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  #31  
Old 21st March 2017, 10:57 AM
silverphoton silverphoton is offline
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QUOTE=SvendN;113620]Clicking "Quote" in the bottom right of a existing post enters that quote into a new composition. If you want to insert a second or third quote, etc., you can copy the relevant text, paste it into your new composition, then highlight the just-pasted text and click the "Wrap quote marks around selected text" button in the toolbar above (it's the 4th from right on the bottom row, the little text bubble icon).
Thanks so much for this, I thought I was losing my mind not being able to figure it out.

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Re. the enlarger, I ended up with a Beseler 23CII-XL, virtually new, and the seller included a Nikkor 80mm and a nice Gralab digital timer. I had a 23C years ago and loved it, so it was an easy choice. This one has the taller column so can do 16x20 on the baseboard - nice! And now that I have a 6x9 camera it's even sweeter, as the Beseler can handle that neg size.
Sounds like you got a good deal and being able to do 16x20 on the baseboard-nice. I have an older Beseler mxt It's a little gnarly, came with the colour head so I can try split printing. It was fun getting it home in the Yaris.. Thanks again for the quotation help!
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  #32  
Old 21st March 2017, 03:09 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Those Beseler MXT's and 23C series machines are bombproof. Gnarly or not, they are functional, solid and rugged. What they lack in sophistication and fine machining they more than make up for in solidity and great performance. I love the 23C model, and if I ever go to 4x5 I will get an MXT straight away without even thinking about it.
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  #33  
Old 23rd March 2017, 09:30 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Originally Posted by SvendN View Post
...I am still undecided about the lenses. Their resolution is very good, but they just seem to lack the bite and crispness of the German optics. Microcontrast, I think they call it. I am trying to overcome that by experimenting with acutance developers such as dilute Perceptol and Rodinal, paired with traditional grain films like Pan-F, FP4, HP5 -- something to give me a bit more edge bite. Past films in this camera have been mostly TMY-2 in D-76 @ 1+1, which have turned out extremely smooth tonally, but lacking some fine detail. The best yet has been Pan-F in Rodinal 1+50 with reduced agitation - very sharp, lots of fine detail, and beautiful tonally. That tells me the lenses seem to be capable of resolving well, but I just need to choose the film/developer that gives me the look that I want. More info in a few months when I get more experience with the C-330.
Andy - a quick update here. I took a look at some more images shot over the past year with the Mamiya with its various lenses. And then I also compared a couple of test rolls I shot with the Mamiya's 55mm to the same scene shot with the Rolleiflex 3.5C Xenotar -- same film, same developer, same tank even. Interesting findings...

It seems most of my reservations re. the Mamiya lenses arose from one lens in particular -- an older silver bezel 105mm. Shots with the newer black body 55mm, 80mm and 180mm are outstanding. Very sharp, very crisp contrast. Especially the 55mm. Wow - I am impressed! The older 105mm, on the other hand, seems to lack that bite and super fine resolving detail that the others have.

Comparing the 55mm Mamiya to the Schneider Xenotar, it compares extremely favourably indeed. Much better than I expected. The Schneider is a titch sharper, no doubt, and seems to have more contrast. But the Mamiya 55mm really is extremely good.

As always, the usual caveats apply -- unscientific tests...etc., etc., etc.... These are just some impressions I wanted to share with you.

BTW, the Rolleiflex/Mamiya test rolls were simple HP5 done in ID-11 @ 1+1. That film just continues to impress me as to how sharp it can be and how much fine detail it can resolve. Remarkable.

Hope this helps when pondering your choices re. getting a medium format camera.

Regards,
Svend
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  #34  
Old 24th March 2017, 12:45 AM
silverphoton silverphoton is offline
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Svend,

glad to hear of the developments (excuse the pun) regarding the C330 lenses. I like practical real world tests, who cares what you can see under a microscope. I found this site http://www.photographersgarden.com/mamiya-c330/ You may have seen it before. The lenses seemed to perform well compared to a Mamiya 6. Which 105 did you have? It seems there is some variability within a particular model of a lens, those Friday afternoon lenses. It will be interesting to see how they stack up against the Rolliflexes, though 98% of people viewing a print would be none the wiser.


