A Few Updates

 

Mamiya 645 Super, lens unrecorded but likely the 150/3.5 C, Portra 160VC

 Bravo to Fuji for this week's firmware update. Fuji again proves that they understand the need for back catalog support by releasing updates for all the X-Trans cameras including the very first model, 2012's X-Pro1. The updates are mostly minor aside from support for AF lenses faster than f1.2 (needed for the new XF 50/1.0)

Sony announced the A7c, which is a camera with 2 problems. The price is too big and the viewfinder too small. It's basically a A7III with the EVF hump chopped off, a tiny one added on the corner and a bunch of mild decontenting (it loses a slot, has a lower spec shutter, loses a bunch of controls, but gains the digital audio interface on the hotshoe introduced on the A7RIV and loses some of firmware-level video limitations of the A7III). As it is very much an A7III internally it retains the old menu system and loses most of the AF gains since the A7III release. It does get Real-Time Tracking though.

Nikon dropped two new Z lenses. An utterly massive 50/1.2 and the smallest & lightest 14-24/2.8 anybody's seen so far. Optically both look like winners, but I wouldn't want to haul that 50, or even really use it on a Z body.

As to my work, I recently passed 3000 shots on the X-T2. Very happy with it. I've also received a VERY cheap Super-Takumar 135/3.5 for testing. It has mild fungus so can't live in a bag with other lenses, but it's mild enough that the lens remains usable. It's mostly for play though. So tiny and nicely sharp.

Ordered a black Nikon F2 without a prism for very cheap. The bodies are cheap, but the prisms aren't unless they're the non-AI ones. I'll likely add a DP-11 (AI prism to make an F2a) and I'd like the waistlevel which isn't too expensive. I'd love a plain prism, but you can buy a complete F2a or F2as for the cost of a DE-1 plain prism on its own. They're rare and stupidly popular for some reason. The F2 is usable without a prism, although the experience is better with the waistlevel installed or an eyelevel prism

On the film workflow side I scanned 2 rolls of Superia 200 earlier this week that had been sitting around for 3 years waiting to be scanned. These are the first 2 rolls I've scanned since 2017. Today I mixed up some chemistry and developed 2 rolls of PanF+ in 120, one of which was recently shot in the Super Ricohflex, and 2 rolls of HP5+ in 35mm, one from my most recent FM (I keep buying FM's and having them die on me) and the other I'm not sure of, will figure it out once I look at it. All of them were done in Blazinal (Rodinal), 1:100 stand for the PanF+, 1:25 normal for the HP5+. More developing to come, I have a dozen more rolls of HP5+ to do and 2 rolls of PanF+ in 120. Plus I have to get a bunch of colour neg & slide film processed. I've got 2 rolls of C41 out for processing now and will be cycling the rest through in batchs of 2 or 3. I've had some of this sitting around since 2012 (most of the E-6 is from the 645 Super or Maxxum 7, which I sold off at the same time in 2012)