Niels - NHSN

I noticed in a Japanese press-release dated yesterday (June 10, 2024), that Nikon announced it will begin construction of two new buildings in Tochigi prefecture (Japan) of a total of 20,000 m2 (circa 215000 ft2).

The buildings are intended for production of digital camera lenses, objectives for microscopes and other optical parts.

This is said to be part of an expansion plan valued at 100 billion Yen (circa 650 million USD) to be invested the next five years.

I am personally very happy to hear that Nikon is investing in local Japanese production facilities again, and see it as a positive sign.

It has been a while since I last shot som medium format film. I found a roll of HP5+ expired in 2014 that I will shoot this weekend in my Fujica GL690 from 1974.
The camera has a very nice 100mm f/3.5 Fujinon lens in a Tessar design. The lens is interchangeable but I own only this one.
The camera is surprisingly easy to use, aside from the weight, just like any 35mm rangefinder. The leaf shutter is more quiet than a Leica, something I understand is not the case on the later Fuji medium format rangefinders.

Still playing with my new Voigtländer 28/2.8.

This weekend on my IIf RD with Fuji Superia X-tra 400.

From a box w a Hasselblad 500C purchased new in 1962 (not by me - wasn’t born yet).

8 hours ago, kaliuzhkin said:

So the MR9 adapters available from Kanto Camera and from Small Battery Company are not C.R.I.S. brand?

Sorry if it wasn’t clear what my photo showed.
The Kanto Camera MR-9 adapters shown in the upper left are indeed high quality converters for 386/SR43 batteries, similar to CRIS.
The brass adapters shown in the lower right part of the photo are the cheap dumb type sometimes also sold as “MR-9”, but will require the inexpensive hearing aid zinc-air 675 cells in order to work for your intended purpose. The hearing-aid batteries can normally be found in most pharmacies - at a much lower price compared to Wein cells.

Be aware there are dumb brass adapters advertising themselves as MR-9 on some trading platforms.

Those are for use with zinc-air 675 hearing aid batteries. They are just as good as Wein cells but much cheaper.

The correct MR-9 adapters will take the 386 cell - also called SR43 and convert it from 1.55V to 1.35V.

I used both kinds and they work equally well in my old Nikon cameras.

17 hours ago, christopher_a._junker1 said:

Does a 28mm bright line finder come with it?

Unfortunately not.

The thread title says “AF Nikkor 85mm 1:1.8D” - so everything is as should be expected; AF on this lens will not work with the FTZ adapter as it doesn’t have the mechanical linkage to turn the AF “screw”.

I just got this Voigtänder 28/2.8 Color-Skopar Asph, in black paint on brass, and nickel plated trims.

Aside from the bright white lettering (and the plastic finder), it is a perfect match to my Leica II D from 1933. I will use some HP5+ for my first roll.

My wife visited Japan last week, and with the exchange rate in my favour, I persuaded her (she dislikes camera stores) to pick up the black painted/nickel plated version.

The street price was 71.000 yen including 10% VAT (deductible for visitors). That is only around the 400 mark in both Euro and USD at the current rate.

It is tiny, feels and looks great, and I can't wait to see the results.

16 hours ago, arthur_gottschalk said:

Are you speaking from experience?

Yes. I have worked in a shop testing the influx of second hand cameras for the past couple of years now and I see several Hasselblad kits per month.

16 hours ago, arthur_gottschalk said:

I've bought several  V-System cameras on Ebay and all have worked perfectly from the get-go.  I've shot hundreds of exposures with them with our problems, except for a jam or two that I created by failure to follow proper procedure.

So your experience is different from mine.

16 hours ago, arthur_gottschalk said:

I think you are exaggerating .

I don't see how it matters in this thread what you think. I was responding to the original poster.

@hjoseph7 I am completely immersed in the Apple ecosystem, for better and worse, and I find the 5GB icloud storage you get for free when you set up your apple ID to be extremely useful as it allows you to work seamlessly across all units - and more importantly; it is not at all necessary to pay for extra storage, unless you need it for permanent backup.

Despite having used iphones, ipads and macbooks for the past 14 years, I haven't maxed out my free 5GB but I do recall at one point having to turn off automatic storage of photos in the cloud when I realised it was filling up quickly. I prefer having a more hands-on-approach to backup.

• As have been mentioned already, you can easily access your iCloud account through a normal internet browser at iCloud-dot-com - sign in with your apple id and browse around to see what is there, and delete unnecessary stuff.
• To solve the problem long term, you'd have to simply disable use of iCloud on the app's that uploads large amounts of data.
• You get the overview on your device by going to 'Settings', then tap '<Your Name>' at the top. Tap 'iCloud' and you can see and control the usage under the title "Apps using iCloud".
• I would NOT recommend turning off 'Find My' as it improves your device security immensely.
• Tapping 'Manage Account Storage' will give you an overview of how much the individual apps consume of iCloud space.

