jim_peterson2

<p>I used to always shoot photos with my left eye to the VF. But when shooting my daughter's HS volleyball games I forced myself to switch to right eyed shooting. Volleyball is very challenging because you have to get a good focus lock on the player who is about to hit the ball. The only way you know which player that will be is to watch the entire court with your free eye. It took quite a bit of practice to get used to shooting with both eyes open and watching different things but I finally sort of got the hang of it and my keeper rate when up significantly.<br>

I shoot guns right handed and primarily hunting rifles with a scope so I have no choice but to shoot right eyed as well in that situation.</p>

<p>I have a box of TMY-2 in the fridge but have only used one roll. No complaints though. But as for Portra, I have tried really, really hard to get to like color negative film and have failed miserably every time. My problem is the scanning... I just can't get pleasing, or even satisfactory colors to save my life... and I just hate the look of the colors that I do get. I read all sorts of manuals and web sites; made all sorts of adjustments in vuescan; messed it up so bad I had to get Mr. Hamrick to fix it for me; bottom line, it just hasn't worked. If someone had a preset for Portra I would be absolutely delighted and might feel quite differently.</p>

<p>In a couple weeks I'm going to Pune, India for a few days of meetings. I'm wondering about what film to take. In the interest of weight I'll probably use the Mamiya 6 (I'll also be carrying a DSLR kit). I might just go all Tri-X and leave the color shooting to the digital camera.</p>

<p>I've just been doing final PP on 7 roles of RVP F that I shot during a recent trip to Colorado. I really enjoy all three varieties of Velvia for landscape work and do hope Fuji stays in business! And as long as Kodak keeps making Tri-X I'm a happy camper. </p>

<p>I just sold my <a href="http://chemicalcameras.wordpress.com/mamiya-press-super-23/">Mamiya Press Super 23</a> a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it a lot, but it certainly does take some getting used to. I found that the 100/3.5 lens had rather nice bokeh. It's a wonderful piece of photographic history that will still produce lovely photos, but as the name suggests, it was designed more for hand held work. The various film back options make it quite versatile in its own right in terms of frame sizes.</p>

<p>I recently sold a GS-1 kit to a forum member and he is having problems with it. We are desperately trying to figure out what's going on and whether its going to need repairs. I used it regularly up until a couple months ago with no problems. Here is how he describes the problem.<br>

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When loaded with film, I'm able to fire off one or two frames, then the <br />mirror stays up (naturally!) but the winder is stuck in position and <br />won't cycle. If I remove the film back, the winder and shutter cocking <br />all seem to work fine again for 1-2 frames. Troubleshooting had me try <br />the following without success:<br /><br />1. Same behavior with multiple film backs.<br />2. Replaced battery with a fresh cell.<br />3. Same results with and without the speed grip winder.<br />4. Confirmed correct film loading.<br />5. Tested with different lenses attached.<br />6. Mirror lock up and multiple exposure levers are correctly positioned.<br />7. The film back(s) seem to be turning freely and not binding.<br /><br />The seller had not experienced this so I'm wondering if I'm doing <br />something wrong and not realizing it. Any ideas or have you had this <br />issue before?<br>

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Please! Can anyone share some wisdom here. If it is broken I will have to pay for repairs or return his money to him...</p>

<p>The Texas Leica will be cheaper.<br>

The Mamiya has a light meter.<br>

The Mamiya is an expandable system, the Fuji isn't.<br>

If you only need it for this one project and nothing more, and if you are ok with no light meter, go with the Fuji.<br>

If you want a camera that you will treasure for a long time and around which you will build a system, and if you have the money, go for the Mamiya.</p>

<p>A couple of things to point out. First, about the last point you make; the M and A switch on the lens has nothing to do with manual focusing. This switch determines whether the aperture blades close as you stop down the aperture ring or whether they stay open until you actually release the shutter. You should always leave it on A unless you want to check DOF. That will allow you to compose and focus with the lens wide open and then it will close down when shooting. In M mode your view in the finder will get rather dark if you stop the lens down, making it difficult to focus so that could be part of your problem. If you are shooting with the metered prism finder in aperture priority mode you must have the lens set to A mode or your exposure will be wrong (unless you are shooting everything wide open)<br>

