dave_cheney

Because it looks so good, its so versitile and its just an amazing performer. I've tried a lot of film, I was a HP5+ guy for a while but that film doesn't seam to have any soul, neither do the T-grain/Delta films. I was a big fan of Neopan for a while but its tonality leaves a bit to be desired. So I brought another brick of Tri-X and a fresh bottle of rodinal and the majic is back.

Tri-x can do just about anything, I've shot it at 100ASA and got a negative so wide it was impossible to print all of it. Shooting it a 1600 still gives great tonality. You can develop it in Rodinal for that super sharp look or in Tmax,DD-X or Microphen for super smoothness. It's just great. Sure the grain is a bit noticable sometimes, esp when scanning and in highlight areas, and its not a great film for flash. But thats what C-41 films are for and if you don't like grain, shoot 100speed.<div></div>

Before you send it to Nikon check the switch around the shutter speed dial, on my F4 you have to have the little red dot exposed otherwise the illuminator will not come on (I leave mine on all the time)

Cheers

Dave

Alex, do you have a website or an online gallery somewhere? I have been following your posts with interest and I would be very keen to see some of your work.

Kind Regards

Dave Cheney

<align="center"><img src="http://users.bigpond.com/davecheney/trumpet.jpg"></p>

<i>Trumpet Player, Dizzy's Jazz Club, 2001</i>

TriX for 400, although I am taking a liking to XP2

For faster I prefer HP5+ @ 1600 and I have taken it too 3200 sometimes, but I don't really like its tonal scale at 400.

I stay clear of TMZ and delta3200 as TMZ is worse than HP5 pushed and delta3200 is just too damn hard to figure out how to process (anyone, times in DD-X? please)

TMX - blerg, Delta 100 waiting to be tried next, also Delta 400 looks like it will get a try at 400 speed.

Cheers

Dave

I have found that one some digitals expsoure compensation is not done at the capture time but rather in post processing time, there being if I am taking studio portrait work and the flash is exposing longer to compesate for darker tones my digital just boosts the gain on the output image. Which is unacceptable because of the noise that is present then.

Make sure you know your digital is really compesating properly our your images will take a double hit.

Cheers

Dave

Dennis, the comments that you may hear about never leaving the shutter cocked on a camera are more for earlier large format Copal shutters or some very early focal plan shutters. The springs in the latest Copal Square shutters are very strong and will not degrade by being cocked for extended periods of time.

Cheers

Dave

I like this image much better than your first. The reaction to the poster by the boy in the bottom of the frame is excellent.

Cheers

Dave

You may find this link useful. Aparently a washer in the M6 rewind shaft can screw itself down and make rewinding difficult.</p>

<a href=http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/leicaslacker/rewind.html>http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/leicaslacker/rewind.html</a></p>

Cheers<br>

Dave

Just a note that when shooting under tungsten lights you will loose about a stop over the metered reading, so you effective ISO drops a stop. I have found reliable readings to be indoors, ISO 400 - 1.4/15th, ISO 800 1.4/30th, and so on.

Pushing TCN is not as linear as other B/W films. 1 stop push may get you to 800ish, but a 2 stop push will get you to only 1000ASA, so roughtly a 1/3rd of a stop loss for each push. If you choose not to tell your processor that you have exposed the roll at 800 and then shoot indoors without compensating for light loss under tungsten the results will be very murky and disapointing. Good luck.

Cheers

Dave

I'd suggest cleaning all the contacts between the lens and the body (on the body) and the TTL contacts on the hot shoe. I've found that the latter generally corrode faster than the lens mount ones as they see less wear and more time exposed to dirt and oils.

My local camera shop sells a contact cleaning pen, which is a stick of fiberglass in a pen casing, which cleans contacts very quickly.

Good luck and tell us the results.

Cheers

Dave

If you require a shutter speed lower than 1/60th then you should put the camera onto slow sync (in fact I recommend leaving it there all the time), otherwise the camera will start to use a larger f/stop and more flash power as the ambient light drops, and thus it will start to overpower the background leving it black and ugly.

Flash output is related directly to what it read back from the TTL sensor which is related to the aperture selected (?) by matrix metering. If you're using fill on a bright day then your camera might choose quite a small f/stop (thinking sunny 16 outside with 100 ASA film) f 16, the N80 flash is probably only good for 2 meters full pop at that stop.

