Klyment.com - Journal - Equipment

2012.01.23: Klyment's Garage Sale 2012 Q1

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:48:52 -0500

A long-awaited updated list of [mostly] photography stuff for sale. Bowens system lighting accessories, Nikon accessories, Norman battery-powered lighting, bi-colour mixable battery-powerable LED light panel, Hasselblad V-system accessories, a Horseman LE 4x5 large format camera system, large format lenses in COPAL shutters and on Sinar DB mounts and lots of other cool things. The list summarizes the sale lots including those accompanied by pictures. Let's start with items we have photos for. All product photos shot by Sébastien Guillier-Sahuqué.

150mm F/5.6 Calumet Caltar S-II / Schneider Symmar-S, multicoated. $295.
72mm F/5.6 Schneider Super-Angulon XL. $1150.
180mm F/5.6 Fujinon-W, EBC, $325.
Hasselblad Proshade for V system with B60 adapter. $99.
~~Metered 30degree prism for Hasselblad V system. Offbrand. $35.~~
Hasselblad 90degree prism finder for Hasselblad V system. $150.
~~Sekonic L-758dr. $390.~~
Contax TLA30. $35.
Speedring for pre-IL2500 Norman heads. $35 + $5 for nylon adapter to convert to IL2500 mount.
Polaroid 545 back. $10.
~~Bowens remote for QuadX system. $95.~~
4x5 plastic sheet film holders. $12ea. If shipping required please buy at least five.
Horseman LE 4x5 monorail view camera chassis. $375.
Sinar synthetic wide angle bag bellows. Horseman compatible. $95.
Lightrein 24x33" soft box with 40degree Lighttools Soft Egg Crate. $195.
~~Lightrein 30x40" soft box. $125.~~
Lighttools 50degree Soft Egg Crate for Lightrein 12x24" softbox. $40.
Lighttools 50degree Soft Egg Crate for Lightrein 36x48" softbox. $135.
Lighttools 40degree Soft Egg Crate for Chimera small strip 9x36" softbox. $80.
~~Kino Flo Diva-lite 200 dimmable fluorescent light bank. Similar to this kit. But the B&H kit doesn't include tubes. This kit includes four daylight tubes and two tungsten tubes. $375.~~
~~Bowens Fresnel attachment. Side dented but doesn't affect operation. - $495~~
~~Bowens/Calumet ellipsoidal reflector strobe spot lamp. - $575~~
~~100foot spools of expired, cold stored, Kodak Edupe duplication slide film. EI 16, weird (fun?) colour casts. Enough for about 18 rolls of 36exp. - $18ea.~~
35mm bulk film loader. Brand new. $12 each.
Nikon MB-D10 Multi-Power Battery Grip for the D300/D300s/D700 bodies. Allows you to unlock the higher frame rates of these cameras and use AA batteries if desired. Included in the package is the Nikon BL-3 which allows you to use Nikon EN-EL4/EN-EL4a batteries which were spec'ed for the Nikon D2h/D2x/D3/D3x. Great if you need a grip and are already shooting a D2X or D3X and have a D300 or D700 as a backup body - standardize on one type of battery and charger! Vistek wants about $340 for the grip and $50 for the battery adapter plug. $250 total for the pair.
Schneider Symmar-S 240mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
Schneider Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - ~~$450~~ $375
Schneider Symmar-S 180mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225. Or ~~$950~~ $750 for all four Sinar DB lenses.
~~Zeiss Ikon, silver - $950~~
~~Polaroid 4x5 film! Was refrigerated and not frozen. No expiration dates but the Pro 100~~

~~Polapan Pro 100 x 10sheets - $2/sheet~~
~~Polacolor Type 59 x 6sheets - $3/sheet~~
~~Polapan Type 52 x 10sheets - $3/sheet~~
~~Polacolor Pro 100 x 3sheets - $2/sheet~~

150mm F/5.6 Calumet Caltar S-II/Schneider Symmar-S multicoated lens in a COPAL #0 shutter. Glass is flawless and the shutter seems to fire all speeds accurately. Lens exhibits a bit of "Schneideritis" in the cement that adheres the elements to the lens barrels that should not affect image quality. $295.

Schneider Super-Angulon XL 72mm F/5.6. This lens covers 5x7 with a bit of movement or 4x5 with lots of movement. It's the holy grail of 4x5 interior architectural photography and I have one of these in my 4x5 system bag already. Glass in flawless condition. Shutter speeds sound accurate. There's a bit of wear on the finish of the exterior of the lens barrels that will not affect image making in any way. $1150.

Hasselblad Proshade with B50 adapter for Hasselblad V-system lenses. I believe the B60 bayonet is on the 80mm F/2.8 Zeiss Planar. This variable-length hood can be expanded or contracted to work effectively with a wide range of lens focal lengths. $99 and includes original box and documentation.

Metered 30-ish degree prism finder for Hasselblad V-system (500-series cameras). I think it's made by a Ukrainian camera company so it's NOT Hasselblad-branded. It's optically flawless and nice to use. The adhesives used to hold the leatherette to the prism have started coming apart. $35.

Hasselblad 90degree prism finder for V-system/500 series camera bodies. This one is Hasselblad-branded and marked "MADE IN GERMANY WEST" in the chrome mating surface. The exterior is in beautiful condition only with minor marks in the paint and the glass is flawless. $150.

