chazfenn

Old post I know. I fond it looking for something else. Just in case you're still here & still have the flash. The TL-8 is in 2 sliding sections, that's how it "zooms". Pull the inner from the outer "shell" by sliding. you'll see the frame inside is now visible through the open bottom of the unit. There is a "ridge" running round the inside sides & top. That slides into the groove in the flash head just behind its lens. slide till it "clicks" into position. To remove spread the sides slightly & push UP to disengage the clips & slide the unit off.

I shot everything from 16mm up through 8X10, learned through technical school & apprenticeship back in the 60's in the U.K. When I retired I looked to downsize the enormous amount of equipment & realized a high end bridge camera fitted all my needs. I bought the oddball Ricoh Mirai 135 & absolutely fell in love with it! It was such a change from the 40+Lb bags I'd been carrying. When digital was really established I decided to look at something similar, but digital, I'd been having all my 35mm film digitized onto CDs anyway so it seemed a logical step. I still have the Mirai & the original digital although neither get used much nowadays. Digital, to me had the instant convenience of Polaroid for checking things together with the image quality of regular film so I was hooked.

Apparently one of the features not engaged if I don't white-list is the "upload file" option when posting. That reduces functionality quite a lot, but if I simply host online elsewhere & use "IMG" HTML tags it works fine with the "DIRECT" option. Are they really just trying to be unpleasant here or is it just a mess?

You have to actually USE the light, not just blast it from on camera. Otherwise, as you say its cold & flat.

"But why would a leak show as regular streaks? To me that looks like 'surge marks' from the developer." That was why I was asking about the exact developing method. Bromide Drag (the correct term) is caused by under agitating, but id it was processed in any of the 3 main types of film processor the streak would be along, not across the film. Reel & basket or tank & reel would cause bromide drag across the film, but the effect would be the opposite, dark (printed) steaks. The fim under develops locally as bromides "smear" acting as a developing agent inhibitor. I'd look at the little foam door seals first. Maybe try a strip of black electrical tape around the seam & see if that cures the problem.

Try renaming it.

But then they could have sued us & possibly even won. This way we were legally compliant but they didn't succeed either. It was worth the effort. Besides the industry was under enough scrutiny for environmental issues..

Do you know how the lab developed it? Basket line/tank/dip & dunk ot R/T processor.

Do the leaks align with the sprocket holes?

I must confess I've done this exactly once in my life. I worked as a ship's photographer for a while. We took lots of pics & sold them for $3:50 US a pop for a 5X7" print with a 3-color logo of the ship, cruise number & date. We lived exclusively on the commission of $0.35 per. Block-booking for groups or Companies was normal, as was "Working passage" in some form or another. Entertainers in particular found this a good way to get a paid break. On this particular series of cruises we had a (I'm being as PC as I can here, bear with me) a certain ethnic group of fashion models from a major city in the United States North-East. They were "working passage" by putting on multiple fashion shows during the trip. We were specifically asked to heavily photograph both the shows & the entire staff, models & support. We did so. They purchased exactly nothing, not one image. At the end of the 4-week season they suddenly produced a lawyer citing copyright as the fashions were all “copyrighted, patented & trademarked” & demanded both all the prints & all the negatives. Not just of the shows either, he wanted every image even those of them taking shore excursions & so on as we couldn't guarantee that a copyrighted garment wasn't in them. Yes it was a setup. We were conned for several thousand dollars. The prints we shipped to out home office weekly (waste & materials control) so we didn't have any of them, except for the last (current) weeks set. They were shipped free by the line by whatever route had space available. Sometimes it took 3 or 4 months to reach the office. The negatives we kept for reprint orders & they went home every 6 months or so. We checked the actual wording of the papers & it specified “100% of all materials, both film & others, as relevant". I personally punched every single negative of over 75 rolls of 135-36 & placed them in a 100' film can. We then had them count the punch dots to the frame count to verify it was indeed 100% of the film. I'd do it again under the same circumstances too. Perhaps one day the prints will finally make it to home office so we can forward them also?

