Rick Helmke

No it isn’t a problem common to Nikons of that time. Check your battery contacts and make sure they are clean, no corrosion or battery leakage. Make sure the battery is good even if it’s new. Also, is the aperture ring turned all the way to the auto setting? Usually it needs to be set to one notch past the smallest aperture setting if it’s one of the autofocus lenses. Also can be locked in place. If it isn’t set there and is in an auto exposure mode it will give the Err message. The N90 cameras are pretty good, I have two loaded now. Rick H

I haven’t been posting here but today I took a Nikkormat Ft2 and a 35-135 Nikkor out to photograph a remote country cemetery dating back to the civil war. For some reason these old places fascinate me. Lots of history involved and some tragic stories as well. Anyway an old camera in an old place. Rick H.

I always did the best I could to remove dust or whatever from a negative and occasionally used NoScratch from Edwal. Nearly always though if there a dust spot on the print I would re-clean the negative and print again. It’s quicker than spotting and I was usually coming up on a deadline. Also I wasn’t the one paying for everything. Rick H.

Interesting but my experience is a bit different. Back in the day I processed at least 2 and usually more rolls of35mm b&w every day, usually in D-76 1:1 but sometimes in Acufine or HC-110. 8 ounces of chemistry per roll and developer was single use and throw it out. Fixer lasted quite a bit longer. E-6 was machine processed and I think it was 32 ounces of each chemical for 10 rolls and all of it was single use. Results were uniform every time for all of it. I still do b&w this way in stainless tanks and reels, mostly Ilford chemistry these days and the developer is only used once. I might be able to do more rolls per gallon by re-using it but the cost saving is minimal and I prefer the consistent results. Rick H

If your question is how long can paper be preserved before use it has much to do with how it’s stored. When our lab bought in bulk we would order what we expected to use in a year. When it arrived we froze it until needed and never has a problem. I do the same now but buy and use less. If your question is how long can a finished print be expected to last, it depends on a few things. In b&w, if properly fixed, washed and dried it can last for decades. There’s one framed on my wall right now I printed in 1977. It looks fine. As for color prints it has a lot to do with the materials used. Standard prints from negatives seem to do well but if displayed in a window and exposed to direct sunlight every day, I’ve seen them fade badly. Cibachrome otoh seems to be archival. I have Ciba prints made in the early/mid 90’s that look great. I wish they would bring it back. Rick H.

I used to share them every day but have gotten past being published regularly so for the last couple of years no one has seen any of my work. That’s okay, some of it isn’t worth the effort but the problem now is what to do with work I’m proud to show. I’ve been hearing rumors of something called social media but I don’t know…… Eick H.

This has been an interesting discussion but still hasn’t answered my basic question: what can you do with mirrorless that you can’t do with a good quality dslr? My answer is nothing. Autofocus? I learned how shoot college and pro level sports with an F2 so I had to learn how to focus all by myself. I still can and often do. The D1 and 2 series bodies were so easy to fool that I had to turn it off to get images in sharp focus. You can’t miss a big play or the couple kissing at the wedding because your camera was so busy playing with itself it never actually recorded an image. Maybe it’s the old tired bastard in me talking but if you never learn to do it all in manual mode then when auto whatever fails, and it will, you’re screwed. I’ve got a photo of Charles Barkley playing in his college days. Notably, he still had hair. Good sharp image shot on pushed Tri X with an F2 and a 135/2.8 focused with my right eye and left hand. When anyone here gets good enough to do that without thinking about it first, you’re nearly at pro level. How about a challenge: everyone go shoot an image using a basic light meter and no other automation at all. Manual focus. It must be an action shot, maybe sports or some other motion rich environment. To make it more interesting it all has to be in b&w, no color. As an option, I dare you to use film. Email only one image to me at f2shooter@hotmail.com and send by noon on New Years Eve. I’ll put as many as I can on a new thread without crediting the photographer. Everyone looks through all of it and gives me your five favorite. Notice I didn’t say your five best but favorite. There’s a world of difference. On say Jan 15 I’ll put the photographers name on each image. No fair voting for yourself! Anyone up for it? Rick H.

