fmueller

Beautiful cameras and great photos! I am missing a Minolta SR-2 ;-)

That might be the most interesting part of this thread. Maybe people don't get the joke, because in today's America, it is totally within the realm of possibilities that a ban like this could be enforced. Do Americans no longer understand how far fetched this idea is to people in Switzerland?

There is a common belief in the English speaking world that Germans (and I take the liberty to extend that to all native German speakers), don't have a sense of humor. There is a kernel of truth in that, but it's more like the German sense of humor is a little different than the English, and maybe more importantly, if you want to 'get it', you need to understand German! If you did, it would be blatantly obvious to you from that sign that the whole affair is a brilliant joke! The alleged reason for the ban is that photos of the village posted on social media could make people unhappy who can't be there at that point in time. OK, it's not as funny as anything John Cleese has ever said, but even if you are not German, or Swiss, you can't take that seriously! They announced it on Facebook! Also, the fine is five Swiss Francs, which is ridiculously low. That will barely buy you a muffin anywhere in Switzerland! And all money from the fine goes to hundred percent into environmental protection of the Alps. Plus they said it's unlikely they will actually enforce the law. It's a joke, people! It's a joke - and a marketing trick, and a pretty good one at that!

I am looking for an image that I have seen many years ago here on PN. It was a b&w image of a couple somewhere in the deep south of the USA, standing in front of a ramshackle house in the middle of nowhere with junk and garbage strewn all over the place. The image was an absolute masterpiece. Something reminded me of it the other day, and I would love to have another look at it, but can't find it. I also can't remember for the life of me who was the photographer, but I am sure it was somebody with a large portfolio of quality images back in the day here on PN. Does anybody else remember the image? I was thinking Ian McEachern, but he is from the UK, or Tony Dummet, but he is from Australia. I am thinking it must have been somebody from the US, possibly from the South. The photo might have even been POW at some stage. I have a hard time navigating this site since it got the new look. Many thanks!

<p>Probably in a drunk stupor celebrating Trump's victory!</p>

<p>Wow - Phil Greenspun! I've been a PN member since the time when you used to visit on a more regular basis. Would love to meet you and other PN members for a coffee, but like most others have to bow out on this occasion due to the excessive traveling distance. If you ever feel like meeting in Auckland, NZ, I'd be game!</p>

<blockquote> <p>A colleague of mine was one of the first social scientists to get into East Germany after the Anßluss with the Bundesrepublik.</p> </blockquote> <p>Totally OT post.</p> <p>1. It is Anschluss or Anschluß. The sharp <em>s</em> is used where you might expect a <em>ss</em>, but never instead of sch. Since the German orthography reform of 1996, it is used only after long vowels and diphthongs while <em>ss</em> is written after short vowels. The current correct spelling is Anschluss while Anschluß is antiquated. You also need to take care never to use the symbol for the Greek letter beta for the sharp s. The symbols are similar but different. <br> <br> 2. I have never seen this term used when talking about East and West Germany. In that case people usually talk about Wiedervereinigung (reunification). That's a long word, but if you use Anschluss instead, any German would take this as satire at best, or more likely as caustic criticism of the reunification. Anschluss was the Nazi propaganda term for the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, and is widely known as such. <br /></p>

<p>The Canon 10-22 is awesome but a little pricey. The newer Canon 10-18 is probably plenty good enough for your purposes, and at about $280 the price is hard to beat. It would be my recommendation.</p>

<blockquote> <p>If it's junk, don't donate it to a charity. They have trouble unloading it, or even giving it away. It takes up time and resources and ends up being a negative to the charity.<br> </p> </blockquote> <p>That's true, of course, but what's one man's trash is another man's treasure. For few things this is more true than for old camera lenses. If somebody put up this lot for sale it should not be to difficult to get $50 for it. In my opinion the lenses with the most value are the Konicas, the Pentaxes, and the Minolta Rokkor, but who knows if there isn't somebody out there with a use for the zoom lenses or the 28mm.</p>

<p>The 58mm Rokkor PF is f1.4. The f1.2 version is a PG lens.</p> <p>This code designated the number of groups and elements within a lens, with details as follows (http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens%20History.html):<br> </p> <p align="justify">First Letter (no. of groups): T=3; Q=4; P=5; H=6; S=7; O=8; N=9. <br /> Second Letter (no. of elements): C=3; D=4; E=5; F=6; G=7; H=8; I=9; J=10; K=11; L=12.</p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify">The 58mm f1.2 MC Rokkor - PG contains 7 elements in 5 groups, the 58mm f1.4 MC Rokkor - PF contains 6 elements in 5 groups.<br /></p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify">Be that as it may, while the 58mm Rokkor PF f1.4 is a nice lens, it isn't worth much, and generally manual focus Minolta lenses are not easy to adapt for use on EOS camera bodies. I would suggest selling or donating all lenses in your lot that have manual focus Minolta mount.<br /></p>