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  #35  
Old 24th March 2017, 01:14 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Andy, the early C-series lenses had a silver bezel around the lens barrel, and silver front piece (the bit where the filters screw into). Later lenses were all black. There were several versions of the latter, the most recent having a blue dot on the shutter cocking lever. The 105mm in question is one of the early silver ones.

Thanks for the link -- I recall reading it, but will refresh my memory later today.

Cheers,
Svend

Edit -- just looked that your link (couldn't resist). It seems the early silver bezel 105's were 4-element, whereas later ones were 5-element. All other black-finish lenses were 5-element or more, save the 135mm which is a 4-element Tessar. That seems to explain my own observations re. the old 105, and why it doesn't resolve as well as the others. Thanks for posting that.

Last edited by Svend; 24th March 2017 at 01:37 PM.
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  #36  
Old 26th March 2017, 11:13 AM
silverphoton silverphoton is offline
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Edit -- just looked that your link (couldn't resist). It seems the early silver bezel 105's were 4-element, whereas later ones were 5-element. All other black-finish lenses were 5-element or more, save the 135mm which is a 4-element Tessar. That seems to explain my own observations re. the old 105, and why it doesn't resolve as well as the others. Thanks for posting that.
Svend, glad to hear the site was of some help, a mental note has been made with regards to the silver bezel 105 lens. I'm sure this lens would be great for people doing portrait work or weddings which I think was probably the market Mamiya twin lens reflexes were probably aimed at. I vaguely remember a presentation at a camera club in my youth where the presenter mentioned brides and models don't want to see every pore. I guess he could have been talking about diffusion too! It was so long ago.
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  #37  
Old 26th March 2017, 09:04 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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The 105 has very nice smooth tonality. I really like the lens....for certain scenes. Much of what I've done with that camera has been landscapes and nature, and for those scenes I really do want something sharper and I am realizing that the old 105 doesn't cut it for that. But for city/urban stuff and people pictures it is great.

On that theme, one of my favourite lenses is beginning to be the simple little 3-element Apotar in my Agfa Isolette folder. Every time I look at a photo made with it I am struck by how smooth and silky the tones look. It resolves well when stopped down -- it's no Planar or Xenotar, but pretty darn good for a triplet. But it's the tonality that it produces that is so unique. I love it. Makes images somehow look richer and deeper. Hard to describe. I've been meaning to sell the camera, but I'm seriously having second thoughts now. I put a couple of rolls of colour neg film through it last summer (Fuji Pro 400H), and just got around to scanning some last week -- WOW! Just amazing colours. All pastel and soft and muted, but zoom in and there's all the sharpness you'd need. Wonderful! This little camera will definitely get me shooting colour in a serious way, which I've never done before. Looking forward to it...

I'd bet the old 105 Mamiya would make a great lens for colour neg films too.

Cheers,
Svend
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  #38  
Old 29th March 2017, 12:28 AM
silverphoton silverphoton is offline
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Show us the pictures then Svend.��
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  #39  
Old 29th March 2017, 12:58 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Not allowed to post film scans here, only scans of darkroom prints

And I don't print in colour... And I don't have any darkroom prints from this camera. Sorry...

But if you want to take a look, send me a PM with your email address and I'll punt a couple over to you. Happy to oblige.

Svend
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  #40  
Old 30th March 2017, 12:00 AM
silverphoton silverphoton is offline
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Originally Posted by SvendN View Post
Not allowed to post film scans here, only scans of darkroom prints

And I don't print in colour... And I don't have any darkroom prints from this camera. Sorry...

But if you want to take a look, send me a PM with your email address and I'll punt a couple over to you. Happy to oblige.

Svend
Svend, forgot about the film scan rule. Will send you a pm.
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