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My new camera...

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You can't beat fixed focal length lenses for sharpness and speed. The Nikkor 300mm f/4 is an awesome lens. Used to shoot basketball games with one. Long lens for the opposite side of the court, short lens for near side. Had to shoot with two different cameras. Now that's fun! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If you ever see cut-away views of lens pay close attention to just how much glass is in a 'zoom' lens. Each extra piece of glass means another part that can get mis-aligned and another loss of detail from refocusing the light waves. It also leads to a bunch of weight. All that being said, zooms like the one Alan mentioned are like 'wunder lens' to some. No need to change a lens when it goes from 50-500 or 28-300. But they also come with penalties. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

As far as quality glass... I'll stick with the Zeiss lenses in my Hasselblad and Contax for purity of tone and color. Leitz lenses are also up there. Nikon glass can focus sharper than you will ever be able to see but a lot of Japanese glass has a slight green tint to it. But now I'm being nitpicky. My Nikons still get plenty of use. Afterall, they are just tools. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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You can't beat fixed focal length lenses for sharpness and speed.
<snippage>

My Nikons still get plenty of use. Afterall, they are just tools. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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I've a bag full of HEAVY sharp glass in fixed length, and two zooms... depending on the "final use" of the shoot, I decide how to load the bag.

As for "tools": see pull-toy remark above. The electronic bodies are fine, but I ALWAYS have a back-up "beater" in there too./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Yeah and the old Nikkon F bodies can double as weapons (been there)or construction equipment (been there too, they drive nails pretty well) as well as cameras. Whatever your needs may be. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
As a small bit of trivia RE: FTn's... I could reload on a dead run by holding the back by the "lug" wedged in my canine teeth... just don't TRIP! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
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Yeah and the old Nikkon F bodies can double as weapons (been there)or construction equipment (been there too, they drive nails pretty well) as well as cameras. Whatever your needs may be. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

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Yup... my F2 and I went over a 15 foot waterfall and ended up in 2 feet of water about 20 years ago... Still works like a charm and the meter would work if I bothered to put a battery in it. The FM bounced down an entire flight of stairs and apart from the prism not looking quite 'square' it still keeps plugging away. Somehow I don't think the D50 I'm playing with now is going to fare as well but I've always got at least one beater in the bag for backup.

And I'm totally in love with the D50/D70 iso 1600 on manual...

Hi, my name is Jim and I'm a Low-Light Whore....
DSC_2207.JPG


DSC_2245.JPG


iso1600 hand held at 1/15 and f4.something
 
With the new gear, "available light" takes on a whole different meaning.

Tri-X and D-76... ahhh... the smell of fixer... or HC-110 "molassas" and some Kentucky windage...

"Mebbe I got it, mebbe I don't..." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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Tri-X and D-76... ahhh... the smell of fixer... or HC-110 "molassas" and some Kentucky windage...



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Amen... and tasting the tray to see if you remembered to dump some stop bath in it....

After I quit the industry full-time it took almost a year to get the smell of fixer outta my clothes.

And there is nothing quite as nice as the smell of a freshly opened can of film....

And that little spark you'd see in pitch black when you pulled the masking tape off the spool....

ah.... memories.... these dang-gum kids with their new-fangleding picture-takin mega-whatsits just don't know what they've missed.
 
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.... these dang-gum kids with their new-fangleding picture-takin mega-whatsits just don't know what they've missed.

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I don't think I'd have given up "Safety Film" for wet plates, so I have some ~small~ appreciation for this shift to 'convenience'... but I'll still shoot 'chrome for a while.


The "new-fangled" darkroom:
273044-nimrod1.jpg
 
[ QUOTE ]
With the new gear, "available light" takes on a whole different meaning.

Tri-X and D-76... ahhh... the smell of fixer... or HC-110 "molassas" and some Kentucky windage...

"Mebbe I got it, mebbe I don't..." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Their days are numbered though. Having already discontinued B&W papers, I wouldn't be surprised to see the film and chemical product line start to get cut.

My price for D-76 is a whopping $4.30 per litre (when bought by the single packet)!!!

Update: Just checked some of my Kodak stuff, some of the old products have been cut this year. These have been cut already: 16oz of Acedic Acid, 5-gallon mixes of fixer (powder), 25-gal mixes of Dektol, 5-gal of Microdol, 5-Litre E6 (single use) kits, all 1-gallon E6 chemistry mixes.

Some other size mixes (mostly for the hobby market it looks like) have been eliminated and suggestions have been made to go to smaller or larger sizes which haven't been eliminated, including: stop bath, photo-flo, HC110.
 
