erik_asgeirsson

Has anyone here ordered Leica gear from hksupplies.com, and if so,

would you be willing to share your experiences (both good and bad)?

As an Icelander by blood, I'd love to see the results of this project. Would you have any reservations against posting some of the pictures on this forum when you're finished?

At least at the Detroit auto show, the only time I found use for anything longer than 50 was to take pictures of cars set far back from the crowds (say, the Ferarris, Aston Martins or more expensive cars). Otherwise, you can usually get close enough to touch the cars.

I now host my own site on a Linux box out of my basement, but before that I used <a href="http://www.your-site.com">Your-Site</a> for around $5/month. You do need a domain name, though. <a href="http://www.gandi.net">Gandi.net</a> lets you register them for 12 Euros a year, or you can use <a href="http://www.godaddy.com">Godaddy</a> if you'd prefer a US registrar. Of course, you could easily pay $35/year and go with the two titans <a href="http://www.netsol.com">Network Solutions</a> or <a href="http://www.register.com">Register.com</a>. One benefit to your own domain is you can have an email that never changes regardless of who provides your internet access, too.

FP4+ in homebrew D-76H.

Has anyone had experience with Anthony at accphoto.com for Leica

equipment (specifically lenses), and if so, were your experiences

positive or negative and would you recommend shopping with him?

I like and use Oriental Seagull G graded paper. Old-fashioned, yes, but it's inexpensive and produces beautiful prints.

<i>He who gives up essential liberty for a little temporary security deserves neither liberty nor security.</i><br>

- Benjamin Franklin

"Film is dying" threads seem to be very popular here of late. If you

feel film is dying, fine, go digital. Just don't proclaim film's

imminent death to somehow justify your purchase to yourself. If film

dies, it dies. However, history has shown that as long as a market

exists, the product in question will continue to be available. Newly

manufactured reel-to-reel tapes are still available, even though they

have long since been displaced in the professional and consumer world

by cassettes, DATs and CDs. Very few vinyl records are available new,

but record player needles and record players are still available (as

are vacuum tubes). Super 8 cameras have long since been obsolete, but

super 8 film is still available. Expensive fountain pens are still

available, as is fountain pen ink. All these markets have shrunk, but

as long as people demand these products, someone will fill the niche

and turn a profit. Quite frankly, it's simple economics. None of these

markets are nearly as large as in their heydays, but film should

remain larger than all of these for many years. One often omitted fact

in these film vs. digital arguments is that in poorer countries, where

computers are few and far between (many parts of South America,

Africa, even the Middle East) film is the only option for recording

photographs, both financially and practically. If you like digital

photography in any form, by all means purchase digital cameras and

shoot to your heart's content. If you like film, by all means purchase

film and shoot to your heart's content. If digital does permeate as

much as some predict and film disappears from drugstore shelves, then

film users will simply become in the same class as the reel-to-reel

and LP users I mentioned above. There are even regional fountain pen

shows for fountain pen lovers, and the ball-point has been the

predominant writing instrument in schools and businesses (not counting

the computer, of course) for several decades now. Digital and film

will both continue to exist for as long as there are photographers who

purchase and use either medium.

Given the choice of these two sets for black and white and color

photography (and with filters for B&W, it's easier to standardize on

just two sizes vs. three, hence the lens choices), which would you

choose?<p>35mm Summilux ASPH f1.4, 50mm Summicron f2, 90mm Elmarit

f2.8<br>or<br>35mm Summicron ASPH f2, 50mm Summicron f2, 90mm

Summicron APO ASPH f2 (or 90mm Elmarit f2.8)<p>If it influences your

decision, assume the primary use for the set is travel and people

photography, with a .72 M and possibly the 1.25x viewfinder magnifier.

Marc, while USB 2.0 is backwards compatible, what happens when the USB connector is replaced with a different cable due to physical restrictions on the data transfer rate? Ten years ago, every computer had legacy ISA and PCI card slots, now it's next to impossible to find any ISA cards on any new motherboard. In ten or fifteen years, the same will be true of USB, while I can still find film for LF cameras of a hundred years ago. Another example would be SIMM and DIMM memory slots on old motherboards (early '90s). The SIMM simply could not handle the density of DIMM, and look at what's happening now: DIMM SDRAM is being replaced with DDR SDRAM, which is not backwards compatible. Suddenly your old 512mb memory cards are worthless, unless you use them in an obsolete computer. Even PS/2 keyboard connectors made the older, larger keyboard connector (PS?) obsolete, although in that case an adapter was available which maintained functionality.

One thing to keep in mind with regard to the longevity of digital is that even if the camera quality is 'good enough' to last for years, who's to say that the ability will be there to transfer the files to your computer? Already certain I/O ports (parallel printer cables for example) and ISA card slots are missing from modern computers. Even USB will soon be completely replaced by USB 2.0. Once these current I/O ports disappear from computers, your camera will only be good for viewing on the little LCD screen. Sure, you could keep your current top of the line dual P4 or G5 for the future, but electronics (and specifically hard drives) do fail, and once they do, finding parts will be very difficult.

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I second the recommendation to try Firebird. It's much more stable than IE (and even includes a pop-up blocker). <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/">Mozilla Firebird</a>

Although I don't have the time to attend any of these workshops as of late, I commend you for putting forth the time and effort to organize these events. Selflessness is fast disappearing in the US and it's great to see enthusiasts getting together with the purpose of sharing experience and gaining knowledge. Perhaps the relative scarceness of large format (and maybe Leica) photography and their small user bases contributes to this spirit of openness, just as the early Internet was a much friendlier place than it is today.

WRT the positioning of the name: when you receive a snail mail letter or note, is the name signed at the top or the bottom? I feel that the desire to have names at the bottom of the post stems from a source much deeper than simply "I am used to the old way." Documents are almost always signed at the bottom.

Pretty much all I use now is FP4+ developed in D-76 1:1. I like the results, and processing is fairly easy.

Here are the images displayed using HTML:

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<img src="http://www.ifrance.com/ortarie/thumbnails/003.jpg">

<img src="http://www.ifrance.com/ortarie/thumbnails/004.jpg">

<img src="http://www.ifrance.com/ortarie/thumbnails/005.jpg">

Here's another vote for FP4+. I like it in either D-76 or HC-110.

I agree with the idea to crop it a little tighter. Also, if there's detail on the slide (or negative), I'd burn the far left side of the picture a little.

This is quite unfortunate. Does anyone know of any alternative mail-order slide developers that give good, consistant results?

Is this a common occurance? I have some slides from a recent trip

that were sent to Kodak for processing, and all the rolls had long,

lengthwise scratches on the trannies. It's not a problem with my

camera (EOS A2e), since my B&W and color negs are all scratch-free.

silver, graded FB for the really good stuff.

I will admit, I'm somewhat guilty of not exploring downtown enough. I'm at Orchestra Hall frequently (I'll be interested to see the new attached performing arts center). The 5k run before the October marathon goes through a great route, too, and it's easier to enjoy your surroundings than if you elect to run the 26.2 mile international route. The waterfront by Ford Auditorium (that's not Harmony Park, is it?) is quite nice now, too.

Great Opa shot! Was that taken in Hellas' (sp?) restaurant? Greektown is one of the few vibrant places in downtown Detroit, unless you count the stadium areas (and that's more commercialism than culture...)