chris_waller

I've never used one but I seem to remember that they reviewed well. The current crop of Meopta Anaret-S lenses have been given rave reviews recently. I've heard a rumour that many top-marque lenses are now made in the Czech Republic.

Try full, low-contrast lighting. Then over-expose by 1/2 stop. You might also try an orange filter - this certainly lightens Mediterranean skin tones. And also try using a diffuser. Have you tried diffusing when you print. Since the dark tones in the subject form the lower values in the neg then the darker tones are diffused more and thus lightened relatively more in printing.

The walls of my darkroom are all painted matt white. And I use two safelights due to slight red-green colour blindness. I've never had a problem with paper fogging and I've tested up to thirty minutes. If your enlarger does leak white light then fix a large sheet of black paper on the wall behind the enlarger.

Kaiser are excellent enlargers and have been reviewed very favourably over the years. Meopta have always been good but in recent years they have received some very good reviews indeed. The Magnifax 4 is used by none other than Barry Thornton, master photographer and author of 'Elements', an excellent guide to achieving the fine print.

I have a Mamiya Press 23 which, although it is no longer working (I need to get the light-seals fixed but can't afford to!) it used to deliver amazing results with a slow film. With Agfa APX 25 the prints were superb. You should still be able to pick up a Mamiay Press Universal for a relatively low price.

I use the normal 180 mm lens on my RB67. It's very sharp. You can diffuse with a filter on-camera or at the printing stage.

Look at the Agfa and Kodak websites. They have tables of film/dev times. But I'll go with Bill and suggest Agfa Rodinal. It's my standard developer and with APX25 delivers needle-sharp negs. It's also the most robust and reliable developer I have ever encountered.

Medium format cameras are bigger and they produce bigger negs or trannies, e.g. 6x4.5 cm, 6x6 cm, 6x7 cm and 6x9 cm. This gives greater resolution of detail, less grain etc.

This sounds like light leakage. I suggest you take it to your nearest camera service place and get the seals replaced. I had a similar problem with a very old Mamiya. The foam rubber strips had perished and the lower corners of the frame were being fogged.

I've never used the Gossen spotmeter. I had a look at one once but the price took my breath away. Gossen have an excellent reputation and I do use the Gossen Vario F meter (incident ambient/flash) which is superb. For Zone System work I use a Minolta Spotmeter F which is more compact and thus far has proved excellent.

In response to one of the above respondents, Pyro (PMK) can be bought as a two-part developer from Creative Monochrome of South Croydon, Surrey, UK.

I unwind the film completely in the darkroom and tear off the backing paper. Then I fold the adhesive tape over the end of the film. This makes it stiffer and easier to feed into the spiral.

 

Paterson do a whole range of tanks, the largest of which will hold, I believe 8 x 120 rolls. But you need good shoulder muscles to agitate the tank!

 

Other than that it's just the same as 135 processing.

Lubitel - Russian made medium format camera costing about $30 (the last time I looked). Cheap and cheerful intro to MF.

I use one for landscape photography. MF photography is just a little heavier and slower - that's the nature of the beast. You can get a kind of rucksack thing which allows you to carry the camera with the tripod slung horizontally across your shoulders. That is much more comfortable. After a while you just won't notice the weight!

Andrew,

 

Try Kodak T Max 100 rated at 50 ASA. Dev in rodinal diluted at 1+49, 20 C for 7 1/2 minutes (note that I'm using a condenser enlarger - if you're using a diffuser head increase dev time by about 15 percent). Print on to Ilford Multigrade IV Satin ( I like this surface texture for portraits - it has just a hint of sheen).

I am a long-time user of Rodinal. I know no other developer so robust and reliable. I use it with T-Max 100 rated at 50 ASA, diluted 1+49, 20 C, 7 1/2 minutes. It delivers remarkably fine grain. It can also be used at higher dilutions to give a more pronounced compensating effect. It also gives unparalleled sharpness.

Yes, I get those on one of my MF cameras. It's due to the shape

of the mask.

I use a Mamiya C330. It's a bit heavy but very robust, Godd optics also,

 

Chris.

John,

 

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I've processed HP5 and Tri-X in Rodinal. HP5 rated at 160 ASa,

Rodinal 1+49/20C/9 minutes. Grain is not too prominent and sharpness

is very good. Tri-X similarly, but grain is much more obvious, though

very 'crystalline'.

 

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Chris

Peter,

 

I use the old Mamiya C3 but you don't need the paramender, just measure the distance between centres of the lenses and then rack your tripod up by that amount. The filter thread on the older series was 40.5 mm.

 

Chris.

John,

 

The rule of thumb is that the focal length of the lens should equal the diagonal of the neg. But personally I enlarge from 6x6 using a 105mm lens!

 

Chris.

I have found Rodinal one of the most robust and reliable developers

available. I have a part-used bottle,dated 1996, which looks like

black coffee but still works!

 

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Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 50 ASA, and devved in Rodinal 1+ 49 (yes, I

know!- but it make the arithmetic easier!) for 7 1/2 mins gives very,

very fine grain and superb sharpness. N.B. - I'm using a condenser

enlarger.