ken_burns1

You have probably recently installed the new MS image viewing software (I don't recall the exact name of it.) Get rid of it and your problem will go away. Then complain to Microsoft, they need to be doing much better than that.

PPI. That begins with P, and that rhymes with T, and that stands for TROUBLE!

Thanks very much for the responses. Yes, I am well aware that scratches on the front element don't necessarily make any difference. I have an old Korean War era Optar 135 that saw a lot of frontline activity. It got wiped clean with a shirt tail quiet a few times, and definitely shows the wear and tear. But it still produces fine images as long as I keep direct light from hitting it (which you would do anyway). On top of all that, it survived a few dunkings in water, including a flooded basement that left the inside of the shutter filled with silt and mud. With a good cleaning it still works fine.

Kelly, thanks for the quick response. If I may, I have a couple further questions for you or anyone else.

 

In your first response, you stated: "The 12 and 6 o'clock regions are not used in the front elemen..." I thought that, since light rays reflecting from all points in the scene strike all points on the front element of the lens, even a point in the scene that falls on the extended optical axis of the lens would still use the 12 and 6 o'clock regions of the front element. My sometimes illogical thinking says that even though the recording medium might be rectangular, the entire available diameter of the lens would be used by all points in the scene no matter where they are located. Is this true?

 

You also discussed ray tracing. That is something I know only a little bit about, maybe just enough to get even more confused. Would viewing reflections of a light source or sources on the air-glass interfaces of the elements of a lens be a reasonable layman's approach to visually observing the light paths, or am I somewhere out in left field (not that there is anything wrong with left field!)?

In a discussion among a group of photographers, a debate arose about

whether or not a scratch on the front element of a lens could be

removed from the light paths that form the image by stopping down

the lens. In other words, does the diameter of the area used of the

front element become smaller and smaller as the lens is stopped

down? Or is the entire area used at all f/stops? Or does this vary

depending upon the optical configuration of the lens?

 

I have Googled this question and found quite a bit of info about

light pathways through multi-element lenses. However, I found very

little info about the effect of varying the aperture, other than of

course controlling the diameter of the circles of confusion, which

is not an issue in this debate. From my past experiences on this

forum, I am sure there is someone with adequate knowledge of optics

who can shed some sharply focused light on this issue. Are there

any websites that might have some graphic illustrations related to

this issue? My friends and I understand pictures much better than

complex formulae.

As already mentioned, for unmounted prints, tubes are probably best. I've tried tubes from office supply stores, but have found that they usually can't take the really rough handling of some of the transporters. I read somewhere on the net a suggestion by someone who has had the same kind of problem to use PVC drain piping instead. Its a bit more expensive, but in the long run might turn out to be cheaper since it should be able to handle just about everything the transporters can dish out.

My guess is that you have somehow accidentally clicked the toggle on. This the second column from the left next to the check marks. If you have saved this action, you can probably delete it and reload and that will probably take care of it. If you didn't save the action (or if reloading it doesn't help), you'll have to go through the steps and toggle off the steps you don't want to stop on. You can do a mass toggle on or off by clicking the toggle box next to the action name in the list.

This is a common problem with built in slave sensors if you are operating the flash heads at very low power settings. The slave sensor in the fill flash head attached to the soft box is directed away from the light sources that are supposed to fire it as well as being obscured behind the soft box. A sure cure for the problem is to use a Wein peanut attached to that flash head via a sync cord. I always use a clothes pin to position the peanut onto a front edge of the soft box where it will be struck directly by light from the other flash heads.

 

By the way, the old standard in photography is to position the fill as close to the camera as possible and place the key at about a 45 degree angle from the lens axis.

Yes, this is a rather well-known issue amongst us Nikon people. Every time you update your Nikon software, you'll have to go back into the PS program files and correct the issue again. Maybe complaints to Adobe and Nikon might help, but I sort of doubt that Nikon cares.

Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Plug-Ins\Adobe Photoshop Only\File Formats and delete or rename the 2 Nikon files.

 

If you want to bypass Adobe Camera Raw, hold down the Shift key when you click on the NEF file.

They didn't want to go digital, so they went down the tubes.

