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steve_vancosin

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Posts posted by steve_vancosin

  1. Christopher: I think sharpness is over rated, and getting that close to a print will make you go cross-eyed!

     

    Roland: I had your site bookmarked even before your post! Thanks for a great site and for sharing your knowledge.

     

    Todd: I think the larger sharper grain of the Tri-X gives the impression of actual image sharpness.

  2. Todd, that is a hoot! I saw that Nettar also and I too thought the price went a bit high. Let me say though that I am very pleased with the work he did on my Isolette. I agree those colored bellows he uses are beautiful and I would not be surprised if he would prefer to keep his supplier a secret. One problem that has surfaced for me is that my estimation skills frankly, suck! I will be looking to pick up one of those accessory shoemount rangefinders. But the photos that I have guessed distance correctly can out looking great. Not from the perspective of a razor sharp image that it seems so many are obsessed with, but the images have a creamy smoothness that I find lovely to look at.
  3. Hey, I love folders too! That Nettar looks just like a Agfa isolette. These camera are famous for bellows pinholes and frozen focusing rings. Not that that's too much of a problem, in fact it may help to keep the prices low. I know a guy who does great work on these cameras, new bellows and CLA's. I don't know too much about the Adox but the Nettar I know you will enjoy.

    Here is a pic of my isolette with the new bellows:

    http://pix.auctiva.com/pix/00/25/92/9_23_01_Isolette_II_Brass_Blue_Apotar_1.jpg

  4. <<I never post my work for critique; not because I'm thin-skinned, but

    because I'm a much stronger critic of my work than anyone else. I know

    exactly what look I was attempting to create when I took the picture and

    I can quite easily tell whether or not I succeeded and to what extent.>>

     

    <p>

     

    Wow! Then I suppose to be consistent you probably don't show your work either. Because if you do then you are in fact submitting it for critique, you just may not hear it.

    But you have made me curious now. How about showing us a bit of your work - we promise not to critique it, in fact, it would be so enlightening for us if you would consent to critique it for us. I would like to see how far you have progressed in your effort to become "competent" on the way to "good".

  5. Jeeze Gene, he said he wanted to make his RC prints more permanent. Is that so hard to understand? Are you gonna help, or use it as an opportunity to promote your narrow point of view?

    I took my Honda in for an oil change the other day and the service tech said, "If you are interested in longevity, why don't you buy a mercedes instead?"

  6. I'll second what Mark said, it isn't the prism.

    Let me add another possibility. You said you used the microprism on the eyes and were taking 3/4 poses. This indicates that you were recomposing after focusing. If you weren't on a tripod, it would be easy to shift your position an inch or so and throw off your focus. I would suggest trying it again as a test with the camera on a tripod.

  7. Perhaps you misunderstood him. Or he may have meant to say that the interneg made better prints than direct prints from SLIDE film. On the other hand, it is quite possible that he is just mistaken. Many photographers producing fabulous work hold untenable beliefs about the process.
  8. Susan, you don't get "blown out backgrounds" with normal to wide angle lenses under typical conditions. This is one reason why I tend not to recommend fixed lens cameras to "step up to medium format", especially if you are doing portrait work. Your options are just too narrow. Essentially these cameras can only show you the effect of a larger negative on print tonality, grain, and resolution. What I would suggest, if you are serious about your compositions (and I think you are) is to look for a Mamiya TLR. These can be just as inexpensive as a Yashica yet give you the option of choosing the lens or lenses that would suit your needs. If you have a little more money, and would rather an SLR, an old Mamiya 645 might be a good buy.
  9. The 80-160 zoom focuses to 1 metre. If you are looking for a portrait lens that will do the tight headshot unaided by tubes, this is your best choice. The 135 macro will do it but the pespective at that distance is not optimal.
  10. Since the introduction of the Pentax645n I was curious as to how this system would perform once lenses that would be useful to my particular brand of photography were available. With the recent introduction of the 80-160 zoom I decided to give it a try. This camera paired with this lens is a perfect combination for my portrait work! My previous favorite combo for fast moving and flexable portrait work was the N90s and the 80-200 2.8, I reserved medium format for quiet subjects or slow paced work. After running a few dozen rolls through the Pentax, I can see now that I can have my cake and eat it too! The focus is dead on and quite a bit faster than I could manage manually, and the

    zoom lets me maximize film area by allowing precise cropping. In fact I can shoot both a head and shoulders and a 3/4 pose in the time it would take to shoot one exposure with the old MF camera. One more kudo for that lens, itfocuses down to 3 feet so no tubes necessary for the tight headshot! In short, this setup was made

  11. Chris, I think you are dreaming here. While this may work for some cameras, the Pentax with its integral winder will assume you have begun a fresh roll and auto-advance to what it thinks is frame #1. In fact, I can't even think of a manual camera that doesn't reset to frame one when the back is opened. So maybe you aren't dreaming, you are just full of __it!
  12. I agree about the vulnerability of that shutter. It would have been so much better if they would have designed it so that it snaps open when the back is removed...such a simply solution, you would think they would have done that. I bet the second version, the 645s will have that feature ;)
  13. Well Dave, actually when I said 'hot ticket' I meant it was more of a popular fad right now. Also I wasn't talking about shooters in studios(like seniors and more pedestrian stuff) what I was talking about was the big name model photogs like Sante DeOrazo (sp) and that crowd that shoots Victorias Secret catalogs and such.
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