In The Zone: The General Photography Tips, Advice & Shop Talk Thread

[djbadmonkey]

agfa pan 400 is my favorite film. great grain size for a 400, doesn't take forever to print, and combined with "oriental" (brand name) glossy fiber paper they make such beautiful blacks.

who's got some neat paper suggestions? The above mentioned brand along with some interestingly tinted cachet papers are my favorites

[ocd]

I'm curious what the medium format using bots think about the Seagull.

I'm going to get a new camera in the next month or two, and I want either an LCA or a Seagull, and I'd like your opinions on them.

[wonki wonki]

have you considered dedicated film scanners? there were reviews of a couple affordable dedicated film scanners in the may issue of macworld. they talked highly of minolta dimage scan dual III, which cost $300.. i might think about it if i start shooting a lot in film. i hear flatbed scanners are good if you shoot medium format and bigger, but if you are trying to scan in 35mm negs they start running into trouble.

[emilie]

LIGHTING! help me.

[djbadmonkey]

lighting is my uncharted frontier.

i usually work sans strobe.

[Margin Walker]

Originally posted by HwaRang012
Does anybody shoot in film, but scan and print digitally? Been thinking about purchasing a flatbed scanner; so that I don't neglect my film cameras. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Not to dissuade you from buying a scanner, but pretty much any decent photo store (or even a drugstore w/ 1 hr. photo) has scanners you can use for a modest fee. And seeing that most decent scanners will cost at least $100 if not more, you have to ask yourself if it's feasible.

[Margin Walker]

Originally posted by emilie
LIGHTING! help me.

Well, if you're not using a flash you'd do well to adhere to The Sunny F/16 Rule. It states that on a bright, sunny day you keep the f-stop at 16, set the shutter speed to roughly the same speed as the film (ISO 100 = 1/125 shutter speed, etc.). If it's a little overcast, open up to F/11. More than a little overcast, open up to F/8, etc. etc.

djbadmonkey: I was shooting TMX (100) so I made prints on Kodak fiber based paper. Man, it was like night and day switching from the regular Resin Coated (RC) paper to fiber paper that's archivable.

ocd: Wow, that Seagull looks neat. But I think that $250 might be a bit steep. Just today I was at St. Vinnies and they had 3 old Medium format cameras for $15-$25 apiece. Just some roll film and a bit of gaffer tape and you're in business. But this has a number of advantages that those cameras (and the Holga) don't have:
1) it's a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) so you can actually focus the damn thing. Just remember that the focusing lens is above the shutter lens and compose the shot accordingly.
2) you can actually adjust the shutter speed! It pretty much sucks to have a shutter speed that's like the Model T's of old. "You can have any shutter speed you want: as long as it's 1/100"
Personally, I'd check the antique shops in your neck of the woods first. I'd bet that they have older cameras with the same features as the Seagull, but for much cheaper (AND Swiss optics!). The dealers usually don't know shit about cameras or anything mechanical (right now I'm looking at my pachinko machine from the 50's that I picked up for all of $100. I don't know what it's worth, but it's sure more than $100). All they know is that it's old and that people buy old shit to put in their T.G.I.Friday's or wherever. Also, some of those items are there on consignment and the widow or widower doesn't give a damn how much they earn from the sale--as long as they earn something for it. Good luck.

[dimbulb]

i'm still unsure about digital prints even if its shot with a manual camera... to me, a digital print is not as impressive as a print from the darkroom (especially after learning the colour darkroom just of recent)...

[Margin Walker]

BTW, if someone wants a water-damaged Canon EOS Rebel X, send me a PM. I don't know what's wrong with it, but I got it for all of $1 at a garage sale awhile ago. I already have an EOS Elan and a couple of other cameras, so I don't need it. A bit of spring cleaning, don't ya know....

[golivar]

Originally posted by Margin Walker

Less than a year for sure. The color peak is about 6 months after manufaturing, if memory recalls. But like I stated in the Holga thread, it's well worth getting it from a decent camera shop because they refridgerate it. And that keeps the the film's colors looking crisp. I sincerely doubt that any mail-order company would keep their pro packs (what 5-packs are called) on ice.

Film manufacturers actually divide their slide film products into two categories: "professional" and "consumer." The emulsion on pro films (such as Fuji's Provia and Velvia and Kodak's Ektachrome series) is supposedly formulated to be at its peak within a couple months of manufacture, just as you pointed out, MW. The emulsion on consumer films (Fuji Sensia, Kodak Elite Chrome) is formulated to be able to sit on the shelf for a while without any notable loss in quality.

I don't know how much of this is just marketing, because I've used pro slide films that were over a year past the supposed expiration date and gotten great results, even with pushing a stop. I keep all my film (slide, neg, and B&W) in my freezer, as the consensus is that this greatly increases the films' shelf life.

[dimbulb]

does anyone know the name of that tape they use to block off blank areas on slides so it appears black when the slide's show on a projector? (i'm doing documentation of my paintings... )

[Robocon^^]

I don't think it has a fancy name...I just asked for slide masking tape at the shop and they knew what I was talking about.

If possible, when you get your slides done, ask to get them put them in carriers that allow you to slide the film out. Don't get the paper ones that permanantly sandwich the film. You can mask off the image better if you take the film out and get the tape nice and flat and then put them back in the carrier. Looks cleaner too. If the tape isn't sealed on well, you'll get a halo around your image when it's projected.

[remotecontrolalligator]

film for use in the dark, is there any specific brand i should buy? not really pitch black dark, but darker settings, outside at night and such.

thanks.

[Robocon^^]

For night shots. I use plain jane 100 ISO, a tripod, and go for long exposure.
Slower film helps because it gives you greater latitude in exposure time, so you'll have a better chance of getting a useable image. Long exposures introduce reciprocity failure where you get color shifts that add a degree of unexpected color that you don't pick up with your naked eye. And finally, slow film has less grain.

And do try shooting in close to pitch black situations if your camera has a BULB setting. A cable release is a good so you can trigger the shutter and keep it locked open without shaking the camera. Bring along some artificial light sources like flashlights and handheld strobes and you can walk around illuminating dark corners or "paint" with light while the shutter is open.

Of course I'm speaking to one type of night shot. If you were doing surveilance photos or tabloid photography, you'd probably go with something speedy like 3200.

[remotecontrolalligator]

cool thanks. yeah, i've been using 400 for night shots, just because its what i have had, and yes, the black isn't very black, and lots of grainy uglyness. i do use my tripod though.

the shots i'm going for are just shots taken outside at night. one night it was a full moon, so it was pretty bright outside, along with street lights from around the area and such. the shots still come out shitty though. is there such thing as too much exposure in that particular situation? my train of thought is the longer the exposure that more detail in the color. but now that i think about it, that's probably why my night shots come out so crappy? maybe too much light?