My PRO OPTIC Zoom Slide Duplicator is all one unit with its own built-in factory pre-focused lenses and factory pre-set aperture. It simply mounts onto my camera and I'm good to go with no additional lenses needed. Appropriate lighting is all that's needed and the new full-color-spectrum LED lights are ideal as a light source.

I have a PRO OPTIC fixed-focus-and-aperture zoom slide duplicator to fit onto my Yashica FX-3 with which, in addition to duping slides, I also make Fujicolor negatives, all with excellent results. Just as soon as I get the mirrorless digital camera for which I have been angling for quite some time, I'm hoping to find the appropriate adapter so that I can digitize all of my color slides. I already have the means with which to do so in the form of an ION FILM 2 SD PLUS film scanner whose images I upload into the Picasa3 software on my Toshiba Laptop PC for refinements when needed leading up to posting in ViewBug, Dreamstime, Ugly Hedgehog, etc. or printing on my Canon Pixma MG7120 printer; the end results are always excellent.

I have been a photography hobbyist ever since I was 8 and I am now 74. I would like to process my own black-and-white and Ektachrome film once again as I haven't done it since 1968. I realize that Kodak discontinued Ektachrome but I have read that it is making a comeback which is OK with me. Also, there is still-available Agfachrome which is processed with the same E-6 chemistry as Ektachrome. While I have 2 digital cameras such as my Canon PowerShot SX160 IS and my Apple iPhone 5's onboard digital camera, both of which provide very-high-quality photos, I am still a film die-hard with such 35mm SLR's as a Voigtlander Bessamatic Deluxe, a Yashica FX-3 and an early-1960's-vintage Asahi Pentax ME I actually found along with 2 screw-mount lenses all in good condition in a dumpster. I have the ION FILM 2 SD PLUS film scanner with which I can scan both B&W and color negatives and color slides. The use of film enables me to have physical documentation of the photos I shoot on it which is something digital cameras cannot provide even though the center and edge definition of digital photos is inherently better than film photos. It's all a matter of personal choice as to what we feel works best with digital photography as opposed to what we feel works best with film. When both black-and-white and color films are used for later digitizing, they should have low ISO's and be virtually grain-free for best results. By the way, while black-and-white film processing is easy, color film processing can be very tricky especially with the first developer whose prescribed temperature must not vary by any more than plus-or-minus 1/4 of a degree Fahrenheit and the film's immersion time must not exceed even one second....pretty tight tolerances, eh? Also, best results can be obtained by (1.) using distilled water for all the solutions and (2.) a good-quality developing tank, preferably a Nikor stainless steel one. A darkbag is essential for loading film onto the developing-tank reels and it is also recommended that surgical gloves be worn at all times during the processing to prevent natural skin oils from smudging the film.

Good work here. I'd like to see some more like this.

Last July while I was vacationing with my loved ones in Wolf Creek, Oregon, I shot two rolls of outdated Fujicolor 135 film for prints and the images on all of the 48 prints was thoroughly blurred even though I focused every shot very carefully before shooting the picture, a decades-old force-of-habit of mine. Could it be that shooting outdated film can result in blurred images? I'd certainly appreciate some help in this area. Thanks a bunch!

Hello Sherry!

Stephen Potter here. Thank you very much for your warm reply. Now, for some "tech talk:" to ascertain correct shutter speeds and lens aperatures for proper lighting, I recommend that you get yourself a 35mm SLR camera with a built-in through-the-lens exposure meter. Cambridge Cameras in Brooklyn, NY at <Sales@CambridgeWorld.com> carries a wide variety of new and used photographic equipment. I recently purchased an early-1960's-vintage Voigtlaender Bessamatic 35mm SLR via mail order and I also sent my Asahi Pentax 35mm SLR to Cambridge for repairs and incidentally, I found that Pentax with a 50mm f1.4 lens in a dumpster with a 35mm f/2.8 wide angle lens lying right beside it! Talk about a stroke of luck! Of course, I had to spend a little over $100.00 to have it repaired but that's OK as I'll be taking beautiful pictures with it and with my other cameras including with my digital camera (once I learn how to use it) mostly for professional purposes for years to come! Go ahead and try Cambridge as I think you'll be quite pleased with them. They've been in business for more than 50 years and counting! By the way, if Cambridge doesn't have what you want in stock, they can get it for you.

