Pacific Northwest Greetings

Hi all,

Though my business is Web development (my firm can be toured here: http://www.blueskyprojects.com); my hobby of the past 35+ years has been photography starting with a classic instamatic to a rangefinder to an Olympus OM-1 (one of my favorites) to currently 2 1/4 sq (Rollei 6000 series) and 35mm (Canon 5D digital and Nikonos).

My experience includes hands on development and teaching of both (B&W and color darkroom printing (though its now almost 20 years since I did either). Wildlife and landscapes are my favorites to shoot with some familiar people thrown in for good measure

I don't currently have any photos on-line but it is one of my goals in the near future to create a site for them.

Cheers,

Marc

Hi Marc,
Mark,

We're glad to have you here. We'd so love to have pictures from your Rollei! That would be a boost for our small but high quality capability in MF. The Olympus camera is very important. Georg Baumann has fallen in love with it and does very well in his landscape work with just one camera. He will be presenting his work ay Photokina 2008.

While you are getting your free online gallery, tell us more about the 6008 or 6006 as this is one advanced camera that I'd love to have owned. We'd love to have your experience on the camera, how it performs and what you find special about it

Simply get a flickr, Smugmug or other free online gallery service. Then you can link from there. Could you sign up to one of those free services?

Guys,

What free online gallery websites do you find most convenient?

not Free

Asher,

Smugmug isn't free but the small fee for a regular account is worthwhile. A customizable ProAccount is $150 and a good value.

Some quick replies for Asher and others interested. Not sure if they belong in this forum or not. Not sure if you will find my personal info interesting...

OM-1 purchased around 1976 when it came out - it was really neat because it was about 1/2 the weight (approx 20 vs 40 or so oz) for a 35mm and much smaller than the Minolta's and Nikons of its' day. I learned about interchangeable lenses with this camera and over a period of years built up a small collection of lens and gadgets for it. Had the entire outfit stolen, but liked it enough to buy another outfit...sold that outfit to get an EOS 5 outfit because manual focus was not fast enough for wildlife unless you pre-focused..

Then a decade later ended up shopping for another OM body to use with a computerized telescope ...and the OM was the camera of choice at that time...

Rollei: Around 1985 was asked to choose a graduation gift for myself - researched Rollei 6000 vs Hasselblad ELM vs Fuji...Rollei started their camera line, like the Olympus - from a clean slate...the advantages were several fold -- built-in dark slide, motor drive, lens made to take advantage of the state of the art in electronics at that time...optics were a toss up as I recall between the two..Fuji might have sharper optics but was not as portable...I put a few thousands shots on the 6000 bought a few lenses then sold and bought the 6006 model mod I and then a 6006 mod 2 (some multiple shot capabilites the earlier models did not have)...

Love the big resolution - have enlargements hanging on my walls to 20 x 30". No grain visible ...fewer and fewer places develop this film well...owned a 220 back for a while becuase the 12 shots can go fast...but not as many films are made for 220 vs 120...

Purchased a number of lenses and gadgets for it - e.g. 45 degree finder and bright screens...but really just use the look down viewing...took awhile to get used too on the very first one (backwards viewing etc..) but then became 2nd nature...the camera/lens is very well balanced...batteries hit a high of $250 each for awhile though I think they might be down to $100 each...and they are quite custom...no AA packs for these bodies . Last major trip with the Rollei was to New Zealand and Australia - took all three outfits and lots of film (pre-digital days)...needed an extra suit case or two just for the photo stuff...big fun

Well, Marc,

With that superb history and disclosure we're looking forward to a gift of one picture a week! We need film shots!

Asher

Welcome from a Husky! I was in Seattle 84-89.