I’m staying with dslr technology because I see no reason to change. There’s no real tech reason I can find, sure mirrorless is shiny and new but on a day to day basis what can it offer that is worth having that I don’t already have? Electronic viewfinders, so what.? Fewer moving parts? Again so what? A decent dslr can makes thousands of exposures with no problem. For that matter most of my film slr bodies can and have done the same. The mirrorless bodies and all the lenses needed to go with it are stupid expensive and selling off the old stuff is losing a lot more. As far as I can see the manufacturers just needed to make something different so people will run out and buy it because they aren’t replacing current equipment with new every two or three years. Rick H.

I won’t be looking into mirrorless at all since I still just don’t see the need. That said I realized years ago that many lenses have qualities unique to them and I can usually look at four images of the same thing and pick out the one done with a specific lens. The earlier 105/2.5 manual focus lens is one of the best portrait lenses in existence and was also loved by photojournalists for good contrast, razor sharpness and in at least one case I know of, it’s ability to keep working well after being used as a self defense item. I don’t think that photographer ever got around to cleaning off all the blood from that lens and no, I’m not making that up. The 135/2.8 is another good lens but I can pick out the 135/2 because it can have the narrowest depth of field but give good sharpness and tends to render less contrast. The 85-250/4.5 zoom is ancient, huge and heavy but has a look all its own, especially b&w. The point is, decide what you need from a given focal length and get the lens that provides it. You may find, as I have, that you have several lenses that don’t get used as often but offer the perfect look you’re after when that look is exactly what you’re after. Rick H.

You’ve gotten a lot of good information here and sometimes that’s the problem, information overload. You will find yourself thinking too much and not actually doing something. I’ll have to disagree with Rodeo Joe on nearly every point but I usually do. Film is older and different technology but the principles are the same in digital and film. I recommend that you learn to expose manually and leave all the auto functions alone. Find an ISO and stay with it for now. I use 400 ISO on a b&w film like HP-5. Learn how to expose properly in different light situations such as bright sun, bright clouds and in dimmer light such as darker clouds. Learn what changes can be caused by different f/stops and shutter speeds. You won’t learn it all in a single roll of film or a couple of weeks shooting. After a while you’ll simply know that the light meter is a little off in a situation and you’ll know why and you won’t be thinking about it, you just see it. It’s like driving, after a while you don’t think about it, you simply drive. As for darkroom technique such as dodging and burning, it’s something you use your hands to do while digitally you use a mouse or keyboard and something like photoshop to do the same thing. You can spend years learning and creating and never know it all but that helps keep it interesting. Enjoy. Rick H

Batteries are still available for the D1X, I’ve bought a few in the last year or so and they’re a lot cheaper now. When it was my primary body I got about 175 shots per charge. The photojournalist complaint was the cost for spare and replacement batteries on a yearly basis. I still shoot it at times. Rick H.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed has been the variety of interests and personalities found here. I like and use both film and digital formats and have no interest in a place that only tolerates a few interests while ignoring or ruling out others. There’s enough of that nonsense surrounding us now. I’ll keep reading and posting here as I have and if management or ownership has a problem so be it. There’s at least one shooting forum and one RC model forum where those who think they know more than anyone else would have a heart attack if people were allowed to openly disagree. The result is that I go there now and then but don’t comment because it isn’t worth the bother. I hope we don’t see that here. Rick H.

Yeah take the batteries out and have it serviced. Have the entire camera checked out. Won’t be free but an F2 in decent shape is worth maintaining. Rick H.

13k??? Really? How would even three or four photographers shoot that many, much less one? Next question is why? I think the last one I shot, two of us shot a total of about 1300. Edited down to maybe half that and didn’t miss a thing during a 12 hour day. When digital was younger I recall a friend receiving close to 5000 images of her wedding shot by a pro over three days. I think he did that just because he could, not because it was a monster event. Rick H.

