia - shipping takes 7 days) and the Ex/Ex+
items are in truly excellent condition. In fact the Ex+ stuff is - to my eyes - practically
mint. The lens speeds are all on spec, the A12 back works fine. An excellent deal and I'm
very happy.
BUT... The "bargain" lenshood was a dog. Really, really bad condition. It mounted okay,
but the black-rubber anti-reflection interior coating was covered in white sticky junk.
Looks like someone tried to clean it with some kind of (wrong) solvent, which only ended
up destroying it.
Consequently I had to scrape most of the black stuff off and repaint it with black-matt
paint. It looks & functions okay now.
But the big lesson learned was that although often KEH "bargain" items may have no
problems and be true bargains - there are obviously also times when "bargain" really
means what they say it does: "very rough condition".
I know this isn't much of a problem since KEH have a 14 day "no questions asked money
back guarantee". For people in the US this works well. But for us overseas purchasers, 14
days isn't very long to receive the item and ship it back within the cut-off period.
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Alternatively ask your friend to do a direct bank transfer in $US from his bank account to
yours. Then you pay via paypal.
A bank transfer, if done in your currency, won't cost you anything - your friend will pay
the (much less then Western Union) fees at their end. The transfer comes through pretty
quickly too, roughly a couple of days.
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<i>One is still floating in orbit. (oops, they dropped one)</i><p>
This is probably the HBlad lost by Michael Collins during his Gemini X EVA. He spends half
a page wringing his hands about it in Chapter 8 of his book "Carrying The Fire: An
Astronaut's Journey's" (1974)<p>
:?)
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So Aristotelis - do you have any of these images online we can check out?<p>
I've just bought a 501cm from KEH and can hardly wait for it to arrive. Although I've
been shooting <a href="http://4020.net/unposed/">colour people candids for years
using Leica Ms</a>, it will be interesting to see how the 'blad will cope with this sort of
thing.
I've read many times that it's too big, too loud, too conspicuous, too much mirror
shake etc. Yet you seem to be happy with it. I'd be interesting to hear (and see results!)
from others who also shoot street candids using the "unsuitable" Hasselblad :?)
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Or better yet, (if you believe the Solms hype), buy a Leica MP, the closest thing Leica have
to "the M3 experience with TTL metering".
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I've heard so much about the Duclos photo of the girl eating her lunch on some steps (the
image which caused him to be sued sucessfully in Quebec for invading her privacy). Yet
I've never seen it. Anyone have a URL to this image online?<p>
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, see:<p>
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I use a <b>Leica R 16mm Fisheye-Elmarit lens</b> on my Leica Ms for shooting
QuickTime VR panoramas. Been doing so for years. It's mounted onto the camera using a
Novoflex Leica R->M lensmount adapter ring.<p>
It's a full-frame fisheye. Very good flare control (especially when shooting in to the sun).
Focus is a non-issue (it's always set to 3m). At f8 or f11 it's incredibly sharp from corner
to corner.<p>
You can see photos of my M+fisheye rig in the Leica FAQ at:<p>
<a href="http://nemeng.com/leica/003f.shtml">
http://nemeng.com/leica/003f.shtml</a><p>
You can see the end result, high-resolution QuickTime VRs, on my site at:<p>
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While we're in the "Don said" mood - he said in May 2004 that SOMETIMES viewfinder
elements & prisms can be glued back together if they separate. Of course he has to
inspect the camera to make sure.
So it isn't always a case of "can't repair a M3 viewfinder / must replace with new finder".
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It could be a lot of things. Corrosion on the rangefinder optics mirror. Or maybe
viewfinder element separation (more likely if the camera has been banged about). If the
latter, then it may just be possible to have it re-glued.<p>
FWIW, see the following M3 topic in the Leica FAQ I maintain:<p>
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One gotcha I found was that the manual focus distance settings were out. When you set
the camera to (say) 3m, the lens would actually be focused on 4.5m etc.
I tried to get the local Konica technician to fix it, but it turns out to be a bug in the camera
design and he couldn't do anything about it.
It's easy enough to work around of course (for 3m just set it to 2m), but it was annoying.
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Dial-up 56kbps (more like 45kbps in practice though).
In Australia about 70% of net users are still dial-up. Yes there are broadband plans for
$AUD 20 a month now, but when you read the small print you realise that this low rate
only applies if you have less than 200MB traffic a month. That's all traffic, up stream and
down.
Which is pretty hard to stick to. Which is of course exactly what the telcos want. Once you
add the excess traffic fees to get you up to a more realistic 500MB or so, the rate works
out to $AUD 50-75 a month. Which is what it has been for years now. Hence the low
broadband takeup rate here.
