tomspielman

Fujica GS645 and Delta 400

Yes, you can use a heat lamp to do the same thing the sun would. My guess is though that it's not water and it's going to require disassembly to clean that up.

After waiting a couple of weeks for the bellows to arrive and then taking a couple of more weeks before I got around to installing it, I finally have a working GS645 as of yesterday afternoon. No color 120 film in my fridge so I loaded some Delta 400 for the first roll, -which I will finish quickly. I have some Ektar on the way because the Fall colors won't last forever. Some tense moments during the bellows installation as I somehow managed to bend a secondary strut, but I carefully straightened it and all appears to be well.

Something worth checking from Gleb Shtengel's Nikon scanner repair site, - a firewire connector that's splitting leading to bad connections: I think this could lead to the symptoms you're seeing. Might be as simple as squeezing it back together.

It's worth mentioning that we're talking about electronics in a Polaroid scanner that was manufactured 15 to 20 years ago. The fact that some electronic component failed after this much time doesn't mean that there's an inherent design flaw in Firewire or that it's unreliable. It means that the device was old. ;)

Firewire did what it was supposed to do when properly implemented (especially with Oxford's chipsets), but it's outdated. SCSI was still better for certain applications during Firewire's heyday and lives on in name at least. For consumer hardware USB-3 surpassed firewire and USB-C is better still.

As far as I know there's only 3 different types of firewire connectors: 4, 6, and 9 pin. There's at least 4 different types of SCSI connectors that I've worked with and there are probably more. SCSI controllers and devices were often not hot-pluggable either, meaning you needed to power everything down to add or remove stuff from your SCSI chain. Some SCSI devices used jumpers, others dip switches. Some could only work with a subset of IDs. And you needed cables that were as thick as small tree branches and about as flexible. Firewire didn't/doesn't require any of that stuff. In my experience, Apple computers and firewire got along pretty well, probably because it was built into most of their computers for over a decade. I'm still using a firewire 800 raid enclosure via thunderbolt to firewire adaptor. I've used that raid enclosure on at least 5 separate computers and about that many OS versions. Never caused me any problems. I think the problems with firewire are mostly confined to the PC world. In that world it was very much a niche interface and always kind of an afterthought with both the major PC vendors and Microsoft. USB was good enough for most consumer stuff and enterprise level hardware stuck with SCSI.

Interesting... Most of Apple devices I've purchased have either been used or refurbs. I can't ever remember the warranty for refurbs from Apple being different from new but I don't buy computers (or tablets) that often. In any case, at the moment the warranty is the same and they are eligible for Apple Care just like new. The refurb discount isn't huge. I think my son could get the same price or close on a new computer via the education discount. But my experience with Apple refurbs has been very good and if it saves me a couple hundred bucks to skip the fancy box and get a plain brown one instead, I'm happy with that trade-off. Their computers are expensive enough that for home use, I'll often go with used. I recently replaced an iMac 21.5 from 2011 with a 27" from 2015. I seriously considered a 21.5 from 2017 because I would have liked some USB-C ports but those models are hard to find with anything more 8 Gigs of RAM. Upgrading RAM, though possible with the 2017s, requires taking it half apart. My company pays for a new laptop every 5 years and I can basically get what I want. So I'm much less cost conscious when it comes to that. :)

Not sure where you're looking. If you get a refurbished unit from Apple, you get a full one year warranty. Apple Refurbs