Now, while I've been using 35mm film cameras for about 59 years which obviously makes me a die-hard, I am just learning how to use my recently-acquired Canon SX160 IS digital camera. As you well know, it's quite different from film photography so I can't offer up any advice until I learn the digital process as completely as possible. Go ahead and give my recommendations a try. I think that you will find a substantial improvement during the honing of your photographic skills. Happy shooting!

Sincerely,
Stephen S. "Steve" Potter

P.S. Sorry to hear of Kennedy's untimely passing. My God in
Heaven, even though it was His Will, 16 is just too darned
young to die!

Dear Ms. Spangler,

I looked at your winter photo of all the snow-covered objects especially the vintage buildings and their reflections on a perfectly calm lake (no ripples!) and needless to say, that photo is absolutely beautiful! I live in San Bernardino, CA and if I want to take photos like yours, I have to go to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear Lake in wintertime in the San Bernardino Mountains to do so---whenever there is enough snow in those places. Yes, you are truly a professional photographer and I'd love to see some more of your work and my username is sspphoto. Take care.

Sincerely,
Stephen S. Potter

"Trading up in the name of progress" seems to have some pertinence here. Sure, I like the "bells and whistles" on my newly-bought Canon SX160 digital with 16 megapixels but you may be right about too many insignificant camera updates. They seem to imply that today's existing digital cameras could eventually lag behind the so-called "future new-and-improved versions" which can do more than what today's digital cameras can do. You don't have to let those updates control and manipulate you......just stay with what you have and you shouldn't have any problems at all and remember, it's not the camera that takes the good pictures; it's the operator behind it that does.

Now, in addition to my SX160, I have the following three 35mm SLR cameras: a Yashica FX-3 to which I can attach my Pro-Optic Zoom slide duplicator for making printable internegatives from slides, an early-1960's Asahi Pentax which I discovered was discarded in a dumpster and I just had it repaired by CAMBRIDGEWORLD.com in Brooklyn, NY and it's now for immediate use and I recently purchased also from CAMBRIDGEWORLD a refurbished made-in-then-West Germany all-metal Voigtlaender Bessamatic with the same SynchroCompur leaf shutter featured on the Hasselblads and was initially introduced in 1959. Boy, is that thing heavy! You can, if you like, call me a film-photography die-hard but I consider myself a "filmigital" photographer and I'm going to stay with film for either as long as I live or when Kodak, Fuji and other film manufacturers stop making film altogether which, in my opinion is hardly likely because each film exposure is an original document which cannot be "doctored" without it being readily detected. And let's not forget Kodachrome! It was the most storied color reversal film ever made as well as the standard by which all negative and reversal color films worldwide were judged and I, probably along with millions of others hated to see it go away after having served both amateurs and professionals alike for 75 years. Did you know that Kodachrome was also the sturdiest and the longest-lasting of all color films? It was designed to last 100 years with very little change in the quality of the dyes which produce the colors. How Kodak arrived at that conclusion was probably due to its use of a special "aging simulator" of some kind to which they had access but I don't know! I'm only guessing! It's a cinch that we will never again see color reversal film like Kodachrome! I loved it!

It is highly doubtful that us photographers, amateur and professional alike will ever get over Kodachrome's demise. Kodachrome was the standard by which all other color films, domestic and foreign alike were judged. Where is the "new standard" coming from if there is going to be one? I have Kodachrome slides that I shot nearly 50 years ago whose colors are still absolutely true and enduring with no discernable color deterioration unlike the Ektachrome and other color film slides I also shot nearly 50 years ago which now show color deterioration slowly shifting to the red end of the visible-light spectrum. Oh sure, sales of Kodachrome film tanked to the point that Kodak decided to cease producing it but did Kodak panic beforehand? You decide. Let's all hope AND pray for Kodachrome's comeback unless Kodak destroyed the machinery that produced it and unless Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas who processed the last roll of Kodachrome in 2010 destroyed the last remaining Kodachrome processor on this earth. Ektachrome and Fujichrome are the only two color slide films still available and let's hope and pray that they survive the so-called "digital encroachment." Even now, some are saying that the drop in film photography is leveling off which hopefully could signal it's comeback which may prove to be extremely interesting!