About suspicion on Apple using your personal data and photos on iCloud for developing AI.
Not without your explicit and informed consent - doing that without would be a huge reputational business risk that I doubt Apple would dare take. Besides, there are unlimited freely accessible photos on the open internet one could harvest data from without risk.

About being scammed to pay for storage one haven't ordered or being automatically charged.
I agree that it is very annoying being asked to pay to continue a behaviour one thought was free and I guess many may feel trapped when confronted with either adapting a new behaviour or paying a small monthly fee in order to continue the well established behaviour - I guess there is a class in business school with that theme.  

With that said, I do think iCloud storage can be very useful for many and therefore have legitimate value. I also don't think it is difficult to avoid paying if one don't think it has value.

I have never experienced Apple has charged for anything that I haven't explicitly ordered, even though they have my credit card details. For all purchases from Apple or the Appstore I receive legally valid fully specified invoices that comply with EU VAT laws.

Finally, without considering myself an Apple fan-boy (although my engagement in their eco system may suggest differently), I have personally stuck with Apple because their overarching business model is that of selling hardware/software/services to the end-user at a price they make money from -- as opposed to cheaply selling subsidised products/services and making the profit from collecting and selling personal information for advertising to third parties.

19 hours ago, cfg02 said:

Should i try and return this lens?

Return. To me it looks like a pattern of some growth on internal elements.

On 5/6/2024 at 8:51 PM, cfg02 said:

Hi i am thinking of buying this Hasselblad 500elm but the mirror and the back shutter is open and the camera is in the o posistion its not tested should i take a chance on it?

I would not buy ANY Hasselblad product untested without a clear and trouble free return privilege as well as having personal confidence in my own ability to test it within the limits of the return window.

Hasselblad products are finicky and just not something you gamble on, unless cheap enough to recoup the expense selling the lot for parts. 

The sound of the motor is "time appropriate": Meaning; not silent. I'd imagine you could find examples on youtube.

I don't know where you live, but if in EU, I can recommend this manufacturer located in Madrid, Spain who makes some excellently manufactured AAA adapters that can use either 5 rechargeables (1.2V) or 4 alkaline (1.5V) batteries to provide the 6V required: https://serviciosfotograficosbn.com/hasselblad/hasselblad-battery-adapter-500-el-elm-elx-6v5-batteries-12v-15v-aaa-copia/.

No affiliation, just happy with a well made product manufactured locally.

On 5/9/2024 at 4:20 PM, Tom Fuldner said:

I’ve been using a flip up eyepiece magnifier to confirm focus. This is also tedious because I can’t see the subject’s full face when the magnifier is flipped down. So, does the magnifier in the waist level finder provide the best of both: a full-screen view of the ground glass with sufficient magnification to make focusing on the subject’s eyes easy?

Hi Tom

I see you have found an alternative. I hope it works for you.

Since you need a magnifier to achieve critical focus with a regular finder, I am almost sure the DW-1 wouldn’t have worked for you.
If anything, I find it more difficult to focus than the regular finder. 

13 hours ago, Sandy Vongries said:

Once anyone has reported the first GameGeek post, the individual can be removed with all other posts quickly and easily.  No need to race. 

Great to know Sandy. Going forward I will only report a given spammer's post once. 

On 5/7/2024 at 8:46 AM, Rick_van_Nooij said:

Shot a couple of rolls with that Leica IIIc, the Nikon S2 and a few sheets with my Speed Graphic during Memorial Day and the Liberation Festivities over the weekend.

Really cool set-up!

I couldn't own that movie camera without having to run film through it. It would quickly bankrupt me. Is it 16 or 35mm?

It looks like it is operated by electricity? Is it connected to a battery?

Today I experienced the spammer "GameGeek" creating 19 posts in a timespan of 5 minutes.

The time it took to report one spam post - as quickly as the system allowed me - was seemingly enough time for this spammer to create 2 or 3 new posts - talk about fustration😭.

I think the only way out of this is to enable moderator approval of new member posts, until they have posted maybe 4-5 sensible posts over a period of time.
The Invision Community software seems to support something like that out of the box: https://invisioncommunity.com/4guides/security-and-rules/spam-prevention-r9/

Pre-moderation for new members is annoying for the new member, as well as yet another task for volunteer moderators, but I fear this will not disappear by itself.

It is essential to catch the spam before it goes public.

As long as the posts appears for even a little while, the spammers have achieved their "spray and pray" purpose and will continue to see this site as a potential source of revenue.

