ken_rockwell3

it moves with angle! see

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/8mm.htm#optics

Sorry guys, I was having too much fun shooting. I finished writing the 5D review today

(http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/5d.htm).

How do I pay for all these cameras?

As a cheapskate, I find ways to make things work. When I was 19 years old and in college

driving a $650 car in 1981, I was able to buy, for cash, the new Sony PCM-F1 digital audio

recorder and Betamax for live audio recoding. We all have our priorities; mine are my

toys.

I know how to save, how to do my homework and how not to waste.

I easily pulled in six figures since the 1990s in my last real job. That doesn't go very far

here in coastal southern California. I lived in a cheap condo so I could afford toys.

Mercedes are cheap. I've always bought used ones for less than my pals pay for new Ford

Tauruses. And guess why they are so cheap to own: I sold my last Mercedes for only

$6,000 less than I had paid for it, after owning it for 12 years and 80,000 miles. I don't

know about you, but I can't afford to drive a Ford. I do my homework and drive cherry

used cars. I've owned two perfect BMWs and sold each for exactly what I paid for them. I

had owned one (www.r100s.com) for over 20 years. My cherry SL500 with 18,000 miles on

it? Cost less than a cherry new Taurus, but took a lot of shopping to find it.

The number of people who chip in $10 each month is much closer to 10 than 1,000. It's

the other stuff that adds up to make it all work. Yes, I pay taxes on all this, too, enough to

support quite a few of our guys over in Iraq fighting for all of us.

My real jobs have usually been broadcasting related, so I realize the way to make money is

to give away as much of the best stuff that I can, and make it up on volume. The biggest

reason people give me money is because of the hundreds or thousands of dollars I save

many of them compared to what they hear from camera stores or commercial websites.

That said, and as I say on my site, all this stuff adds up to enough to get these cameras.

People love to read what I have to say, so the more cameras I get, the more I can say, the

more people benefit from reading what I have to say, and the ads and etc. then lets me get

more cameras. It's the same in broadcasting.

Thanks!

Copyright 2007 Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved.

RUN AWAY from Finetronics. The fact that they won't accept phone calls or credit cards

and the too-good-to-be-true price should show you that. Also they claim to ship to any

country, another tip since fraud rates in places like Romania are so high most legitimate

dealers

won't ship there.

I have to laugh at their notice "Due to the high risk of credit card fraud we accept

payments only via MoneyGram money transfer service" since they are the fraud! Like

Amazon doesn't accept credit cards? Baloney!

I had an email from law enforcement about them who in turn reported them to the FBI.

Finetronics claim to be in Finland and their information at the place we webmasters go to

look up the goods on other websittes was obscurred.

Snap from the Caymans last week.

Caveat Emptor,

Ken

www.kenrockwell.com<div></div>

Hey look you guys:

I am Ken Rockwell. I just updatrred my page again on this.

1.) I used a production D70 at the PMA show in Vegas twice last month and brought home

JPGs and NEFs from it. As a member of the photo press I was able to attend. Beats me why

other sites couldn't get one. I gave it a thoughrough workout and ordered one myself

since I liked it so much.

2.) No one gives me jack. For all I know nikon hates my guts because I'm so honest and

direct with my thoughts and get 10,000 people a day at my site now. I pay for my own

gear with my own cash from the same stores you all do. I'm just a photographer like you

guys and post my findings, and I encourage you to do the same. You may or may not see

things as I do and that's what makes America great.

I use very special scales calculated to give OPTIMUM sharpnes over a range. This is completly different fromthe obsolete DOF scales which as we all have seen are useless. See this not only at the individual links submitted above, but also see the complete explanation of how I calculated them at http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/focus.htm

Ken

Oh my golly! Sorry someone posted my stuff to a Leica owner's site! Obviously there is no better made gear than Leica, and of course I use a Leica projector personally for my 35mm work, and even splurged for the Colorplan CF lens, which is spectacular.

You know you guys are easy to poke fun of. Would you have it any other way owning the best? I mean where's the fun in toying with Sigma owners?

You folks have to realize that I kid around a lot, and that my decades of making photos has taught me that the really important aspects are deeper than just the gear used. The photographer does, in some very rare and isolated cases, play a small part in the final image. Of course you need to use the right gear, but with effort the right person can use the wrong gear to get great results, just like some people can actually get windows PCs working long enough to crank out some decent photos, too.

Merry Christmas to all!

Kenny

You guys are too sweet. I wrote that article one morning when I had a crazy

whim. I'm really tickled silly that so many people get a kick out of it, and I can't

stop laughing when people form Russia and China have translated it.

Personally I don't classify myself and think that anyone who bothers to is silly.

I also realize photography is all in the eye of the beholder. Some people like

my stuff (I won a huge trip to Hawaii I'm taking next week and Microtek is

using my work to showcase their scanners soon) and others hate it.

I keep the really nutty stuff that some encourage me to do off the site and try to

stick with what the general audience seems to like. Like these shots of me at

http://kenrockwell.com/bizarre.htm ?

Thanks again for your kindness.

KR<div></div>

I use a differnt system, however I always shoot some gray cards

when I get a new setup to get the correct factors (if any) so I just

don't ever have to worry about it again.

Read the negs on a densitometer (or ask your lab to do it, they

have one) and do the following:

if gray card reads 0.70 D above base + fog, you're fine.

if it reads 0.90D then use a stop less exposure next time

If it reads 0.55 then add a stop next time

If it reads 0.40 then add two stops next time.

I stick a label to my camera withe the corrected film speeds for

each filter.

This may sound like a pain, but it allows me to contact print

everytthing made with any filter and it all looks perfect. Heck, it

allows me to make OK prints first time with the same enlarger

exposure from just about ay of my negs!

This is in contrast to many "professionals" whose negs are all

over the map .

ken Rockwell

the VF for the M7's 150mm shows framing for 6x7, not 6x6

format.

I doubt that having to imagine the square frame out of the

rectangle would make things easier than the smaller squae

image in the M6.

Images made with my Mamiya 6 :

http://kenrockwell.com/mexico/index.htm (click to enlarge to two

differnt sizes)

The M6 is far easier to use than ther M7. I have both.

Good luck, Ken R

Here's how to get the sharpest results possible, taking into account also diffraction from http://www.kenrockwell.com/focus.htm (still under construction)

what it says of relevance to the Mamiya 6 and 7 is:

if the lens' DOF scale says: then use this for optimum sharpness:

f/4: f/11 + 1/2

f/5.6: f/16

f/8: f/16 + 1/2

f/11: f/22

f/16: f/22 + 1/2

f/22: f/32

f/32: f/32 + 1/2

f/45: f/45

Hope this helps; this is what I do.

Ken Rockwell

San Diego, CA

http://www.kenrockwell.com

Unusually well designed site!

Your site is a shining example of clear design that both looks

great ad is easy to navigate.

I'm looking over a fast connection so I can't vouch for how fast it

runs; it sure runs fast for me but so does everything.

Keep up the good work!