Jump to content

tom_bloomer1

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    95

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by tom_bloomer1

    Which one is the best 50 mm AI (or AIS)?

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>The 50mm F1.8 Ai and Ai-s long nose and the 50mm F18. AF-D are all the same optics. They have the least distortion of all the 50mm lenses made by nikon including the latest G lenses. Soft wide open at 1.8. Between F4 and 5.6 you have the highest resolution across the frame and a neutral bokeh. The 50mm F1.8 AF-D has the highest score of all the nikon lenses MTF tested on photodo.com and is in the top 10 of all the 50mm lenses tested on photodo.<br>

    https://www.magezinepublishing.com/equipment/images/equipment/AF-50mm-f18D-19/large/NIAF5018.gif </p>

     

    Hasselblad 503CW and Stock Tripod Head

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Did a lot of homework. Bought and returned several products - especially ball heads.<br>

    I've been delighted with my Induro AT213 tripod.<br>

    I got the short center column and added a Vangard ABH340K ball head.<br>

    Replaced the Vangard QR clamp with a Desmond DBA-1 60mm Quick Release Clamp.<br>

    I don't think you can beat this >$300 combination without spending 5 times as much on brand name stuff. <br /><br>

    </p>

    Hello from St.Augustine, Florida

    in New User Introductions

    Posted

    <p>Oh but many of the fundamental "constraints" of diagnostic imaging (radiographs) apply to photographs. Exposure, dynamic range, processing chemistry (for film of course), geometry and perspective . . . and above all painstaking care in composition. There's a lot of technical stuff you already know that will provide you with a big advantage in the learning curve. After all, photography can be a very technical art. </p>

    <p>I lived in St. Augustine very briefly in 1993. It is on my bucket list of places to return with a camera.</p>

    Reliability Image Quality of Bronica SQ Series?

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>I've always shot medium format on a tripod with a hand held meter. But then, that's what I started out with and it wasn't until later that I had to learn to-live-with automation interfering with my control over exposure.<br /> That said, there are currently ONLY TWO GS-1 rotary finders on KEH ~$300, and eBay currently has only two (way over priced), and one that sold last week for $157.50. I do admit that I had to scour the market for these examples - for several minutes at least.<br>

    Fortunately the laws of the universe have not prevented me from shooting rectangular and cropping square.</p>

    Reliability Image Quality of Bronica SQ Series?

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>C Watson said, "Not so sure about the GS-1 being a better deal on any count."<br>

    <br>

    <strong>I am sure</strong> because I have checked on eBay and the KEH camera and kept an eye on the used Bronica market (GS-1 and SQ-Ai systems) ever since I sold my SQ-A system in 2002.</p>

    <p>Indeed there is not as much of the used Bronica equipment out there compared to other systems, but I don't see how ubiquity makes anything a better choice.</p>

    <p>Currently KEH has the GS-1 body EX+ for $159 vs. SQ-Ai body EX+ for $254. Film backs, lenses, finders come and go every few weeks. <br>

    <br>

    Last year the GS-1 prices seemed to fall quite a bit, but they have always been lower on a used component basis than the SQ-Ai system ever since the line was discontinued. If someone wants to build a GS-1 System, there is enough product out there in EX condition or better at ridiculously low prices that in a few months you can have everything you want. I know this because I did it.</p>

    <p>I have the GS-1, WL finder, Prism Finder G, two 120 film backs, 65mm f4.0, 110 f4.0 Macro, 150mm F4.0, and a Maxwell focusing screen. Acquired all of it in LN- to EX+ condition in less than 2 months and have invested less than $1200.</p>

    <p>Before I decided to get into a used Bronica system again, I called Jimmy Koh of Koh's Camera to find out how well stocked he is on spare parts. Jimmy assured me that for the foreseeable future he is well stocked on replacement parts like light seals for film backs and other such stuff that's required to service the GS-1, SQAi, and ETRs systems. I also called the repair department at KEH camera - they also assured me they have plenty of parts availability.</p>

    120 print film

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Ian, that was done in Photoshop Elements 5, but it did not handle the 64 bit scans very well due to that programs inability to use more than 2GB of memory.</p>

    <p>I have since upgraded to Photoshop CS6, Win-7 64bit, 12GB ram, Quad Core Extreme 3ghz, and SSD hard drive and got myself a Color Munki Display.</p>

    <p>I tried the latest Photoshop Elements 11 and also the latest Paint Shop Pro X5 (I have an older version Paint Shop Pro X). Despite Corel making claims of 64bit windows compatibility, the program does not USE the 9GB of free memory that is available in my system.</p>

    <p>Photoshop CS6 has superior 64bit memory performance to CS5 (I tried both). My raw scans of 6x7cm @4800PPI in 16bit color are about 790MB. To edit those files takes a lot of memory and I don't want my system swapping to disk and bogging down performance. </p>

     

    120 E-6 Processing

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>I was not happy with my last order from Dwaynes. Dirt embedded in the emulsion and scratches on the film. </p>

    <p>Had good results on E6 and C41 from NCPS, though I was not impressed with the quality of the scans. <br>

    I've since switched to scanning my own film and found a local pro lab that is more economical than the big labs and I can talk directly to the lab owner if I call with questions. </p>

    120 print film

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>I've been please with Kodak Ektar 100 when I want a saturated print film. Also, I plead guilty of bumping the saturation of some of my scans in Photoshop. ;-)<br>

    My scanner (Microtek Artixscan M1 Pro) has very good color depth and seems to be able to grab every bit if detail that Ektar can hold. I usually scan at 16 bit for editing, color correction, and then reduce to 8 bit on final output.<br>

    For comparison sake the two images below are the same negative. The top image is how the image was scanned by <a href="http://www.northcoastphoto.com/">NCPS</a> when I sent them the film for processing and scanning.<br>

    The Bottom image is from my Artixscan and then mildly bumping the saturation and color in Photoshop - but not much. The original scan was almost where I wanted it.<br>

    <img src="http://blackburnforge.com/Album/03630009.jpg" alt="" width="1177" height="960" /><br>

    <img src="http://blackburnforge.com/Album/2012Sept40.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1000" /></p>

    A visit from the "Dentist"

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>I thought y'all might find this set interesting. One of the very important health concerns with horses is keeping their teeth in good working order. Usually this job (which involves filing down the hooks and sharp points on a horse's teeth) is done whilst the horse is sedated. But this guy is a bonafide horse whisperer. Somehow he is able to convince my herd that it is OK for him to put a speculum and tools in their mouth and let him do his job without an argument. Folks, don't try this at home, this man is a trained professional.<br>

    .<br>

    <strong><a href="http://farriersforum.com/useralbums/a-visit-from-the-dentist.22/view">http://farriersforum.com/useralbums/a-visit-from-the-dentist.22/view </a></strong><br>

    <strong> </strong><br>

    <strong><br /></strong>Shot with a Bronica GS-1, 150mm F4.0 lens, Kodak Portra 400VC film . . .</p>

×
×
  • Create New...