Last month I had a show of my carbon transfer prints in Sacramento and while I was there I was invited to do some work in the U.C. Davis greenhouses. The staff were extremely kind and accommodating, even to the point of turning the fans off in the rooms in which I was working. Here are a few examples of the magnificent plants there. These are not the final edits; they are JPEG's that the staff at U.C. Davis are using to identify these creatures. As I recollect, all of the images in this post were made with a Carl Zeiss 100 mm f 4.0 Makro Planar adapted to a Sony a7RII via a Novoflex Adapter. There are some others that I made with a 80mm f 4.0 Rodagon N attached to a Nikon PB-6 but they are "True Macro Photography" www.freddusel.photography.
Best to all, Fred

Hi all,
I am a new digital user which has been necessitated by my advanced cancer which disallows my use of my large format cameras now. I use focus stacking for nearly every image that I make. The lenses that I use, Zeiss Loxia, are absolutely at their best at f 5.6 and the Zeiss Makro Planar optimizes at f 4.0. In order to project the sharpest image onto the sensor I always use my lenses at their optimal aperture, which always requires focus stacking unless I wish to deliberately render some portion of the image as soft. I usually stack front to back on the Makro and back to front with the Loxia, this way, I always turn the focus ring the same direction. I have discovered that Zerene gets very confused if one or more of the images in the stack are out of order. I was going to attach some examples of a few pictures that I have made with this technique but I cannot see how to do that on this thread. www.freddusel.photography
Best wishes to all.

Thanks for your help but I don't know what a NEF file is. I'm terribly sorry for being so ignorant about digital work but my cancer is advancing and has required me to give up my beloved large format cameras and work with a digital camera now.
Again, thank you so much for your help. If you would like to see my work, visit: www.freddusel.photography
Best wishes, Fred

Thank you. I have Lightroom but I have not used it very much. How do you do what you just described?
Thanks, Fred

Hi folks,
I am not very well versed in computer works and I need some help. Is there a way to convert Sony .awr files into .tif files en mass? I have been loading hundreds of .awr's into photoshop (pc version) and then saving them individually in another file to convert them to .tif's. Is there a faster way to accomplish this? Thanks for any help you can give me.
Best, Fred

Hi all, I use two different "macro" lenses. The most used lens in my kit is a Carl Ziess makro planar 100mm f 2.0 with a Novoflex adapter to my Sony a7RII. It is extremely sharp and f 4.0 is its optimum aperture. I also use the Novoflex adapter to attach the camera to a Nikon PB6 Bellows which I use for very close work, generally with a 80mm f 2.8 Rodenstock enlarging lens, an Apo Rodogon-N with an adapter made beautifully by S K Grimes. The Rodagon-N is a 7 element planar lens that is spectacularly good. I use Zerene software for focus stacking. I am very pleased with this combined set of hardware and software. There is no weak link in this system except for the operator.

I have used and loved a Linhof Technicardan 45 and a Kodak Master View 8 x 10. My advanced cancer has caused me to give them up and I now use a Sony aR7II. The advantages and disadvantages of the three distinctive formats inform my choice of and approaches to my subjects and how I print the final images. I print exclusively in carbon transfer now and have successfully adapted images from the afore mentioned three in addition to images initially captured with Hasselblad, Contax and Leica cameras. It's not the camera, it's the concept and the execution that produces a compelling print

All of my prints are limited editions for two reasons. First, I make carbon transfer prints all of which differ from each other slightly and second, I am dying of advanced cancer so none of my images are likely to be printed more than 20 times. Some of my prints may become valuable in the future but nobody can predict the market for photographic prints produced through an archaic process by an unknown person. There is no market more subjective than that for art of any description. I pay for art and photographs specifically, the amount that I think the work is worth to me now, not what I think it might be worth to someone else at some other time.

My general impression of the a7's is that "s" is for speed as for video production and "r" is for resolution. I have the a7rII and I am very pleased with it. It is my first digital camera since my advanced cancer has caused me to abandon my large format film cameras. Also, the Carl Zeiss Loxia lenses are supreme. The a7's had major problems with shutter vibrations and file compression that lost information but the later II's resolved these problems. Good hunting. Best, Fred

Hi all, I made a mistake in the address. The exhibition is at 2420 N st., Sacramento, Ca. I hope that this little mistake didn't send anyone down a rabbit hole. Hope to see several UHH's here today from 6 to 8 and other times over the next few weeks.

I conduct tutorials and workshops. Use private email to learn about times and costs. Thanks, Fred

Hi friends. An exhibition of carbon transfer prints opens today and runs until the 24th of September in Sacramento, CA. The show is at E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts at 4420 N St. The opening is from 6-8 pm and it and the rest of the exhibition is free. I will be there from time-to-time to discuss the carbon transfer printing process. Best to all, Fred

I am a very recent convert to 35mm digital from 4x5 due to advanced cancer which has rendered me incapable of managing my beloved Linhof/Rodenstock kit. I chose a Sony a7RII which I discovered to be a computer with a lens sticking out of it. I only use the camera in manual mode with all manual lenses (Carl Zeiss). Now my images start out life as color files; very new to me. I am a carbon transfer printer so I convert all my images to monochrome. I use a 50mm mostly but often 35mm and 100mm macro/planar Zeiss ZF with an adapter. Very occasionally I use a 21mm or an 80mm enlarging lens on a bellows for up to 2x work. Zerene has completely changed the way I make images now.

Thank you so much, Rando, Doc & Dick. Now, all I have to do is learn to spell it.

Good photographing to all, Fred

Hi folks,
During that period I only used B&W film. It would not have made much difference if it were in color; the color of the trees was silver. I print in carbon transfer now and these tones really print beautifully. The color of the Crape-Myrtle is much to green and brown plus it does not have those distinctive lumps on the surface.
Thanks again, Fred