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Their days are numbered though. Having already discontinued B&W papers, I wouldn't be surprised to see the film and chemical product line start to get cut.

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The 'industry' is on the way out but it will survive on the 'business' level. Places like "Photographers Formulary" are seeing huge spikes in business.

I had lunch with one of my old professors the other day and he was telling me how hacked off he is at Kodak for discontinuing his 5X7 Color Negative film. Now he has to cut down 8X10 (which they are still making for now)by hand. More 'suffering' for his art I guess. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Not that I'm a film oldtimer... But I often run film through my older Minolta (and have other people develop it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ), but I only purchase Fuji for colour film and Ilford for B&W film, I don't bother with Kodak anymore, but I get the strong impression that Fuji is committed to film and seems to be a well run company, in comparison to how well Kodak is run these days... Just look at their financial losses lately /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif
 
"EasKod" has always tried to play both sides. They are just consolodating now. They started with the "penny" cameras for the 'everyman' photos and had the lock on pro supplies as well. Now it appears as if they're just "widening the gap" in the product line. Digital cameras of their own format (remember 110 and the "disc"?) and supplies for high volume labs for film/processing... It won't last long but they will ride it for all it's worth to them.

My "bathtub" E-6 processing has become a thing of the past, due to 1 gallon chemistry demise.

As an aside: Kodak ~used~ to be the world's second largest silver posessors (behind Russia, of all things) on the planet. Now they're aiming at the bits-n-bytes "imaging" market. That'll prove to be a bit more 'etherial' for 'em tho. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
My beloved kodak TRI-X is still available in 4x5 and 8x10, but I'm sure that stuff will go bye-bye soon enough. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif Kodak has discontined all of their B&W papers and most of their chemicals for us hobbyists. I guess that will leave Ilford to pick up the sales. Analog (film based) photography is becoming a boutique item for us old die hards. It will be available for some time to come, but I'm sure prices will start to rise. If I'm going to have to start spending the big bucks, I might as well start learning how to do platinum prints. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif Time to dig out the 8x10 and Commercial Ektars. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif
 
Kodak has, and has had a lot of business problems and made a lot of stupid moves over the years. This year they decided to stop selling our photo products to us (a roll of color film costs $4000 and I use a lot of it, we used to send massive checks to Rochester). They'll only "sell" to a single distributor, and we have to go through them. They happen to be sort of a competitor of ours. Kind of like Exxon having to buy gas from the 7/11 down the street. Nice move there Kodak, real nice. I use Agfa now.

As for the other film... I tossed my stock of film earlier this year and I'm probably going to sell all my darkroom equipment. I really have no need for any of it anymore, and don't miss film in the least! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
yeah, the Omega D-II and all the darkroom gear have been "tucked away" for a few years now. Problem is: how many museums are there to purchase all this "stuff"?!?! Anyone interested in 4x5 B&W needs to call Scott, me or martx-5 before it's TOO LATE!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
Aw heck you give me TOO much credit! Mine's a Besseler 67-XLII Dichro (have to double check that, but it's the double column one like the 23CII was), and I have a condenser head for it. I don't have any 4x5 stuff anymore.

The large format stuff at the lab that does my work is neat (I worked for him when I first got in the aerial business). He's got a floor-mounted horizontal, motorized enlarger on a track. Uses a grid of bulbs, kind of cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Now that we've hijacked Sherlock's thread... I wonder how the new camera is doing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Now that we've hijacked Sherlock's thread... I wonder how the new camera is doing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Point to ponder... but i'll guess he's enjoyin' it!

Is th' "floor mount" a "Brown" by any chance?
 
Struggling through the camera manual (er... college textbook /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ), haven't taken many photos with it yet

Here's the second photo taken with it, you don't want to see #1 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif

287125917_120690034b.jpg


And here's a proud new camera owner (of an Argus), ca. 1945 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

272572443_4da325829c.jpg


Sorry folks, I don't do self portraits though...
 
Have a C3 myself, as well as a C44 and an M3 (triple lens mo pic). Thats it for the Argus brand, have several more 'collectible cameras. My pride and joy though is a 1902 Kodak Brownie Postcard Camera (126 film) that my great Grandmother used to photograph Yellowstone in 1917, when they drove from eastern Nebraska to yellowstone in a Model T Ford. The trip there took two weeks and was mostly by wagon trail (read ruts)! Still have the photo album as well. The camera is still light tight and it still works well. I haven't cut film for it but I have done paper negatives with it.

Some pics of the camera...
PB030003.jpg

PB030004.jpg

PB030005.jpg


Anybody else see the irony of photographing a 1902 Postcard camera with a 2004 digital camera that I can post 'electronic postcards' with? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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