A Moment of Silence Please

[Daniel W.]

For all my TPF brothers and sisters, I ask of you a brief moment of silence. Yesterday around 10:45 AM in one of the many laboratory classrooms at RIT, a Rodenstock 210/5.6 fell from one of the Sinar monorail cameras due to an improperly locked lensboard. The lens separated in the back group of elements and some other bits did fall out from the shutter cocking mechanism. Carefully gathered up by the lab instructor (who will remain anonymous, but he's a big player in color science) and is being looked over.

Another casualty in the name of learning (in this case, we were studying the concept of 1:1 focus, conjugate distances, optimum pinhole sizes, all that stuff I never knew about before).

[Mask]

That's the problem with photo cage equipment at RIT.
They are all abused by students and instructors of abuse.

Roll your own ...

[Daniel W.]

*It was a staff member adjusting the Sinar when the lens met its demise.

Since no longer requiring the film for the first year, the 4x5' have held up better. Even the "crappy" Sinars are still pretty nice condition. Some of the more popular 5D-II's or L lenses though...iffy. Even one of the new Nikon 14-24's has a marking on the front. Oh well, it's still more than I have in my bag any day!

[venchka]

Seems to me that all incoming students should be handed an M2, 50mm Summicron and a bushel of Plus-X and told to come back in 12 months when they would be issued a different camera and lens and film.
210/5.6 Rodies are plentiful and cheap. Still, a lens is a terrible thing to waste.

[Mask]

What are they using on the "digital" 4x5's ??? 8 x 10's ???

I also had a big player in RIT photo science {all 350 lbs}
and he came in to lecture hung over too many times but only abused his liver.

Even tho they got more goodies at the cage ... I found it better and more acessable to have my own systems of 35mm, 2 1/4, and 4x5 convertible to 8 x 10 while there.
But I also lived off campus after 1 summer at Kate Gleason.
They would steal doors of dorm rooms ... therefore anything in the room was a breeze.
You can spend $$$ on private college, equipment, cars, or girls.
I did on all 4.
But in this economy and the projected ... the above are all equally bad investments.

[Daniel W.]

Originally Posted by venchka

Seems to me that all incoming students should be handed an M2, 50mm Summicron and a bushel of Plus-X and told to come back in 12 months when they would be issued a different camera and lens and film.
210/5.6 Rodies are plentiful and cheap. Still, a lens is a terrible thing to waste.

I would GLADLY take that ANY DAY. One photo class was assigned an assignment to shoot 3 rolls of chrome with an M4+50/2. Turnover rate of wasted frames due to students not taking the lens cap off was around 12%. So much film down the drain... my teacher (a very talented landscape/pinhole shooter) has us on an all-digital diet, because that will probably be what gets us hired in four years. I'll be here for the turkey days and may take out one of the RF's (either the M4 or maybe a Fuji GSW 6x9) for a bit.

AFAIK, the only thing we have for digital as far as LF, is a Sinar for the 4x5 in North Light on the 4th floor and a scanning back at the cage for 3rd/4th years only. Supposedly the biomed and photo tech are hiding a Better Light somewhere though (and understandably so).

[venchka]

Sounds like the plot for a James Bond movie.
Gaffers tape the M4 & 51.9mm Summicron to your right hand. You won't regret it. Hang the Fuji 6x9 around your neck. You will be Super Film Geek!