mark_l6

<p>Well my black F has an F2 prism on it, looks great and confuses the hell out of most people!</p>

<p>Well that's answered that, thank you George.<br>

Whilst I'm here, what about the autofocus fuji's finders?</p>

<p>I had a GS645S and never got on with the purple viewfinder, to the extent that I replaced the eyepiece with a yellow filter to make it neutral. In the end it drove me nuts and I sold it (also partly because the lens was not as good at the widest stops as I was expecting). Later I had a Bronica RF645 and currently use a Leica M6, both of which have lovely clear, neutral finders.<br>

My question since I'm looking at getting a 6X9 fuji is do the viewfinders on these have a colour cast?</p>

<p>Mike I believe you are dead right, the 127 was for the 4 1/4 x 3/1/4 graphics and the newspaper guys loved them on 4x5 because of the wide angle and the final photo published was probably cropped anyway, so who cared about the corners. I have bought and sold two examples and both were very sharp in the centre and very poor in the corners and somewhat liable to flare. I finally bought a 125mm f/5.6 fujinon with the 52mm filter size and adjusted my crown rangefinder and at last I have happiness. It's the sharpest lens I've ever used even when at maximum rise and it stays attached when I fold the crown.</p>

<p>On reflection I can cannabalise a dented extension rail, taking the end plug off that and fitting it into the open end of another, problem solved at no cost, perfect!</p>

<p>Thank you Thom, I have a few spare short extension rails and had no idea about the rail caps, that will solve my problem.</p>

<p>I have a Sinar P with the standard 12 inch base rail. I have a spare rail that I would like to shorten by about three inches so I can use it specifically with my 65, 75 and 90mm lenses and have the most compact arrangement I can with the bag bellows.<br>

Normally I'm good at this sort of engineering, but I'm baffled by how to take the rail apart so that I can cut the tube and top guide, any help would be appreciated.</p>

<p>tri-x 400 in 35mm and 120, tri-x 320 in 4x5 and FOMA 200 in 8x10 which has so many coating marks that I've got to get some tri-x in 8x10, should never have deviated from my one film obsession, I've used it for 30 years and can really make it sing, and in almost any developer, really forgiving film.</p>

<p>Well I reckon it looks really horny in black, but where do I put the film?<br>

Oh that's right, that's why I lusted after the MP.<br>

Actually on my budget my classic black M6 might have to last another 20 years, by then we'll be up to the M16 and I still won't be able to afford it!</p>

<p>I mainly use a leica M6 and large format sinar, but keep an F90x with a 55mmf/3.5 macro for close up work and an ancient plain prism nikon F with a 15mm f/4.5 voigtlander heliar for ultra wide-angle use.</p>

<p>Just wondered if the Layton 4x5 aluminium camera ever actually reached any of the customers who put down deposits? It looked too heavy and too expensive for me but I was curious to see how a new entry from an american manufacture got on. Don't try the laytoncamera.com website by the way, it looks like it's run by the russian mafia and tried to download a virus onto my computer!</p>

<p>Just be very careful about basing your decision on what we say here! I did heaps of research on this and other forums and ended up buying the latest version of the 35mm summicron for my M6 and absolutely hated it. It was sharp alright but my photos looked digital! Never hated a lens so much. Thankfully as with much leica gear I sold it without making a loss and bought a single coated 35mm f/1.4 nokton, which has massive barrel distortion, flares like buggery, is not really very sharp except in the centre and on my sample back focusses as you stop it down.Yet all my recent favourite photos are taken with that lens to the point that I hardly use any of my other lenses. I mainly use it for environmental portraits and it gives a lovely 3D rendering with a beautiful transition from the subject to the background which blurs almost like a petzval lens. But I sure wouldn't use it for urban landscape or architecture. In fact I may have to get another 35mm for everything else and having had the chance to actually try a few lenses It may well be a Summaron, specifically to get a more neutral look.<br>

This has probably caused you more confusion than anything, but everyone uses lenses for different subjects and to achieve a different look. Good luck, the 35mm could be your most important lens, so take your time to get it right.</p>

<p>I think this may be my last post but I just wanted to point out that a quick search on google images showed about 25% (this is totally unscientific!) of the images of sinar p's without the dof scale and I notice that on Glennview's site he has two different prices for all size p's according to whether they have a dof scale or not.<br>

I am coming to the conclusion that possibly the early cameras did not have this feature. Since this is starting to bug me and no-one at Sinar Australia seems to be old enough to know I am going to ask Sinar in switzerland and will post any response. Thanks everyone for your help.</p>

 

<p>Just to add fuel to this fire, I've found a 1972 copy of time-life 'The Studio', which shows the Sinar P with the knobs the same as Peter, Brian's and my camera. Maybe my seller wasn't talking bulldust after all.</p>

