alpshiker
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Posts posted by alpshiker
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All right, all right... tripod, light meter, cable release, films: I forgot them all, and more... But one day, I took my Technika out in the mountains and after an honest walk I decided to set it and to take a shot. Surprise when I opened the drop bed: There was no ground glass!!! I remembered then that I had taken the Bosscreen off some days earlier to test it on the Toyo... and it was in the car. Nevertheless, I stretched a piece of my picnic plastic bag as a fortune ground glass, focussed the image and took a shot. I just stumbled over the slide now as I was sorting my drawers, which made me think of telling the little story. And the slide is sharp!
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Most folding cameras have this problem: you have to revert the front standard backwards to use short lenses and then the alignment of the plane
of focus with the plane of the film has to be adjusted by sight. In dimm light (interiors), this is not easy. Other cameras keep straight, like the
Technikas, but the shorter you get, the less movement you get and even with a 90mm, there is sometimes not enough and there is the lack of lens
fall (unless you get into weird contortions). Some wide-angle cameras such as some Ebony are better, but you would need to have another camera for your portrait shots. There is one camera that combines the ease of use of a monorail with very wide angle capability and
the low weight and bulk of a folding camera, it's the Toyo VX-125. I find it perfect for interiors with more movements than the lenses permit and
for product shots with longer lenses (it could be portrait, I use a Tele-Xenar 360) and it is just as good in my backpack for landscape shots. Use of
lenses from 38mm to 300mm (400 tele) is standard with just one bellows and a recessed Linhof board adapter (the kit weighs less than 6 lb), and with
an extension kit it's possible to reach 700mm of bellows draw. Well, price... you would have to spend around 3,300 bucks which are certainly more
than you had thought. But worth mentioning in case of some good fortune!
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By the way, I use a Rotatrim Eurocut trimmer and although it does it's job, I find it hard to make precise locating of the cutting line. It's also mechanically basic with it's plastic blade holder running along a square tube and tends to get noisy. Cutting harder or thicker material is possible but sometimes results in the cutting wheel going astray. But maybe they improved since mine was built some 10 years ago. Oh, and thanks again, Dave, for your recommendation of the Ultimat series!
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I have not used one of their cutters but was going to purchase a mat cutter. Was contacted by Ed O'Grady, who is a follower of this forum. Very helpful guy. For what it's worth, I think they sell lots of Keencut stuff including the cutters. Check their website and Ebay store.
Ed O'Grady
Exim Vaios
1912 Stanford St.
Alameda, CA 94501
T-510.769.7800
F-510.769.7875
Toll Free 888.864.6660
www.eximvaios.com
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Michael, thanks! Too bad. I wondered why this item sold so cheap on Ebay.
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Bob, if I may, and to make sure we did understand each other: I know the 4x5 back is not a rotating, but is the frame itself mountable on a Tech with rotating back? Is your answer : No / No ? Thanks for your patience!
Paul
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One small word that says it all! Thanks Bob.
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Not sure... Are all Linhof 5x7 backs rotating backs? Does this reduction back (#001636 intended for the 5x7 Kardan) fit the
Technika 5x7? Thanks in advance!
Paul<div>
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Thanks for the answers to my asking! A sample is on my way. And sorry for disrupting this information thread!
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Ahhh! There are days I wished I was a B&W photographer and lived in the States! BTW if someone knows where to locate a copy of the book A Visual Symphony, thanks to let me know! But please, PRIVATELY ;-)
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There is also the Keencut line. http://www.keencut.co.uk/
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I have diggen out some Fuji Instants I made ten years ago and the colors are just as crisp as in the first day! They were not exposed to light though.
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Well, Joffre, I'm sure I could get good prints from services who provide a custom profile for their Lightjet or Lambda. However, I am the kind who needs to print at least four or five, sometimes more until I think: "That's it! That's what I want". I often hang my prints around and let some time pass. My eyes often deceive me and what seem wonderfully accomplished one day can make me start again from scratch the next day. I now do some test prints on my Epson, but the real Lambda prints are often as far away as they can be. The good point with an Ultrachrome printer is that the same machine outputs a small test print, then the large final print with the same settings. Of course if I invest in such, I'll have to work hard selling prints to get back in my investment!!! Not good having one of these sitting unused in the office.
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Yep Keith, "inkjet" just isn't quite appropriate for prints selling above poster price. Ultrachrome sounds way better and has a
photographic connotation, you know: Kodachrome, Fujichrome, Ultrachrome... Much more impressive to the client's ears! By the way,
your images must be stunning printed with Ultrachrome! In fact they are even stunning on the web.
I have seen some prints made on the 9600, I have a small portrait at hand and the result is nothing short than perfect. Very
smooth skin tones, no banding and absolutely no grain or dots visible to the eyes. But it was made with Ripstar, the solution proposed
by Ilford. A well known photographer however told me that he gets very nice results without using a RIP.
