AJG

Thanks for the article, but Kosmo Photo has the most annoying pop up ads that I have seen in a log time. I'm glad that Kodak will continue to produce film, but I hope that the recent price trends will subside a bit.

I don't want to be negative but the fact that you're asking these questions makes me wonder if you have the skills to be doing this. Weddings usually aren't super hard technically to shoot, but since they are one off events you need to have the equipment and experience to be sure of good results for your clients. I would never show up to photograph a wedding without at least 2 matching camera bodies (and extra batteries) that I was very familiar with and a set of fast lenses to cover semi-wide to telephoto and a couple of flash units that I was confident about both in terms of light output and how to set them up and control them. If you're wondering why experienced professionals charge as much as they do for a seemingly simple job it is due to the investment in equipment and in the time it takes to really know how to use their equipment in a high pressure situation. Everybody has to start somewhere, and maybe assisting a more experienced photographer makes more sense for you right now. But if you're committed to shooting it then make sure you're really prepared to do it. Jochen's suggestion about visiting the venue and checking out what you will be dealing with is an excellent one, preferably with your equipment so that you will know before the event what will work and what won't.

This sounds like a great idea if you make hard drives or sell cloud storage, but not so much for the real world. But it will probably be a successful sales pitch since (at least in the US) more of anything is always better.

Not all synthetics were created equal--when Zeiss switched to epoxy lens cement in the 1950's it proved to be a problem later with many lenses from that period for Contax and Contaflex now unusable while older ones continue to be OK.

This looks a lot like Kodak Fine Grain Release Positive film, which is/was a low ASA (something around 3) blue sensitive film that can be developed in paper chemistry under an orange safelight. 30+ years ago I used this to make B&W slides from negatives for presentations before the PowerPoint era. I would load some and try an ASA sequence similar to what Rodeo Joe recommended but starting at ASA 1 instead of 5 to see what shape it is in. I used to develop it in Dektol or some other paper developer for around 3 minutes at 68 degrees F. and then stop/fix/wash like any other B&W film. If you have always wanted to make images with white skies like wet plate prints from the mid 19th century this might be your film. Good luck!

While I agree that it is easy to cover the rangefinder window on a Contax with a finger, it isn't that hard to learn to avoid it. What I don't like about my Leica IIIa is the placement of the shutter release. It is too far toward the back of the camera for me, although I realize that everybody's different and thousands of people obviously like it where it is.

What shutter speed are you using? I don't know about your Nikon, but some cameras will fire a flash at any speed, even one where the flash units cannot synchronize.

Our first tomato: Pentax K 5 w/Pentax 50-200 zoom

Pentax K 5 w/Pentax 50-200 f/4-5.6 zoom

+1 on Niels' advice--facial features tend to look distorted when you get very close. Most commercial portrait studios rarely get closer than 5 feet from a subject for this reason. If you do need to get closer, the Rolleinars are excellent optically in my experience.

It is things like this that make me think that AI won't be taking over the world any time soon--it still isn't ready for prime time...

For the July 18: Contax II, 13.5 cm f/3.5 Nikkor, Tri-X in HC 110

Hi Tony--glad you're OK and didn't perish in the conflagration. Here's mine--an unknown (to me) but photogenic weed. The usual K 5 and Pentax 50-200 zoom

A quick Wikipedia check states that the first Exakta came out in 1936 and the Contax I preceded that by being introduced in 1932. I agree with you that bottom loading Leicas and their clones are more of a pain in the neck than changing lenses on a Contax. My first 35 mm SLRs were screw mount Yashicas and my least favorite feature was the screw mount once I had more than one lens.

If I were you I would get a repair estimate and see how much it would cost. If it is a lot, then it may be time to think about replacing the body if you have good lenses for the work that you do with it. Canon DSLRs are going for a lot less money since Canon has switched to mirrorless, so if you're happy with the camera the best thing might be to replace it with the same or a newer DSLR that hasn't seen professional use.

Hostas just starting to bloom--the usual Pentax K 5 w/50-200 Pentax zoom

I have photographed both kinds of ambrotypes and haven't noticed a generic difference between them, but I haven't done thousands of them so perhaps there is one. As for a dry plate ambrotype being panchromatic, I would be surprised if it was since panchromatic emulsions didn't really come on the market much before the 1920's when dry plates were much less common than film.

For July 5: Contax II, 135 mm f/3.5 Nikkor, Tri-X in HC 110

If if's an Arriflex it won't be a c mount lens. They are all bayonet mount.

Pentax K 5 w/50-200 Pentax zoom--Our neighbor's day lilies

No apologies necessary--you're quite right that some solutions to problems are far from well thought out. Graffiti seems to bring out the worst reactions at times from people who value order over everything else. In this case, the graffiti livened up what had been a boring mass of aging concrete.

It's the 75+ year old failing structure underneath, not the graffiti that's the reason for the demolition. I shot some pictures of the graffiti just before they blocked it off to begin work but haven't developed them yet.

I haven't used either of your methods for developing sheet film, but I will share the tools and technique that I used to successfully develop somewhere north of 5000 sheets of B&W 4x5. I started out with a Gepe tank that would hold up to 6 sheets at a time. It sort of worked but it leaked, took forever to fill and dump the chemicals and had some flimsy but vital plastic parts so I switched to a Jobo sheet film tank with two reels that could develop a total of 12 sheets at a time. Inversion agitation left me with streaks so I called their tech rep and got some suggestions that worked. First, was to switch to rotating agitation instead of inversion. Second was to do a pre-soak of a minute or more in water at the temperature that I was going to process at. Third was to be sure to remove the tank from the roller (a Uniroller for their color processing drums) and invert the tank 2-3 times every minute. Fourth was to dilute developer so as to guarantee a developing time of 10 minutes or more. By doing all of those things I solved the streaking problem for good. Good luck with your film!

Pentax K 5 w/50-200 Pentax zoom Bridge demolition near my house--not my favorite way to wake up!

I used the less fancy version of this without the +/- 20% switch for many years with my Durst M 600 and then my Omega D 2 with cold light head with great success. Never a problem until I sold the D2 and replaced it with a Zone VI enlarger with its own compensating timer.