jhnyguitar

<p>I'm at a turning point and I'm having a hard time making a decision. Do I keep my Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with assorted lenses or sell the kit? I shoot exclusively digital now and I have used this system with digital backs for a few years. I love the lenses. I hate the bulkiness of the system. I also hate the crop factor. If I get an architecture shoot, I have to rent equipment, which is a real drag. for in studio portraits and product work, the camera is fine. Can anyone tell me a good reason I should keep the system? Is there a 6x7 sensor looming in the future?<br>

Thanks!</p>

I recently mounted my in barrel Apo-Ronar for use with my 4x5 camera. I got the lens

because it stopped down to f/260 and I was interested in playing around with the

resulting amount of depth of field. I was surprised, however, to find out that the image

produced at that aperature was completely soft and fuzzy. Does anyone know whether

this is just the particular lens I have or whether this is the case with all of these? any

suggestions for other lenses that can be stopped down to a pinhole would also be

welcomed. My goal is to achieve infinite depth of field in macro work.

Thanks

one more thing, as for a "darker tanned look" that you mentioned in your last post, i think that's your deveolpment. you really shouldn't find that your subject looks like she has a tan when she doesn't. she should look satiny, or velvety, if those are words. she should look like her skin has volume and substance. try the neofin blue with this film.

scott,

i've been using efke r25 with my pentax 67 for over a year and i love it. i tested the film i purchased and shoot it at iso 16. this is great for me since i shoot primarily in the studio with strobes. i can hand hold or use my camera on a support and have enormous flexibility with dof. as you mentioned, i agree with you that the skin tones produced with efke film are special. however, i don't agree with you that the film is soft. i believe that is your camera. if you were hand holding your 67 with indirect or diffused daylight, i believe that's why your film came out soft, or blurred. are you locking up your mirror? even if you were, that shutter speed, given the size of the shutter, will cause some distortion at 1/15 of a second. try the film in bright light and see what you think. i don't have any problems with contrast when i use this film/developer. however, as i stated, i did test it first. don't give up on it. it is an amazing film that produces a stunning dynamic range, which is really why it produces luminous prints.

ps: as for darker skin tones, the film is less sensitive to red light than other b&w films. this is why you get an old fashion "feeling" to the prints. personally, i like this. the attached pic is shot with my pentax 67 and the 120mm soft focus lens at f/5.6 1/2, or f/6.8. the highlight area is intentionally hot to help out the skin that close. i think you can see, though, that if i had closed down 1/2 stop in the printing, in order to bring the highlights to zone 7.5-8, the i'd still have plenty of detail in the shadow areas. cheers.<div></div>

hi,

i recently came across a wista m450 monorail studio camera for sale.

i can't find any information about this camera anywhere except on

wista's own site and that information is nothing more than a picture.

does anyone own or have any thoughts about one of these cameras? it

seems really nice. no info anywhere makes me think they're stinkers,

they had very poor marketing, or very limited production.

i own an ilford icp-42 ilfochrome processor and i'd like to find a

used ilford iwd-42 wash/dry unit to go with it. can anyone suggest a

retailer who might deal in such used equipment? i tried rkequipment

and they don't handle these units.

okay, here's the response, in my words, from mirko at photoimpex: efke 25 comes on a clear base. thus the antihalo coating must be stronger. (the film does have an amazing amount of dye on it which i noticed during prewetting.) the film does have a slight pink cast, which mirko says is no problem. bleaching during reversal prossessing is the only way to get rid of this pink cast. interesting. i really like the film, by the way.

i tried refixing a small piece of the film in freshly mixed fixer. by

the way, i'm using ilford rapid fixer 1:4. anyway, there was no

change to the color of the base. i tested my fixer to see if it was

still good and it's fine. don't know what to think. i guess i could

try a different fixe

i just shot and processed some efke 25. i shot the film outdoors at

iso 25 and processed in ilfosol (all i had) 1:9 for six minutes. the

results were less than ideal. i liked the resolution of this film.

however, i over exposed it. the next time i use it i'll shoot it at

iso 50 and use plain d76 1:1, photoimpex's recommendation.

i have a question regarding this film's base for others who have used

efke 25: is it normal for the base to be very pink? i got a very pink

film base that concerns me given the effect this color could have on

vc papers. is this usual for this film or should i suspect a problem

with my fixer?

i recently purchased this lens used and have been trying to obtain an

owner's manual from pentax. according to them, they are completely

out of manuals for this lens. seems unbelievable, but i was contacted

by the voice of pentax herself with this answer to my inquiry so i

know this must be true. anyway, can anyone who has this lens and

accompanying manual give me some pointers on using it? i have the

90mm ls lens and know the differences between them and that the 165 ls

lens was made exclusively for strobe work, hence why i bought the

lens. i tried it the other day using the lens shutter @ 1/60 and the

body @ 1/30, thinking the slower shutter would give the lens shutter

time to fire. the resulting frame was blank. i noticed, though, that

there seemed to be a delay in the firing of the lens shutter, which

leads me to believe i must use a much slower shutter speed on the body

than on the lens. i guess my question is, what shutter speed does

pentax recommend using with the camera body when using the shutter in

this lens? if it were 1 sec., i could see how this would eliminate

any vibration caused by the shutter/mirror given the delay in the

firing of the lens shutter. any vibration would have ceased by the

time the lens shutter fires. however, i don't know whether 1 sec.

would be enough time. on my 90mm ls lens, i usually use it in special

mode and set the body shutter in between x and 1/1000. as you all

probably know, this point on the shutter dial keeps the shutter open

until the shutter dial is moved off of this point. i can't believe

this would be the same for the 165mm ls, given its design for

exclusive work with strobes. any suggestions/recommendations would be

helpful. thanks.