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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
02-19-2021, 06:31 PM
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They charge "extra" for ECN-2 because it is not plain vanilla C-41. Your thought is interesting.
The formula for ECN-2 is well known, basic color neg stuff plus the remjet removal prebath. It uses CD-3 developer, which went the way of the dodo bird many years ago. C-41 uses CD-4, I believe.
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
02-18-2021, 07:15 PM
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When you said, "In Florida," I immediately thought of the old Dale Labs. I think they were in Hollywood. Not CA, FL. Like the old Seattle Filmworks, foisting ECN-2 films onto the public.
Obviously a very different, very Millennial crew. Good for them.
If you want to process your own ECN-2, it's not really that hard. Just like C-41, temperature control in the developer is quasi-critical, but not as much as the specs demand. Especially if you post process digitally, you can correct.
There's the "Quiet, we're dreaming" kit, $50 at Freestyle: QWD ECN-2 Home Processing Kit to make 1 Liter | Freestyle Photo & Imaging
Ultrafine has a "bare bones kit" wherein you supply your own stop bath and fixer, they supply the prebath and developer. $30
Ultrafine Motipix Economy ECN-2 Processing Kit 1 Ltr. - Color Photo Chemistry |
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
02-21-2019, 09:38 AM
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Came across this thread while looking for something else.
Back in the 1980's I lived in LA which had a robust industry using old movie film ends repackaged and processed. What the (in)famous Seattle film works did. Unlike someone above says, this is not reversal. The film is intended to be made into reversal internegatives so that the original won't be damaged, then from the internegs to "prints." Meaning what gets projected. That is how the ECN-2 slides are made but w/o the interneg step.
Because the film and the print film are matched, slides came out great. Paper prints, not so much. Flat. But the cost was low, and I drove to Identicolor many a Saturday morning to drop off and pickup film.
So naturally I just had to try home processing in my C-41 chemistry. Crudest of temperature control. Rem-jet removal by paper towel, today's microfiber clothes would be perfect. But there were perfectly good images. I don't recall if I ever sent any in for printing, nor did I do my own color print process.
But today we have scanners and the hybrid workflow. A host of sins that can be easily corrected. I would think that this then becomes very doable. As some ask, why bother? Well, because it's just fun to experiment, isn't it? I'm just starting my film stuff back up after three years and I have a couple of rolls of FPP 500T which I will give a try someday.
Oh, C-41 uses CD-4, not CD-2.
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Forum: General Talk
03-01-2016, 07:39 AM
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I agree. I'm glad I didn't know all this when I bought my K-S2 a few months ago. IIRC, Adorama was a lot more, maybe $50. I have found Adorama's inkjet paper prices outstanding, with many specials frequently. Their Wiki article is suspiciously glowing, sounds like it was written by them. No mention of labor issues, but I'd find it hard to believe that within that tight Hassidic community they would be very different. After all and at the least, their views about women are universal.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-11-2016, 07:35 AM
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Haven't used it outside and won't be doing so in the near future. I'm using it as a tether while I'm w/o internet service for a few weeks. But I wouldn't think it any better or worse than any other phone. Speaking of, what is a BLU phone?
I lived in Florida until September. Now, an unwilling Texan.
---------- Post added 02-11-16 at 08:46 AM ----------
WP sales are better outside of the USA. There have been huge, obvious marketing errors over many models made both by Nokia and MS. Of the carriers, only ATT seems to have supported the brand with more new models and high end ones. Others, very spotty, or initially supported and then ceased, in as little time as three months. Abandoned. MS does nothing to market the phones, zilch.
The biggest problem is the store sales people. They know what they know and don't want to discover an alternative, and perhaps better option. Easier to be dismissive. The woman at the MetroPCS store the other day is a perfect example. She commented that when they had some WP models, she found them hard to use. The reality, is that WP is much easier to use, but her mind was set!
If I had an old(er) friend or relative wanting their first smartphone, I'm positive that WP would be their best option, easiest to learn.
OK, 'nuff fan boy stuff here....
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-10-2016, 07:53 AM
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It so happens that I got a new account and phone. While I haven't tried it out, the app opens to a screen with functions, whereas all I got before was black blank. Encouraging.
Frankly, though, I find having to carry and use a rather big, fragile thing around for the functions annoying at the least. The LG Leon I got was the smallest and least expensive available at the store. This is a data only line, so I'll not be carrying it around unless I intend to do so at a given time.
Off topic, but after using Windows Phone for several years, Android is kinda like going back to DOS or something. Static icons instead of live tiles, over crowded information bar at the top, etc., etc. (Maybe not a great comparison, I loved DOS and was pretty good at it.)