Using your warm, moist breath, breath heavily on the lens until it is damp with moisture. Wipe it off with a soft, clean cotton cloth or tissue. In a pinch, your shirt tail will do.

I've blown dust off the underside of the focussing screen with canned air for decades and have never, ever had a problem. Some people are just too paranoid. If the dust is actually inside the viewfinder, forget about it because it will cause no problems at all.

 

"the inside of the viewfinder - the thing above the mirror where the focus points are printed." That is incorrect. Your camera is a film camera, and the image (focus points as you seem to be calling it) is recorded on the film behind the shutter mechanism, not in the viewfinder.

Camera anti-twist plate for Stroboframe flash brackets.

There is nothing new about this back-focus problem today, and it is not unique to digital cameras. I had to have my old Nikon FM's focussing system calibrated so I could use my 300 and 500 lenses back in the early 80s. I had to do the same thing later with an FA.

"Remember, I also photograph divorces!"

"putting the car in gear"

 

Not only that, but my car has a manual transmission, which means I have to keep shifting gears all the way to the lab and all the way back.

Between my wife and me, we've photographed the local theatre for about 2 decades. Of course, we shot only film at first, but have now totally switched to digital. IMO, digital is the only way to do it today.

 

The standard procedure here is to shoot tech/dress rehearsal on the Sunday evening before the Friday opening. I usually shoot 275 to 300 images. On Monday morning I select 50 of the best ones, edit them, and upload them to my website before 11:00AM. The theatre director goes to my website any time after 11:00 and downloads a few images for sending to the local newspapers before their 1:00PM deadline. If I care to, I can upload additional images to the website at any time. I post an announcement in the Green Room that the images are available for viewing on the web along with prices and ordering info before the Monday evening rehearsal. Then, sometime before opening night, I print out 10 to 12 8x10 inkjet prints for display in the lobby through the entire production.

 

Digital has streamlined it so much that making these deadlines is no problem at all. Taking the film to the lab, getting it processed and printed, burned to CD, and returning to the studio just takes too long.

How many times will we respond to the same question?

 

1,763,492

Thanks for the help! Those places are sort of pricey, so I might follow Don's suggestion and get one from B&H and shorten it myself.

Years ago there was a guy who modified SC-17s (extremely long,

extremely short, Ys, inline plug joints, etc). Does anyone know if

this guy is still around or if there is someone somewhere who sells

or modifies SC-17s. I would like to get one of the short ones to

use on my Stroboframe.

That is normal. You do have to advance the film which cocks the shutter and drops the mirror.

As far as the wide angle adapters go, one is provided with a lot of flashes, even the zoom flashes. These usually just snap on the front of the flash to widen the coverage. Sometimes, they are built in and you pull them out of their slot and, being spring loaded, they pop into place in front of the flash's fresnel. The wide angle adapter for my Metz snaps on over the fresnel while the one on my Sigma flash is built in. There are also a number of add on reflectors and diffusers that accomplish this function in addition to modifying the lighting characteristics.

 

As far as whether the tilting would have solved the problem or not, I don't know. Tilting forward (which points the flash down slightly) might take care of the problem on the bottom but introduce it at the top. You need to do some test shots to find out what works and what the limits are for wide angle coverage.

Does the Pro-RL have the ability to tilt the flash forward for close-in work? My RL-2000 has 3 different positions for tilting the flash to compensate for the high-mounted flash up close.

 

To maximize output, some flashes are designed to cover a rectangular area while others cover a more square area? This can sometimes create this exact problem when a vertical format photo is made. Just take a photo of a blank wall with a very wide lens using the flash and you should be a able to get an idea. The coverage of my Metz 45 is surprisingly rectangular. Using a wide-angle adapter on the flash might be necessary.

Leonard, I still think that these streaks are the result of a development problem. These Beseler drums are notorious for streaking problems caused by contamination if the drums aren't washed thouroughly between uses. Do you remove both ends of the drum when cleaning up after a film run? Do you use a seperator rib in the slot that runs the length of the drum on the inside opposite the filler trough? If so, do you remove it when cleaning up? That's all I can think of right now.