New Member – Introduction

[joshmlevine]

Hello All,

I have been lurking here for a few months and thought it was about time I introduced myself and got to some posting!
I am relatively new to photography, rangefinders in particular and have found this site a fantastic source of information.
At the moment I have mainly been shooting with a Bessa R and 50/2.5 Color Skopar using Ilford HP5+ developed in Ilfotec HC.
I have just purchased a scanner and am uploading photos to my Flickr site (I will be gradually adding them to my gallery here too).
I would greatly appreciate any comments, critique and advice!

Thanks,
Josh Levine

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

Welcome to the forum.

What specific questions do you want answered? Answers are $1.00 each, correct answers are $5.00 each.

Wayne

P.S. This is tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor.

 

[SteveM_NJ]

dumb looks are still free - and plentiful.

 

[Fred]

Welcom Josh, the Bessa R and Skopar is a fine package. May it give you many years service and fine photos.

What scanner do you have for scanning the film? I use HP5 a lot but tend to scan from wet prints I've made in the darkroom on a flat bed (scanner that is).

 

[sf]

Hi, Josh. Welcome to RFF. Like your work.

 

[Andrew Touchon]

Welcome to the forum. 🙂

 

[Brad Bireley]

Welcome! Nice shots on your site.

 

[rover]

Nice little outfit Josh, with the film and developer too. Welcome.

 

[Rafael]

Welcome to the forum Josh. For someone who is "relatively new to photography, rangefinders in particular" you have sure taken some great shots. I look forward to seeing more of them.

 

[peter_n]

Welcome to the forum Josh, nice stuff on your site! I liked the ones in the market.

 

[ray_g]

Hello, Josh. Welcome!

 

[RicardoD]

Hi Josh, welcome.

Nice shots. You are out there shooting which is better than me at the moment but I finally got my three camera working now and just bought a 3 pack of 400CN at Target so I have no excuses now.

 

[joshmlevine]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

The Bessa and lens are great, but I do forsee myself making the move to Leica one day (don't we all), as I find the shutter (both noise, and the amount it shakes the camera) to be frustrating.
I have already added a 90/3.5 and 35/1.7 to the collection, as well as an Electro 35 (which has some fungus I am going to have to try and remove).
I have been developing in the darkroom run by Photosoc at my university, but am gathering together the gear to do it in the comfort of my own bathroom, with stainless reels, since the plastic Patterson reels always seem to give me problems.
The scanner I am using is a Canon 8400F flatbed, I was looking at getting a Minolta Dual-Scan IV but they have become hard to find, and are incredibly overpriced on eBay.
While the quality may not be as good as a dedicated scanner, it allows me to scan more negatives in one go, at a quality suitable for viewing on the computer.
For prints, I prefer conventional wet prints, although my ability leaves much to be desired, something else to learn to do well!
I have just sent off some Velvia 100F, shot in a friends Xpan for processing, and will upload some scans when it comes back.

Josh

 

[Fred]

Josh,

The 90 f3.5 is one of the real bargains at the moment as far as optical and build quality for the money are concerned. It's also very light. This was a big shock when I first saw the results. The 35 1.7 to me anyway has wonderful sharpness and a lovely glow in B&W prints.

You have a good set up there, keep posting some more of your work.

 

[markinlondon]

Hi,

Josh, nice outfit and nice pictures. Strangely you have exactly the same Bessa outfit I was using until about two years ago. You didn't buy your 35 Ultron recently from Aperture by any chance?

Mark

 

[Jocko]

Excellent pictures! Welcome Josh!

Cheers, Ian

 

[nomade]

Nice work there, welcome Josh...

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Hi Josh
welcome to RFF
I like the way you title your images some dry humour there 😀
I like the one "Eat Stairs"

Simon

 

[joshmlevine]

Thanks for the comments.
The 90/3.5 was a great deal, although I have only shot a few frames with it so far, I look forward to using it more.
The 35/1.7 is on its way, and not from Aperture, as I am getting more comfortable and moving closer i am finding the 50mm too narrow, so got the 35mm to try out.
I have exams coming up so am going to have to cut down on the photography (and the impressive amount of time spend on this site!), cant wait for a summer of rangefinders, bulk film and developer!

Josh

 

[joshmlevine]

I have subscribed for full forum membership, and am in the process of uploading some photos to my gallery here.
Please do have a look (see link in signature), any comments or critique are most appreciated.

Thanks,