jon_shumpert2

<p>Here is one more with the rise and shift at the other end of movements.</p> <div></div>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I had already tried the release button, but decided to give it a little more force. I finally got it to open by pushing the release a little further than it was designed for. That, along with a flat piece of metal and a little grumbling was the solution. It isn't perfect inside. The outer part of the front and rear elements look great. The inner surface, not so much. The shutter and aperture seem to work well. It is missing the bubble finder near the lens as well as the spirit level. I found that it has lateral shift and rise and fall movements. The bellows don't have any obvious light leaks, but I have not checked it out in depth. I may try to take the lens apart for cleaning. The ground glass is broken, so if I decide to try to make the camera useable, I will replace the glass. If nothing else, I have a nice display camera for a total of $5. Here are more photos of the camera. I set the rise/fall and shift to different positions in the two photos .</p><div></div>

<p>Here is one of the back. Thanks again for any help.</p><div></div>

<p>I bought an old Kodak folding camera today and I am having problems opening the front. I don't see anything other than the Kodak name on the front and on the removable ground glass and folding hood. It came with several sheet film holders which slide in. I pressed the release button to open the lens standard, but it is stuck. I did an image search and found what I think to be an identical camera. It looks like a Kodak Recomar. I will include a picture. Is there a safe way to open a stuck folding camera without damaging it? I would like to get it open to see if it is useable. Thanks for any help. </p><div></div>

<p>Hi Richard. Are you asking about outdoor or indoor portraits? If you are talking about outdoor portraits, then it is important to meter the background. I usually try to photograph people in the same lighting conditions as the background, but this is not always possible. For example, if my subject is in a shaded area and the background is sunlit, I will meter for the background and use flash or a reflector to bring the exposure on he subject close to the background exposure. In the example I used, I could just meter for my subject, but the background being sunlit would cause the background to be blown out. If you are shooting outdoors on a sunny day, using iso 100 for example, the sunlit background could have an exposure of 1/100 @ f16. Your subject in the shade might be a few stops darker, lets use 1/15 @ f16. By setting you camera manually to match the background, your flash in ttl would bring the light level on your subject to around the same light level as the background. As Stephen suggested, many photographers recommend setting the flash exposure to 1-2 stops below the background exposure. With the SB-600 you can adjust the exposure compensation on the flash. I hope this is helpful. Another good place That I found useful to learn flash techniques is http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/</p>

<p>HI, I recently bought a used SB-800 at a swap meet and just noticed a weird problem with it. I have used it on camera as an only flash and as a master in set ups with my 2 other SB-800's. It works great in that way and also as a remote. Yetserday I tried to use it in su-4 mode and it would not work. It would go back to ttl or whichever exposure mode was selected. My other 2 work fine. It isn't a major problem, but I was just curious if anyone else had experienced similar problems. It is in good condition otherwise except for a melted spot on the red ir cover on the front of the lens. The previous owner had left a better beamer attached in sunlight and it melted the edge of the cover as well as the fifth battery holder. I was wondering if any circuitry could have been damaged by the magnified light. Thanks for any suggestions</p>

<p>Here is one that was taken with the 85/1.8 Nikon. I was at ISO 200 for the previous photo and this one. This one was shot at f8 and the previous was at f16. For lighting I used the popup flash on the J1 to trigger an SB-800 set as a remote.</p><div></div>

<p>I have read several post about lens adapters here so I decided to buy one for my wife's J1 so I could use my Nikon slr lenses. I know Nikon makes one for autofocus lenses, but it is currently way out of my price range. I picked up one from rainbow imaging for around $15. I can use any of my lenses with an aperture ring, and set exposure manually. I lose autofocus and auto exposure, but I have don't mind metering and focusing manually. So far I have taken photos with my 50/1.4 ais, my 85/1.8af and my Tamron 90/2.8 macro. I use a hoodman loupe to focus since the J1 has no focus confirmation. I have been having fun playing and my 8 year old son even has an interest in using the camera with the older lenses. I took a couple of photos of my recently acquired Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera with the 85mm and the 90 macro. The macro goes way beyond life size when used with the J1. The Kodak logo in the photo is smaller in diameter than a pencil. I think I will probably use the adapter more with the macro lens, but plan to use all my primes with it sometime soon.</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Joseph, could you post an example? Without seeing the photos, I could make a guess. How far were the subjects from the background? Were they wearing dark clothing? What focal length were you shooting at? The reason I ask is because matrix metering exposes for the overall scene. If you subjects were far from the background, wearing dark clothes and/or their faces were the only light toned part of the picture, these instances could lead to the metering issues.</p>

<p>Here is a photo of the mystery pieces.</p><div></div>

<p>I stopped by a local goodwill store today and found this flash modifier system. It is made by Harbor digital and is called the ultimate lightbox system. It didn't have any instructions, but I figured out how to configure it in different ways. My question is for those who have this or have used it in the past. Do you prefer one configuration for most indoor situations? I will test it this weekend if I have the time. I did find a good use for the black shell that came with it. I tested it as a hairlight and it worked great. It also had a couple of odd looking plastic pieces in the box which do not fit any flashes I have. Maybe someone could tell me what they are. I will include a couple photos of them. Thanks for any advice/tips for using the lightbox.</p><div></div>