Sekonic L-758dr incident/spot/flash meter with Pocketwizard triggering module. I have one of these meters myself and use it on most of my shoots. The integrated spot meter shows meter readings inside the spot meter readings inside the viewfinder without having to remove your eye from it and there is dioptric adjustability. Spot metering capability with strobes has allowed me to precisely confine a scene's exposure latitude to that of my digital cameras. I have the Sekonic exposure latitude test chart. If you can come to my studio with your cameras we can profile your cameras and upload the information into the L-758 so that you can use it to trigger exposure latitude warnings when metering. The meter is functionally flawless but has wear marks from normal use. $390.

Contax TLA 30 flash. Gives TTL flash metering capability on most Contax/Yashica mount SLRs and G system rangefinders though it'll be a bit ugly and cumbersome on a champagne-coloured G1 or G2. It'll come with a pocket softbox attachment for which velcro has already been applied. It can also be used as a manual off camera flash with full, half, and quarter power settings. $35.

Norman-compatible speedring for softboxes. The connector was designed for pre-IL2500 heads but can be adapted to the IL2500 with a nylon insert manufactured by Norman which I can include for an additional $5. $35 for the speedring.

Polaroid 545 back. Looks rough and it works! I believe it can be used with Kodak Quickload and Fuji Readyload film as well. $10.

Bowens QuadX remote control. Allows for control of all pack functions from over twenty feet. I no longer see this remote on Bowens' website or on Calumet's website so it may be discontinued. Really handy in large studios or with multiple packs or for lazy photographers. Accepts 9V alkaline battery. $95.

4x5 plastic film holders. While these are a generation or two old and don't feature the push-button dark slide locking of the newest holders I prefer the reliability and compactness of these holders. $12ea. If you aren't picking these up/need them shipped please purchase at least five at a time.

2011.09.08: Rollei 6008 AF w/ Phase One P20 16bit medium format digital back and Schneider 80mm F/2.8 AF Xenotar for sale!

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:21:24 -0400

The Rollei 6008AF with the Phase One P20 16bit medium format digital back and Schneider 80mm F/2.8 AF Xenotar is for sale again. It was my primary camera for fashion and catalogue work for about a year and images shot with this system still account for a major part of my portfolio. I sold this camera to another Edmonton photographer and 3D artist who owned the camera for a short while and used it on a single shoot before his living situation changed and has asked me to help him sell it. The kit includes:

Rollei 6008AF w/ internal electronic interface to connect to Phase One digital medium format backs
Phase One P20 medium format digital back
Schneider AF Xenotar 80mm F/2.8 w/ PQS 1/1000s leaf shutter (flash sync at 1/1000s with some of the most exotic out of focus rendition I have ever seen)
Rollei bayonet-mount hood for the 80mm
Rollei 19mm (I think) extension tube. Used mostly for product/jewellery photography.
Original waist level finder with a great pop up magnifier
Rollei 6000series 360degree rotatable 45degree prism finder
Brightscreen Accurfocus magnifier for prism finder
Fully-mated Arca-swiss style tripod plate
Two body batteries, one of which needs to be repacked with new cells (under $80 for the NiCd or NiMH cells and about ten minutes of work)
Two back batteries
Original chargers
Third party PowerEx/Maha battery charger that can charge both body and back battery and cycle nickel chemistry batteries
Original Phase One Pelican case for digital back which includes sensor care kit and lens cast calibration card

Don't get this camera if you:

have corrected vision is relatively poor or you notice halos in high contrast areas at night; this is an autofocus camera but I still recommend manually focusing it;
are looking for an ultra light system; body, back, and lens is about 5lbs total and you'll have to carry more batteries than you're likely used to;
"chimp" in studio; the transflective LCD looks amazing in direct sunlight but looks worse than a 2006-era low end colour cell phone display under indoor lighting conditions . . . but tethering works great with this system and the digital back can be bus powered over 6pin Firewire;
need a high ISO camera; the camera's ISO 800 works well but it's nothing compared to what you can get from some sub-$1000 offerings that are currently available.

You should get this camera if you:

love shooting 1:1 aspect ratio and realize how cumbersome it is to rotate a medium format camera to shoot in portrait orientation;
do a lot of black and white conversions;
shoot outdoors with strobes; the high speed flash sync is reliable and will give you four or more times as much ambient light control as a small format camera . . . and for a system price that rivals professional small format digital cameras;
are looking for a Rollei 6008AF system or a backup for your Leaf AFi or Sinar Hy6 and use pre-AFD lenses or want to use a new Phase One digital back on a Rollei 6000 series camera; the digital back, to my understanding, may be shipped to Phase One and the interface can be transferred onto any new digital medium format back;
want instant street cred; while I hate to admit it, no matter how shitty your photography may be, you'll be the most badass photographer your art director has ever seen if you have one of these . . . even when you're not shooting it;
have CAD$6950. At this price you're paying only about $1000 for the digital back.

More output samples and full resolution files available upon request.

The lens is a bit dusty but the glass is in flawless condition. Autofocus, while noisy, is quick and accurate. That said, with only a single AF point I preferred to manually focus the camera whenever I shoot it.

The camera features a very reliable metering system with auto bracketing and exposure compensation capability. While a lot of my peers may scoff at my use of aperture priority auto exposure the majority of my non-strobe work is effectively exposed with automatic exposure.

