I have used the Epson V600 for about 5 years using their Epson Scan. I downloaded an updated version last year and it was much faster and gave slightly better results in my opinion. This year I downloaded a trial of VueScan for the V600. I was sorely disappointed. Regardless of my attempts to tweak the settings, I never got results that satisfied me, compared to side-by-side trials with Epson Scan. I expect to stay with Epson Scan as a result of my tests. (I am using it for all manner of images; B/W, Color, negatives, slides, even documents. Mostly restoring my old images and those from ancestors in the mid-1800’s forward to the digital age.)

When I purchased PSE 2018, I quickly purchased a great tutorial (about 3-4 hours of training on DVD's) from HTG Photo (George Peirson at How To Gurus). You can sample a lot of his training for free on YouTube, just search for HTG Photo. His training "quickly" made me comfortable with the Expert level editing. Plus I can always go back to the DVD's for a refresher on any particular skill.

Check MPB.com. They usually have a huge variety of used lenses at very good prices. I've only bought one from them but it was in spectacular condition.

I went to Walter Johnson HS in the 60's, so Rockville MD was definitely part of my stompin' grounds too. I was the photography editor for the yearbook at Walter Johnson - that's what started me on the path to a career in photography.

Perhaps you're thinking of Bolex for movie cameras. I think Bolsey was strictly still photography.

If you haven't tried it already, go to https://howtogurus.com/ . They have an excellent collection of instructions and advice, both free on YouTube as well as a full training course you can purchase. George Pierson is an excellent instructor and very clearly teaches how to use PhotoShop Elements. He also teaches courses on Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and CorelDraw.

I have been working on archiving family images going back over 100 years, mostly from scans made with my Epson V600 photo scanner. I give them custom file names that include the year they were originally taken. (That's what is most important to me.) So I set up a prefix of IMGYYYY-###. The ### is generated sequentially by scanning software. When I passed 999 I simply changed the prefix to IMGYYYY-1###. That way I can keep on counting upward as I continue my collections.

This way when the pictures are sorted by file name, they are sorted by the year, so it make it easy to go back to 1907 or whatever year I want to see.

I just recently purchased similar "Chinese" extension tubes and noticed that the instructions cautioned that you need to fasten the extension tube to the camera body BEFORE mounting the lens. Apparently the data connection may not work if you mount the tube(s) to the lens before the body.

This is a quote from CameraWiki.org ---"One of the most successful models was the Hit, made by the Tougodo company based in Toyohashi. Its name became the synonym for that camera type, at least in the Western world, where the various other Japanese cameras with a similar design are called "Hit"-type cameras."

These were novelty cameras from post-war Japan. In the early 1960's I bought one on the boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ for $1.99 including a couple rolls of film. Earlier models used 17.5mm film, but the one I bought used 16mm film. I was able to develop it in a Yankee Clipper II film tank. Not surprisingly, the pictures were only okay with bright daylight, after all, it was just a fixed focus, fixed aperture, fixed shutter speed camera, and the film was generally ISO100 or less to keep the grain down on the tiny negatives.

I had a Contessa as my first 35mm camera back in 1965, purchased used for $30.00. It was a great camera with a sharp lens, but about 5 years later its advance mechanism stopped working properly and would end up advancing the film about 4 or 5 inches instead of 1.5 inches. I traded it in for more photo equipment.

If you find a good repair service have them be certain to check the advance mechanism for film length.

Joe, 20 years ago when I was still selling darkroom equipment for a living, Kodak indicated that a 35mm slide had the equivalent of 28 megapixels of data available. This became the goal for digital camera manufacturers, although at that time most consumer digital camera were in the 2 - 3 megapixel range.

So if you are trying to compare your potential digital resolution to film resolution, your ideal camera would have about 28 megapixel resolution to deliver all that was formerly available from 35mm full frame cameras.

Remember also, using a polarizing filter will cut you light by at least 2 f/stops, so be ready to use a higher ISO to keep your shutter speeds and f/stop settings wherever you want them.

I've used ProMaster camera batteries in my Canon T5i for several years, and their performance is identical in my experience with the original Canon battery. In addition, ProMaster includes a great warranty.

If for any reason a ProMaster product fails within one year of the date of purchase return the product with dated sales receipt to your ProMaster dealer and it will be exchanged for you at no charge. ProMaster products are guaranteed for one full year against defects in workmanship and materials. If at any time after one year, your ProMaster product fails under normal use, we invite you to return it to ProMaster for evaluation.

Ralf, I believe the slow speed black and white you are referring to was ADOX KB-14 which had an ISO speed of 25. It is still available in the USA from Freestyle Photo, along with a host of other BW films in their stock.