russell_bastock

<p>Thanks all (particularly Craig for detailed response). This feedback has been invaluable. I was shooting a busy event in shifting late afternoon light, so was trying auto modes to compensate but ran into problems with low shutter or overexposure. Now I can make more informed decisions. I'm not shy of manual but was seeing how well (or not) auto modes could handle the conditions, but not really knowing how they operated.</p>

<p>I want to know if people have found specific changes to their photos using Speedlights/Speedlites either Tv or Av as opposed to P. I've heard P is not recommended for fill flash, especially in low light such as dusk. Or do some prefer using M for the camera and leave the flash in E-TTL mode? I'm interested in what pro photographers or photojournalists prefer or find more reliable.</p>

<p>There was an issue with the 580EX where the tube was faulty so occasionally the flash would dump its entire charge and 'snow' out the image (if shot at night). If this issue happens randomly then get your unit checked by a repairer.</p>

<p>Well this was unexpected. I visited my camera repairer and he said the ON position only stops you changing the aperture via the Quick Control Dial! As viewed in the top LCD. I thought it was supposed to enable/disable the entire wheel! I think what must be happening is somehow I've bumped the multi-controller and then the Quick Control Dial which has changed settings on the rear screen functions matrix. That was a long journey to discover that.</p>

<p>Thanks for the clarification Colin. As I suspected, the switch is not functioning correctly. The Quick Control Dial changes settings in the ON and _/ positions. I'll need to get it fixed. If that doesn't completely solve the issue, gaffer taping the dial may be the only safeguard.</p>

<p>I took my recently acquired 5D Mk II out on a busy shoot and a couple of times I found that the exposure compensation had changed without me accessing it. It took me a while to notice it. Once it was + 1/3, then another time it was - 1 2/3rds. I've no idea how this happened.<br>

I know at least once I accidentally span the Quick Control dial while moving about with my camera. My guess is that I must have bumped the the multi-control button then the dial. But I've not been able to confirm this. Any other sources of this error?<br>

<br />The manual says that the On switch has two functions, the _/ setting and the On setting, but I see no difference between the two. In either mode the dials still change settings. I'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences.</p>

<p>Thanks both - that's valuable feedback and will save me a lot of fiddle time.</p>

<p>I have just moved from 1980s film cameras to digital SLRs and am going through my flash gear to be careful of voltage issues. I have some 1980's Nissin optical slaves and wonder if these will cause any issues. Do they put out a voltage or just close a circuit to trigger the flash. Just want to be sure before I attach to 580 EX II. I gather there are no issue with older sync PC cables?</p>

<p>I've just moved from VueScan to SilverFast (VueScan was too problematic for my setup). I've got a Polaroid 4000 that takes 35mm film strips. In VueScan I could create full sized previews of all selected frames, then page through and adjust the previews, before doing final scans. I can't work out how to do this in SilverFast. I can preview the thumbnails in the selector, I can do direct scans from the thumbnails, but how do I create batch previews?</p>

<p>Thanks for these responses. I'm from a pro schooling & zone system background so this is all good info.<br>

In older forums Velvia 50 was the go, especially for lower contrast twilight photography, then it was discontinued and later replaced with a new formula. Is the new Velvia 50 as good as the old and is Astia with its lower contrast better for daytime shots?<br>

I recall earlier version of the T-MAX films were are bit fiddly with with a sharp toe in the characteristic curve. If you didn't get your exposure spot on you could get a bit of a flat result, compared to Tri-X that was more forgiving. I gather things have improved since then?<br>

With both neg and pos, how many people are using flat bed scanners for proofing and or printing these days?</p>

<p>I've been out of film photography for about 15 years and want to dust off my 8 x 10 camera. I'm thinking of doing various things like environmental portraits and landscapes. I'm thinking of both 8 x 10 and 4 x 5 (via a reduction back).<br>

What's a good landscape sheet film? I recalled some time ago that some people were preferring Fuji for its more saturated colours. Otherwise, what's what are the preferred landscape slide film types from both Kodak and Fuji?<br>

As for B+W, if I'm thinking of doing indoors and outdoors, without a flash kit, so 400 ISO seems to be the go. I gather grain isn't such an issue with 4 x 5 / 8 x 10? How do I decide between Tri-X / T-Max / HP5?<br>

Unfortunately, I'm not loaded with money so its going to be 10 sheets of colour and 25 of B+W to start off with.<br>

Your observations would be appreciated.</p>

I've had a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 for years and its software started playing

up, so I replaced it with VueScan which is far more stable. However, the output

quality is patchy and I can't get the same levels of control I had with the

Polaroid software.

 

 

I have a large collection of night-time parade shots that I am scanning.

Previously, if the exposure is a bit under, I could just lighten it using the

Polaroid software, but when I try this with VueScan you get something of a

washout. If you scan without correction it becomes dark and muddied. Colour

balance goes off occasionally as well, which wasn't the case before.

 

 

You can see the boy on the scooter (attached photo). His white shirt has flared

out and there is a halo to his left. Other scans have big bands of 'scan fog'

across the frame and there is nothing like a DMAX, even in the dark sky. Never

seen this previously with this scanner.

 

 

It does some shots (same rolls) perfectly, so the issue is random. As I'm new to

the software and fiddling has not resolved the issue I don't know what to do

next. Any ideas?

 

I'm running the scanner off an old Mac OS 9 machine as its a SCSI device.