I wanted to write a follow-up to my post last week about whether it was worth moving from my Epson V550 to a mirrorless camera scanning setup. My main issue (and one many others seem to have) is that flatbed scans are inherently soft, so I wanted to determine whether there would be a significant jump in quality if I made the switch.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogCommunity/s/EvzH3sDa7H

While I’d love to be able to invest in a dedicated camera scanning setup right now, I already have a V550 on hand, so I decided to dig a little deeper first. I came across this video by the GOAT, Kyle McDougall, where he explains his workflow for sharpening 35mm scans:

https://youtu.be/dYcQX5cGaIs?si=nY1pnKHMiBRGPa8E

That led me down a rabbit hole of studying the TK9 Web Sharpener action, testing different sharpening methods, and building an action specifically around Epson flatbed scans.

The goal wasn’t to create fake detail, it was to maximize the detail that was already present in the scan while keeping the grain looking natural.

After running a number of comparisons, I think I ended up with a workflow that:

• Produces noticeably crisper scans without obvious halos
• Makes grain appear more defined instead of muddy
• Preserves the film look instead of creating an over-sharpened digital image
• Holds up well after resizing for the web

I’m not claiming this replaces camera scanning. A good mirrorless setup will still resolve more information than a V550.

But if you’re still scanning on an Epson flatbed, I think there’s more performance hiding in these scanners than most people realize.

I’ve attached some before-and-after crops and would love to hear what everyone thinks. If there’s enough interest, I’d also be happy to put together a breakdown of the workflow.

TLDR: Instead of buying a camera scanning setup, I spent a few days optimizing my Epson V550 sharpening workflow. The improvement was bigger than I expected, so I figured I’d share it in case it helps other flatbed users.

My F6 arrived in California last Wednesday for some work, and made it back to me today. I think it shipped last Friday- only one full day at the facility is really good by my standards.

I got a CLA and clock battery change, and I got the LCD unit replaced due to some minor LCD burn. Not something I couldn’t live with, but if these are coming to the end of their service availability , I might as well. Total cost was around $300 plus taxes and shipping back to me.

I figured I should post here in case anyone else was considering sending theirs off for some work.

I recently 3D printed a couple of clip-on light meter covers for my Olympus 35 SP and UC to conserve battery power.

Have you also printed parts and accessories for your collection?

Do you guys prefer to take your nicest camera with you traveling or one you dont mind about getting ruined if something were to happen? I’m traveling abroad in a few weeks, I’m considering taking one of my tiny beginner cameras with me instead of my nice Minolta. The tiny camera is lower quality but way easier to travel with and takes okay enough pics; but my minolta is what gives me so much inspiration, its so much fun to shoot with but its so heavy and I would be beside myself if anything happened to it on this trip. Just want to hear other’s opinions. Thanks! (:

I attended a small community retro thrift sale and saw a bunch of old cameras. As a photographer (that never tried film), of course i went to have a look. There were a bunch of Minoltas, Zenit, half broken polaroids, but these two looked in good condition.

The first that caught my eye was Yashica FX1, it was in perfect condition as well as the Yashinon 50mm f1.7 lens, next to her was the Ricoh KR-10X with a Tokina SZX 28-200mm f/3.5-5.3 with a small dent on the bayonet.
The seller saw me lurking around and told me $30 for both, and i said to myself: "This is the time to try out film photography".

Both cameras needed light seal replacement but i did a DIY with some yarn and black foam filters and it works great with no leaks.

Are those cameras considered a good starting point, i know Ricoh has a Pentax K mount which gives me a plethora of lens options, any to recommend?

I own a Canon AV-1 and never had any problems with it. This time I had Cinestill 800T in as it's my favorite film stock and I took my time with it. I just got the roll back, or the first 17 photos to be precise. I will attach the last photo the lab sent. The camera never malfunctioned that I noticed, and I rewound the film as normal. I truly didn't expect this and I'm a little bit devastated. Since the lab wasn't very helpful, I was really hoping some of you could offer some advice or insight because I really don't want to risk ruining more film. I already replaced the battery even though I'm pretty sure the last one was just fine. Could this have happened due to X-ray scanner damage?