<blockquote> <p>Also, the shutter is nice and quiet in shutter priority mode, but in manual mode and aperture priority mode, it sounds very "clunky" just like the shutter of the x-700. Is this also normal?</p> </blockquote> <p>The only thing that might change when you go from S to A and M mode is the shutter speed. Other than the change in shutter sound caused by that, there shouldn't be any; and frankly I can't see how there could be.</p>

<p>Patrick - PM with explanation send. I already said I have no problem posting when using Chrome.<br> <br /> For the rest of the audience, I am posting an image with the name of the add-on I am using. It will presumably be deleted by a moderator in due course.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks for the feedback. I've had the problem for weeks and weeks, including multiple computers. Some posts I just typed a few words in the browser - yes, sometimes my posts are not too wordy ;-)</p> <p>Anyhow, in those cases I know there are no tags. I use only one Plugin/Add-on, which is the one you cannot even name*. Frankly, if the choice is between using he who must not be named and PN, I will have to find myself a new Photo Site, and I've been a member here since back when you would get a response from Phil Greenspun himself when you complained about BS like this. Oh well.</p> <blockquote> <p><em>* It appears that you are trying to suggest the user of an VOLDEMORT plugin to someone. While we don't set up the site in a way that keep people with VOLDEMORT from using it, we also do not allow users to promote the use of those plugins. The site relies on advertising money to run successfully. Without it, no programmers, no new hardware, no improvements, and no staff. If you are not trying to suggest the use of one of these plugins, our apologies. But please find a different way to say what you are trying to get across.</em><br> <em> </em></p> </blockquote> <p><em><br /></em>I think the cretins mean 'use of' rather than 'user of'. The latter makes no sense grammatically. And don't get me started on the missing 3rd person singular s in keeps. <em>Oh tempores, oh mores!</em></p>

<blockquote> <p>Unicode support creates all sorts of problems on web-based forums like this. I've seen moderators/admins even on very technically sophisticated platforms pull the plug on unicode character sets after lots of creative misadventures.<br> <br> It's a trade-off. The number of users inconvenienced by not being able to post non-Latin type is much lower than the number of users inconvenienced by hundreds of spam messages filling the forums.<br> </p> </blockquote> <p>While factually correct, there is another trade-off here, between a mindset that will deprive the community, and one that will enrich it, and that is ultimately a bigger problem in my opinion.</p>

<p>For some time now I have not been able to post in the forums using Firefox (latest version), my preferred browser for many years. I thought you folks might sort this out at some stage, but so far no go. What gives?</p> <p>Here is the error message I got in Firefox. Same posting made in Chrome, no problem, so it's not HTML or any tag. I am using none!</p> <blockquote> <h2>Problem with Your Input</h2> <p>We had a problem processing your entry:</p> <ul> <ul>Because of abuse by spammmers, we can't accept submission of any HTML containing any of the following tags:</ul> </ul> <p><code>applet area base body button div embed fieldset font form frame frameset head html iframe ilayer input layer link marquee meta object option pre script select span style textarea /applet /area /base /body /button /div /embed /fieldset /font /form /frame /frameset /head /html /iframe /ilayer /input /layer /link /marquee /meta /object /pre /script /span /style</code>Please back up using your browser, correct it, and resubmit your entry. </p> </blockquote>

<p>I use them in a T1i, as well as a 20D and 7D (with additional CF card adapters), and never had a problem.</p>

<p>You will notice that once the aperture ring lock is engaged, a little green line appears on the slider. Engaging the lock is part of the XD-series' "3-times green mode", which is a kind of program mode before that term was coined. It's sort of a care-free mode that the beginner can set the camera to and snap away without worrying too much about exposure settings. The three greens are:</p> <p>- Green S for shutter priority on the mode selector.<br /> - Green 125 on the shutter speed dial.<br /> - Green line on the aperture lock slider.</p> <p>1/125s is a reasonable setting to avoid motion blur and camera shake with all but long tele lenses. In shutter priority and with the aperture dial at the smallest value, you allow the camera to choose any aperture to achieve the correct exposure.</p> <p>This mode is actually closer to the program mode of the later X-700 than most people today realize. If a correct exposure can not be achieved by altering the aperture, in shutter priority mode an XD-series camera will deviate from the chosen shutter speed when the aperture range has been exhausted.<br> <br /> In fact the mode is actually more sophisticated than the X-700's P-mode, because it is highly customizable. 1/125s is only a suggestion for the three-times-green-mode. You can of course choose any other shutter speed as the preferred one. In addition, S-mode will also work when an aperture other than the smallest is set. In this case the choice of apertures is limited to the range from wide open to the chosen one.<br /> <br />An XD-7 was my first SLR camera, and I might well be biased, because I learned photography using this camera. That said, I always found it incredibly intuitive to use. If only I could get a digital sensor into it, it would come out of the drawer and back into use!</p>

