Another walk around the neighborhood

[LarryD]

Dennis
 That problem might not be in the legs. I have one eye that slants and causes this problem.... Well that is what I told my Photo professor one time.

[jamesmck]

I've used that F3 for 30 years now, with a couple of CLAs.  It is to me the best full-featured MF SLR on the market. 

Dennis - Just curious.  What does the F3 give you that an OM-1 or OM-2 would not?  Congrats on getting a camera up on that left hand.  For digital, and in anticipation of the right shoulder surgery, your next free bucks might go toward a featherweight micro-4/3 camera such as the Lumix G3 or the new Olympus OM-D :cool:.

James

[Dennis Gallus]

Hi, James,

The F3 does have a removable prism, so one has the choice of various waist-level and magnifying finders.  I've used my waist-level on several occasions.  Changing focusing screens is easy when the prism comes off, and Nikon provides a great variety of them.  And the F3 accepts the MD-4, a true motor drive, not a winder.  The manual shutter speed drive includes a T setting, great for those star trail shots and other time exposures.  Finally, the F3 has a multiple exposure switch that disconnects the film advance.

By the time you and I started taking pictures together in June, 2008 I had succumbed to the OM-allure of quality, compactness, light weight, and a nice overall "feel".  But sometimes, it's good to go back to a true heavyweight 35mm SLR, and that's the F3.

While I'm pontificating, has anyone been getting high-quality color film development anymore?  Of the past 6 or 8 rolls I've had done at Costco in Tucson, only one was as good as I remember it should be.  Of all the others, various problems, but mostly a lack of mid-tones.  I had to do a lot of PS on the pictures I posted on this thread.  I suspect that the chemicals do not get changed often enough anymore.  In addition, the workmanship is bad:  Overlapping frames on the CD of the scans, mis-treated negatives, etc.  We all expected this to happen eventually, and I think that the future is now.

Best,
Dennis

[Kalkadan]

Dennis

Your comment on C41 negative development and scanning struck a chord.  Last Friday I received some Kodak 400CN and colour neg (Fujifilm I think - away from my own computer right now).  I was shocked at the scans.  The 400CN was taken with the Hexar AF and I could not believe the 'harsh' scans.  Felt like weeping.  But I dried my eyes and ran the negatives through the Epson V700, and voila!  Much better.  The tones and sharpness I had expected from that Hexar f2.0 35mm lens which had never let me down before.  

So in that case it was not entirely the developing but mainly the scanning (from a machine alleged to be far, far superior to a flatbed).  The colour neg scans were also pretty awful.  Most of it down to me.  Just lousy captures.  But there was one in particular which irked me (taken with the venerable Nikon F801s - 8008s in USA) so I ran that negative through the V700 and once again with just a touch of this and a touch of that in Aperture (no colour tweaks - I'm not on top of that yet) it came to life as I remembered the scene.

I had  similar results with some scans of E6 Fujichrome.  And they came up much better with the V700 - and in that case (within the last year) it was a different lab entirely - and supposedly a pro lab.

In fact, now that I have the film height adjusted correctly on the V700 I am getting scans that are starting to enable me to see, quite clearly, the difference in quality or characteristics between the lenses of different manufacturers (I had never heard the expression "how a lens draws" until I started inhabiting photo forums).

I am seriously thinking of abandoning colour neg and b&w C41 film and using the digital cameras for colour.  Although I am just about to collect some Velvia 50 which has been developed and scanned ....... this could tip me over the edge ;-)

[Dennis Gallus]

Dan,

Thanks for the hint.  I have an Epson 4990 flat bed scanner, and I will try running some of my negatives to see if I get a different result than what the film processor gave me.  I'll bet that you are right. 

Although Costco (Price Club) has served me well for film processing during the past six years, I have run into some clerks recently who did not know how to set up the scanner for B&W negs, or how to set up the CD burner.  Costco maintains that film is now less than 10 percent of their photo counter business, and they are only staying in the business to provide a "service".  I imagine that means that when the Fuji scanners die, they will not be replaced.

I hope that you got the PM I sent last week.  If not, I'll resend.

Best,
Dennis

[Kalkadan]

Dennis - received.  thanks.

[Major Black]

Dennis, glad you are on the mend. I love the wood abstract, has some of the same movement in Van Gogh's Starry Night.