"Back in the day" I worked as a ships photographer. One of our regular sessions was with VIP passengers & the ships Captain during a private cocktail party. The pics would be given to the VIP, as well as sent to the home town newspaper for printing. We had a setup on the external bridge wing where there is a large compass & a set of propeller controls, very nice "set" all built for us. We used to shoot with the exposure reading taken from the sky (yes I know, bear with me), then we'd use heavy fill flash to almost, but not quite match the sky exposure, then we added a warming filter (Wratten #81 EF IIRC). When we printed the pictures we'd balance the printing colors & density for the warmed flash exposed faces & let everything else just fall where it wanted. We received many compliments on our "beautiful, bluer than blue Caribbean sky's! Sometimes you can "use the flash" in ways you'd not immediately think of, like "Polarizing the sky".

If God didn't intend us to use flash why does he play with lightening? Lets face it, in nature every subtle nuance of light was a one light setup!

Sometimes the event precludes flash, I'm thinking of professional boxing here. So what we used to call "Available Darkness" was frequently used to dramatic effect. The running joke was that if someone asked for "your exposure" the reply was frequently "f8 for half a fortnight"! I think control, if not mastery of both is an advantage. I also find that the two are not mutually exclusive, balance is the name of the game.

If you can tell its flash then its bad flash. The whole trick IMO is to control it rather than just blasting huge gobs of light at the subject.

Er, Umm Cinematography.net

Gee, sorry I tried to help. I won't do it any more.

I honestly don't know what the fuss is about. I still use my old Sunpak 611 with my Fuji FinepixS9500! I've replaced the sub-C NiCd with modern "C" rechargeable batteries & increased the rapid charge time to allow for the different capacity. All I did was get a spare bracket & cut the right hand end down to stop at the end of the smaller Fuji body! I also fitted a second plate & spike for the bracket QD so I can swap to vertical format. I guess its what you're used to I shot commercially with a Nikkormat & a Braun 9000. If you think a 45 ct or a 611 is big try the Braun Its YUUUUGE! Oh BTW this is the list for camera & flash compatibility for trigger voltages. Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages

Elephants, Mississippi, Hippopotamus all worked fine.

Whats the trigger voltage? You may need one of those voltage droppers.

Checkout Wal-Mart. They have a huge selection of plastic bins of every conceivable size & shape. Aquarium heaters with a stand off work well for maintaining. The real secret is volume. The bigger the bath the more it will maintain a temp. First & CD are the two critical baths so if you're good through the DC you're good through the rest of the process as its got a wider tolerance.

Yes you can reactivate them by baking till the color indicators go clear, usually 135 or so. Remember they will start absorbing right away & they won't be an a sealed environment so replace or recharge regularly.

Get older equipment. Get good used equipment! Seriously, digital's value drops like a stone so perfectly viable working digital cameras can be a few years old & you'll get a great piece of equipment for a song! Example: I bought a Fuji FinePix S 7000 new about 7 years ago. It has a 35~150mm (35 equivalent) lens, electronic viewfinder, pop up flash runs PASM & a couple of programed auto modes as well. It still takes perfectly good images, but I wanted a bit more lens & I wanted the external pivoting viewfinder as well. When I bought it & its auxiliary tele & W/A lenses it was about $600. Its value today is $50~75. I replaced it with a kit, which had a USED Fuji FinePix S 9500. It came with the leather case & the w/a converter I now have 21~350mm lenses (35 equivalent) I paid $100 for it all including a decent external flash.

Every darkroom (many commercial) I've ever been in has an extractor fan. The problem with many is the position where it actively draws fumes from trays & so on directly past the face to the exhaust vent. While reducing he total exposure the concentrated area is in the wrong place entirely. When I built my commercial darkroom I went a different route. I blew in from outside (via a light-tight hood) fresh air from a 5" radio shack fan. It was situated high up & over the wet area. The I built an exhaust, using the same setup, so it was a balanced flow, It was low down & behind me. Try it it makes an amazing difference, way better than I expected.

Lends new meaning to "f8 for 1/2 a week" as an exposure!

Depending on where you live just go out in the evening. I remember back when I lived in a fairly remote area one hot sticky day in summer, setting up my darkroom on a picnic bench outside in the yard. (it was a moonless night). We ran a long extension cord for power & hung sidelights from a tree & printed B&W outdoors, a very strange feeling!:D