Thanks for your advice, Mike. It does make sense, and I'm sure I will get over the initial disappointment and frustration soon and start shooting film again. The problem is that the lab has been damaging my film on a regular basis, and the only reason why it doesn't show in the images is because I crank up the IR cleaning, thus loosing a great amount of detail. So perhaps I should try slide film again after a digital break
your recent shots have had such improved scans that I didn't think you were having troubles.
I recently toasted a roll of Acros (Texas tap water wayyyyyy too hot apparently, even on a cooler day) and it just made me want to shoot more. Probably has something to do with not paying 15 dollars to see such crappy results, lol:
thanks Katy, wouldn't a meet up be fun, you film shooters shoot wonderful images.
Edward, thanks so much for all the help that you have given me with film. I have appreciated your suggestions and loved your photography. However a Leica M9 will be so great and you can use all your ZM's.
thanks! it's amazing the places you'll find art installations in the bay area. that shot is looking up out of a little abandoned bunker for watching the entrance to SF bay.
does the rangefinder work with the aero ektar for that kind of shot or did you just prefocus?
Thanks. I painstakingly calibrated it at one point. My Speed is a little worn out though. Now I just match focus between the rangefinder and ground glass and lock the focus there. Then I use my feet to find the exact working distance it is set at - through the rangefinder. There is a tad bit of slop with the calibrated rangefinder especially with this lens focal length/aperture combo. It is a pretty ridiculous combo at the working distances I am at. I am getting just under 50% in focus it seems, which I think is pretty darn good. I think most errors come when I move my head from the rangefinder to compose through the two viewfinders.
Zaitz wrote:
Thanks. I painstakingly calibrated it at one point. My Speed is a little worn out though. Now I just match focus between the rangefinder and ground glass and lock the focus there. Then I use my feet to find the exact working distance it is set at - through the rangefinder. There is a tad bit of slop with the calibrated rangefinder especially with this lens focal length/aperture combo. It is a pretty ridiculous combo at the working distances I am at. I am getting just under 50% in focus it seems, which I think is pretty darn good. I think most errors come when I move my head from the rangefinder to compose through the two viewfinders. ...Show more →
ah, makes sens. cool!
i always wanted to try shooting one of these (camera and lens), but haven't been able to bring myself to throw out that kind of dough on something that i might find too difficult to use in most situations i'd want to.
i always wanted to try shooting one of these (camera and lens), but haven't been able to bring myself to throw out that kind of dough on something that i might find too difficult to use in most situations i'd want to.
Yeah it's a fairly popular setup now. The lenses used to go for cheap. Sometimes you can still find a deal on them. Unfortunately some are buying a Speed Graphic, Aero Ektar, and lens board - calibrating them and selling it as a kit for high prices. Speeds can be had super cheap though.
If you ever wanted to find out if it's up your alley you could look for a beat up old Speed Graphic for about $100 and get a 180mm Zeiss Tessar or the like for $50-75 and try that out. All you'd need is a cheap film holder or two, some Arista 4x5 film, and a cable release. But I understand it's not for most people.
On another note, anyone seen marks like this on a negative? I don't usually handle my negatives there and it has only shown up on Arista and in that same spot on all negatives. Never seen this on my HP5 negatives.
A guy on largeformat forums says they had problems with a defect before but Freestyle emailed me yesterday saying they didn't. Usually it stays in the corner like that but some specks are more towards the middle on other negatives.
Now I need to find a new bargain T90. 
