mikheilrokva

Something tells me that's not readily available in stores.

Yes, that's what's holding me back - I can't get my hands on fixer. The rest can be fabricated.

They are picky about everything. Liquids are a big no-no (they reject it right away) and powders are smaller, but still a no-no (they ask for documentation). I have sent the Xtol and D76 specifically and they rejected them both along with Kodak fixer.

Hello again I'm bugging this forum more often than I should, but it only speaks of high qualification of people on here, doesn't it? ;) This time I have a problem with black and white chemicals. Unfortunately no logistic company will agree to import any sort of chemicals to Georgia unless they are safe for airmail. This is determined by MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet). Unfortunately I was unable to find any developer and fixer, MSDS of which would state that they are safe for airmail. As a result, I can not import those materials and have to rely solely on our local lab for BW processing. Sadly they aren't very flexible and results from various black and white films look almost the same. I have read that one can make a developer from readily available materials, BUT I can't find the same for fixer. Unless I have a fixer, there's no point in making a developer. So, my question is: 1. Can one make a fixer on their own? 2. Is there any eco-friendly duo of developer and fixer which would be safe for airmail? Little help, anyone?

Add that to average wage of 300 euros per month :D I don't have the problem with ordering goods from abroad, in fact all of my gear comes from overseas. And I've seen Foma films on their own website for as low as 3 euros, although shipping is around 6.5 eu.

Looks like a light leak to me. Especially if it's consistent and more or less same-shaped in all cases. Which camera is it?

There's no "hype" for me personally, the reason I bought my ETR is that it was listed for 70$ - very cheap. For now it works and it delivers high quality prints on large paper. As for F100, I've never owned it, but my F80 is two steps below F100 and it's a great performer. I just don't like it to be so automatic and digital-like.

Rumor has it Acros 100 will be discontinued by the end of this year. So prices will most probably go sky-high pretty soon. I miss those days when Acros 100 for 35 mm was selling at 2.5$ I just don't get what's Fuji's game. Why are they pulling from film business. As for the prices, here's all available films in my country and their respective prices converted to UDS: 1. Fujifilm C200 - 6-6.5$ 2. AgfaPhoto Vista 200 and 400 - 8 and 8.5$ respectively 3. Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400 - 9.5$ 4. Kodak ColorPlus 200 - 9.6$ 5. Ilford HP5+ 120 format - 14$ All of the prices are for single rolls. Talk about expensive and "why is film photography dying in Georgia". There is also BW medical "Kodak CFT" (god knows what that is) hand-rolled into 35 mm cans which goes for 2-3$. There are no E-6 films whatsoever.

I don't think a description can get any more thorough and comprehensive than this one. Thank you for your time. Right now I have a set of tubes, a teleconverter and my macro lens will also arrive in a few days. The downside - all of them are for different cameras. The lens is for the digital, however, that's where I am usually picky about quality and edge to edge sharpness.

Actually mine is not entirely an 'enlarger lens', instead it's a regular Zeiss lens adapted for enlarger. It's got focusing ring, aperture ring and works like a charm on my camera with M39 thread. But bellows aren't gonna make the whole setup terribly portable or compact, will they?

My thought exactly. If I can retain aperture control, the rest is acceptable.

I have found Sigma 50 mm f/2.8 macro lens with 1:1 ratio. It's a manual focus lens and I'm sure it will be outperformed by Pentax macro lenses, but it's too cheap to pass it by. Now if only my salary can arrive a bit sooner this month :D

Sadly my father's enlarger had Zeiss Biogon 35 mm f/2.8 which although M39, has a huge lens protruding from behind. No way I could install it on anything except mirrorless (which I don't possess). I think other lenses will have the same issue with flange distance. Now, if I want to use that lens, I have to attach it to my old FED camera (which is a bad clone of Leica). No closeup shots or anything remotely similar.

In this case my wallet answers for me, but I completely agree with all of the points you've made.

Yup, saw your listings on Ewebsite a few days ago, I regularly look up Bronica for accessories. There was strangely damaged ETRC... And we're off topic o_O

Just as much as Pentax 67 is beautiful and elegant (sans wooden handle from Browning machine gun), is Pentax 645 utterly hideous. And costs more than Bronica or Mamiya 645 machines as well. Low "entry fee" is a main reason that I've found appealing when I made a step towards the abyss of hundredtwenty ;)

From what I've seen so far, the cheapest truly macro lens for Pentax is 50 mm f/4 (either K-mount, or the fabled M42 Takumar). Both can be acquired for 60$ if I'm lucky enough. Tubes usually cost six times less. I already have those tubes for M42 mount and I have used it on my K-x via M42 to K adapter, coupled with Soviet Industar 50 lens (Tessar design, 50 mm f/3.5). I doubt that Pentax's own K-mount 50 mm will perform much better with tubes than the above mentioned option, except it will have automatic aperture control.

It would make the camera "fat", wouldn't it? And if Pentacon six is anything similar to Kiev 6, then it's fat enough already. That's why I went for 645. 15 frames on single roll is way better than 12. Well, less weight is also a reason for me.

I deliberately avoided the subject of close-up lenses, cause even though I have never owned them, the results I've seen from others are unimpressive. It's like putting on the eyeglasses on the lens - center of the image is more or less acceptable, with strong distortions and loss of quality everywhere else. Probably those were the cheap ones.

I completely agree. My ETR-C cost around 70$ with 120 back and hand crank. Each of those items separately cost around 40$. I was just unlucky to get one without a winder, as for the tube, well, that's not something that every other seller would include in their bundle.

And here I am trying to find a tube under 40$ and a grip under 30... Because I paid 70$ for my 645 and I don't want accessories to cost me more than the system itself :rolleyes:

I hope it won't come to that at least for a couple years :D

I know what you mean, had that exact problem with my Olympus DSLR using Zuiko 35 mm f/3.5 which sometimes used to hit front element on the photographing surface when going down to 1:1. Gosh. That was one hell of a lens. Slow and noisy, but razor sharp from edge to edge! If only Evolt cameras were good enough...

It sounds good, I'll keep my eye on those. As for the metering, I have only used Pentax M 50 f/2 on my digital and metering was indeed sometimes a bit off.

Thanks to all, I understand a lot more now than I did before. So, to summarize, I'm not burning with the need of taking macro shots. I will get extension tubes with aperture control and use my 18-55 kit lens for closeup work on my Pentax, but I'll also look for Pentax 50 mm f/4 macro, since it's cheaper than other options and will allow me to perform stop-down metering. I guess there's no escape from dedicated macro lenses in a long-term perspective.