Hin's Photo Corner

I had my Linhof ballhead for a while. Special thanks to my good friend Hoa/SOldBear for letting me buy it cheaply from him. It is always good to have friends to share on interesting gear. Since the Linhof ball-head only comes with a fixed knob of screw that is not quick release type, I find it difficult to mount between lens. Hence I have been looking for a while for a quick release assembly that works with the Linhof ballhead. I am so glad to have found Giottos MH-652 in Adorama. It comes with a quick plate Giottos MH-642 though my copy doesn't seem to be in corkscrew type. The combo works great together. It is built strong and a bit on the heavy side. The quick release is secure and stable.


And I recently learned that Ned Bunnell also used this ballhead for a long time. When I saw the article from Ned, I quickly got my act together to find the quick release that would work with the Linhof ballhead.

The Linhof is a bit bigger than my cheapo Benro lookalike KS-0 Professional ball-head and it has a better plate where I can screw on tight with a ring like screw nut. Unlike the KS-0 ballhead, I have to use a coin to tighten up the release plate. And to my surprise, the nut is actually compatible between the two quick release plates. The plates are not compatible though. I am hoping to order a copy of Giottos MH-642 so that I can replace the screw nut in the quick release plate on the KS-0 to use it for a lighter setup.


I am happy to put the combination to work with my Pentax 645N and my Amvona AT-CF992 tripod.




I am yet to put the combo into more strenuous test with heavy and longer lens such as my Photosniper Tair-3 Phs 300mm f/4.5 in M42 or my Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5 with a TC.


Related:

• Benro lookalike KS-0 Professional ball-head
• Amvona AT-CF992 tripod
• Pentax 645N
• Photosniper Tair-3 Phs 300mm f/4.5 in M42
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I developed my first roll with Fuji Pro 400H from Foto Express in San Jose and I tried for the first time scanning the 120 negatives using the Canon scanning software. On my first trial, I have to admit various unknowns as I am not yet familiar with the process. I managed to get the scanner to perform all the auto cropping and I set "Medium" for handling on dust and scratches. I used 4800 dpi in the beginning and I later turned into smaller dpi with 2400 dpi. The size for the 4800dpi goes about 18Mg whereas the size of the 2400dpi scan goes about 3 to 5 Mg.










Impressions & Notes

• I am somewhat doubtful on my path into Pentax 645N as I contemplate the idea of exploring film with just a simple 35mm camera such as my Ricoh xr-p or Pentax MX
• I have not tried the Canon 8800F on 35mm, I will report later on. I have high hope on its film scanning with b&w and color films that I did with the Ricoh xr-p. Slides will be the next endeavor when I manage well with film.
• The 4800 dpi scan takes quite long as in 8 to 12 minutes for a single picture whereas the 2400 dpi takes about 4 minute in my old Dell system that is 5 year old.
• The dust and scratch removal seems to work to a certain degree on the Canon 8800F flatbed scanner. But when I look at the original picture in the scan, I still see quite a number of dust spots and small scratches easily
• I have not used all the controls in the scanning
  • Auto Tone -- I turned that ON in initial trial. I later learn and try to turn Auto Tone to OFF and rely on post processing in Lightroom
  • Bright Light Correction -- always OFF
  • Dust/Scratch removal -- I used Medium. I have this ON for past proofing and it works quite well especially on color or C41 film such as Kodak BW400CN.
  • Unsharp Mask -- I turned that on in the trial. Later on, I have this OFF and rely on LightRoom instead
  • Grain Correction -- I turned that off
• After my 1st roll, I like the performance and color in the Fuji pro 400H with landscape shots. My local lab with Foto Express in San Jose also recommends the film and it costs less than the other color film that I look up.
• After scanning the 645N films, I also did several trials on 35mm black and white film with Kodak BW400CN on the Canon 8800F scanner, I find results are not as good and satisfactory. For one, the 8800F scanner don't have 'dust and scratch removal' on BW negatives. I scan in 16 bit gray scale in 1200 and 2400 dpi in color negative and results don't seem to appeal me so far.
• Instead of the Canon ScanGear driver, I tried out the free version of VueScan but so far, I don't follow the logic in VueScan and I find the Canon ScanGear working more intuitive and faster than the VueScan. I know everyone praise about the VueScan and I am going to keep trying.
• I have seen great results, most with MF cameras in using 8800F, I visit this Flickr Canon 8800F scanner group for inspiration

Related:

• The Ricoh Love with Ricoh xr-p
• Yashica Mat-124G
• Pentax 645N purchase
• Pentax 645N on KS-0 ballhead
• Ricoh xr-p
• Foto Express in San Jose
• Pentax MX
• My 1st film camera
• Hin's Camera Gear