Range-rover
Veteran
Congrats Cal, It's great when you get something real good for cheap or free, like in my case the H/P B9180 and Free the Minolta
28mm M that I use on my Leica, I feel bad for Maggie it's taller
than her as well I think?
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
I'm gearing up for it. At Jon Cone's Piezopress he does 90% of his online print orders with 3880's and 7880's.
I already own a 3880 and now a 7800.
The 7800 did well with my testing and basically it is a nine year old printer that only made 1802 prints before I got it. My concerns about clogs were relieved when I was able to make 5 good test pages in a row and perform a head alignment.
I performed an initial fill with Peizoflush to clean out any deposits and to store the printer safely untill I can get funds for a big load of paper and ink. The surprise was that the new refillable carts are about 350ml or more and that I literally used almost the entire gallon of Piezoflush that cost me $320.00 alone.
Anyways now I have a "Monster Printer." LOL.
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
I'm happy you picked that thing up Cal. Now you have real print options!
I'm fully moved now, but still living between the boxes, and having a hard time finding stuff.
I'm fully moved now, but still living between the boxes, and having a hard time finding stuff.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Christian,
Haven't figured out a name for the "Monster Printer" yet.
Some of the options for the future will be making digital negatives for contact printing. Jon Cone has a turn-key sistem for silver wet printing that requires that I only have to change out two ink carts and flush the two lines to be able to print onto clear overhead projection film with the piezogrphy system I am currently running. Of course I'll need a vacuum frame and a studio sized darkroom that can handle 24x36 inch prints.
Meanwhile I can make Piezography B&W prints as proofs.
I'm thinking this is where I want to go, at least for my urban landscape work. Looks like I'll need a very serious scanner eventually. I have about a three year timeline.
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
Cal,
Before you name it consider they make even larger printers. So name it for the second largest thing you can think of, so there is room to grow.
I think the biggest challenge with large wet prints is washing and drying. There are ways of improvising, but that becomes a pain when you want to print a lot.
Before you name it consider they make even larger printers. So name it for the second largest thing you can think of, so there is room to grow.
I think the biggest challenge with large wet prints is washing and drying. There are ways of improvising, but that becomes a pain when you want to print a lot.
SuperUJ
Well-known
Cal,
I can help avoid your 7800 from clogging by buying your printing service once you hone in your printing skills.
Hey, I was told that my M246 is on its way. Can you please explain to me one more time why do you put on a yellow filter when you use your MM? I use yellow filter for boosting contrast on my B&W films. Is it the same reason, or you have some technical reasons specifically for the MM sensors?
Thanks,
John
JMQ
Well-known
John, please bring your M246 to the meet. Thx, Jean-Marc
I've decided against the Q. Someone else will have to buy one and bring it to the meet-up. 
I guess I'm a DSLR guy now. My membership has been revoked.
I guess I'm a DSLR guy now. My membership has been revoked.Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Christian,
I realize the space constraints and have been obsessing about it a lot. Pretty much need to rent real commercial space. A vacuum frame is also kinda big and heavy, although by commercial standards a vacumm frame for 24x36 is kinda small.
A friend has some commercial space in LIC, and currently rent is is pretty stiff and more than what I pay for living space in Madhattan. Maggie could also use the commercial space for office and to warehouse her clothes. Anyways it would be like reverting back to when I was in art school. Then there is the last frontier that hasn't been conquered by hipsters yet: the South Bronx like say Mott Haven. I brought Maggie there to shoot her under the Bruckner, and she like the area, but it is very different around dusk and at night.
Perhaps the new name for my 7800 will be "M.J." Kinda has a ghetto twist and is short for "Monster Junior." LOL. A 9800 or 9880 is the real printer weighing in at 200 pounds. Came pretty close to picking up the one at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for free. Already I kinda regret not getting it and putting it into public storage for some future use, but at this time I need to keep my ammo dry.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I've decided against the Q. Someone else will have to buy one and bring it to the meet-up.