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Here's a link which discusses Rolleiflex 3.5F shutter differences according to serial
number:<p>
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<i>I was referring to Andrew Nemeth's comment on the 1959 ebay litter!</i><p>
It's not the lens - which are fine - but the 3.5F shutter mechanism and how it's coupled to
the s/speed wheel. The older 'flex models had problems which were fixed after serial
#225xxxx. Even better, models after #2815xxx can also use 220 film.<p>
I'm not saying the older model shutters were rubbish. Of course not. But the newer
mechanisms were simpler, easier to adjust and more robust.<p>
Have a look on "crimeBay" though. Just about all the 3.5F R'flexes - during the five weeks
I wasted looking for these things - were #220xxxx to #223xxxx. Circa 1959. Very
frustrating, especially when you consider that well over one hundred thousand cameras
were made post #225xxxx.
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I won't bore the Leica list again with my overwhelmingly negative experiences when I spent
five weeks trying to buy a Rolleiflex. Here's the URL (again):<p>
<a href="http://nemeng.com/leica/004eb.shtml">
http://nemeng.com/leica/004eb.shtml</a><p>
The most important thing I learnt is that when it comes to Rolleis, you
should forget about buying mail-order or online. Instead, visit dealers in
person and physically inspect the camera(s) you're interested in. Also
assume from the outset that the camera will need extensive servicing,
regardless of the external physical condition. Most typically you'll need to
have the twin lenses re-collimated to get the focus accurate again. The auto-
indexing film load rollers will also have to be readjusted, otherwise you
run the risk of film miss-loads. Of course you'll also have to have the shutter
speeds checked and fixed.<p>
These crucial steps can add hundreds of dollars to the price, especially if you get a
famous-name Tech to do the work (like Harry Fleenor). With 2.8Fs all hovering around the
$US 1400 mark (assuming you don't want to waste money on the eBay litter which all hail
from 1959) - add $US 300-odd for servicing, another hundred or so for a Maxwell focus
screen, and you'll see you won't get much change from $US 1800 for a clean 2.8F with its
innards in spec and working properly. Sheesh.<p>
Because of this I've pretty much given them the flick and have decided to get something
(anything) else. Am leaning toward getting a used Mamiya 7II at the moment, but am still
uncommited.<p>
Of course, as always, YMMV.
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<i>from now on I will not purchase any expensive camera without prior inspection or, at a
push, at least a watertight returns policy. Maybe I have just been unlucky.</i><p>
Amen to that! A big lesson I learned is that, as far as Rolleiflexes are concerned, mail-
order / online-buying is verboten. Regardless of how "reputable" the dealer is.
(Sheesh.)<p>
Can't help wondering if Leica dealers are starting to sink to this level of trickery and deceit
as well.
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Don't just click on the links Eliot, but carefully read what's written there :?)
You'll see that there was more than just "one" bad event - it was more like four of them,
including two cancelled sales. All with different dealers located in different parts of the
world. All in the same month.
And before you go thinking "ah, he must be a difficult customer". Nup. I just wanted a
camera that worked. Hardly unreasonable when you're paying $US 650 (plus shipping plus
import duties).
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Click on the links Eliot :?)
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I've already posted my remarks on "The Great Rolleiflex Fiasco" here:<p>
<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009jpr">
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009jpr</a><p>
and (if you want more detail) in the Leica FAQ here:<p>
<a href="http://nemeng.com/leica/004eb.shtml">
http://nemeng.com/leica/004eb.shtml</a><p>
I don't know what's going on, but after five weeks of being dicked around by different
dealers throughout the world, I can only assume that things are getting unpleasant in
dealer-land.
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No one so far seems to have answered the question.
Yes, I use the VC 35mm finder all the time for 35mm work. Good eye clearance and nice
thick, bold framelines. v.compact too.
There is a gotcha though. The finders are designed to work with standard height Bessa or
Leica M bodies. If you use them on the slightly taller M6 TLL or M7, then they are a little
out. You can compensate by framing with the lower dotted parallax frameline, but it's a
kludge.
Another thing, the rear eyepiece is a metal ring with sharp metal indentations. Best paint
this with Liquid Electrical Tape or Rubber Hammer-handle stuff, or put tape on it or
whatever - because it's guaranteed to scratch your glasses!
Other than that, they work fine and IMO are much better than the built-in 35mm frameline
in the 0.72 or 0.85 Ms.
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I don't know, it may be a coincidence, but during what I call "The Great Rolleiflex Fiasco of
2004", I discovered there are an awful lot of dishonest and tricky dealers around lately -
even those who formerly were known as "reputable".
My pet theory is that a lot of them are becoming unhinged by eBay / online selling / the
digital onslaught (where cameras have become commodities and can be bought from any
Walmart type discounter).
Amazing thing. Heres an overview of TGRF: A dealer deliberately advertising non-
existent items on their website to lure people so they can try and sell more expensive
stock. Another dealer "selling" me a camera and then reneging (without bothering to tell
me) because he thought the agreed price was too low. Another dealer selling me a "recent
CLA, Ex++ condition camera" which - according to Harry Fleenor - actually turned out to
be "severe faults, requires extensive repairs".
Sheesh - all in the same MONTH.
Passport warranty is it transferable?
in Leica and Rangefinders
Posted
Not legally.<p>
<a href="http://nemeng.com/leica/025e.shtml">
http://nemeng.com/leica/025e.shtml</a>