ken_kuzenski1

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<p>Brian, one addition to Diego's very good advice: shoot those test shots with slide film, if you can. Slide film is the least forgiving in terms of under or over exposure, so any problems will show up most easily with slide film.<br>

Any older camera of any size can have problems with shutter speed. A good camera repairman can deal with that at a reasonable price, if you like. Personally, my 150mm lens is off at very slow speeds, but I shoot almost only print film and it's never been enough of a problem for me to bother with.<br>

I also looked at an RB when I was shopping for my first real MF camera--they're GREAT cameras, no doubt about it. But the RB/RZ cameras are a LOT bigger and heavier than a Hassy. If you're planning to use your MF camera mostly in a studio, that may not be a problem for you. Definitely give one a try before you buy, though! <br>

Good luck, and have fun! --ken</p>

<p>Brian, Jenny is very correct--Mr. Wildi's book is EXCEEDINGLY useful for the new Hassy owner. If you are getting an older Hasselblad, you can buy an earlier edition quite reasonably priced at various used book sources. It will be the most importnt Hasselblad accessory you have, at times. :-) I think you'll enjoy a Hassy; my 500cm is ancient and battered, and I still get a little thrill of pleasure every single time I use it. :-) GOOD LUCK! --ken</p>

<p>When things are hot and humid outside (like EVERY time I go to south Louisiana, no matter what time of year), I keep cameras and lenses in sealed Ziploc plastic bags. When I can, I leave the cameras outside, at least for a few hours, before I use them outside--to let the temperature equilibrate. If the cameras are at the outside temperature when you take them out of the plastic bags, you will not get condensation on them.</p>

<p>I use a set of 3021 legs and a 3047 head, and it works pretty well, and I'll be young enough to keep carrying all that weight for another few years, I hope. :-) But mostly I wanted to add a "you SAID it" to Mr. Ingold's comment. A bad tripod can actually be worse than no tripod at all--so get a good one! Don't forget the ancient photographers' wisdom: "My best lens is a tripod." :-) Good luck! </p>

<p>Wayne, it's up to you, how you handle this. I've been doing amateur photography for various local groups, mostly theatre, for 20 years. Most of these people would NOT have photography if they had to pay a pro for it. I always give my services for free, and genuinely enjoy the chance to do some fun photography for friends or friends of friends. <br>

The guy who said "THE LAST THING THE PHOTO BUSINESS NEEDS RIGHT NOW IS ANOTHER AMATEUR GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE. If you want to put professional photography to it's death ..." made me feel I needed to respond. Most local musicians and actors work for nearly nothing; I'm glad to support them when I can. Any of them who need better photography than I can give, can pay market prices for it--isn't that the so-called conservative ideal? But many of them have been burned by "professionals" who can't even spell "its" correctly, and who charge them a bundle of money for mediocre work. They are glad to have my free services, and I'm glad to provide them.<br>

Do what you choose, Wayne--but don't discount doing art for other artists, for the sheer joy of doing it.</p>

<p>I just got a V500 a few weeks ago, refurbished, for $150, from Epson's "clearance center"--easy to find on the web if you like. It's a big improvement on my old Epson and a heck of a bargain at the price. I haven't made any prints from 6x6 yet but casual snapshots for the album from 6x6 come out great. I scanned a few 35mm slides last week and sent them off for 11x14" prints, and they came out pretty well. FWIW.</p>

<p>Bob is right! Black and white is easy to do at home; C41 is tougher, slide film is tougher yet--and you don't want to ruin any of those rolls you shot, do you? I mostly shoot B&W with my ancient 500cm (your message topic caught my eye because I was a "n00b with a Blad" a handful of years ago.) :-)</p>

<p>I do my own B&W developing, and then scan and send things out for prints, mostly. It's not nearly as good as a fine B&W print on fiber paper--but it's easy and cheap compared to printing for yourself. If you've got some really good images, you may decide you want to print them yourself. Enlargers are cheap and available these days, if you decide to do that.</p>