The second point is that if you are shooting that lens wide open, at f/1.9 or there abouts the DOF is extremely shallow, making accurate focusing very difficult. You can check any of the online DOF calculators to figure out exactly how shallow it is.</p>

<p>I suppose the simple answer might be;<br>

Studio = RB<br>

Field = P67<br>

Street = GS-1<br>

But there are countless variables and other options. So like others I would say, give us more info about your photography.</p>

<p>And I forgot to add mention of the 7 focusing screens.</p>

<p>Mamiya 645 will give the option of an f/1.9 lens.<br>

Pentax 67 has an f/2.4 lens.</p>

<p>Beyond that I think f/2.8 is as fast as it gets and most of the Bronica lenses are even slower than that. While a majority of responders seem to thing you should just bite the bullet and learn how to use a rangefinder, the Mamiya rangefinders don't have any lenses faster than f/3.5 so that is another problem.</p>

<p>I think portability will be the area in which you are forced to compromise. The rangefinders are just so hard to beat in that area. If you are leaning toward a Hasselblad with prism finder and grip I would definitely suggest looking at the Pentax 645n. It is a joy to use in terms of ergonomics, it is much more economical than the Hassy and has a great viewfinder. The compromise is no film backs. </p>

<p>Jeff, I'm not sure that it was the least popular. It was the last new camera other than the RF645, and thus had the shortest run. Also, the lenses had Bronica's best coating right from the start so you don't have the double lens lineup like you do with the ETR and SQ series. If I'm not mistaken it was after the release of the GS-1 and the accompanying PG lenses that Bronica came out with the new and improved lens lines for the ETR and SQ bodies. This was an incorporation of the new coatings that were used on the PG series. <br>

Of course there was only one body in the GS-1 series whereas the ETR and SQ lines had several bodies. But looking at the system chart in my GS-1 manual I see a pretty solid set of accessories. There were at least 8 lenses (my manual says the 350mm and 500mm were still in the planning stages so I'm not sure if they were ever released). Caps, hoods and filters (including 4 closeup filters) for all of the lenses; bellows, 2 extension tubes and 2 teleconverters, four viewfinders, left and right handed grips, flash unit, electronic remote shutter release and nine film backs. The 80mm lens is the hardest to find since it was released later and had a short production run.</p>

<p>Looking at the top plate of the camera with the lens pointing away from you the line for setting the shutter speed is at 9 o:clock. The only situation in which I can imagine always getting a shutter speed of 1/125s is if you have the shutter speed set to 125. In that case 125 would be at 9 o:clock on the dial. If you want to shoot in aperture priority mode turn the dial until the red circle is at 9 o:clock. If you want AEL mode put the red rectangle at 9 o:clock.<br>

If you are actually in AE mode or AEL mode and still always getting 125 I think something is broken.</p>

<p>Actually I'm surprised no one said more about the camera you suggested, the Pentax 645N. It has a very large viewfinder that is significantly brighter than the original Pentax 645. And since it is an auto-focus camera, it has a very handy focus indicator. When using manual focus lenses a green led lights up in the viewfinder when the subject is properly focused. Of course it isn't perfect but can be very helpful. The A series lenses are fantastic and you will not be disappointed. In particular I like the 35mm, 75mm and the 150mm. And the best part about this camera for you is that if, at some point, you realize that manual focus simply won't work for you, the manual focus lenses are very easy to sell as they are in high demand, and you can replace them with AF lenses for a little bit more money. So given your situation, I would strongly recommend the Pentax 645N!<br>

I have several of the cameras mentioned above, (ETRs, SQ-A, GS-1, P67, M645 Pro TL etc.) and agree that a waist-level finder with a magnifier is also really helpful for accurate manual focusing. But of course that will require getting used to the backwards world of waist-level finders, which is a piece of cake for some and a bit more daunting for others. </p>