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-07-2016, 01:18 PM
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Thank you normhead for saying what I often do myself. The gearheads forget that gear is supposed to be used, not compared to excruciating details. I remember when the Minolta A1 I had died with its DR of 14:1, the newer A2 only had 12. Did I ever notice that loss? No. People on the printer forums go on comparing this ink or printer or the other one. But, I ask you, have you ever gone into an art gallery and found the same image printed on Paper/Ink 1 and Paper/Ink2 side by side? Of course not. Short of real defect, our brains compensate for a lot.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-07-2016, 08:42 AM
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Since the reviews here are page after page and not all on one page, I'm not prone to wanting to locate it. But it's there. It definitely isn't an autolevel function, which the camera does provide in settings.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-03-2016, 09:57 AM
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I've been through Sinaloa on the train and stayed and played in Los Mochis - where El Chapo was recaptured - and nearby beach towns in 2004. Later that year I drove my Jeep into the Copper Canyon, but as much as I wanted to, did not drive on through Sinaloa. Even stupid me can be smart occasionally. And 2004 was pretty safe compared to now.
Cd. Acuna, Estado Coahilla, seems relatively isolated, both geologically and in the drug wars, from most of Mexico.
A friend of mine goes in and out of Tijuana for dental work, doesn't think it unsafe for that purpose.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
02-03-2016, 09:45 AM
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Just had a similar "blind as a bat" moment here a week ago about customizing JPEG contrast, etc. A kind soul pointed out how to do it.
Modern cameras, as I've learned, are exceedingly complex in terms of the menu options. Even when one has the full manual printed out, things can escape us. Or, the most frustrating, "I KNOW I saw a screen to change that! Where is it?"
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-01-2016, 08:17 PM
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All I can say is that when I grew up in the world of photography, a "bokeh" was a flower arrangement.
The so-called Masters never heard of this, I suspect.
Go make some good images.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-01-2016, 08:13 PM
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Alternatively, buy a Square Trade warranty. Not expensive, 5 day turn around or they pay you back what you paid for the camera. Covers spills and drops and not just malfunctions.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-01-2016, 08:08 PM
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Many years ago my daughters gave me some money at Christmas with the express intention that I should buy something photographic. I remember buying a 28mm Albion? lens from Porter Camera for, I think, $40. What an eye opener! Years later I wound up with a Ricoh programmed version of the same lens. And along the way, my Minolta D7, A1, and A2 digicams had that equivalent focal length with their fixed lenses.
The bottom line is that I will never own a fixed lens camera, or generic camera/lens that doesn't give a 28mm 35mm equivalent. Which is why I bought the 18-50 mm kit lens for my K-S2, and use a Sigma 18-200 "most of the time" lens.
Marketing has made Zoom! 10X! 30X! Whatever digital zoom X! as features in still and video. I've used extreme zoom once for every fifty times I've used wide angle.
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Forum: Photo Critique
02-01-2016, 07:57 PM
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The advices are excellent.
Convert it to B&W, too. See what you think. You can have both!
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
02-01-2016, 07:55 PM
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Austin. Home of independent thinkers. Well, maybe just moreso that most of Texas.
Myself, a new resident because two of three daughters are near. Since I came from a waterfront home in Florida, I definitely do not find Austin great. Just another crowded, expensive city. Could be any number of other American cities. And Texas, what a weird culture. And the way they do things. Or, not. But, family over all else, I guess. Especially as I go into my dotage. ("My bedpan needs changing.")
Five minutes from me, coincidentally, is Precision Camera on Anderson. While they don't display Pentax, it is probably one of the last great bricks and mortar stores in America. While I don't need the services, a separate Pro department and rentals of all kinds of gear, still and video.
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Forum: General Talk
02-01-2016, 07:42 PM
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Surely many of us remember the days when trying to buy a camera from one of the big NYC houses was a horror. Bait and switch, sold only with these accessories which will cost a fortune, etc, etc. It was as big a problem for the magazines like Pop and Modern Photography, since the stores were their income streams, and the readers their audience.
Many people found their experiences justification for their anti-Semitism. Most of them were Jewish owned.
It's been decades since I've reluctantly dealt with those stores. Some years later now pop up B&H and Adorama. From a consumer side, 100% reputable. I've never seen a legitimate bad review of these major players. I use both. And obviously Jewish owned by the shutting down for Shabbat. Good for them.
