JosvanEekelen

<p>Well, about adding GPS coordinates to the EXIF data, it's not cumbersome at all once you know how it works. It's handy when you already have the GPS running for recording a track during a hike etc. And it does not draw current from the camera battery although a GPS unit is power hungry by itself. Lots of reasons to choose a separate GPS unit or one that connects to the camera directly - get the one that you like. </p>

<p>It's a bit more difficult to diagnose since the camera is new to you and you don't recognise the feel/sounds. You have rewound the film for some time so it's safe to assume that the film is in the canister, on the take-up spool or there is no film in the camera at all. Wind the film back a few more rurns, you will hear is there is a film in the canister. If so, you don't know for sure if it's exposed. You might have it developed and find out that you have no pictures at all.<br> You can open the camera back in a darkened room, put the camera in a thick jacket, top and bottom openings folded to prevent light from entering and go in it through the sleeves, open the camera and check things. <br> All rather difficult and uncertain. I'd sacrifice this film, open the camera back in full light in order to see what happened and use this film as a test film to load/unload it, to check film transport, etc. </p>

<p>WRT underpants of T-shirts: use them for cleaning lenses before wearing, not the opposite way :-)</p>

<p>It's not clear where you get the GPS coordinates from, GPS receiver, smartphone or other. Programs that add GPS data to photos are Geosetter (free), Lightroom, Robogo (paid). Personally I use a GPS receiver (Garmin Oregon) plus Lightroom, this works well. Previously, before LR supported GPS, I used Geosetter a few times, it works well too but the interface is/was less inuative than LR's. </p>

There are special cleaning solutions and tissues available for lens cleaning purposes. The cleaning solutions mainly consist of isopropyl alcohol, if you can get hold of isopropyl alcohol you can use this. Pecpads are one of the brands of tissues. Most photography stores sell cleaning kits consisting of tissues and liquid cleaner. Don't use the liquid on a lens directly; moisten a tissue and carefully rub the lens. Don't be too afraid, lenses have anti reflexion coatings that are not easily damaged.

<p>OTOH, just disabled "calender events" in the customize section; this spam wave has gone (for me). Wait for the next one :-)</p>

<p>How to kill a website? <br> I fully agree with you but I don't think it's very easy to block these guys. Every suggestion to halt them has a downside for new/regular users.</p>

Not based on experience but if you can't take a well focussed picture with a K-5 a K-1 won't be an improvement. Remember, it's the photographer who makes the picture, not the camera.

<p>My favourite lens in the FD era was the nFD 85/1.8. Another was the nFD 135/2.8 YMMV though but both lenses are good for portraits.</p>

<p>+1 for www.wetransfer.com. Fast and reliable.</p>

<p>I don't think it will hurt. I do the same in my EOS-m, never noticed any ill effect.</p>

<p>She might be a pro - but not at sensor cleaning.</p>

<p>Isn't video the reason Canon introduced STM lenses? I don't know what the exact benefits of the STM lenses are and I realize that there are no full frame STM macro lenses but I'd have a look at these lenses as well, 24-105 STM and/or 50/1.8 STM. </p>

<p>Life is too short to think about the durability of mirrorless lenses.</p>

<p>And just for inspiration :-)<br> http://www.dpreview.com/news/3295764960/put-a-stamp-on-it-the-astrophotography-of-matt-dieterich</p>

<p>I told you that google is your friend and that photo.net has a learning section: <br> http://www.photo.net/learn/astro/star-streak<br> http://www.photo.net/learning/photographing-star-trails/<br> This will get you started. Since stars are direct sources of light that move relative to the camera/earth the shutter speed only influences the background (sky), not the star trails. Consider making a few test shots with a DSLR, if even for half an hour or so. It will give you extra information about the best settings for film. </p>

<p>I just watched the SensorKlear instruction video and I can recommend it, at least to have a good laugh. A pretty girl is lying on her belly while inspecting and cleaning a sensor. Not the best working pose but judge for yourself. </p>

<p>I use LensPen since a long time (10 yrs?) to clean my lenses. They work great. One side is a brush, I assume it functions like a sable brush. The other side contains a pad to clean the glass surface of a lens. <br /> So yes, I can recommend the LensPen. Don't know about the other products. I once got a Cell-clear as a gift together with a LensPen order. I believe it is for cleaning a smartphone lens but it does a good job for cleaning a DSLR viewfinder. Results from SensorKlear are not so well but perhaps I'll have to change the way I use it. IMO it doesn't clean the sensor so well.</p>

<p>Are you sure that film will be better than digital? With digital you can combine images, with film you have to be right every time. <br> Google is your friend with regard to finding basic settings; you may even find a turorial on photo.net :-)<br> I don't think reciprocity plays a real role in this. You may use it to your advantage though since the sky won't lighten us as much as in digital due to the reciprocity factor. But why not take a few test shots with digital in order to get the right settings?</p>

<p>Time to look at the negatives. How do these look? Do you see the same streaks (inverted of course). Are all parts of the film sharp (as far as they should be)? Do you see the streaks randomly over the 36 frames? Could there be a relationship between the streaks and the time between streaks? Did you previously use this camera + lens without these problems?<br> I'm certainly no expert in developing film but at this stage you should look at all processes separately: exposure, development and scanning and check where the problem could originate.</p>

<p>First: LR does not need XMP files to store keywords etc. Instead it uses it's own catalog for this. In fact the catalog is the heart of LR. You can enable settings in LR so that info is written to XMP files as well. <br> It's not clear to me what causes your problems since there are many variables involved. Perhaps the easiest way for now is to split up the tasks and do them step by step; manually and/or using LR: move the files to the right folder using explorer of finder when you're on a MAC. Import files into LR. Check whether they are present and rename. <br> One thing to look for is whether LR 4 supports the RAW files from your camera.</p>

<p>Only in manual mode. Nikon and Canon's TTL systems are so different that you can't mix them. The flash manual even warns about using the M setting: "... very advances technique. We (=Sigma) recomment you use the Auto mode", plus the advice to fire a few test shots.</p>

<p>During travel I had exposed film for four weeks or so, in hot/humid climate without ill effects. Still, keep an eye on the expiry date.</p>

<p>Canon A1 was my first camera, nowadays I'm an EOS user. The combination of an A-series camera and an E-TTL flash gives you the worst of both worlds. Perhaps there is some communication between the body and the flash but count on doing everything manually which is even a step back from the Speedlite 199A, the flash that came with the A1.<br> Speedlite 430EXii does not have a metering sensor so autoflash (other than E-TTL) is not possible with any camera.<br> That being said: see http://speedlights.net/2011/03/30/canon-430ex-ii/ for more info on the flash's guidenumber. In practice this depends on the focal length setting and the use of the difusor. Divide the guide number by the object distance and you get the aperture you need, guide number/aperture will give you the distance. You can adjust the guide number by setting the flash reduction from full to 1/64. <br> It can be done but I'd look for a good autoflash to go with the A1. 2nd hand units from Metz/Vivitar/others can be bought for less that USD20, they make your life much easier. </p>

<p>If funds are low why not look at a successor to the K5, perhaps a used one. Or have yours repaired. Mirrorless Sony may look attractive now but it will be old in a few years time, especially at the rate Sony renews its line of products.</p>