This is organised crime - after all -  with potentially serious consequences for those who call the telephone numbers, and therefore important that Photo.net don't even indirectly support the activity by taking it lightly. 

On 5/8/2024 at 1:24 PM, Monophoto said:

Interesting - this morning, multiple posts of a message about contacting Intuit about Quicken appeared in the darkroom photography forum.  They all need to be deleted, and Intuit should be advised that their name is being abused in this way.  And the person who posted the messages should be permanently banned from participation in the forum.

The problem is very widespread on this site - beyond what can be handled with a simple ban of a specific user. If you take a look at menu Forums/All Activity you will see page after page of spam posts across all the forums (that is, if you look before the moderators have cleaned it up).

The spammers uses all kind of trade names of products likely to require users to call for help, so advising all these companies would be an unreasonable task for our volunteer moderators, and besides, I don't think the companies can do anything about it.

@Sandy Vongries Thanks a LOT for all your work cleaning up this destructive overflow of garbage!

I like your idea.
I do often wonder if it is only me or if 25 other members are simultaneously reporting the same post, especially when I have reported the 5th post and the same user has published just as many new posts during the same timespan.
The latter indeed feels discouraging, and I imagine it is affecting the community negatively as reporting spam isn't why we are here after all.

I personally can't commit to a specific timeslot and will therefore not be of much use in your suggested setup - as I understand it.

However, I do wonder if moderation privileges could be extended to a handful or two more people - at least temporarily under a frustrating attack such as the one we are experiencing now.

It is, after all, much more satisfying to kill a thread and the associated destructive user-profile and see it disappear, rather than just reporting 20 posts and see the user continue spamming unaffected.

I imagine many, including myself, would hesitate to take the huge responsibility of a permanent moderator role, like the one you have taken for the long term (and thanks again for that!), but for a limited time wouldn't mind help in situations like this. 

Could such a set-up be possible?
If the current moderators observe which regular members have reported a large amount of spam correctly and if those members also have a history of good standing in our community, I see no harm in reaching out and ask if they could take a "spam killer" moderator role for a while - even if the moderator rights may exceed purely "spam killing" privileges.
And I don't imagine such a task would seem too overwhelming to members who already spend some time reporting, if it (hopefully) would only be for a limited time.

Just a thought.

@Niels - NHSN "It'll be smaller subjects more than bigger ones, I've yet to start with portrait photography but I've been asked to create product images for a friend and her small business producing toys for toddlers"

Product photography for a web shop is an area I practice as a minor part of my job (a task I was appointed to, not because I am employed as a photographer but because I have an interest in photography). 
It is characterized by the need for speed, repeatability and low cost (time/money) pr. product. It seems to be perceived as an “anyone can do it” type of photography.

In my case, there is not space for a permanent setup.

For those reasons I use a 60x60x60cm tent cube with built in high’ish CRI LEDs, because that size fits the objects, it can be easily moved into a corner, and when in use it produces the exact same results as last time.

No individual light adjustments are needed (or possible). All items have the same illumination and I only need to do 2-4 RAW adjustments to export a useable image to JPG.

Let me warn you, there is no particular satisfaction- artistically- in this work. If you aspire to set optimal lighting for each object you will likely waste time you cannot invoice - or if you do invoice, you’ll quickly lose business.

Black worn Nikon FE w. Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 loaded with Fuji 200 (US) for the weekend.

8 hours ago, Bettendorf said:

 

When I held a Geiger counter on my Canon 35/2.0 concave, all the noise came from the rear element.

 

I don’t have a Geiger counter, unfortunately.

What was the radiation reading from the rear?

What  exactly are you planning to shoot for money?
Cars, webshop catalogues, portraits, fashion, jewlery…?

9 hours ago, tom_halfhill said:

I have an old pair of Pentax binoculars with yellowed glass. Maybe the same treatment will work. But I've always wondered if it's safe to hold this glass close to my eyes for long.

I don't think you have to worry. 

I saw a video of a guy holding a geiger counter directly on the front element of one of the famous radioactive lenses: the Asahi Pentax Takumar 50/1.4.

I don't recall the exact numbers, but from memory of my calculation at the time; If you held the front element directly towards your body for about 150 hours, that part of the body would be exposed to the same radiation a flight attendant is exposed to for a year.

Keep in mind, the flight attendant is exposed to the radiation all over the body, from all sides. In the above example you would only be exposed on a very small spot.

Besides, radiation from a small source, like a lens, lowers drastically with distance. One or two centimeters away from the front element the instrument hardly measures any radiation. 
Behind the camera, the radiation from the lens would probably be close to indistinguishable from the natural background radiation.