Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, I made it tonight, for a couple of hours, the first time in the darkroom in 18 months or two years or somesuch. I now have both my Beseler 23CII (with my new 2.8/50 APO-Rodagon) and my Leitz V35 side-by-side, a rather chummy arrangement. I had to relearn working in the dark, which is always mildly frustrating, but old habits come back readily. My stock of Ilford MGIV glossy paper was a bit heat-struck but not terminally so. (I did get my supply box out of the freezer to stock up again tomorrow with fresh stuff.) I thought the V35 had lost its auto-focus but, after futilizing a bit at trying to adjust it, I realized I wasn't locking the negative carrier in, and then all was well. I had a couple of recent rolls to print, both 100 Delta. One taken with a Werra III (2.8/50 CZJ Tessar and 4/35 Flektogon), the other with a Contarex Cyclops (4.5/21, 4/35, 2/50, 4/135, 13/400). The first roll was souped in Rodinal, the second in Ifosol. The paper was souped in Dektol, incidentally. A pleasant evening printing rather mediocre pictures on perishing paper. One shot was nice enough that I broke out a sheet of my all-too-small reserve of that magnificent ORWO semi-matte fiber monograde paper, the stuff to die for. I still do not understand how a serious student of photography can really learn the art of taking pictures without doing at least occasional darkroom work. The APO-Rodagon-N, incidentally, is cleanly and clearly superior to the Focotar-WA, as Erwin hinted it might be. I now need to find a 75mm APO-Rodagon-N to replace my 4/80 Beseler-HD for MF work, but these guys are hard to find without buying new. I'd replace the Focotar with an APO-Componon if I could find one used but these puppies NEVER seem to appear on e-Bay. (The APO-Componon is a 40mm lens, incidentally, meaning its a plug-in replacement for the Focotar; the APO-Rodagon is a 50mm lens.) Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html