The camera was originally sold as a $22,000 kit with the digital back. I purchased the system used some time ago and I have never shot this system with a film back. The P20 has around 9000 frames counted and I have no reason to believe that the camera or lens have any more frames than the back does.

The Brightscreen Accurfocus works well for product type shots when using the included close up adapter with the 80mm lens. While using the waist level finder and magnifier works well for more normal working distances, when close focusing, the Accurfocus' magnification offers more confidence in manual focusing. The included auto extension tube maintains autofocus capability.

And of course the prism finder can be used in the "normal" behind the camera position.

An existing light photo of Vicki shot in 2007. Hair, makeup, and styling by Nikolas. Going through some of my older shoots many of my favourite images were shot with this system. If I wasn't so married to shooting my Leica M7 and Toyo VX125 and film scanning I'd be buying back this system myself.

Katherine and Tyler for the cover of a formal wear catalogue for 2008. The Rollei 1/1000s shutter and the back's nominal ISO of 50 made it possible to shoot this frame at F/2.8 and to allow the use of a location strobe system at under 40Ws so we managed to shoot all day on a single strobe pack battery.

A rejected photo from a commercial bridal shoot with Kasia and Julie. The Phase One digital back black and white conversions are nothing short of "film like"; I have never achieved such tonally-gratifying conversions from anything short of a 16bit medium format digital back. The Leica M9 and the Nikon D3 at nominal ISO have produced some of the best small format digital black and white conversions but they can't compare.

A shot of Leanna from the first shoot I did when I received this camera. The naturally square frame makes you think differently as a photographer. Furthermore, after creating a square frame you often end up with a picture that can easily be cropped to a number of different aspect ratios.

Another shot of Vicki from the same day we shot the other photo of her in this entry. The high flash sync speed allowed us to shoot day like night off a single battery powered strobe system without having to stop down the lens iris excessively.

2011.04.03: 3" Mailing tubes for sale!

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:23:59 -0400

These black plasticized mail tubes extend from 28 to 36" and seal easily with tape or a shipping label. Shippers Supply wants over $3 per basic white paper tube including end caps. $2.25ea or $2ea in quantities of 25 or more.

Photo by Corey Thompson.

A shot of Corey's setup. Looks like three Norman IL2500 heads driven by a Norman D24r power pack with standard reflectors and spot grids plus a Chimera Medium video soft box with 20degree Lighttools Soft Egg Crate. A vacuum cleaner serves as a gobo to texture the background light cast onto a Savage Studio Grey paper backdrop. Foreground light provided by a silver reflector.

2011.03.33: NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show 2011 interview planning

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:01:25 -0400

On our way to California, Justin Poulsen, Corey Thompson, and I have an opportunity to drop in on the NAB show in Las Vegas. Our itinerary only affords us one day on the exhibition floor so I'm trying to create a concise list of the company representatives I would like to interview. As many of you know there is a lot of cross over between video/motion picture and still photography and as still photographers we often neglect to look outside of products and techniques that are specifically marketed to us. Of special interest to me are LED light sources, tungsten and HMI lighting, RAID controllers, post processing software, and also some video-specific tools that would help make it easier to share information from shoots and lighting techniques with other photographers. I'll also be following up with a few vendors I interviewed in Munich and Cologne at Cinec and Photokina, respectively. If you have questions that a photographic lighting nerd could help you get answered please send them to me or leave them in the comments and I'll bring them to NAB.

2010.09.25: Photokina Cologne - Highlights

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:17:03 -0500

Shortly after leaving Cinec in Munich, Germany, I had the opportunity to check out some goodies primarily targeting still photographers at Photokina. Some of the highlights include a ball-based alternative to geared tripod heads by Arca Swiss and Manfrotto, Priolite's battery-integrated monolights, the Panasonic DMC-GH2, Brightcast LED lighting, a discussion with Elinchrom's Vice President and head of Swiss and UK distribution Christopher Whittle about Elinchrom's product development philosophy, the upcoming Elinchrom Skyport iPhone app, and some of the company's new products, Michael Hejtmanek, president of Bron Imaging Group, and his discussion of Broncolor's new entry-level pack and head system, the Broncolor Senso, a walk through of Dedolight's product line and a look at some new things with Profoto.

Broncolor Senso

NEC Spectraview PA271 (Spectraview LCD2690WUxi replacement . . . sort of)

Brightcast LED lighting for cinematography and live performance

KPS Design's "geared" tripod ball head

Lots more on my YouTube channel.

2010.05.21: Binatone iDECT X5 Phone

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:15:25 -0400

I was looking for a unique land line phone with sharper lines like those in my HTC Touch Diamond GSM and came across Binatone's iDECT X5 phone. I ordered the phone through a UK seller on eBay because I was unable to find a North American seller and because all of the European sellers wanted £40-70 ($60-$100) or about 50% more than the eBay seller and wouldn't ship out of Europe. Overall, the phone is beautifully designed with thoughtfully laid out keypadand call quality is excellent. Fit and finish is good though the AAA NiMH batteries (included) rattled inside the battery chamber a bit due to poor fitting band because they were stacked linearly and not in parallel. Fixing the rattle was easy; I wrapped a bit of tape around each battery and reinstalled them. The body of both the handset and the stand are made of plastic but the finish is no uglier than that of the blasphemously-painted top plate of the silver $9000 Leica M9 digital rangefinder cameras. But maybe some people prefer the damage-prone plastic-y painted finish over the chrome or black chrome finishes of the current pre-M9 Leicas considering Leica now offers to paint instead of chrome your M7 or MP for an extra $100.

