alan_jones12

<p>I think the word speculation not investment comes into play here. The answer to the Ray's original question is 'probably not a lot'. I mean Leicas are not yet rare and possibly won't be in the future. Not in our lifetime or our kids unless it was owned by someone famous or imfamous.<br>

Good advice would be to look for something really rare like the 'Ilford Witness' and Dalmeyer lens with only 500 ever made in the late 1940's and 1950's. It was a camera that was reported to be better than the Leica of it's day, but never caught on due to supply problems and it's high costs. Another rarity worthy of consideration would be the special edition gold plated Olympus OM1(?). In the 30 years from 1980 I have seen just the one advertised and that was a year ago.<br>

Enjoy your cameras while you still can.</p>

<p><strong>Main topic: </strong>A forum is needed for age related issues.<br>

<br /> <strong>Sub-topic: </strong>Mould between the emulsion layers and lens fungus, are they related, preventative measures and cures?<br>

<br /> Last month when I was looking on the forum when I had nothing else to do, I noticed a photograph of US warships in harbour preparing for sea, going back to the 1940's with mould issues and a request for information as to can anything be suggested to restore them. I find this very interesting. In the past, I have suffered the same problem.<br /> Whilst on ebay a while later, I was amazed at the number of lenses described as 'a fungus issue' on only slight fungus that does not show up in a picture.<br>

<br /> I have always tried to keep my cameras and other equipment in good condition and looked after them. Bit whilst on ebay I found it possible to buy silica gel and bought some. I put two large bags of it in my camera bag and it turned green after a couple of weeks. But the other six bags that I put in a cupboard stayed orange. Room humidity was 39% and showed up as dry on my hygrometer, but the inside the cupboard the reading was 31%. With my dehumidifier, I can now get down to 29% I need to control the humidity to prevent germination or reproduction of these micro organisms what should be a target RH% to aim for?</p>

<p>Your trial 1 result looks historically very interesting, yet trial 2 is better still as a photo. I would be interested in seeing how you progress through the collection.<br>

My problem was with 35mm slides that I took as a kid in the mid-1960's with Kodak Ektachrome and processed the films myself. <em>Then it was the E2 processing in the official Kodak kits.</em> Most were perfect shots of last runs of steam locomotives here in England. After about 15 years, fungal growth in the emulsion appeared and ruined them all. Having made enquiries at the time and being told that nothing could be done to restore the slides, I eventually threw them out in the 1990's. I now regret doing so. Do you have any similar problems? The chemistry side of photography I find interesting.</p>

<p>Hello Matt,<br>

I am having difficulty I downloading an example. I need to ask a friend to see me through this process, but he is away at present. If I keep trying, I am going to make a nuisance of myself as I don't have the computer skills to do this.<br>

I still think the problem is shadow. On 19th April I have to photograph this year's event and before this years event I am going to do a trial run on where I position the camera a few days before. This time I am going to attempt a less wide angle setting on the zoom lens.</p>

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<p>Thanks Nadine,<br>

I guess the ISO setting would have been 100, my usual, and a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. I was possibly been thinking of my film days with the OM system OM2N or OM2SP with a T32 flash gun. But there is the possibility I may have just used the auto setting. I am new to digital, but I never had this problem with film. I am hoping I can find out what I have done wrong and how to avoid this problem soon as I have to attend this years event on April 19th. This year I have time to have a trial run the day before or get a roll of film!</p>

<p>Thanks Matt, This is a difficult one. Initially, I thought it was shadow from the flash, but, I figured this would be actually a lot bigger than the subject taking into account distance. It seems to be a three inch dark aura around the person irrespective of distance to a wall.<br>

I can not rely on ambient light as this is a works prize giving ceremony. Inside lighting is florescent tubes (the 50Hz thing) and the (ceiling) roof has to be 25 feet from floor and dark. There are a few skylights but the do not contribute much natural light. Last year I used 100 ISO which I tend to stick to as to for more depth of field. I will take some shots on 200 ISO and view any differences before this year's event. It is a shame I can't do an attachment to show problem.</p>

<p>I am using an Olympus E420 to take photographs of groups of people using the camera built in flash and the widest angle settings on the 14-42mm zoom lens that came with the camera. I chose to do this due to the numbers of people involved and the small size of flash unit thinking it would not be giving out enough light and needed to remain close to the group to compensate.<br>

When I viewed the results on my computer, I was disappointed to find that I had got a dark shadow line around the subject. I am now thinking this may be due to me using too 'wide' a lens setting. To get this dark line to not occur, should I be considering using a setting closer to the 42mm limit and buying a more powerful flash with a guide number of around 36?<br>

Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>I am surprised to read about Kodak giving up on slide films especially as it was recently said that film sales were on the up. I think it may have even been on their own website. After speed reading the article I was both pleased and surprised, but did not note more about the article before moving on to something else. Conflicting reports but I do wonder if the little yellow box if going to disappear any time soon. Ektachrome used to be my film of choice, but now it is Agfa when I can find it, failing that Fuji.</p>