apfs has been supported on fusion drives for awhile. Just a few thoughts on Macs if you're new to them. There are three desktop models, the mini, the iMac, and the Mac Pro. I'm assuming that the Mac Pro is off the table for you since the 2019 version starts at about $6,0000. The leaves the mini and the iMac (which there are few variations of). The mini MIGHT be a good option if you like your current display(s). However, it has a low end integrated GPU (video card). That could be a deal breaker but I should point out that most operations in photoshop don't benefit from a dedicated GPU. But there are some that definitely do. The question is are those are features you use or not? I would check out this FAQ from Adobe before deciding how much to spend on the GPU. If the GPU in the mini isn't going to cut it, that narrows your choice down to the iMac which has a built in display and is going to add to the cost. You can still use your own displays with it though. There are three main variations of the iMac, the 21.5 inch, the 27 inch, and the iMac Pro. Again, I'm going to assume the iMac Pro is off the table because of the high cost. I would also avoid the 21.5 inch model with the non-retina display. It's meant for use as a basic computer. A 21.5" model with the 4K (retina) display could be configured with the specs you want. Aside from the display size, a big difference between the 21.5 and 27 inch models is something that Ed alluded to. The RAM on the 27 inch model is super easy to upgrade while on the 21.5 it is not. On the 27 inch you literally push a button on the back of the computer, which pops up a little cover you pull off to access the RAM slots. Going the Mac route does not free you from the hard drive dilemma I'm afraid. Apple has gone backwards in their base configurations by starting with a 1TB 5400 rpm drive. Don't buy one of these. Many have been disappointed with the drive performance. A step up from that is a "Fusion" drive which behind the scenes combines a small SSD and a spinning hard drive into what looks like one drive from the user's perspective. Performance from these is decent but not as good as a full SSD. Upgrading the internal drive in an iMac is an involved process and would void the warranty if done on your own. Much harder than it would be than in the Dell tower you were considering. A good way to save some money on a Mac is to buy a refurbished model direct from Apple. They are pristine. The only thing you lose is the fancy packaging. You can't customize them though and there may not be a refurb model available that has the features you want. Check early in the morning, what's available changes daily. I hear you can also get good Apple refurbs from MicroCenter if you have one in your area. I'm not necessarily recommending a Mac over a PC. I'm not religious when it comes to that and I've spend lots of time working on PCs and in Windows. Nothing wrong with Windows. You might get a bit of sticker shock when looking at the cost of a new Mac and it may not be worth it to you. However, one thing to keep in mind is that they do hold their value pretty well so upgrading down the road isn't going to require the same large investment. You'll get a decent return from selling your old Mac. Good luck !

Those are the kinds of things that I make an exception for in regards to my "don't use it, don't keep it" rule. I have my Father's 8mm movie camera. I actually have used it as recently as about two years ago, but I will hold on to that regardless unless I can find somebody else to entrust it to. But my camera purchasing habit only started a few years ago. None that I've bought have any particular sentimental value so I don't have trouble parting with them.

SATA is old news. ;) NVMe is where it's at. SATA doesn't take full advantage of an SSD's potential, which is why NVMe was developed. Both PCs and Macs have the interface available. It's harder to find on multi-drive external enclosures but those devices are out there, - and expensive In any case, it doesn't make a lot of sense to copy a single file to a faster drive and then copy it back to a slower one. Photography isn't something I do for a living but I still have a few separate libraries based on date ranges. So recent stuff can sit on the fast internal drive while older stuff is on the slower but larger external raid. All of it gets backed up to a separate large external drive and also to the cloud via BackBlaze. Since I use the computer for a lot more than photographic work, general performance matters to me and an SSD makes a big impact. So even if all your photographic work is kept on external spinning disks, the machine will feel much snappier just having the OS and applications running off the SSD.

I see. You need something wider than key rings. I'm probably the wrong person to ask. Being a cyclist, zip ties are a legit fastener in my book. There are reusable ones that might work out better for you.

I was seriously thinking of buying one of those (at least one of the variants) this Summer. I ended up with a more compact 6 x 4.5 Fujica MF camera. It's still not that compact so I can see why this would be a strain on your neck after awhile. I like your solution. So, is the camera worth its heft? I haven't ruled out getting one in the future. I can't remember if your model is one with interchangeable lenses or not.

Small key rings? Or maybe not that small. :)

Amazon has a similar kit, so does freestyle, and the film photography project store (filmphotographystore.com). The latter seems to be out of the 1 liter kit but has the 2 liter kit for a good price.

There are fewer places that will process film. I know a lot of people in the states like Dwaynes if you don't mind mail order but I'm sure there are places closer to you that can do a decent job. And yes DIY is a viable option. That's what I do. Changing bags are pretty inexpensive and so are tanks and reels. There are many fans of the stainless steel type that Bill has but beginners often find the Patterson tanks and reels easier to start out with. I have both the Patterson and Stainless reels. One thing nice about Patterson reels is that they are adjustable to take either 35mm or 120mm film. For me doing my own processing is a big part of the fun of working with film.

I guess I look at it this way: eBay, craigslist, garage sales, goodwill, and others are giant storage bins of old cameras I can tap into if I ever want to try a camera. I can try it and if I think I'll use it on an ongoing basis I'll keep it. If not, back into one of the giant storage bins it goes. But my hobby doesn't involve huge sums of money, so I'm not purchasing cameras that are rare or would be difficult to re-obtain at a later date.

I can sort of understand buying a camera to display if you're not actually going to take pictures with it, but buying a camera just to store it somewhere? Why?

