Rick Helmke

Evening everyone, Was there ever such a thing as a wireless remote shutter release for the F4S? I’d like to find something wireless, doesn’t need more than 10 foot range. Thanks. Rick H.

Interesting approach and definitely different for me. I’m still using a Gralab timer that was probably new in the 70’s but it works. Nice to see something like this. Rick H.

Is this all happening using the same lens or have you tried more than one? If you haven’t tried multiple lenses then do so. I have two F4S bodies and neither focuses as quickly or as positively as my D4 or 810 and I wouldn’t expect them to do so. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Ben is right, he is quite knowledgeable about this sort of thing. If I recall the F4 came out in ‘86 and I thought then that AF was more of a gimmick than something useful. For sports and many other fast moving activities I’m still not terribly impressed. Rick H.

He mentioned a D300 in the post I believe. As for the 50, if the bride is set on no portraits then I would guess the 50 won’t be needed. Rick H.

Best of luck, sounds like a relatively easy wedding. You won’t need several items though. Leave the 55-200 in the car. Same with the flash gear, you likely won’t need it. The 50/1.8 won’t get used much but is good for a bridal portrait. Put the battery grip on the D300 and leave it there. I’d use that as your primary camera but that’s just me. Spend your time making photographs and not messing around with equipment. As soon as you get home download all your images in at least two places. You’ll do great. Rick H.

I don’t know the market where you live but in the last year or so I’ve bought a nice D200 from KEH for $65, a D300 from a local photographer for $175. They have lot of things that fit easily into that budget. A couple of Tamron or other zooms as well, memory cards, the whole bit. You can get a bag full, card readers and a useable computer and still have money left over. Rick H.

Worthless in the digital age? That is as dumb, stupid, close minded and idiotic as anything I’ve heard this week and remember, this is coming up on election season so….just turn it over to someone with a sense of history and let them inflict themselves on someone with an early Windows operating system. Excuse me now, my F2 is ready to go. Rick H.

Arthur you’re right, it’s a 100, not a 110, don’t know how I made that mistake. I do want to find a grip and have decided to get a 75 and 150. I may even do a little b&w portraiture with it. I’m putting 120 film in a 220 back but will pick up a 120 back shortly. KEH has everything but the grip in stock and the prices aren’t bad. This should be fun. Rick H.

Evening everyone, I did some horse trading today and brought a Bronica ETR home. When that format came out a coworker at the newspaper bought the ETR and a couple lenses. I was astonished at the sharpness of those lenses and have wanted one ever since. It wasn’t a high priority though and was pricey so I never got around to it. As I have been working more in b&w film I found this one and got it. It came with a 110mm macro lens and a prism finder but no meter. It has a battery and I’m assuming there is an electronic shutter as I don’t see anything else that requires a battery.. I want to get a grip for it but also a good 75 mm lens, something a bit wide angle for street work and a good portrait lens. I’ll stick to Bronica glass as I have no idea what aftermarket may be available and any good. Suggestions for a portrait lens? Thanks. Rick H.

This looks interesting. My interest are going more and more back to b&w film, a darkroom and street photography. I’m reminded specifically here of a book by Linda McCartney called ‘The Sixties’. It is excellent work and I suspect this is similar. I wonder if it’s available somewhere close by. Rick H

For me the 35 is the lens I use the least but when I do, it’s exactly what I need. As for sharpness I’ve never compared the two. They are both quite good. Rick H.

Early in my newspaper days I discovered the 28 one sunny day after using 135 and longer nearly exclusively. It was turning on a light bulb and changed how I worked. Later I got my hands on a 20 and it was even better. My editor hated it and I didn’t like him either so all the better. Get a 28 and keep the 20 and at least one of the 35’s. If you decide to go to the Z mount hold on to the F mount gear until you know you can get the glass you need for less than the price of an airliner. Personally I have yet to see any real reason to switch. You won’t get much for the older stuff anyway so I’d get some extra batteries while you can and use whatever you’re in the mood for on any particular day. Rick H.