If you want to make it look 70’s and 80’s, shoot it the way we did then. Round up an old useable film camera, a Nikon or Canon, Olympus and others. Decent gear can be found all over the place inexpensively. Load it with some color film, Kodacolor, Fuji and so on or some b&w like TMax, HP-5, Kentmere, whatever. Use filters as we did at the time, soft focus or other effects, different color filters for effects on b&w tones/highlights. Find someone with darkroom skills for b&w, getting color lab work is pretty easy. Do a little research on how these things work and burn some film, experiment a bit. As for hair and clothing styles, well, what can I say, it was the 80’s. Don’t involve a computer at all until you are ready to scan a finished product to post online. Above all, have fun with it. Rick H.

It’s my understanding that Nikon USA will not repair a camera or whatever that was intended for something like the UK or German market. Warranty is beside the point, they won’t work on it period. I ran into this issue some time back when our office was putting out bid notices for higher end cameras like the F4s, N90S and the D1 and 2 series camera bodies. Grey market was specifically prohibited and that’s why. We would have to send damaged or broken gear back to Japan for service and didn’t want to deal with that. I can’t say for certain that this is still the case but I stick to US market stuff for that reason. Rick H.

I’ve not run across this particular lens but I do have a manual focus 135/2 Nikkor that I’ve used on anything from a Nikkormat to a D4. It’s a big chunk of lens but solid and I like it. I have a 2.8 as well, smaller and lighter but sometimes the f/2 version is just right. I’d bet the same is true of the Zeiss. Rick H.

Yes but since I haven’t replied yet it remains relevant. 😄Actually I took film and digital to Europe a couple of years ago and had no problems at all with security or inspection. I got lucky the one time it went through the machine even though I requested a manual inspection as it didn’t cause an film problems. It was one of the 100 speed films. Rick H.

Dieter I can’t say for sure how they know but they’ve been at this a long time and told me at least once that a camera I was interested in was grey market. It’s an important thing to know and caused me to get a different one they indicated was US market. There has to be a reasonable way to tell because of the limitations Nikon USA puts on repair and warranty. Rick H.

I shoot film in three formats simply because I want to. Digital has its advantages but can make one sloppy, figuring if they spray and pray they’ll likely get something useful eventually. When film was all we had I carried a bunch of it. I paid attention to how close to the end of the roll I was and could change rolls before the next play in a football game. The nice thing about digital though is that I can download to my laptop, edit as needed and email images back to the newsroom which makes deadlines less stressful. Still, if I want to do serious work I mostly go with medium or large format film in b&w, take my time and open my eyes. In the field or the darkroom it’s a completely different way of working. Rick H.

I’ve got a couple and use them more or less regularly for fun. They were very good in their day. Sounds like you can at least use it in manual mode and good ones are available now for not much money. Rick H.

Grey market means Nikon USA won’t work on it all, not under warranty and not for a price. I believe it’s still true that you’ll have to find an independent repair facility or send it to Japan. My experience with KEH has been uniformly excellent. If they sell you a grey market camera you’ll know it. Rick H.

Check the contacts on the body that connect to the lens. If it’s been sitting a while it may simply be that those contacts are a bit dirty and the communication with the lens is not happening. This can happen even if it’s kept in a clean controlled environment. A little alcohol on a q-tip should do it. Rick H.

Some years back I was photographing my nephews baseball game. Digital was just coming in and I had a film Nikon. I was literally only taking a few shots of my nephew when some overgrown idiot decided to take exception to my activity. He started getting in my face wanting to know what I thought I was doing. I told him why I was there and pointed out who I was photographing. He got more belligerent, loud and insulting and my temper was starting to boil. About the time I was ready to feed him an F4s in one bite a police officer walked up and put a stop to it. I watched the rest of the game and went home. I understand there are some people with questionable motives but I’ll not apologize for taking family photos in public nor for shooting news photos in a breaking news situation when it was literally my job. Rick H.

I have the 180/2.8 and for single person portraits it’s quite good especially outdoors. With a wider aperture the background drops out nicely. It does well with two people also if they are close together. For indoor work the 135/2.8 is good, the 105/2.5 is better and if you want really narrow dof then the 135/2 or the superb 105/1.4. The 85 of whatever aperture is also good but sometimes a bit short for my taste but I have the 2 and a 1.8. I have a lot of portrait lenses for someone who doesn’t do many portraits. Rick H.