matt miller cambridge, ia

The term analog when used in photography jargon means traditional or film photography. It really is that simple.

I was faced with the same dilema as you are a few months ago. I purchased the A2 over the Rebel. The main reason I chose the A2 is because of it's fixed lens & anti-shake. One purchase & I'm done. With the Rebel I'd always be temped to buy more lenses, cause there are so many good ones out there. DSLR systems can be giant money pits, especially for the weak willed such as I. The A2 is a fabulous camera that I'm very happy with. It handles like a dream. The EVF is great, even for manual focusing. I hate using a tripod with small cameras. I like to work quickly with them. The anti-shake feature allows me to hand hold for 95% of the stuff that I do. No way could I do that with the Rebel & the kit lens.

I use a Hansa #5 (dark green) filter on a cheap 5x7 Premier safelight. Works great when I use it, which is not often. If you've got the cash, the IR route seems to be the way to go.

Do what Bill says & go for an A2. It's a great camera & you won't get caught up in the lens purchase frenzy that DSLR users suffer from. One purchase & you're done.

How about TMY in Xtol to get to 1600? I've been meaning to try this. Does anyone have an opinion on this combo?

Another good article is located at michaelandpaula.com.

1 Quart = 1.057 Liter, so is basically the same.

 

Yes, you can develop the films together. One of the beauties of Diafine.

I have a 12" Dagor with a serial number starting with 33. I figure it was manufactured somewhere between 1918 & 1927. I don't know by whom or where though. It is old & uncoated, but it is my very favorite lens by far. I use it on 8x10 & have never run out of coverage. Mine is in an Ilex #5. Someday when I decide I need another lens, the Dagor 16.5 or 19 is what I want.

 

Thanks for the chart.

Try lensandrepro.com. They know a lot about funky lenses & typically have a lot in stock.

Try the classifieds at apug.org. Lots of good people there, a safe place to sell.

"If I were do do it all over again I'd get a Nikon or Canon dSLR."

 

Me too.

 

I have the Minolta A2, which IMO is a better camera than the F828 or the 8800, but is still not nearly as good as a DSLR.

I have the A2. It is very easy & intuitive to use. The image quality is pretty good, but requires some post processing to sharpen in my experience. Noise is unacceptable at higher iso's. I try to shoot everything at 64, and begin to notice noise at 200. I love it's EVF. A great digicam, but no substitute for a DSLR.

IMO it would be well worth it. Small contact prints are a joy.

Tonality, grain, simplicity, the process, the look - all things I really enjoy about traditional B&W and can't reproduce with the other methods you mention. People will argue about this, but they're wrong. :-)

How bout a Berlebach? A model 3032 at B&H is around $200 shipped. Rated for something like 26lbs. Wood construction. It's on my wishlist.

I chose the P&S route (Minolta A2) because: A - I didn't want to spend over $1,000 & B - I didn't want to fall into the "I need another lens" routine. DSLR's have better image quality, but in most cases my P&S can give the same results, at least for what I use it for.

It could be more difficult if you inspect by transmission. I inspect by reflectance and in my experience I can see the highlights coming through better when using pyro developers. The pyro also helps to keep the film from fogging. I've never fogged one yet, even with over 5 seconds of inspection; and my light if pretty bright.

A better green safelight will make a world of difference, I guarantee it. DBI is not for everyone. The right film and developer does make it easier. TMY, for instance, is very hard to see. Efke is a dream to DBI. Pyro developers help too. I enjoy DBI & use it for some negs, but prefer tube development.

I think the main problem here is that the Arista light sucks.

Ryan,

 

The Aristo green safelight is much dimmer than other green safelights. I bought it and tried it once. After 10 minutes of darkness, I hit the footswitch to turn it on. I could only see the neg if it was inches away from the light, and even then I could not see it well. Get rid of the Aristo, it's useless. I now have a 5x7 Hansa dark green filter that I use on a Premier 5x7 safelight with a 15w bulb. Plenty bright enough to see the neg from 3-4 feet away and does not fog the film with 5 or so seconds of inspection.

The Minolta will display, in the viewfinder, EV or aperture, depending on which you choose to display. You can sweep the scene and see the values change with the meter to your eye. You do not have to remove it from your eye to see the reading. I use it in EV mode and it works quite well for me. I read the scene's EV range with the meter in one hand and set the values on the <a href="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/articles/ZoneDial.pdf" >Zone Dial</a> in the other. Fast & simple. It does have lots of functions that I do not use though. The Minolta will do more.

I'll second the praise for the Satin Snow GG. It's much brighter than my old GG. I can now see the corners with ease in low light. A true joy to use, and it's CHEAP.

I was just given a Minolta XG-1 and 5 lenses. It was my uncle's

camera and he hasn't used it for a few years. I will ask him this

question, but thought I'd ask here first. I am having trouble

loading film. I put the canister in the left side & pull the leader

across. I thread the leader into one of the slots on the takeup

reel. Now the instruction manual says to put the speed dial on one

of the manual speeds and wind the film on with the advance lever.

The advance lever won't move and I can't figure out how to get it to

move. Even if I shut the camera, it won't move. I try to push the

shutter button down and nothing happens, the lever still won't move.

Is it supposed to move at this point? The film counter says "S",

which I think it's supposed to. Maybe it's broken. Can anyone

help? Thanks.

?I thought the smaller the focal legnth, the smaller area of coverage?

 

I am, by no means, an expert in optics. The way I understand it is that image circle is dependent on degree of coverage and focal length. Focal length alone will not determine the size of the image circle. Some lenses cover 75 degrees, some 90, some 140. The degree of coverage is determined by lens construction. Therefore, a short lens with 140 degrees coverage would have a larger image circle than a slightly longer lens with 90 degrees coverage. With some lens types the degree of coverage increases quite a bit when stopping down. A lens might not cover wide open but will when stopped down. For example, the 355 G Claron specs state something like a 442mm image circle; but I?ve read in a <a href="http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/498823.html" >recent thread</a> that this lens just covers 12x20, which is around 592mm. The only way you?re going to know for sure if a lens is going to cover is to search & ask on forums like this or to try it out yourself.

How about the ones that say "I'll bet that camera takes nice pictures" or when you show photos to someone they say "you must have a really good camera". I sometimes just say "yeah", and I sometimes tell them "it's not the arrow, it's the indian". I need some better material for these types of comments. Any help?