<p>I had the 75mm folder version as well and loved it. But when I got the opportunity to upgrade to the GF670 I did so and haven't looked back. Nevertheless, Fuji rangefinders are fantastic and Fuji has rightly earned a huge amount of respect and appreciation for their commitment to this type of camera!</p>

<p>I'm curious to know how you use the second tripod socket. Especially since you speak so highly of it. I would think that since most tripod heads allow quick and easy 90 degree rotation it really wouldn't help that much. I've never used the second tripod hole unless I was planning to do an entire series of portrait orientation shots.</p>

<p>Eric does great work on Pentax bodies. Check him out at pentaxs.com</p>

<p>Many traditional photographers will chide you for using a DSLR as a light meter in conjunction with a fully manual camera. The "proper" way to do it is to have a hand held light meter. But in truth the DSLR is not a bad way to go. Just remember to have the ISO setting on the DSLR set to the same value as the film you're using. And you might have to fiddle around a bit since the DSLR will allow you to select shutter speeds and aperture values not available on the older camera. Furthermore, you need to use a lens on the DSLR that has a similar FOV as the older camera. Of course, if you are using a TLR you have a bit of a problem because it will include more sky or more foreground than the DSLR, which can and often will have a direct impact on metering. But once you learn to take all of those things into account and run a few rolls to see how it turns out you may find that it's a good way to go.<br>

On the other hand, walking around with a TLR in your hand creates a certain "aura" and frankly, having a DSLR in the other hand will completely destroy the "aura". Whipping out your hand held light meter, on the other hand, will greatly enhance the "aura"! ;)</p>

<p>Ian, you asked about reversed colors and there have already been some responses, but just to clarify, when you scan film the scanning software allows you to choose whether you are scanning a color negative, a color positive (some times called slide film or reversal film) or a black and white negative. Once the software knows this it will adjust the colors accordingly as you scan. Of course you will then probably want to use some image editing software to make further adjustments before printing.<br>

My main scanner is the Epson v700. But currently I am living overseas for 6 months and left my scanner at home. So my Christmas present to myself was the Epson v600. It was less than $200 and does a great job. For scanning software I first used the Epson Scan program which comes with the scanner. Recently I purchased VueScan which is more powerful. For post processing I use lightroom and it allows me to do all sorts of things with the image before printing or displaying on the net.<br>

As for the discussion about longevity of negatives, surely the negatives may degrade over 500 years, but the compatibility issue of digital information is also highly questionable if we are talking about 500 years!<br>

I scanned a lot of my father's negatives after he died and many were more than 50 years old. I was very impressed with the quality of the B&W negatives but the color slides that he shot 30-40 years ago are much more problematic.<br>

Here is a scan of a 50 year old negative taken soon after my birth.<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/revdocjim/image/123287086/original.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Having some space at either end where there is no film and only backing paper insures that the film won't be contaminated by light when loading and unloading. </p>

<p>Having some space at either end where there is no film and only backing paper insures that the film won't be contaminated by light when loading and unloading. </p>

<p>It could be any number of things, but I have one possibly dumb question. Are you absolutely sure it was the first three frames that were blank and not the last three? I only ask because if you didn't go all the way to the start line when loading he film that would mean you shot your first few frames in the space where there is only backing paper and no film. And then when your counter reached 15 it would stop and make you unload the film, probably leaving blank space at the end of the roll.</p>

<p>I'm not sure how the forum software works but I'm inclined to think that all sub-groups under the Medium Format group are just filters. Posts all appear in the medium format group and if you click on the sub-group name in the header it just filters out everything except those posts related to the sub-group name.</p>

<p>Nice information and thoughts. It's too bad though that you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see an index. I would find it more helpful if the index were always available, like in the left column or something. Most blog sites let you have static pages as well, which might be a solution.</p>

<p>I doubt it is the 55mm since I see little sign of distortion along the edges, such as the blue sign. Possible the 75mm. But if you take into consideration how much of the ground along the bottom and underside of the road on top you can see, it definitely gives the impression of a pretty wide angle.</p>