<p>I started out in the 80s with a Minolta XD-7 and 50mm 1.4. Shortly after I decided to buy a second lens, and choose the recently discontinued 75-200mm 4.5 for the added flexibility. I never seriously considered a 135mm, and that zoom lens for all practical intends and purposes was as good as a prime. I still have it! </p> <p>So if you ask me, what distinguished 135mm 2.8 lenses was the advent of quality zoom lenses in the 80s.</p> <p>I didn't ad a third lens until decades later, when the Minolta manual focus system was no longer supported and lenses were cheap on the second hand market. It was a mid-range zoom, which I didn't like (35-70mm 3.5-4.8). Then I decided to venture a bit deeper into the wide angle arena and bought a 20mm 2.8 - way to wide for somebody who had never shot anything wider than a 50mm. I quickly added a 28mm 2.8, which at that stage cost peanuts, and was much happier. Thus I continued collecting lenses until I had covered pretty much every available prime focal length for the system from 16mm 2.8 fish-eye to 400mm 5.6 tele.</p> <p>I've owned several 135mm lenses over the years, and was always really please with the quality of the MD 135mm 2.8. The photos taken with that lens had something special to it, but I could never get quite used to the focal length, finding it either a little short or a little long (eg for indoor portraits). I was always a lot more comfortable with a 100mm, and in a light set often carried a 2x TC for a 50mm. </p> <p>Nowadays I am firmly rooted in the Canon APS-C camp. I recently bought myself an original 7D. If I look at what beginners buy, Canon has a awesome set of 10-18, 18-55, and 55-250, which does not cost much money, and is way better than cheap lenses like that have any right to be! I was was starting out now, like I was with my XD-7 back in the day, those are the lenses I'd pick up. I could not in good conscience recommend a 135mm 2.8 to any newcomer. It seems to be a lens for a film or FF user who is used to it and liking it from back in the film days, mostly for sentimental reasons.</p>

<p>Me too! And I used to live there. Which is also how I know that the National Gallery of Australia is in Canberra, about 3h drive from Sydney, or a 50min flight. If you go, make sure you end up in the right city ;-)<br> <br> </p>

<p>If somebody gives you $100 for it, you've got yourself a good deal. I bought one on eBay for that price not too long ago, and it had seen light studio use only. The only blemish was some almost imperceptible scratching on the base plate near the tripod mount. Other than that the camera was like new. It's a good camera, but it's the bargain of the DSLR world. KEH sells them from $69 to $109. I wouldn't sell one, but keep it as a backup.</p> <p>If you can not confirm that it works, ie if you don't want to charge the battery or are missing the charger, you've got yourself a paper weight.</p> <p>If you have a lens with it, sell that separately.</p>

<p>Walk on Takapuna Beach in the Rain. 7D with EFs 15-85 IS</p> <p><img src="http://www.fmueller.com/images/Takapuna-rain-2-PN.jpg" alt="" width="699" height="466" /></p> <p><img src="http://www.fmueller.com/images/Takapuna-rain-4-PN.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p><img src="http://www.fmueller.com/images/Takapuna-rain-3-PN.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p> </p>

<p>The 24-105L offers a very convenient range of focal length for FF cameras. Arguably, this lens was made with FF in mind. If I had something like a 5D, I would definitely want a 24-105L as a walk around lens. Since I shoot exclusively APS-C, I use a EFs 15-85, which is the equivalent of the 24-105L in the APS-C world. If I lost my EFs 15-85 tomorrow, I'd go right ahead and pick up another one.</p> <p>Previously I used a EFs 17-85 for some years, and was quite happy with that lens as well, but it sure is nice to have that extra bit of room at the wide end, for those time when you don't want to carry a EFs 10-22 or don't have the time to swap lenses. </p> <p>17-55 is very short at the long end. I'd be worried I might find swapping lenses a full time job!</p>

<p>I much prefer the latest picture, and would even go as far as saying it's cuter. The 'cuteness' is in the baby birds, and in the later shot I get a much better look of them. Not only is it sharper, but there is less overlap between individual chicks, so I don't have to wonder what's what. </p> <p>I also like that the lamp is included as well as some of the door and window, so I can see what kind of crazy nesting spot mommy robin chose. Overall IMHO the second image is a way better shot, but <em>suum cuique pulchrum est</em>.</p>

<p>If you are averagely handy, this is a repair that can be performed DIY. Instructions are here:</p> <p> <p>The flex cable is available <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-Lens-Aperture-Shutter-Flex-Cable-For-Canon-EF-S-17-85mm-Camera-Repair-Parts-/262284086610?hash=item3d11598d52:g:~D0AAOSwll1Wut~I">from $1.80 on eBay</a>.</p> <p>EDIT: Seems like JDM beat me to it! I have a 17-85 waiting to be repaired as well. They seem notorious for this flex cable issue. There are plenty of reports on the web - plus folks in China making money by offering the cable on eBay!</p>