Those are interesting stats and not much different than what we experience at work. I'm sure publishing them only helps their business. ;) If it were me and I had the same monetary constraints, I'd probably configure the machine from Dell with a fast processor and GPU and then purchase my own memory and drive(s). The primary drive would definitely be an SSD. Even if buying the SSD meant sacrificing total storage I'd do it, knowing that I could add more later. But I'm a little spoiled and I've been using an SSD at work for years. As far as what the OP should do, they've already indicated that they aren't comfortable installing a drive on their own so they're left with the options that Dell provides or having somebody install the drive for them which would add to the cost. If it turns out that he's not happy with the performance he could take the computer to BestBuy or some local computer store and have them install an SSD down the road.

Got it. To answer you're original question, there will likely be a noticeable difference in boot times and application launch times between 7200 rpm and 5400 rpm drives. If you have software that catalogs your images, that will perform slower as well. Given the amount of RAM you're having installed you won't likely notice a difference while doing the actual retouching work. Opening the image will take a little longer. If you're using a 5400 rpm drive now and are happy with it, then I don't see a particular problem. But if you were to spend one week using the exact system with a 7200 rpm drive and the next week going to a system with a 5400 rpm drive, it would seem pokey to you. That said, there are inconveniences you have to take into consideration if your workflow involves multiple drives. Having one large drive is certainly more convenient. Other people have already talked about the importance of backups. A catastrophic event like a fire or flood might be unlikely depending on where you live but they happen. I've also never had a personal hard drive fail. However, at my work place we probably have close to 3 hundred drives installed in workstations and storage devices. We lose 3 or 4 per year and sometimes more. So roughly a 1% failure rate per year. I don't know how typical that is. That may not seem bad, but it happens enough that I backup my personal stuff both to another device in my home and to the cloud.

Honestly, I'd spring for an SSD of 512 Gig or better (256 Gig min) and then if you need the space buy another bare drive of whatever speed on Amazon for less than you'd pay Dell and put it in the tower. I'm guessing there's room for 3 or more drives in there. If you're going to the expense of upgrading your computer and building in a lot of RAM, don't hobble it with a slow drive. My guess is that you will more readily notice the difference between an SSD and a traditional hard drive than you will notice the difference between 16 and 32 Gigs of RAM unless you already know that 16 isn't enough for what you want to do.

The only DSLR I use is actually my wife's and she only has a couple of lenses. She rarely uses it herself and I'm sure she'd tell me to do whatever I wanted to do with it if I asked. It's only an APS-C, and the lenses are fine but not great. Yes I'd prefer a mirrorless.

Would this be a 2nd drive or would it be replacing what you have now? If it's replacing what you have now is that a 7200 rpm drive or a 5400? I think 5400 is fine as secondary storage. Assuming you don't have an SSD now, that's what I would put in and if you have room for another drive in your tower, then use your current drive or get a cheap 5400 rpm drive for extra space. The different between a traditional spinning disk hard drive and an SSD is night and day. From the horses mouth (Adobe): They are talking about scratch disks which you may or may not have set up but it's a good general performance breakdown. They don't mention 5400 vs 7200 at all and there is more to performance than rotational speed but what I will say is that I wouldn't buy a new 5400 rpm drive to use as the primary drive on my system if I had a choice. I'm also a Back Blaze user and it's a good value for the money. You can't select individual folders to back up but you can exclude folders or drives. You can partition your drives if that's a real concern. The only thing I find bothersome as a Mac user is that Back Blaze won't backup TimeMachine volumes. Their reasoning is that it would be backing up stuff that's already backed up but what I want Back Blaze for is cloud backup, not local backup.

Since Spring I'd been semi-obsessed with a Fujica GS645, - a modernish folder. This is just a hobby for me and I'll only spend my mad money on it. Prices were too high for working models, almost all of which would have to be shipped from Japan. So I waited and finally found a decent price on one that was in the states. I knew there was a good chance I'd have to replace the bellows but was still a little disappointed when that turned out to be the case. What was more disappointing was the bulk/heft of the camera. Not sure I will get over that. Anyway, after ordering a new bellows from Hong Kong, I saw a red one (bellows) on eBay that no one appeared to be bidding on. The same seller also had a hood, case, and strap listed. No one was bidding on those either. I ended up winning both auctions for a sum total of $2.24, - with free shipping. I felt bad for the seller so offered to pay for the shipping costs but he declined and told me to enjoy my purchases, - nice! So today I received both the bellows from Hong Kong and the red one. I'm going to try the red first and if I like it I'll resell the one from Hong Kong at a reduced cost. That good fortune makes me feel better about the Fujica for now. I'll give it a roll or two of film to see if it grows on me. In terms of cameras that I like more than expected I'd have to say the Olympus OM-1n. I had originally gotten an OM-2n and it was fine. Don't remember how I ended up with an OM-1n but as much as I liked the OM-2n and OM-2s cameras I've had, The OM-1n is now my only SLR.