As other posters have pointed out dialling in -1 (or -1.5) compensation for fill flash (vs ambient) is somewhat complicated by Nikon's intelligent flash meter which may also add compensation of its own depending on what kind of scene it 'thinks' your are photographing.

Leif. Flash duration is usually between 10,000 and 1,00 of a sec (full power), how will this be affected by vibrations from the camera?

Cheers

Dave

Hi All,

My $0.02 AU. There are 2 different factors at work here, wide open bokeh and stopped down bokeh. And also close focus or long focus bokeh.

When the lens is fully open the aperture is essentially 100% round, so highlights will naturally take on that shape, when stopped down they will normally take on the shape of the blades they are being projected through. Remember that all points of light are represented in this shape, but when they are focused at the film plane they are represented as points rather than blobs (for want of a better word).

If these blobs (out of focus light rays) represent high energy items, ie highlights, then the will have a dominant impact on the image even though they are not on the focal plane.

BUT - this isn't everything, these blobs are not 'flat', that is, the energy dissipated across them is not constant, generally, or subjectively (if you don't like my explanation), the more highly corrected, or technically perfect a lens becomes (esp with more and more complicated lens elements) the light energy moves to the outside of the blob causing the ring effect shown in the first image. Lenses that possibly (an assumption) that are not corrected to this order can possibly move this energy to the centre, creating fuzzy blobs which blend nicely together. They will still always have the shape of the aperture blades, but the effect of the correction may hide this.

When used wide open other factors such as light fall off and astigmatism work to soften the edges of a lenses wide open bokeh.

So you are left with the near/far problem, bokeh behind and in front of the focal plane and also bokeh when focused close or at infinity. I belive that this is closely related to the correction that the designer desided for the lens at the various distances.

A theory stands that lenses which do not bend the light harshly throughout its travels will stand better for the bokeh stakes. The 180/2.8 105/2.5 & 135/2.8 are all simple lenses in design, elegantly using no more that 5 elements to achieve very sharp images.

Cheers

Dave

The rewind level/dial is attached to the rewind spool by a screw thread. Take the film out of your camera and jam something in the rewind fork, now you should be able to screw or unscrew (can't remember off the top of my head if the screw is reverse thread) the crank. Take it apart, put if back together, see if you can make it fit better. Tell us what happened.

Cheers

Dave

(experience based on F2 and QL17-GIII repairs)

Either your camera confused the DX setting on somehow you dialed in compensation without realising it (no warning message ?).

Never trust DX, always set the film speed yourself.

Cheers

Dave

Tim,

If you want to email them to me I'm happy to host them on my site.

Cheers

Dave

dave@davecheney.com

If you like MF lenses then go with the F4, as I have. An absolutly wonderful camera, the best of all the MF and AF worlds, sure the AF is behind the times and craps out in low light, but if you find one that has had the core motor upgraded when it does find the focus it will snap that lens around QUICK SMART.

If you don't have and MF lenses and are woo-ed by the promise of AF and AFS zooms then the F100 might be a better deal for you, at $3500 AUD without a lens I think that its a heck of a lot to pay when you could probably get an F5 used for the same money, and the F5 is an entirly different class of camera.

btw. I poster above said they have settled on an F3 with two primes and a rolleicord, can I ask which two lenses you picked. My current kit is 24/50/105 MF and one of either F4s, F3 or FM2n (depending on which film is loaded) they all work the same, they all have a motor drive and they all fit great in my hand.

Total crap, poor lighting, not very sharp, boring subjects. I'd hate to have to sift through the entrants if this is the best they could find.

Dave<div></div>

Nothing? Not even the registration marks on the film edge? Try longer and harder with your development to pull out the manufacturers marks on the film edge. If you can't get that then I would expect that the film is useless.

Possibly the roll didn't load properly in your camera, etc?

Just some suggestions.

Cheers

Dave

In Melbourne, I had my used F3 repaired for $40, which included the labour and the part. IMHO this is a very useful part of the camera and you will find it a much better camera to use with the AE lock.

Cheers

Dave

Only on a Nikon FA in P mode, anything else you will be shooting at minimum apature, probably f22 or f16.

Cheers

Dave