jim_francis

Andres, I know it can be hard to put concept like "vision" and "sensibility" into words, but what exactly is it that makes you like Frank? I find his stuff quite mundane as photography, and tedious as social commentary.

If you are nervous about leaving the camera sitting for a while with the shutter cocked, you can simply take that last picture with the MD-12 turned off, and then just don't (manually) cock the shutter.

Mine is tight. Cheap piece fof junk. But takes beautiful wedding group shots.

HC-110, baby. Stuff's practically free if you use Dilution E or F.

I use:

 

20mm

28mm

50mm

85mm

180mm

VR is less and less important for wide angle lenses. I can hand hold my 28 1.4 at 1/15 sec fairly consistently. I can't hand hold my 180 2.8 at 1/15 (and often, 1/125 is iffy).

I've never had a problem with B&H gray market TMY.

Just out of curiosity, what are you photographing? I travel constantly and rarely even take my 180 2.8. Generally the ongest lens I take is my 85, and the lens I use most is my 28.

What Edward said.

 

In looking at individual features, they consistently miss the "essence" of things. They would rate the Nikon EM better than the F-3 because the EM has a safety that keeps you from accidentally changing the ISO.

 

But, to buy a microwave or something utilitarian, sure.

AIS per se really doesn't mean anything unless you have an FE or something. They have a constant travel mechanism for the AI coupling gizmo, I believe. But, AIS lenses are newer, and sometime of a different design.

Your 100 speed film will be fine, I would guess.

FIlm is cheap if you soup it yourself. Otherwise (and I'm not an expert on prices in India) it can get expensive. your best bet might be to shoot chromogenic film like Ilford XP-2 Super and have a local lab just process only -- you can then scan or contact print.

I have the CS 5000 and SF-210 which by the way is streets ahead of the SF-200. I use Adobe RGB and have been very happy with it, plus Digital ICE on low. Dropping a full-res 16 bit TIFF eats up about 130 MB of space per image, however.

I don't know the answer to your quesiton, and I don't know why they're called Calumet Hewes now (acquisition?) but Hewes does make the very best SS reels, for my money.

 

All the SS reels I have ever bought have the same outside diameter.

I had a lab eat a roll of Portra 160 VC with most of the one-on-one formals on it. They said there was a power interruption due to a storm and the film went into the developer, power went off for a few seconds, and when it came back on the film was pulled out for the next step. Not very nice.

Kevan, I am awed by your dedication, but I'm not sure I share it. I have trouble keeping email from ten years ago, when the format is not even an issue.

Do files grow when you convert them from NEF (11 MB approx per image on my D2-X, compressed) to DNG?

If you shoot weddings, convert to IR?

With all the different RAW versions out there I would worrk about not being able to reach back in 10 or 20 years and open my old files.

All good advice, but if you are going to use the camera it's going to get dust on it. And that's OK. Just brush it off.

I love my R2400, but it's hard to make that case that inkjets are designed to economize on ink. The business model is based on profiting on ink. The natural competition between companies should limit scandalous ink wasting, however.

Well I'll be the outlier -- I have a D2-X an I prefer it because it's built like a tank. I don't disagree with any of the other statements, however,

Folks, I have been looking to transition from my three trusty F-4s shooting XP-2.

 

My D-2X is a great camera, but for black and white I have been going back to the

film cameras. Either my technique is wanting, or the tonal range is just not there,

especially for challenging subjects like weddings.

 

Anyway, I was reading a review of the Active D-Lighting system for the D-3 and

wonder if there is not hope for digital black and white. Anyone have any

experience in this area?

I bought my 180 2.8 ED when still in high school (1982 or 1983) and it's paid for itself many many times over. Shooting film in FF I found I could get sharp images at 1/125, although every third frame would be soft.

R2400s are great for lower volume otherwise refurbished 3800s are available for under $1000 and are much cheaper to run (and go to 17").