<p>I had the same lens many years ago when I had a Minolta. The limit switch only allows the lens to focus within a certain distance range. I don't remember what it was, but I found a review of the lens at <a href="http://kenrockwell.com/minolta/maxxum/100mm-f28.htm">http://kenrockwell.com/minolta/maxxum/100mm-f28.htm</a> He tells the focus ranges that are useable with the limit switch engaged. I no longer use Sony/Minolta cameras, but that was probably the sharpest lens I have ever used.</p>

<p>Hi Lil, I found several meetup groups locally that share interests I have. Go to meetup.com and search for photography groups. I mostly attend monthly meetings and various outings with the photography group, but there are many that have to do with outdoors and nature. I hope this helps. I know that many of us have had times when we were away from photography too long and missed it.</p>

<p>The next camera is one I picked up at a local goodwill yesterday. I currently have a roll of Ektar 100 in it and hope to finish it tomorrow. The camera and lens seem to work perfectly. I guess I will find out in a few days.</p><div></div>

<p>I don't have photos from a classic to share today, but I do have a couple of classics I got this week. The first is an XD-11 I got from a friend. I have a couple of posts about it and the mirror issues I am having with it. I dropped off some film for processing that I shot with it and will wait to see how the photos turn out. Other than the mirror issue and leatherette shrinkage, it seems to look and work fine.</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Les, I have tried it in aperture priority, manual and set at "X". The aperture coupler noticeably moves before the mirror does. The mirror does not move until the aperture coupler completes its movement. I have never seen this occur before. I have compared it to my Nikon F3 and FM2N and also to a Pentax MX and K1000 and with all those cameras, the mirror movement is much faster. There is no noticeable time difference between the lens stopping down and the mirror moving . The shutter seems to be accurate and exposes the film properly, but it sounds like I am shooting about 1/8th of a second. I set my other cameras to 1/8th and the sound is close. Looking through the Minolta with the back open, I can see the shutter is probably close to whatever I set it at manually, so the reason it sounds slow is due to the mirror and aperture coupler time difference.</p>

<p>I posted about my new XD-11 about a week ago and got some responses. I finished a roll of film today and dropped it off at the lab. The meter readings matched my hand held meter that I used for comparing, so I am not concerned about the exposure. I noticed a lag in the shutter operation. I know that with an slr the sequence is the lens stops down and the mirror goes up before the shutter opens. With every other slr I have, the 3 things seem to happen almost simultaneously. With the XD-11 I can physically see the lens stop down to the selected aperture before the mirror moves and the shutter fires. Has anyone else experienced this with the XD-11 or other slr's? It is like the sequence happens in slow motion compared to all my other cameras.</p>

<p>I had the same self timer issue with mine. I gave it a little push to complete its motion and the shutter tripped fine. I just replaced the light seals in it this morning, so now the back doesn't have play in it. I have a roll of Ilford HP5 that I will try to use this weekend. I have tried it at different settings in all three modes and noticed the slight delay Cory mentioned. It doesn't seem like shutter lag, but more like the mirror movement isn't as fast as some cameras I have used. Thanks for the info.</p>

<p>I was at a local photography group meet up and one of the members gave me an XD-11 with 50 and 28mm lenses. I have had Minolta slr's in the past including srt's, x-700 and a couple xg series. I need to replace the light seals, but other than that, it works great. For those who use or have used this camera, was there any one mode that gave you more consistent exposures? I know it has aperture and shutter priority modes as well as manual, but I notice in the instruction manual that in shutter priority it will over ride the shutter setting if necessary. This makes shutter priority mode act like a program mode. Any info or tips about the camera would be appreciated. I plan on replacing the light seals this weekend and hopefully using it next week.</p>

<p>The 24 f2.8ai lens is my widest full frame lens. I have the 12-24 Nikon lens that will work on the Df and I can shoot in dx crop and get approximately an 18-36 field of view, but it crops the sensor. I prefer to shoot with the camera in full frame , but only get an 18-24 zoom. I start getting vignetting if I go wider than 18mm, but at least it is using the whole sensor. I will take that lens along on my next ride. Here is one last image from today.</p><div></div>

<p>One more from almost the same area.</p><div></div>

<p>I took advantage of the nice weather we are having in Charleston and went for a bike ride today. The path goes through a beautiful marsh area, so I decided to take 24mm f2.8 ai lens along for the ride. I took these with my Nikon Df.</p><div></div>

<p>The last one is for fans of the tv show "Home Improvement" with Tim, the tool man, Taylor.</p><div></div>

<p>Door handle of the Ford.</p><div></div>

<p>The next couple photos are close ups of this car.</p><div></div>