<p>One piece of advice you probably don't need--when you get those negs and slides developed, put them in protective pages and save them carefully. You may enjoy them for years and years--I'm still rescanning and reprinting negs I took a dozen years ago. It may be years before you take another trip like that, but you can enjoy those negs and that Velvia for years. :-) Have fun!</p>

 

<p>I love the 1.8 for film and digital. I've never seen the tiniest hint of purple fringing from mine. I think it's almost a "must-have"--fantastically useful, sharp, fast, and the 1.8 is a bargain at the price, IMO. </p>

<p>It was about 6 or 7 years ago that I finally bought a Hassy--a very old 500cm. I still smile every time I use it! I bet you feel the same way--they're fantastic wonderful amazing cameras, and you'll have those huge negatives, and finally owning one will make you smile every time you use it! :-) What could be better than that? HAVE FUN! </p>

<p>I agree with Peter and Matthew; the slight extra speed of the 1.4 over the 1.8 isn't likely to be important to you. And the f/1.8 50mm is a GREAT lens--I use mine all the time. I bought it for film cameras but it's a 75mm-equivalent, still f/1.8, on my D70--very very nice. And a heck of a bargain at the price! Get one--you'll love it! --ken</p>

<p>Nick, all of those answers are very appropriate, IMO. One other item to consider is how much you'll be shooting. If you're going to shoot one roll of film a month, just sending it out is probably the easiest choice. If you might shoot a few rolls a week, some weeks, doing it yourself becomes very attractive, I think. In addition to the cost, sending it out involves the risk of ruined, scratched, or lost film. As Mendel said, black and white is very easy and inexpensive. Taking a darkroom class to learn developing is a great idea--it'll give you a chance to get your fingers wet, as it were. I develop my own B&W in a bathroom; I load the film into the tanks in a dark closet. I can have a roll in the wash 15 minutes after shooting it, which is very convenient. Good luck! --ken</p>

<p>For several years my big camera bag--the one for trips where I wanted everything covered--was a big old gym bag I bought for $5 at a secondhand store. It looked terrible--frayed fabric in places, a couple of torn seams visible, old and dirty.</p>

<p>When I bought it, I fitted a piece of thin plywood to the bottom, and glued in a big piece of foam rubber I bought at a fabric store. Then I cut places in the foam for gear. Fully loaded, it would carry one medium-format camera and 3 lenses plus 1 or 2 35mm cameras and several lenses for them, along with film, batteries, etc. It was heavy, but the shoulder strap made it fairly easy to carry. And it looked, of course, like an old shabby gym bag--not a very likely target for thieves. It worked quite well when I was young enough to carry all that gear! :-)</p>

<p>When I was taking my first darkroom classes, many years ago, the instructor taught me to process TMX and TMY (which were fairly new back then) in HC-110, and that's what I used for years, with no problems. I switched to Tmax developer somewhere along the line, but I used HC-110 on TMX/TMY for years! </p>

<p>I just bought an Epson V500 from the Epson company's 'clearance center'---$150 US, refurbished. It works great. If you have many old negatives to scan, it will pay for itself very easily. You might also find an older Epson (like the one I replaced with the V500) used for sale even cheaper. For years, I've been getting very good 11x14" prints from 6x6cm negs, using an old Epson.</p>

<p>By the way, I've scanned large numbers of old negatives and slides from my own family and my wife's family, and many older family members really enjoy seeing the old photos again, this time as a slideshow on their TV or computer. So send copies of your scans to your family! :-) --ken</p>

<p>If you're just trying to get to the shutter .... I don't know anything about this in general, and I don't know anything about Yashica-A TLRs in specific ... but I bought my second Yashica-C (not A) a few months ago, and it had a totally stuck shutter. I removed it and soaked it in naptha for a while and now it works pretty decently. To get the shutter out--IF that's what you're doing and IF the A is like the C--all I had to do was unscrew the front lens element out of the mount.</p>

<p>This may not help a bit but I wanted to mention it just in case the shutter is what you are trying to get to AND the A is like the C. But it may not be any help, sorry.</p>