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Thanks, Ken. I'll probably have to run OSX or install a PC station to rip the printer, both dreadful to me! I had tried the previous demo version of Image Print with OS9 but it didn't work. I know it should be fine with OSX. But pricy and dedicated to one printer only if memory serves me well.
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It sounds as those who have invested are not likely to regret their move! Mastering the whole process is really a plus. I'm sick and tired of paying for lightjets that end up in the trash bin. I scan using highly accurate profiles, work on the images until they are to my eyes at their best, but when the files are sent out for the prints, half of my work is disregarded because the ColorSync chain is broken. I know you have some excellent labs in the US who make good use of the custom profiles, but not the case here. My experience with the Epson 2000 was poor because the metamerism was unbearable, but I since have used an Epson 1290 with dye inks and the results with custom made profiles are great! But they are not permanent.
So I feel strongly attracted to the Epson 9600. By the way, have any users living in Europe bought one in the States? The price difference is enormous, costs twice the price here in Europe. I had contact with Eximvaios a month ago and Ed was going to send me a quote for the shipping, but I haven't heard of him since. Can you recommend a place to buy? Can you also recommend a RIP for Mac? Thanks!
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With the new Epsons 7600/9600, there have been hopes that the process would be now qualitatively ready and cost
effective. After a year or so, have the promises been fulfilled ? How many photographers have switched to
Ultrachrome for their exhibitions and print sales? Would love to read about your (their) good experiences as well as
maybe about the problems you (they) encountered !
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Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. -Oscar Wilde
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>Few people in Europe regard photography as an art form, and most galleries would rather hang photographers than
photographs!
Yes, really funny, Dick, and this is true! Especially when it comes to landscape photography. If your photography is
weird or really ugly, then you have a chance to be considered an artist. Otherwise you will perhaps be accepted in
galleries to fill up the dead summer months and people will ask why would they have to pay that much when the local
supermarket sells framed posters at a fraction. It was only some two or three years ago that the european commission
for art (or whatever it's called) admitted photography was a form of art. So as Domenico said, you, lucky Americans are
a good length ahead of us on that one too! Awareness for the preservation of nature and great love for the American
landscape and the natural monuments is also one fundamental reason why landscape photography has taken off,
when it was promoted by some charismatic leaders such as your great St. AA, and before him, by some pioneers who
carried heavy photographic equipment on mules to photograph remote unexplored places. Photography has been part
of the American dream almost since day one and as such, it has a special place in all American's hearts. As others have
said above, Europeans were on the other end mainly attracted by history and people. Photographers who
documented the wars, the history of the rulers and the simple daily life of ordinary people are highly regarded.
European landscape photographers are almost confined in the cliché of postcard and calendar photographers.
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Scanning color negatives is indeed not simple. I have a calibrated scanner who does a very good job on chromes but when it comes to negatives, I have to use the built in tables instead of the profiles and it's a pain and requires many adjustments. Maybe I could suggest that you try this forum if nothing helpful comes from here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScanHi-End/
Your question will certainly raise a heated debate as always, but at least you might get some hints! I personally think that it's not worth going the drum way, especially with negatives, and an Imacon would probably do a good job. If you can afford, the Eversmart line are fine scanners and will scan in batch and up to A3, but again, I'm not sure of how they handle color negs. Dot gain is often the result of adding unsharp masking at the time of scan. You get better results scanning without it and using a Photoshop action that you can freely download on the web, called Ultra-Sharpen. It works on the outlines and leaves the plain colors unaffected.
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I have just mounted a print with the 3M Photomount spray and it seems to do a good job. I wonder how it will withstand time. Don't know if this is acceptable for a framed fine art print.
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Glad someone corrected my mistake about the builder. Yes, Thermaphot was the builder of the Ilford processors. Incidentally, when Ilford stopped selling the processors and Thermaphot continued on it's own, the price was almost multiplied by a factor two!
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Many good tips to consider! Thank you! Maybe I should look for a dry mounting press at some point. Will try find a can of photo compatible spray as well as a roll of adhesive to make some trials. Thanks for the explanation of the procedure for sticking a floating print to the board!
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Well done Steve! As Tor mentioned to me that he's got the spikes
version, this design does not hold up well with aging. The spikes
will start to break and missing spikes can cause paper jam. Paper jam
can cause contamination of the chemicals by one another
which is very annoying. I have had that version and I could not use
Ilfochrome rolls in it because the slight curl would cause
jamming. I inquired at the time about replacement with the newer
model parts but it would have cost much. I'm not sure parts
would still be available now, the builder for Ilford was Meteor in
Germany but are they still running this part of their business? Sometimes the
transport nylon
pinions break, but if yours has seen little use, it should be okay for a
while. In addition to the temperature control, there is also a
small potentiometer screw inside the machine to adjust the transport
speed if it needs to. Good luck! http://www.meteor-siegen.de/
A top scan from 4 x 5"
in Large Format
Posted