Box shot. Yes, it's beat up but hey, I work with what I get. Plus it's probably the only box shot for this phone on the Internet at time of writing. The graphic design on the exterior of the box is attractive and the printing quality is satisfactory.

The phone in front of the base, adapter, and a plug adapter that I picked up from Black's for the system. I checked London Drugs for a plug adapter and they didn't have a physical plug adapter but had a universal adapter with interchangeable tips that would completely replace the packaged adapter for $15. A sales rep suggested that I check out The Source and 220 (I think it's spelled like that) at West Edmonton Mall. The Source had physical plug adapters but they wanted $15 just for those. Zellers didn't have universal adapters or plug adapters and suggested that I check out London Drugs or the Source. As I was about to exit Kingsway Garden Mall I decided I'd stop into Black's and check. They had a well-built plug adapter for $9. I'm guessing that Princess Auto would have them cheaper and had I been more patient, I could have asked my parents to bring me an adapter from home because they have lots of that sort of stuff.

Phone on its base. The base has a recorded message counter. My criticism of the base is that it may be a little too minimalistic in that there is no large "guide" to help a user who attempts to sloppily replace the phone to quickly get it back into place. It also lacks the audio and visual feedback of plugging in/charging that my Netgear SPH-200 Skype/Standard Dual Phone offers. Still, these are minor complaints.

Photos shot with the tungsten modeling lamps of Norman IL2500 Illuminator heads modified with a Chimera Video Pro Plus Medium and the Norman 22" beauty dish with diffusion sock attached for frontal lighting all driven by the Norman D24r power pack and captured through a 25mm F/1.4 CCTV lens @ F/1.4 on the Panasonic DMC-GH1. Underneath is the next piece of 18ga aluminium that I am about to clean, sand, clean, precoat, print, and varnish for a client.

2009.07.11 Rescued by drum scanner

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Wed, 19 May 2010 03:25:21 -0400

Well . . . sort of. This frame has been on my list of 4x5's to rescan once I got the drum scanner up and running. We shot this almost a year ago when we were scouting that abandoned house site north of Bon Accord.

If I recall correctly, this film was Ilford HP5+ shot at stock speed and processed in Kodak HC-110 Dilution B. The fixer had been exhausted or had otherwise gone bad and my usual policy to peek into the tank after the first two minutes of fixing probably killed the film. I closed up the tank and remixed a batch of fresh fixer but the damage had already been done. Still, kind of a neat look for the frame. Photo shot with the Sinar X and Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Colours deliberately retained and levels adjusted so that the maximum amount of tonal information would be retained which doesn't always mean the scan will be neutral or linear.

At left is the negative from which I made the previous scan and to the right is a properly exposed and developed frame shot on the same film for comparison.

2010.05.07: Howtek Scanmaster 4500 Up and Running!

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:46:53 -0400

Just a quick update since I'm still working through a backlog of scanning. Most of the new scans are still under embargo. Full artist profile associated with this photo to come. I'm still pretty new at the mounting thing but I feel that my colour management experience has made the colour handling part of learning this new technology fairly painless. If anyone needs some drum scanning done in the next month or so I'm willing to do drum scans to 16bit per channel TIFFs at up to 4000DPI for just $20/scan plus $10/mounting and burned onto your choice of DVDs or Blu-ray discs. For 4x5's I can comfortably mount two frames per mounting but have been having luck with the last two mountings in which I put four sheets of film. For 6x6 I'm guessing I can get six to twelve frames in per mounting.

Christina and Aaron Ignacio-Deines' dining room, as styled by Christina and Aaron Ignacio-Deines. Shot with the Schneider 72mm F/5.6 Super-Angulon XL on the Linhof Technikardan 45s. Filtered with a Lee 80A polyester filter. Kodak Portra 160 VC. F/8. 30s exposure.

Unsharpened 100% crop from the previous image. Scanned at 4000DPI on the Howtek Scanmaster 4500 drum scanner (circa 1994) driven by Aztek's fantastic Digital Photo Lab Professional software. Fluid mounted with Kami fluids and Aztek-packaged optical mylar. Full resolution 16bit per channel/48bit TIFF is almost 2gigs. The "noise" that you see here is film grain, not digital noise.

2010.02.12: Klyment's Garage Sale Part 2 (Linhof Technikardan 45s)

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:32:46 -0500

The Linhof Technikardan 45s is this garage sale's feature item. You can find it new here and the bag bellows here. As noted in the previous entry, the Linhof Technikardan 45s is $1795 with choice of bag or standard bellows, $2075 with both bellows, or $1999 with a Calumet Caltar-II S 210mm F/5.6 in nearly flawless condition that's also almost free of Schneideritis which wouldn't have affected image quality anyway. This camera has been my primary camera for the past six months shooting over a dozen residential interiors, two commercial interiors, a handful of outdoor personal projects, and Avenue's sneak peek of the new Art Gallery of Alberta. Before that, Juliana Sohn owned this camera. In fact, it is for that reason that I am halfheartedly selling the camera but I now have too many cameras. Thanks again to Rico Moran for shooting these photos for me.

The classic "pretzal" shot of a full monorail camera. Full movements in the front and all movements in the back except there is only rear rise but no rear fall. Just apply rise in the front.