<p>Starvey, you're a genius! Brilliant lateral thinking. If I was up for a slice of fame I might even do just that.<br>

The other responses rather confirm what I was thinking, that when I started this project it was probably in a time of innocence that has gone forever due to the tube bombings and 9/11 which seem to be used as a means of controlling us like never before. I'm not yet put off but am wondering whether to use a wood and brass field camera as my sinar probably looks like some military device to an ignorant cop or rent-a-cop! I'm also wondering whether to approach all the copshops in the areas I wish to photograph in and maybe see if I can get them to check me out and sort of 'pre-approve' me and give me a letter to say this.<br>

As always all your responses are appreciated, thank you.</p>

<p>Back in the early 1980's I spent three months shooting central london including the City of London with my 4x5 linhof taking long exposures between the hours of 10pm and dawn, never once being even approached by the police, in fact the only hassle I ever got was from drunken yuppies.<br>

I may have reason to return to England from my adopted country of Australia for a few weeks, and am contemplating trying to update my project and indeed fill in some gaps, maybe even to complete the project.<br>

My question is this, I take about half an hour to an hour to set up and take each scene, many exposures were in the 5 to 30 minute range, am I going to get hassled by the London police? Will I get a load of grief from private security idiots? I hear all sorts of worrying stories about london police hassling photographers and I no longer do this for a living and do my large format work for pure fun and if I think I'm going to get hassled or even arrested for setting up my sinar on a tripod quite frankly I may forget the whole thing and have a go at covering the same thing in Paris or Barcelona where any hassle with police has easily been diffused by doing my dumb Aussie tourist impression (not really that hard for me).<br>

I'm 6ft 3in and solid so I never have concerns about personal safety, but find police harrassment really unpleasant and if it's going to happen night after night, then forget it , I will just cross england off my personal list of civilised countries to photograph in. <br>

All contributions gratefully received, particularly from anyone who's tried large format work late at night in london.<br>

Below should be an example of my idea of fun with a camera.</p><div></div>

<p>Thank you Peter, that is exactly the same as mine. Incidently, when I bought the camera the seller told me it was a very early example and that was how it came, but I always thought that was bulldust to help sell it to me!</p>

<p>I should make it clear that it is not the scale that is missing off the barrel, but the knob does not project so far, and exactly matches the front standard focussing knob.<br>

So Ellis, is that confirmation that ALL Sinar P's left the factory with the longer knob with the focussing scale?</p>

<p>My Sinar P has exactly the same rear focussing knob as the front one, without any focus/depth of focus scale. The rest of the rear standard is the same as every other one I've seen. I cannot find any mention of this anywhere. Was this a feature missing off the early P's or has mine been bastardised? I'ved used it for five years like this and you don't miss what you've never had, but I've always wondered if the camera was as it left the factory or not.<br>

thanks, Mark</p>

<p>Thank you Francisco, that's very interesting, so either I was very unlucky or I need to get another opinion as to the viability of getting this printer fixed.</p>

<p>My epson 3800 recently died. Died in the sense that my nearest epson repair agent said it's beyond economic repair. It had produced 3650 prints, mainly a mix of A4 and A3+ prints with very few A2.<br>

I would be fascinated to know how many prints other peoples 3800's have managed? It's easy enough to check under printer status on the control panel. In case you were wondering Epson Australia refused to answer the same question so I have no feeling whether this was a normal lifespan or not, and I have no complaint, I made a lot of money off the printer which was used in my Kodak shop for the larger prints and quality monochrome output.<br>

I should also state it was only ever used with epson paper and inks.</p>

<p>Geoff, thank you for that, but can you tell me if that is usable on my 6006? That may solve my problem, even if it hurts my wallet.</p>

<p>Just to clarify things the reason it causes me such grief is so many of my photos are just short of infinity, which the latch makes somewhat awkward.<br>

Kevin, it,s huge fun to use, very heavy, but I like the reflex viewing (having tried an SWC first and hating the finder). My only problem with it is that the corners seem somewhat soft until it's at f/16, so for most of my work I can only use the two smallest stops. I come from the large format direction so that's no disaster but I was rather hoping to have more flexibility than that. I guess that's why Hasselblad made the SWC!<br>

Thanks for your responses. ( tried to upload a photo of the offending article but am completely baffled by the system, so much yet to learn)</p><div></div>

<p>Hello, this is my first post so I hope you can help me. I recently bought a 40mm distagon HFT for my rolleiflex 6006 and it has a little chrome button that acts as an infinity lock.<br>

Whilst I can see the uses of such a thing it actually drives me nuts. I have never seen one of these locks on any other 40mm lens, whether for hasselblad or rollei, so my question is really was this a factory fitting and can it be disabled?</p>