Thanks everyone!

Part of our lilac tree fell down a couple of years ago. Saved some of the branches and finally found a use for it. Made a simple grip for my newest camera purchase.

Fit is rough and homemade but it works 😊

The purple rings in common lilac is very beautiful and first time I've ever seen it.

Now I just need to finish my first roll in this camera and see if it works! It was a good deal on a second hand unit so I took a chance even with the bad reviews the camera has received. Everything feels great so far but the pictures will give the final verdict.

I purchased another micro-nikkor 55mm f/2.8 on eBay - it’s my favorite lens, and I’ve been without one for over 2 years after my last one met an untimely end on a long trip. I’ve actually been very depressed and out of the loop with photography in general having not been able to shoot with it.

Unfortunately, the one I just purchased on eBay arrived with the aperture blades fully stuck. So I had to send it off for servicing. I googled a few places that seemed to offer lens CLA’s, one responded quickly, seemed to be priced fairly, and most importantly - they quoted a quick turnaround time that meant I would have my lens back in time for another trip I am soon leaving on. Perfect! I sent it off to them and let them do their thing.

Everything following after this paragraph is almost verbatim the email I just sent them this morning, describing the situation as currently sits. I will decline to name the repair service at this point as I want to see how they respond and give them a chance to do the right thing, but I would appreciate everyone’s insight on this situation as well. Anyway, here is where we’re at:

I got the lens back the other day and things have been hectic, I just got a chance to look it over this morning. Unfortunately I am noticing what I believe to be a significant issue and I would really appreciate your input on this.

I am looking at the opening of the aperture blades and am noticing that it is irregularly shapen. It is as if the blades are not aligning properly when closing. I do not recall exhibiting similar behavior on examples of the micro-nikkor I have previously owned, either the f/ 3.5 or 2.8 variants. I remember the aperture blades closing down to form a perfectly symmetrically round shape, or as close to one as would be possible with a 7 blade aperture.

I’ve attached photos of the lens stopped down at f/ 4, 5.6, 8, 11, and 16 to help illustrate the issue 

Hello Analog Community! I am a novice photographer, I have got my FED-5C from my grandpa. This thing has sat in a box for probably over 20 or 30 years. The camera works very well, excluding from what you see on the attached image.

The shutter curtain seems to be completely torn, not sure what caused it, if a moth ate it (lol) or it fell apart just from time, but I want to get it fixed. I found this guide on Lomography. They use either glue or liquid rubber to fix the shutter. I am not sure, whether this could be applied on my shutter as well, as you can see it is quite apart...

I tried searching online, but did not come across any other useful guides besides the one mentioned here.

So I am coming here and asking for some help, what can I do. How can I fix this?

EDIT: The photo looks really bad, it was taken at night with a bright lamp. I have uploaded a comment here with a better photo of the damage. Which looks a bit more salvageable in my opinion (?)

Thank you so much!

Hi guys! The shadows for me are too dark is it because the pictures are underexposed or scanning problem? I shoot +1/3 - +2/3 overexposed
Shot on:
Olympus om 2 - zuiko 50mm 1.8 Kodak Gold 200

my light meter on my camera (pentax sp-1000) is faulty, and is not working so ive had to manually meter my photos.

problem is i dont know why they are coming out overexposed. im running them at box speed (i did run some expired fuji c200 that expired in 2015, but i ran that at 100 iso instead of 200 and ran into the same problem) and most of my shots are between 4-16 on the fstop

my shutter speed has been 1/60 of a second for most photos, although the ones around 1/225 seem to have the least amount of overexposure. anything above 1/500 and the shutter is too quick and i miss half the frame

all of these photos are on a roll of harman phoenix II 200, at box speed. shutter speed was 1/60-1/125 on these. fstop for these were between 8 and 16. the photos of 22-30, and the mt washington skyline during the smoke pollution last thursday were on the 16 with the fstop. the photo of mt washington by the parking lot (across the street from the phantom menace vending machine) was taken with the fstop at 11.