<p>MAKE HIM DO THE CHICKEN!!!!!</p>

<p>I've had a D70 for four years and never used anything but my computer and either Photoshop (expensive) or GIMP (free) for editing photos. I've never had a clue what the Nikon software does--but I've never used or wanted it.</p>

<p>IMO: just use a card reader to transfer photos from your card to your computer and then do whatever you want with them with GIMP. Free, easy. FWIW.</p>

 

<p>"One toke over the line? Just wait until that poor SOB sees those BATS!"<br>

--Dr. Gonzo</p>

<p>You might also find the quick-release plates, if you have a used-camera store in your town. I got one of the QRs there a few years ago--I also found another 3047 head there used for not much more than a new QR plate was priced at. :-) Though if you don't have a nice used-gear store near you, D.O. is right, you'll find them on that auction site, too. I love the 3047, personally--except when I have to carry my tripod any distance! ;-) </p>

<p>Dan, I've been shooting digital for 4 years; just a couple of months ago I got the old Hassy out of the closet and I've been shooting and developing my own B&W since then. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to work with a full manual camera, and how satisfying it is to see silver halide on a film base. :-) And to slightly misquote that guy from the movie, "I love the smell of fixer in the morning!" :-) I'm not doing my own printing--I gave away two enlargers and all my other printing supplies a few years ago. I scan negs I like and send the scans off for 11x14 prints. But I'm LOVING working with real film again--I bet you will, too!</p>

 

<p>I've been shooting live theatre events for my wife and her friends for 20 years--starting with a Ricoh SLR in manual mode shooting on T-320 slide film. :-) The last 4 years I've used a D70 for theatre; I *love* the 50mm and 85mm f/1.8 lenses for that. I set my D70 to underexpose by 2/3d stop because I've found that my own D70 loves to burn out highlights. I leave the camera in auto-ISO mode and matrix metering, and never worry about it--IMO it works great. There are always times the light is just too low ... but most of the time I compose and shoot and never give a thought to what ISO the camera has set itself at or what exposure it's picking. Works for me! :-)<br>

http://www.duke.edu/~kuzen001/theatre1.htm</p>

 

<p>No advice on the headshots--I've done it but don't like it and I'm not good at it--but I've shot a lot of plays "live" either in final dress rehearsal or during a performance. I use a D70 for theatre these days, mostly the 50mm and 85mm f/1.8 lenses, occasionally the 18-70 zoom, though there's often not enough light for that lens. And sometimes it's still worth it--I usually use a monopod shooting theatre stuff.<br>

http://www.duke.edu/~kuzen001/photo6.htm<br>

Shooting in final dress is ideal for show shots--just try not to disturb the actors but you can move around during the performance, etc., and the sound of the shutter isn't too distracting in rehearsals--it can be during live performances, meaning you have to shoot when there's sound, not in the pauses after a line.</p>

 

<p>I used to live near Hwy 61 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and traveled it every day. South of Memphis, there's some mildly interesting scenery in the "Mississippi Delta, poverty stricken and bleak" vein ... through the Baton Rouge area there's not much I can think of, but just a few miles off the highway, there's lots of interesting scenery. Just north of Baton Rouge there's a small town named St. Francisville that is full of visual interest. Same thing south of town--get off the highway and there's a fair bit to see. If you get down that far, get off Highway 61 and take "River Road," which runs alongside of the Mississippi River. Beautiful old houses and churches, huge oaks, little country stores ... the former leprosy hospital at Carville is there ... not to mention seeing oceangoing ships going by on the other side of the levee, 35 feet above ground level, which is sort of interesting. Parts of south Louisiana (where I was born and raised) are very interesting, visually, but I can't think of many of them that are actually ON 61. You're welcome to email off the forum if you'd like more info about the Baton Rouge area--it's been 20 years since I lived there but I'll be glad to tell you what I know. --ken (ac4rd at mindspring dot com)</p>

<p>I don't know about the camera, but I couldn't resist adding the comment that it's a charming photo and I enjoyed seeing it. :-) I've been scanning some old negatives, 2x3", from my mother's childhood, and I find them fascinating to see.</p>