Life is Good

[Doug]

Frank, with the arrival of a nice clean M6, life must indeed be good! Congrats!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Frank,

Thanks for the welcome back. I scan the prints for publication, not the negs -- MUCH easier to get good tonality and to dodge/burn.

And thanks too SolaresLarrave.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Aperture]

86 rolls of film.... that must have been an amazing trip.
That's more than I've shot in the whole last year.
Was just wondering, out of all these shots was there a big percentage done with a favourite lens, and which one was this?
I previously favoured a 50mm as standard lens, but find myself shooting 35mm more and more. Anyway, hope the pics turn out fine.

 

[Bertram2]

Dear Bertram2,

The slide and colour C41 will be scanned on an 'as needed' basis using a Konica Minolta Dimage 5400-II. The sequence after processing is as follows:

Slides: sort and mount (Gepe). Throw out failures: keep 'overs' and doubtfuls for another sort later (weeks, months or years). Store mounted slides in hanging files. Scan as needed.

C41 colour. Sleeve in Print File sleeves; scan whole sleeve (in two bites, stitched together in Photoshop) using Epson 1680 to create 'contact sheet'. Scan as needed.

C41 mono and 'real' B+W: 'contact sheet' as for C41 colour but print conventionally as needed using Ilford MG WT.

Cheers,

Roger

Hi Roger,
many thanks for the detailed info, very interesting ! From two reasons: First I just think again ( about the 99th time now) about a Minolta 5400 but was hesitating because I was told that it needs 5 minutes for slide at 5400 dpi and with ICE dust removal.
You use a 5400 II which is faster as I heard ?
Second I find the contact sheet scanning of C41on a flatbed a good idea , you get a reliable basis for the judgement of the developed neg.
Shootinga lot of C41 one should think about a flatbed for 200 Euros and if this is not an invest which reall y makes sense for an workflow as you described it !

Thanks again,
Bertram

 

[Trius]

Roger or others: Have you had any experience with the Microtek film scanners? I've read good things but haven't come across too many who have used them.

Trius

 

[FrankS]

So I'm back from Midland area, quicky vacation with my family. Visited several touristy spots and shot about 3 rolls of film with the new M6 and 50 Summicron. I quite liked the M6 except for a few things:

the viewfinder frames 50/75 are cluttered looking compared to my M2 or M3,

I experienced the rangefinder patch flare where it whited out, but I just moved my eye slightly left or right and it went away,

and finally since this is a .85 mag. viewfinder, the 50mm frames were quite close to the frame edges (which is fine for me using the 50mm lens most of the time, but I can see that the 35mm frames were going to be difficult for me to see with glasses on.

I did love the meter and the easier film loading. Thisis a camera I am going to grow to love using more and more.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Aperture,

For me, 35/1.4 Summicron -- followed at some distance by 75/2 Summicron, despite the less than ideal finder frame (as Frank says, cluttered), followed by my 50/1.2 Canon which I found I had packed by accident!

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Betram,

Yes, the 5400-II is quite a lot faster and less refractory, but ICE still adds a lot of time -- I use it only if I can see dirt on the tranny.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Trius,

No, I've not used them. The only real compaint I hear is a low Dmax as compared with the 5400-II.

I cheated -- I rang a friend who does reviews for A Leading Magazine and asked what he'd buy if he had to put his money where his mouth was. He said 5400 and added that the 5400-II was apparenty even better (he's since tested it, and it is).

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Doug]

Dear Aperture,

For me, 35/1.4 Summicron --

Hi Roger... would that be the f/2 Summicron or the f/1.4 Summilux? ASPH?

 

[Graybeard]

I'm bulk loading HP5+, developing film in Diafine, my M6 is coming any day now, and the negs from the Indian wedding I was at look good. I got the last of the old vulcanite off the back door of the M3, and this month's Rangefinder magazine is actually not bad. Photographically, what more could you ask for? Life is good!

What are you using for cassettes in your bulk loading. I often had problems with scrtches when reusing stndard film cassettes.

 

[FrankS]

Graybeard, I have some commercially available reloadable cassettes a friend gave me. I understand that the felt light trap material has a limited lifespan and that it can pick up grit which can scratch film on its way through. I've heard that some people vacuum clean these felt strips. I would not use bulk loaded film for any critical photography, but it is nice to have a cheaper source of film for my daily experimentation. If I begin to find sratches in my negs I would replace the reloadable cassettes with new ones.