robert_bowring

I am still riding my 1966 BSA Lightning I purchased in 1968. It is probably now worth about 5 times what I paid for it then. I am still using my Nikon and Nikkormat cameras I bought in the early 1970's. They are probably still worth as much as I paid for them. If you keep stuff long enough it becomes "vintage" and becomes fashionable again.

Frozen custard!!!! Apparently you have never been to Wisconsin. It is so much better than boring old ice cream.

For all of my older cameras I use the battery adapter from CRIS Camera. It uses a standard silver battery and reduces the voltage. They are not cheap but you only have to buy it once. I never have had very good success with Wein cells or hearing aid batteries. They do not last long and the voltage drops as soon as you start using them resulting in inaccurate readings. They work very well in my Nikons and Nikkormats.

I just bolted my DII to the countertop. Of course you will then have to make sure that the countertop is level. Not that hard to do but a second set of hands to help is nice because it is somewhat heavy.

I have the same problem sometimes with Oriental Fb Vc double weight paper. I have never been able to figure out why some prints end up with curly edges. I also flatten prints with a dry mount press and most come out ok but some come out with curly edges. I have had some success with rewashing the curly ones and then drying and flattening them again but that does not always work. It seems that some prints are going to be permanently curly. I have also printed with generous borders and then trimmed off the curly edges.

I was just in China and for street photography I really liked the older neighborhoods and markets. Apparently theses neighborhoods are disappearing in favor of new development and there are not many left.

I just returned from a 2 week trip to China and had no problems with US or Chinese customs. I did not know about registering my equipment with customs but it sounds like a pretty good idea to do it just in case any problems arise. I was using film cameras and had no problems having my film hand inspected instead of x-rayed. In some instances I was required to remove the equipment from my camera bag and other times they just left it in the bag. I did carry a list of all of my equipment and the serial numbers of everything but never had to use it. I visited Shanghai, Zi'an and Beijing. The subways in each city have x-ray inspections at each stop. Sometimes they would want me to x-ray my stuff but I found that if I opened my bag and showed them my cameras they would just wave me wave me through. Sometimes they did not even stop me. If they insisted on x-raying my stuff, I had all of my film in a clear plastic bag and they would hand inspect it. The only real problem I had was that I underestimated how much film I would need to take with me. It is not easy to find film in China. I did find a great camera shopping mall in Shanghai. It is 2 six story buildings of nothing but photography shops of new and used equipment. I can't remember the name but it is located on Luban Road and is a short walk from the subway station. If you ever get to Shanghai you should really check it out.

[ATTACH=full]1220124[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1220124[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1220124[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1220124[/ATTACH]

I am not quite sure what you are looking for. I think you are referring to the "Zone VI Washing Machine" not to the "Zone VI Archival Print Washer". Zone VI made several different types of washers. Here is a copy from their catalog. Hope it helps you. I have a Zone VI Archival Print Washer and it works very well.

I bought a mint F3 HP with a 50mm 1.4 and a MD 4 at an auction for $45.00. It is a really nice camera but the motor drive just added weight and screwed up the handling for me. I would think that if you were a news or sports photographer the motor dive would come in handy but it does nothing for me but it does look pretty cool. I always thought that the film companies must have loved motor dives. You can really burn some film very fast. If anyone is looking for a mint MD 4 let me know. I will even throw in the 8 AA batteries.

Sanford, you are correct. I hope someone discovers my negatives and prints after I am gone. If they manage to make some money then more power to them. I won't be here so they have my permission to do whatever they want. I saw her pictures before I heard about her story and controversy and I liked the pictures that were published. She lived, she photographed and she died. She did not leave any instructions about what to do with her work. I am just glad that someone made the effort to make her work known.

I am leaving for China on Friday. Am traveling light so taking my Nikon F2 for Tri-X film and Nikkormat EL for color film. Only taking 3 lenses: 50mm, 35mm and 28mm.

If you want to stick to manual focus lenses get a good F2 or F3. Either will work fine. I am 68 years old and wear glasses and do not have any problems focusing.

I am sort of rough on equipment so I always keep uv filters on my lenses for protection. I have found that the Hoya filters are very good.

Oops! Sorry. Next time I will read the rules.

Supriyo parallel lines converging

Sanford picture

Thanks. I have been around for a some time but have never heard of it.

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is a "metal print"?

Look at photographs. Go to museums and galleries and libraries. When you see a photograph you really like try to figure out why you like it. The book that got me started was "The Americans" by Robert Frank. Saw it in my high school library 50 years ago. I have been learning ever since.

I do the same thing as Sandy. I screwed a couple of suspended ceiling panels to the wall and covered them with burlap. I use push pins to hang the prints. When my wife gets sick of looking at the same prints or I make some new prints I just take the old ones down and put new ones up. It also helps to look at the prints to see if they can be improved some way.

To paraphrase Mel Brooks: " it's good to be the queen".