To the person who told me that the 35mm film industry is "all but dead," you are entitled to your own opinions regarding 35mm film industry's purportedly being all but dead but, as I am also entitled to my own opinions, I beg to differ with you---greatly! I did some research immediately after reading your answer and I discovered that 35mm cameras and film, both B&W and color, both print and reversal are still quite alive and well. Also, there are millions of 35mm film camera owners out there, many of whom are pros who are still using the high-end cameras such as the Leica M3 through M7, the Nikons, the Canons, the Contax RTS III not to mention the cheaper 35mm cameras used by the millions of amateur shutterbugs....I think you get my point here. Imagine if all types of 35mm film became no longer obtainable at any price! There would be millions of angry camera owners, amateur and professional alike! By the way, let's not forget the motion picture industry which uses millions of feet of 35mm film per year. Also, I and probably millions of others bemoan the discontinuance of Kodachrome which, in my opinion was the finest, most color-accurate and most enduring color reversal film ever made. Kodak ascertained that processed Kodachrome lasts up to 100 years. I have Kodachrome slides I shot nearly 50 years ago and they still look just as color-accurate today as they were back then. I could go on and on if I had the time to do so.

.

I have a question to ask you. What purpose does Fujifilm X-E1 serve and is it slide film or print film? I'm always on the lookout for new color slide and print films, both B&W and color. I use both film and digital cameras which makes me a hybrid....well, sort of, anyway! Thanks for answering.

Sincerely,
Stephen S. Potter
sspphoto@earthlink.net

P.S. I really hope that this whole thing doesn't turn out to be a hoax!

THE BERLIN WALL

In November, 1966 while I was in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in Spain as a musician playing tuba in the now-defunct 16th Air Force Band, we went on TDY (Temporary Duty) to then West Berlin to take part in the annual Berlin Police Show in the now-demolished Sportspalaz (Sports Palace), we had time to go and see the Berlin Wall Of Shame which was, by far and wide the ugliest and most depressing structure I ever saw and even touched in my entire life! It was a grim reminder that there was a war on--it's called "The Cold War!" I took several pictures of it including of Checkpoint Charlie and just as soon as I dupe them in my slide duper as they're Kodachromes and Ektachromes out of which I am going to make color negatives and prints to send to you via e-mail after I create a file for them.

Now here is something really interesting as well as what I call super-childish. Any time anybody wanted to cross Checkpoint Charlie through a special "Entrance" corridor (the only opening to and from East Berlin) into East Berlin, they had to step up to a special floor mat to "Please wipe the West Berlin soil off of their shoes before entering the capital of the German Democratic Republic."---so the English translation of the sign read! And those few persons who were crossing back into West Berlin through its "Entrance" corridor had to do the same thing with an English translation of another sign saying, "Please wipe the East Berlin soil off of your shoes before entering West Berlin." At that time, 46 years ago, the tenseness, nervousness and paranoia of both Berlins could be felt and I, as a second-generation German am truly glad to see that all that bad stuff is gone, thanks to the tearing-down of that super-ugly Wall Of Shame and subsequently re-uniting the two Berlins thus ending Communist rule in Eastern Germany. Germany finally got back its rightful capital! FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!

I changed my message to what it now says with the editing-out of Leonard Nimoy's "Live long and prosper" bit. You must have read my previous message before I did so. I'm new to this game so I'm bound to having "growing pains."

Hey all you fellow shutterbugs out there including Clinton Stokes who probably joined UHH at about the same time I did who I welcome! I'm Steve and I have lived in sunny Southern California all my life and I'm 69. Photography has been my main hobby now for more than 60 years and I'm about to turn it into a profession. Gotta go now so until later, CIAO!