I don’t know or care about Q.E.D. I do care about spending good money on good equipment that will last. Pretty much everything made when autofocus became normal is unserviceable now after a few years. It’s one reason I have no interest in mirrorless gear. I can still focus manually quite well so why bother replacing everything after five years give or take? There’s very little I want to do that can’t be done effectively with the glass I have. Then again, at my age, and I’m not that old, I’m not the target market. Nikon, Canon and the rest don’t give a crap what I think. Rick H.

Moderator as the OP on this thread I had a simple question which seems to have morphed into a giant pissing contest. As such it appears to be a waste of space so if possible, please close it. Thanks. Rick H

I’m late getting to this as well but the simplest answer seems to me to just use manual focus and see if you can focus a sharp image by yourself. If you can, that narrows the possible problems. Rick H.

Evening everyone, I’m finally ready to get off my high horse and getting up to date photo software. Like a lot of people the first thing I think of is Photoshop and I’m leaning that way as I’ve used different versions of it for quite some time. I keep seeing the Northrops and Jared Polin going on about Lightroom. My work has shifted from deadline pressure work over to taking time to look around. I’d like to shoot less and make bigger prints. I am still shooting some film and doing darkroom work but that’s usually b&w because color makes so much more sense in digital. The question is, what does Lightroom offer that Photoshop doesn’t? Does it even matter? I’m wanting something that just works without overthinking the work. Of course it takes practice and there’s an inevitable learning curve but I did a lot of that already. I want to be able to post process the way I’ve been shooting for years, it needs to be second nature. Suggestions? Rick H.

I don’t know that I would want it to be just one. There’s a reasonably large body of work, much of it published, and I like to think more than a few are hanging on a wall and seen by kids and grandkids. I think that’s what makes me the most proud. Rick H.

As far as archival quantities I know of no reason to be concerned. I spent some time back in the day processing and trying to print film from Seattle Film Works and yes, it’s leftover cine film and we were never able to get any decent results. There was a reason it was so cheap. Don’t waste your time. Rick H

My first F2. I’d pay good money if I could find that camera. I learned so much, accomplished so much with it. Most of what I know or think I know about photography I learned with that F2. If I were stuck on a deserted island, an F2, a 28mm and 20 rolls of Tri X are the photo gear I’d want with me. Rick H.

Take a look at a book of Linda McCartney’s work titled “The Sixties”, it’s excellent. Rick H

I was in this situation a few years ago. I took an F4s just for fun but by far my most used rig was a D300s and a Tamron 28-75/2.8 with an old 80-200 in case I needed some reach. The Tamron and body of your choice will do probably 90% of everything you want. Rick H.

I’ve found over the years shooting for newspapers and just for myself that the ‘law’ or rules are whatever a given officer says it is at that moment and it varies depending on which officer you are dealing with, what kind of day he or she is having and your attitude. There’s what the laws or rules are, what everyone involved thinks they are and what they want them to be. In short, it’s a crapshoot. Rick H.

I shoot until I’m done or it’s over. When two of us are shooting most of the day we total about 1100 or so, much more than the film days. I don’t want to edit that many and no one wants to look at that many but absolutely EVERYONE gets photographed at least once. Honestly though I enjoyed using an RB67 and taking a little more time and care and I think the setup stuff, portraits and groups, were better. Rick H.

I’m a bit stuck in my ways and while I have a current I Pad I find it not useful for editing. A few years ago while planning an overseas trip I bought a lightweight laptop thinking that if it’s lost, stolen or damaged I’m not out much money. I write images through it directly to a thumb drive or an ssd so no files are lost. It’s cheaper, effective and fits into a smaller camera bag. Rick H.

I have a lot of older work stored on CDs but in the last year or so I’ve gone through most of it and what is still important, to me at least, I copied to a thumb drive and an ssd drive. I’ve started to notice that cd drives are less common on new laptops but I keep some older ones around that have them partly for that reason. One thing I’m not throwing away is negatives. Rick H.