all of these photos were taken between 2 and 3:45 in the afternoon on a sunny, but heavy polluted day. (wanted to take film photos of the wildfire smoke pollution)

conversely heres a photo taken with my phone on the same day and same area right after i finished shooting my roll of phoenix II

I ordered an RZ67 Pro II from eBay and I’ve just noticed this on the lens. In the beginning I was thinking it's outside of the lens, like removed coating from the lens, but looks like it's rather inside the lens.

eBay description was:

Beautiful condition.

There is no fog.
There is no fungus.
There is no balsam separation.
There are no scratches.
There are a few dusts.
No problem in the shooting.

Also, since I’m a new user and don’t want to waste any film, I have a question: is it normal behavior that, when I set the shutter release button to the white dot, the mode selector to the white dot (between M and R), and the shutter speed to 1/400, the camera won’t fire without film?

I have the film back attached to the camera. If I don’t remove the metal slide, I get both the middle RED LED and the right ORANGE LED. When I remove the metal slide, I only see the ORANGE LED.

I’ve tried removing the lens and attaching it again, but nothing has changed.

Over a year ago I stumbled on fp-archive, a community-driven initiative where people scan and share images of film packages for design reference, educational and history preservation purposes.

However, accessibility wasn't quite there yet for the general public, as the images were essentially hidden in GitHub folder hierarchy. So, as a designer, engineer and photography hobbyist, I wanted to create a solution.

I made a website that hosts all the scanned images and (hopefully) offers an intuitive user experience to view them. It took me over a year to complete, mainly due to putting it on hiatus, but I'm happy to have finished and share it now. The project is an open source contribution.

Please take a look: http://filmpackagingarchive.com

A few months back I had this camera’s light leaks fixed, so it shouldn’t be an issue. However I’m lost when I search for possible causes. CORRECTION: cinestill was the film

My first roll back that’s a total wash. The lab told me it was an issue with my rewind process as it was all jammed in the canister. I remember fumbling through the rewind, so it makes sense but wanted to double check here. Shot with an Olympus om-1 with xp 2 400 black and white

I really don't know how to ask this without being missunderstood, but here goes...

I would like to know what stills film is most similar in looks (color response?) to the 65 mm film that Nolan used on his daytime exterior shots.

I have seen every Nolan movie since interstellar in imax 70mm and got really fond of the feel and would like to recreate it in my stills.

From what I understand, Kodak recently introduced new 65mm stock, that is very similar to portra 400 in the color response, But this wasn't available when Nolan filmed The Odyssey and his previous movies.

​

https://stephenpersing.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/three-books-by-viggo-mortensen/

His photos look really interesting. One of his books focuses on LoTR.

Hey everyone,

I got an RB67 recently and I tested it out and whatnot. Worked great mechanically.

I went out to try & take photos today and the shutter kinda fired kinda didn’t? It sounded like a weird half click. The mirror clearly moved a bit but then I couldn’t cock it. After some trying to figure it out, here’s what I can say:

Darkslide definitely removed
Won’t fire or cock even with everything removed
Lens shutter/cock is fine
Shutter lock isnt on
It might’ve shot on M but it doesn’t do anything switching to N

I’m hoping it’s a self-fixable issue. Thanks.

I’ve been testing out some cheaper black and white film (Agfa 400), and have had some pretty middling results. I wonder if there’s any tips or key ideas that can help bring out more from my photos, when colour isn’t something I can fall back on. Is there a mood that B&W has that I should lean more into?

Will I have to overexpose since they’re less than a decade past expiration?

I’m going to the beach and will primarily shoot during the day.

Thanks!!