The camera is equipped with Linhof's standard gridded ground glass with 9x12cm markings and is fed by a Fresnel lens. The cover glass is pretty scuffed up but doesn't hinder your ability to compose. However, after using a Maxwell Precision Matte screen on one of my Horseman L frame cameras, I would highly recommend spending the money for an upgraded screen regardless of how good your standard ground glass and Fresnel.

The most amazing feature of this camera is that it's capable not only of compressing the standards this close together with the FULL non-bag bellows but the rail can also be rotated so that it is parallel with the standards allowing it to fit into a slim camera attache case like the Domke J-803 or some Billinghams more commonly used to house Leica rangefinders.

This photo shows that this is the newer 45s and not just the 45. Note the lines on the L standard and if you look carefully there is a swing detent visible under the front standard. This camera is more rigid and easier to collapse than the original Technikardans.

This photo shows one of the red lever tabs is missing. It doesn't affect operation and I was told by the original owner that this tab can easily be replaced by speaking to a Linhof dealer but I never bothered replacing it.

This photo shows the other tab that's missing. It's green and it's missing from the front tilt locking lever.

All bubble levels are intact. Not shown is the bubble-level on the right of the rear standard which is also still there and fully functional.

The cross section view of the collapsible rail that allows the rail to extend up to about 19" or almost 500mm.

One of the most recent shots done with this camera that has already been scanned. This one is of a small part of the Art Gallery of Alberta's Karsh: Image Maker exhibit that runs until May 30th. Shot with the Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 that was listed for sale in the previous entry. Portra 160VC . . . the sRGB colour profile conversion doesn't do justice for the colour of the walls in the exhibit and for the capture. Thank you to Brendan Klem for assisting with shooting some of these interiors of the AGA with a view camera.

2010.02.12: Klyment's Garage Sale Part 1

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:20:32 -0500

I have some photography-related stuff for sale! It's mostly large format gear but there are some Nikon SLR-related items and some pieces of Bowens/Calumet lighting. Items are located in Edmonton. Thanks to Rico Moran for helping me shoot the product photos.

Here is the summary list of what is for sale along with prices in CDN dollars. US dollar prices are about the same at time of posting:

~~Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 Flawless glass, some non-function-affecting scratches to barrel, caps included. - $575~~
Schneider Symmar-S 240mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
Schneider Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - ~~$450~~ $375
Schneider Symmar-S 180mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225
Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6. Optically flawless. Scuffs on DB mount and on lens board. - $225. Or ~~$950~~ $750 for all four Sinar DB lenses.
~~Linhof Technikardan 45s - $1795 with choice of bag or standard bellows, $2075 with both bellows, $2350 with Calumet Caltar-II S 210mm F/5.6 and both bellows~~
~~Sigma 30mm F/1.4 for Nikon F-mount DX format sensors. - $395~~
~~Nikon 10.5/2.8 DX Fisheye Cleaning mark on front element that doesn't affect image quality. - $585~~
~~Bowens dual-cable ring flash with optional diffuser reflector and optional high intensity reflector. Kit value is about $1200US + shipping new - $850~~
~~Bowens/Calumet 2000W/s ellipsoidal reflector spot lamp head for Quad system - $450~~
~~Bowens/Calumet Universal Spot attachment - $295~~
~~Bowens QuadX 3000 power pack Functionally flawless. A few scratches on casing but far from ugly. - $1700 or $2300 with ring flash kit.~~
~~Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro multi-format film scanner. Conveniently scans up to 6x9 and other medium formats with results similar to the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED. - $1050~~
~~Hasselblad 90degree prism finder for V system (500 series bodies). - $50~~
~~Hasselblad compendium pro shade for V system - $50~~
~~Almost complete roll of Superior Seamless studio blue 107" (almost 9foot) roll of backdrop paper - $40~~
~~Elinchrom/Profoto Fiber Lite Kit micro light system. Older version and shows signs of use. Photos on the way. - $950~~
Bowens Fresnel attachment. Side dented but doesn't affect operation. - $495
100foot spools of expired, cold stored, Kodak Edupe duplication slide film. EI 16, weird (fun?) colour casts. Enough for about 18 rolls of 36exp. - $18ea.
Microtek Artixscan M1 w/ Silverfast AI Studio (16/48bit . . . the good package) - $695 (Mine sold a while ago and I'd pick up another if I didn't already have a drum scanner. This scanner currently belongs to Rob and Lauren Lim. Guessing how much 4x5 film they had shot and judging from how they take care of their gear this scanner is likely in like-new condition. The price direct from Microtek recently dropped to $750 but shipping to Canada for such a large, heavy, and fragile piece of equipment is a pain. If I were in the market for one of these and was living anywhere in Western Canada I'd rather pick this one up than have one ship from Microtek.
~~Sekonic L-508 incident/spot/flash meter - $250 (less than the price of a Sekonic L-358 which lacks a spot meter unless you add a $300 option to it)~~
~~Sekonic L-558 incident/spot/flash meter + compatible with internal Pocketwizard flash trigger - $325 (Probably still cheaper than an L-358)~~
Sekonic L-758DR incident/spot/flash meter including internal Pocketwizard flash trigger and is compatible with Sekonic's exposure latitude measuring system to give you exposure latitude warnings when metering scenes for the cameras that you have profiled - $425. Here's Vistek's page for it but you could probably find it for about $50 cheaper at other stores.
4x5 Fidelity and Lisco Regal II film holders with plastic dark slides. In my opinion the best double-sided 4x5 film holders and they are newer. $12 each. I have 20 that aren't spoken for. If you need them shipped I prefer that you buy at least 5 at a time and even better if you buy multiples of 5.
35mm bulk film loader. Brand new. $12 each. I have 10 left.
Nikkor-SW 65mm F/4. 4x5 coverage with some movement or consider it a 75mm lens and just apply displacements afterwards by cropping your 4x5's. very easy to focus even with basic ground glass w/ Fresnel lens. Most cameras will require a bag bellows to focus this lens to infinity while still allowing movement. $390.
Nikon MB-D10 Multi-Power Battery Grip for the D300/D300s/D700 bodies. Allows you to unlock the higher frame rates of these cameras and use AA batteries of desired. Included in the package is the Nikon BL-3 which allows you to use Nikon EN-EL4/EN-EL4a batteries which were spec'ed for the Nikon D2h/D2x/D3/D3x. Great if you need a grip and are already shooting a D2X or D3X and have a D300 or D700 as a backup body - standardize on one type of battery and charger! Vistek wants about $340 for the grip and $50 for the battery adapter plug. $280 total for the pair.
Set of four brand new BF Goodrich G-force KDW version 2 performance tires. Y-rated (tested to 300km/h). 215/40r18. $550 for four tires. Canadian retail price is $900 for the set. Some of them still have original labels and all have at least manufacturer's sticker residue still on them. The tires are currently on a set of brand new Enkei RSV 18 x 7.5" 45mm offset wheels in anthracite. The tires can be removed from the wheels or you can buy the wheels for an additional $190 each. They are not available as a set because three of the wheels have universal 5bolt drilling and one of the wheels has a universal 4bolt drilling. That said . . . if you or someone you know is selling a single Enkei RSV 18 x 7.5" 45mm offset wheel with 5bolt (specifically 5x114.3) drilling in any colour, let me know. If it's in really good shape and anthracite I'd happily pay $300 for it. If in a different colour I'd pay $225 for it.
Canon HV20 MiniDV HDV camcorder. Includes a few tapes, two spare third party batteries, all original accessories and box AND the Canon DM50 microphone which is $140US plus shipping from B&H or $300 from Vistek. I selected this microphone because I wanted a microphone that was much better than the built-in mic but could be powered from the camcorder and wouldn't require an external cable to connect to a microphone input. The microphone is directional and has a switch to change its angle of pickup which is handy if you want to use the camera and have your voice picked up if you are doing a quick interview without a lapel mic or can be switched to just pick up audio from in front. $495 for the kit.
Leica M9, black, under 2000 actuations, $6295. Selling it only because it's black and I want a silver one to match my lenses and my M7. It's in like new condition. Includes all packaging. This price is about $1500 below Canadian retail.
Logitech Z-680 5.1 DTS and Dolby Digital computer sound system. Around 500W RMS amplifier output, outboard decoder with direct analog, optical and coaxial digital connectivity and remote control. $195.
Norman 200B battery-powered strobe pack with head. Settings for 50, 100, and 200Ws output. Battery is good for over 100 full-powered flashes. Head includes a dish reflector that works well with umbrellas and the head can be adapted to softboxes. $250.
Norman 12/12 power pack. Compatible with Norman 900 series heads (IL2500 included). 1200Ws. Two channel asymmetry. Each channel adjustable from 150Ws to 600Ws in thirty steps and the whole pack can be trimmed an additional three stops. Channels can be bridged to allow 1200Ws output through a single socket giving you a range from 19Ws to 1200Ws. 250W modeling light support with four sockets.
Fujinon-A 240mm F/9 in COPAL #0 shutter. Tiny, super sharp lens that pairs well with folding field cameras and I believe covers 8x10 with a bit of movement. Flawless condition and includes front and rear caps. $495!
Contax G2 autofocus interchangeable lens rangefinder camera w/ 28mm F/2.8 Biogon, 45mm F/2 Planar, and TLA 200 flash. Some rub marks on body that won't affect operation. Photos to follow. $975 for the kit. Loaded with Ilford Delta 400 to push to 1600 and with the TLA 200 this camera has part of the most fun I've ever had shooting a wedding reception.
Nikon D300 digital SLR body, 5200 actuations. Includes DK-21M magnifying eyepiece, original battery, original battery charger, 8GB 30MB/s Sandisk Ultra CF card. The original box is available but the camera is currently in Ottawa, ON and original packaging is in BC so you'll just be getting the camera and critical accessories for now and you'll have to get the box shipped to you later. $795. Seller is Ethan Oblak.
~~Nikon 85mm F/1.4 AF-D lens. Includes 77mm B+W MRC 007 (clear) filter - $895. Seller is Ethan Oblak.~~
~~Tamron 17-50/2.8 (non-VC) for Nikon F-mount cameras with DX format sensors. Includes 67mm B+W MRC 010 (UV) filter - $395. Seller is Ethan Oblak.~~
Nikon D700 digital SLR body, ~30,000 actuations, camera just came back from Nikon Mississauga and it's in virtually flawless physical condition. The D700 comes with all original packaging but the owner is currently shooting in Japan and I only have the D700 in my possession so you'll be getting one of my spare EN-EL3 batteries with the camera and without a strap first and upon his return he can send you the original packaging. Seller is Alex Adsit but you can contact me for this item. $1995.

