Hi, everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. Have been shooting with Contax basically ever since I learned photography, in college. I prefer existing light, documentary / street photography. I feel like street photography itself is an artform that I am still honing. It's about more than knowing how to take a good picture.

My set up includes an RTS, RTS II, both in good shape, a beat up 139Q that works perfectly, and two Yashica mechanical bodies as back ups. An FX-2 and an all-but-new FX-3 Super 2000. The RTS is my favorite to shoot with but when I'm just out farting around, taking street photos, I lately have been using the 139Q and the FX-2, more.

For lenses, I use a planar 50 1.4, distagon 28 2.8 and tessar 45 ... all great lenses and some of the most reasonable to acquire. One day, I'd love to own a distagon 21 and an 85 1.4 ... but in reality, my next purchase will probably be a Zeiss rangefinder and a 35mm lens ... this is of course many years away unless I hit the lotto.

For work flow, I'm currently all analog. I use a darkroom in the basement of the apartment I share with my girlfriend, who is gracious enough to allow me this luxury. I've heard some guys say that darkroom work is tedious and boring but it's very pleasant and meditative to me, as I'm sure it is to other people who are members of APUG. My favorite films are Delta 100 exposed at ei 50, souped in ilfotec-hc 1+47 ... and Neopan 1600 souped in rodinal. I also very much like TMAX 3200 souped in D:76 1:2, but that's a combination that I have not used in several years.

In the not-too-distant future, I plan to get a medium quality scanner with which I can scan prints or negatives, something like an Epson Perfect v500, and to scan my negatives and then print only the ones I want a silver print of for the portfolio or for a gift, etc. I will try to post a few photos soon.

There doesn't seem to be many photos on here from group members. Anyone else have some to post. I should mention that I also use slide film sometimes, usually at family functions and that sort of thing, which I ship out to get processed / scanned. I've been thinking recently about getting an E-6 developing kit to do it myself. Does anyone have any experience with at-home e-6 processing? Is it feasible? From what I've read, it's a similar process to B&W negatives, but temperatures are much higher.

Hi pstake, I'm hoping to do some serious damage to a pile of film that's been gently maturing while my mind has been focused elsewhere. I've been shooting a lot of XP2 Super lately, because I'm too lazy or can't be bothered to process my own at the moment. That may change as I've been looking at the super slow B&W films still available, and am starting to get itchy fingers.

Great name Flatulent ... but I hope you don't live up to it if we ever have to share an elevator! I can understand the XP2, laziness. Just shoot some good stuff (maybe the stuff that's maturing?) toss in the freezer and develop several at once when you have a weekend to goof off, and the weather's too bad to spend it outside. Have you tried Delta 100 at EI 50? It's a nice, sharp, high-resolution combination. What do you shoot with? What's your favorite film/dev combination?

Twenty years ago in college it was Tmax 100 and Tmax developer. For most of the time in between I've been shooting slides. A few years ago I started shooting HP5 and developing in Xtol. When my interest in developing my own started to falter I switched to XP2 Super. Just recently I've been looking into trying out some of the super slow B&W films, like Pan F and Adox Art 25; I haven't considered developers yet.

Good morning, Fred;

You asked about slow film. The best that I can suggest in that realm at this time is the ADOX CMS-20 exposed at ASA 5 (yes, that is ASA Five) and reduce the developing time slightly. This is an extremely fine grain film, and it is what I am using at this time for my lens testing. And, it is available from one of the APUG sponsors; www.freestylephoto.biz Also, for us, we can probably get it through Glazer's, but you will need to ask for the companion ADOX developer to go with the CMS-20.

And, why am I over here also? Well, my own original 35mm film camera was a Yashica Lynx-1000, and it does say something here about all things Yashica.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Hi Ralph,

I've been looking at the ADOX, but my attention (or what passes for it) was directed to Polypan F 50. There doesn't appear to be much info available on it, but I'm still looking. I can get a 90 meter roll for $30 plus shipping. That's 54 rolls of 36 exposures for about 78¢ each delivered. So what if I don't have a bulk loader big enough to accommodate it, it's prone to scratching, doesn't have an anti-halation layer... It should be fun!

Re pstake -- 'not many photos here from Group members' -- well I upload photos but I never get any comments on them !

Hi, Pete;

Keep going, guy. You are one of the few who does make available photographs for us to see. And I admit that I frequently do not have time to set up the scanner and convert my negatives to something that can be seen here on APUG. And with the difficulties I have had this summer with the computers and with the RF modem that I use for Internet access, I have not been around all that much to even look at other people's photographs.

And, while I am here, but I do agree that this probably is rather "off-topic" for this group, Pete, I do have a couple more old venerable Asahi-Pentax lenses. I probably should talk with you about them over on the other forum.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington

Hello all! I have always been fascinated with rangefinder 35mm cameras, and am getting back into photography, including film photography. I bought a Contax IIa w/Sonnar 50mm f2 and had it CLA'd by Ross Yerkes. I preceded this with a Kiev 4a with a Jupiter 8 f/2 (not sure you consider that suitable for this group, but I like it). I got it back and took some photographs (second roll through it- I shot one roll before the CLA), and had some shutter issues. I took it back to Ross, who then adjusted shutter (he says after a CLA this can occur), so I am ready to start shooting with it again. I want to start shooting B&W (and have bought some rolls), so I have acquired some Zeiss filters. I look forward to participating in this group (though it is not too active).

Here are some images from the Contax (mainly Ektar 100): https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=157638541@N07&view_all=1&text=contax iia

Here are some images from the Kiev 4a (lower res scans): https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=157638541@N07&view_all=1&text=Kiev 4a