That doesn't mean things couldn't be better for the employees. I'm guessing that both companies have at least ten times the fifty walking out employees. It takes a lot of guts to participate in a walk out, even if company owners no longer call in the National Guard or Wackenhut. Learn about women and children killed in the Ludlow Massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre
American Jews have a long history supporting the labor movement, yet it sounds like B&H are not looking for solutions. This is an interesting situation which I will try to learn more.
Overall, I am pro-union. But I learned a long time ago that companies that really work hard to have good relationships with their employees seldom see a union rep darken their door ways.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
02-01-2016, 07:27 PM
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Well, if a full second is too long for you, just touch the shutter button. Gone.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
02-01-2016, 07:19 PM
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"Necro this thread........" Wow, very creative.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-01-2016, 07:13 PM
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And my luck. Actually, very much not the first time I've done this. In fact, I'd be more leary in an American bar. People here are so ready to look for trouble. Mexicans just glance my way, move on. Very generalized, of course.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-01-2016, 07:10 PM
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It just so happened that I was reading the review of my K-S2 here again and discovered that the standard 11 points for my camera is essentially fancy-shmancy for center weighted. A defined box in the middle of the image with two wings out. Makes sense to me. Now that I'm enlightened.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-01-2016, 06:55 PM
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I blurted a Ha! out so loud and involuntarily, everyone turned and looked. A major funny...............because it is so true. And always has been.
---------- Post added 02-01-16 at 08:07 PM ----------
I got an extra battery with mine from B&H for $11. If you don't use Live View much, it's of amazing capacity. OTOH, if you do............. Actually, still pretty good.
Large capacity SD cards are cheap. I'm using basic Class 10, and as the review of the K-S2 shows, there's no reason to buy the very expensive U class cards. The performance difference is negligible. It seems to me that presently 32GB cards are at the price sweet point. Smaller and larger cards cost more per GB. YMMV. I got a Toshiba FlashAir 32GB wifi card for under $30. Why? The built in wifi and Image Sync is a crap shoot, and my shoot crapped. Not working with my Android.
A good strap. Got some nice ones on eBay for under $4. I have no tolerance for the classic camera strap body attachment wherein it essentially becomes permanent. I have, for decades, threaded one of those split steel key rings through the camera's slot and then affixed whatever strap to that. Some of my straps have clip ends, so that's direct. I got some small spring clip on two ends hooks at Lowe's for $5 for use with conventional straps. There are many situations I don't want a strap, so this solves that.
But the most important accessory is.......................you. Your eyes, your brain, your expertise with your camera. Boy, so many mile to go on that latter criteria!
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
02-01-2016, 06:52 PM
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Before buying my K-S2, I looked at reviews on the major sites. Of course. And now I'm rereading them to better understand this amazing tool.
I do believe there is an error in the reporting of the Clarity Enhancement option. Adam likens it to a Dmin bump, which is actually another setting option. (And with the corresponding Dmax reduction, should result in a nice "S curve" levels.)
Anyway, I'm positive by both the manual's description and logical deduction that Clarity Enhancement has nothing to do with levels, but with micro contrast in the image. The concept is nothing new, certain film and developers gave heightened micro contrast due to edge effects at very fine, almost granular frequencies.
In digital processing it is presented in different programs under different names, or even no name at all, just built into the "Auto Fix" types of controls. Or lack, thereof. I discovered it in Canon's My Image Garden, a decidedly, um, unprofessional program. But it's there because if you have a picture that is, say, well exposed in the background, but the subject matter is in shade, it can pop the foreground up to normal levels w/o touching the background. This is not a curves or gamma adjustment, which I'm quite familiar with and their looks.
Anyway, didn't mean to ramble. And if I'm wrong about any of this, please tell me.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
01-29-2016, 06:46 AM
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Yes, the Isaacson bio. Fascinating. As he went through the chronology of computer technology, it was a nice walk down memory lane. I was a geek before we used the term.
I gained a lot of new respect for Jobs, such as his concept of breaking the music industry down to selling individual songs.
I've always appreciated his sense of esthetics.
Although not touched on much in the book was the taking of Xerox's GUI interface, the theft of open source OS and programs and making them his. Linux/BSD to OS, Webkit to Safari.
Learned he also stole ideas from his employees after calling them s**t.
And, finally, probably a first class psycho in human relationships and diet. Probably fit several entries in the DSM.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-28-2016, 07:50 PM
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Square Trade?
I have no idea of their repair competency, but from what I've been reading here, it has to be better than the official repair channels. They claim a five day turn around for repairs.
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Forum: Pentax K-S1 & K-S2
01-28-2016, 07:33 PM
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