More photos and discussion about items for sale in next blog entry.

Calumet Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5. It's about 20mm in 35mm terms and it was my primary architectural interior lens up until I picked up a Schneider 72/5.6 Super-Angulon XL. The lens is optically flawless but there are blemishes in the metal as illustrated in the following photos. This photo was lit with an older Calumet/Bowens optical spot lamp head (also for sale) for rim light and a diffused Bowens Softlite reflector with diffuser in the foreground on Savage Thunder Gray. Lights driven by a Bowens QuadX 3000 power pack (also for sale).

Rear view of the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5.

Close up showing condition of metal.

Shot with the Caltar-II N 75mm F/4.5 and the Linhof Technikardan and scanned with a Microtek Artixscan M1.

The 75mm doesn't have the largest image circle of this type of lens but still has a big enough image circle to make some nearly impossible exterior shots. Here is a photo shot of the Uptown Estate building for Sylvie Perrault Architects of Montreal.

Schneider Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6 in Sinar DB mount. These photos are representative of the look and condition of the Symmar-S 240mm and 180mm in Sinar DB mounts so I won't post all of them but feel free to request photos if you wish to see them.

Symmar-S 210mm F/5.6

Rear view of one of the Sinar DB lenses. I originally purchased these Sinar DB lenses for use in studio and for architectural photography because of the shutter's system ability to mechanically time exposures up to 8s where I would normally have to manually time and trigger for architectural interior shooting. Furthermore, the shutter system makes Sinar handling in studio convenient since adjustments to exposure and aperture settings can be done from the rear of the camera and the shutter will also automatically stop down the iris when shooting. However, now I no longer own a Sinar camera or the shutter so I can't use these lenses anymore.

The Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6 looks a bit different.

Rear view of the Super-Angulon 75mm F/5.6.

2010.01.18: [De]thinking Lighting

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:28:04 -0500

Patrick Jacob of Inex Design Studio came to me with a table that needed photographing. The table has spent the past two weeks sitting around my studio as I agonized over how to light it. The more I thought about it, the worse the lighting got. Over the past few hours I started working with my really old, really basic, and extremely cheap used Norman lighting system. I finally got the results that I wanted. I'll blog again once the film is back from the lab and I am thinking of shooting some Ilford HP5+ and pushing it to ISO3200 in HC-110 dilution B for a few of the angles to see what happens. 4x5 Portra 160VC rated at ISO 100 used as the primary film type with some Fuji Provia 100F to be pushed to ISO 400 out of curiosity.

Lit with a Norman P500D power pack driving two LH4 heads. One set at 250Ws (channels A and B at 125Ws each combined to power one outlet) and one set at 62Ws (channel C only). The basic 5" Norman grid reflector with grid use to backlight the top glass. 18" beauty dish with a diffusion sock attached for foreground lighting. The "real" shots are being shot on a Horseman LE 4x5 monorail through the Schneider Symmar-S 210/5.6. The rail is tilted forward and the standards were leveled out to provide enough vertical displacement movement to properly proportion the table while still shooting from above the table to show more of the glass work on top. The camera is supported by a Gitzo GT1540 tripod and a Markins Q3 ball head. The head is under 1lbs including clamp (385g) and is rated for a 65lbs (30kg) capacity. And this is Markins' smallest ball head. It's lower profile than most pro ball heads thus helping to reduce impact on tripod stability due to addition of height and is rated for higher capacity and is lighter than any other ball head sold by Vistek or McBain Camera . . . and it's likely cheaper than any other ball head I have found. Markins' North American distributor is based in Langley, British Columbia.

2009.06.23: Epson Stylus Pro 9900 Arrives

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:39:49 -0400

About two years after Printhuge.com upgraded from using the Epson 9600 to the 9800 as its primary large format photo and fine art inkjet printer the primary printer is being replaced again. The move from the 9600 to the 9800 offered smoother ink droplet patterns with and without RIPs, slightly better paper handling, lower chance of nozzle clog (in my experience, anyway), slightly more cost effective (but still wasteful) black ink switching when switching from matte or glossy substrates, better dMAX and wider gamut with OEM inks (while making it harder to use third party inks and bulk ink systems), pressurized ink cartridges so that they don't stick out of the printer, about double the print speed, and a bunch of other nice little adjustments. The move from the Epson 9800 to the 9900 is beyond what Epson marketing calls "evolutionary"; it's nothing short of revolutionary in the hands of someone who works with this printer good ten hours a week with over sixty hours a week of print time. Epson's website has a list of new features if you want to see all of them. My favourites are that black ink switching now only wastes black ink as opposed to all or many of the other colours needlessly as well, further increased print speed (load is about the same, cut time is significantly faster and actual print times are dropped 50-60%), noticeably improved colour gamut with substrates requiring glossy black ink, refined paper basket design, and the new spindleless roll loading system that doesn't require a third arm or a leg to help you load paper onto the spindle and doesn't require separate adapter end plugs to adapt to 3" roll core sizes.