John,
Whatever is good for you. It also is a lot of money.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
Speciffically I use Heliopan 2X yellow filters on my Monochrom that are marked "DIGITAL." It seems that "Digital" Heliopan filters have additional IR and UV filters built into them and this removes light that otherwise adds to noise on the sensor.
The M-246 has a wider dynamic range than the Monochrom and using yellow filters compresses the signal as to not overwelm the Monochrom's sensor with too much signal and exceeding the sensor's range.
I use the 1% clipping indicators and ran tests to see how yellow filters effect the contrast range. Pretty much early on I discovered how it either eliminated clipping or severely minimized clipping allowing me to make broader histograms that were more exposed to the right for a better signal to noise ratio. Also with perfect exposure I got 10 zone histograms with a broad midrange like in medium format film.
Later I discovered that the Heliopan filters marked "Digital" offered a cool advantage by offering even less noise (unwanted signal) for even better histograms with even less clipping.
If you want I can bring filters so you can compare the same shot to A-B the filters to see the dramatic differences. The histograms and the clipping indicators don't lie. No need for a 27 inch Eizo to see the dramatic differences.
Cal
SuperUJ
Well-known
Range-rover
Veteran
Cal,
You could call it Bigfoot!
Bob
You could call it Bigfoot!
Bob
Exactly Helen. If I'm buying a camera brand new (and at a high price), it better be my new main camera. The Q is nice, but it is more X than M if you get what I mean. I may buy it later on the used market. If a 50mm version came out, I'd spent the money. I just know I'm not using 28mm enough anymore to justify it.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Bob,
"Bigfoot" I'll reserve for a 44 inch 9800 or 9880 when I secure one. LOL.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
The "Q" is a luxury item, don't really need it, but it would be nice to have.
Still a cool camera though.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John the 1% clipping indicators and the histgram tell it all. Basically you are hitting the sweet spot of the Monochrom sensor.
I don't expect the same to happen on the M-246 as much. For me the Monochrom has that film like midrange, while the M-246 has more shadow detail and better highlights.
I totally see why I would want both cameras.
Cal
benmacphoto
Well-known
Great deal on the 7800 printer Cal.
I know you'll put it to good use soon.
Those prints you brought last time were excellent.
I know you'll put it to good use soon.
Those prints you brought last time were excellent.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Ben,
Thanks so much. Kinda crazy printing big, and mucho expensive. I really want to print 20x30 and 24x36 and the 13x19's I showed you were only work prints/proofs. I think I will always print 13X19's to save money. A 13X19 only costs $4.50 for the paper alone, but a 24X36 is almost $14.00. A 50 foot roll only makes 16 prints and costs $220.00 (Jon Cone Type 5 100% Rag with a Baryta coating).
While the ink is about half the cost of Epson OEM per ml I think the Piezography process lays down about twice the amount of ink for that broad tonality. Every two weeks on my 3880 I would have to refil my carts to avoid running my printer dry. Probably printed more prints in 9 months on my 3880 than what was printed on the 7800 in 9 years.
This year's PhotoPlusExpo will have new meaning as a printer.
BTW I only started printing in January even though I have been shooting a Leica Monochrom for over 2 1/2 years.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
I'm also in the opinion and convinced that minimal post processing is best because I'm a lazy slacker. Nailing the contrast at time of exposure is basically easy, and I do think there is something organic about using filters. In my book digital manipulation adds its own look and can add noise to an otherwise clean file.
A ten-zone histogram with either no clipping or severely curbed clipping makes it easy to make a great print.
I'm not good at all with post processing, and I only perform minor tweaks and nothing ever drastic. I let the file speak. Kinda like when I was in art school and made good negatives that I could simply straight print without any burning or dodging. Like I posted above, I only have been printing and using LR5 for the past eight months even though I have owned my Monochrome for over 2 1/2 years. Basically for two years I only used LR5 to upload my images into a computer (Mac). How lazy is that?
Cal