Around this time, two other photographers have become new 44" inkjet printer owners. Randy Stinchcombe of Eye Captured Images was indecisive about picking up my 9800 and I subsequently sold it to Dylan McAmmond of En Vogue Photography in Saskatoon. Randy talked himself into purchasing a new Epson 9900 as well. Congratulations to both of you. Dylan and Whitney will be in Edmonton from July 5 to 8th for hands-on training at my studio. On the 7th, Dylan has enlisted the help of Nick Hawkeye, who could be the youngest large format print operator in the world another large format printer who [semi]successfully moved his Epson 9880 down to his basement by himself when he was fifteen, riding it as a sled down the stairs and with just one other person managed to move my very first large format printer from my studio down the stairs with a bit more success. Dylan has also enlisted the help of Sean Traynor, an all around cool guy and in return Dylan has promised to buy him beer after the successful move of the printer out of the studio. Little does Sean know that Dylan isn't old enough to buy beer. Maybe he'll find out now.

2009.03.05: Betterlight Digital Scanning Back and Horseman LE go on eBay!

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:35:36 -0500

After about a year as my staple fine art reproduction capture system behind my large format digital printing business, 144megapixel Better Light digital scanning back and Horseman LE with Calumet Caltar 210/5.6 are now on eBay with lots of extras and a modest starting bid of $5,800US and no reserve. Check it out here. If an Edmonton buyer is looking to purchase the system I would be very interested in ending the auction and cutting a deal for the whole system at the buy it now price including lights but in Canadian dollars if only to have the opportunity to borrow the system occassionally for certain projects that benefit from using a digital scan back system. The reason I am selling the system is to free up some cash and make room for a major digital medium format purchase that is just around the corner.

2008.09.26: Photokina 2008: What's new from Bowens

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:47:26 -0400

I spoke with Mark Aherne, technical director of Bowens International that manufactures most of the lights that I use, about some of the new items to the Bowens line up. I'm most excited about the new monolights but the soon-to-be-released QX3 2500W/s power pack that will eventually replace the QuadX 3000 pack that has been the basic workhorse of my studio is interesting as well. First, a bit about the QX3:

The new specifications are definitely interesting - greatly improved recycle time, improved flash duration, three asymmetric channels (as opposed to four headers distributed over two channels on the QuadX) in a pack that is about the same weight but with slightly smaller volume. Furthermore, the interface has been simplified and the screen has been prettied up . . . a lot:

But it still wasn't the type of AC power pack announcement I was hoping for. What I was hoping for was a replacement to the Quad 2400 power pack with significantly faster flash duration and recycle time in a package MUCH smaller and lighter than what they are offering now. In the areas of compact AC power packs, Norman, Dyna-lite, and Profoto still rule. Anyhow, onwards to the monolights:

The analogue interface enhancements are almost revolutionary in the world of monolights. To get one tenth stop precision we used to have to resort to digital interfaces which often slowed down a photographer's or assistant's access to lighting setting changes. Analog dials, while quick, were often not very precise and were limited at best to one third stop precision. With Bowens' new dual-dial power control system a user can have the most intuitive control of his or her light with precision traditionally limited to digital lights. On top of this, Bowens has added an integrated option slot for Bowens Pulsar and Pocketwizard receivers and all of their lights now have the Travelpak/Turbopak/Explorer style DC input plug for battery power.

2008.09.24: Photokina 2008: Leaf AFi-II 10 Demo

nospam@example.com (Klyment Tan) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:11:09 -0400

A Calumet Netherlands Leaf specialists gives me a demo of the upcoming Leaf AFi-II 10. This camera is the evolutionary next step following the Leaf AFi which is based on the Franke & Heidecke chassis evolved from the Rollei 6008AF and uses the same lens mount. I spoke to many people at the leaf booth including Ari Briggs, Executive Director of Sales and Marketing and Seth Greenberg, Director of Marketing for Leaf. These people presented some insight on some of the nuances of the camera and little quirks which are spun differently for marketing.

While the AFi/AFi-II/Sinar Hy6/Rolleiflex Hy6 are marketed to support all of the old lenses of the Rollei 6000 series, some of the people at the Leaf booth noted that these lenses aren't tuned for digital sensors which have lower tolerances for variances and some of the older system lenses may not perform as well as the newer versions of the same lenses which have been optimized. However, another representative who has both the Rollei 6008AF and the new Leaf AFi noted that between one of the new lenses and a good sample of one of the old lenses, a shooter may not be able to see a difference in his prints until he or she views them both side by side.

The margin for error in tuning of these systems is very small. During the demo, I witnessed how even switching between identical digital back models from one body to another could completely throw out the focusing from one body to another. It isn't that the bodies are fragile but it's because the back and body are tuned together out of the factory so that the body holds the back and the lens so that the lens very precisely casts light from the lens and focuses on the sensor but these tunings will be different on different bodies.

It is also interesting to note that many of the lenses that are available for the AFi/Hy6/6008 system are available at wider relative apertures with faster shutters and are designed with 6x6 format coverage whereas the lenses of systems like the Hasselblad H or the Mamiya/Phase One digital platform are available with narrower relative apertures and, especially in the case of the current Mamiya system, have much slower flash sync but have a focal plane shutter. While the wider relative aperture is optically and creatively very attractive, it's important to note that lens of similar focal length in the Rollei/Leaf/Sinar system are SIGNIFICANTLY heavier than those of the Mamiya 645 or Hasselblad H system. For a medium format system, weight isn't my first consideration when purchasing but for our smaller friends, the weight of some of this glass is so great that it may become prohibitive.

After viewing the Hasselblad booth I think that the Leaf AFi-II is still on the top of my list for what will be replacing my Rollei 6008AF/Phase One digital medium format system.