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general thoughts XPan

yesterday I was outdoor with my xpan and shoot some b&w negatives in landscape with some beautyfull red "Mohnblumen" (I don't know the name of the flowers in english).
I liked it realy shooting outside in the pano format but I wondered not seeing the LEDs, so I thought there's something wrong with my xpan, later in the evening when the light wasn't so bright I could see them again. I think this is realy a bug! What do you think?

(please excuse my bad english ;-) )
 
How essential is the centre filter for the 45mm lens when shooting on slide film in normal 35mm format? Is its use only essential in the panoramic mode?
 
> [The center filter is important when using the pan format and slide film. I know someone that does not use the center when shooting print film, it has the latitude. Others may want to add their experience. ]
 
Martin, I'm assuming your talking about the LED's in the viewfinder that refer to exposure? You have the XPAN not the XPAN II correct? If so I've not had the problem of not seeing them.
 
>I've noticed that if you have a broad expanse of the same color (ie a >clear blue sky) across the parnoramic format, you can tell the difference >even with color print film.
 
John, yes I've XPAN, not XPAN II, and if I'm outside and looking through the viewfinder and it's very bright, it's not possible to see the LEDs
I think it would be great, if hasselblad will make a spezial offer to XPAN users for changing the body.
 
>" I think it would be great, if hasselblad will make a spezial offer to > XPAN users for changing the body." Martin,

Great idea! Although the Xpan II offers fixes for the two things that bother me most (the backing for the led's and the ss readout in the vf), if fails to mention another (the lousy quality of the black finish) and adds what may be the worst idea of all time: an electronic cable release. Let's hope this will be possible.

Bill Pearce
 
> [Bill P., I agree the black finish on the xpan doesn't hold up to well. Mine looks pretty scratched. Also, why is the electronic cable release a bad idea?]
 
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the help and special thanks to John Barclay for the outstanding pictures you have me hunkering for an XPAN !
Could someone please tell me how I can buy an XPAN II for the best price (45mm lens kit).
Thanks
Shankar Kurra
 
Prices depend on the time and country you are buying. Additional the exchnage rate, taxes and shipping costs have to be paid attention to.

I.e. it is very cheap for Germans currently to buy in the US because of the exchange rate Euro/USD. But it is not a good idea to ship it to Germany, because of taxes and shipping costs. So they combine it with their next vacation trip to the US.

Hongkong is very often the cheapest place to buy, but not at every dealer. And very often so called bargains at delears are no bargains at all. So be VERY cautious with offers, no matter where you buy.

Also recommendations on community sites like ours have to be taken with a salt of grain. You never know why this user is recommending it. We had already bad experiences with this on 3 other forums of us.

I think the best way is to make a research with google. Type hasselblad xpan in it and you will find many dealers' website.

As a general rule: the more service the dealer has, the more expensive it is. Also the question whether they have it in stock is important - there are my cheaters out there
happy.gif


If you have a local dealer near you, it might make sense to buy from him - even if it is 100 USD more expensive - if he is willing to lend from time to time other hassy lenses to you for testing purposes or berfore you want to buy a second lens.

Dirk
 
Hi everyone,
I finally went and bought a used XPAN in excellent condition with 45mm & 90mm lenses & hood for $1525 from my local camera store (90 day warranty included).
I have just exposed one roll and cant wait for the results!
Thanks to all of you for your kind advice and technical info.
Shankar
 
I just got my first prints back from Main Photo Santa Ana, CA andd they are gorgeous. I particularly like the B&W prints! I hope to scan some and post soon using my Nikon Coolscan 4000 es.
 
I finally found time to scan some pictures from the 2003 sepang F1 race. i was on the straight away area so the cars were going 300kph plus and a few were taken as the cars were going into the pit. i also included a picture from Hong Kong. These were scanned using a nikon 8000 film scanner with the optional film carrier for xpan negatives. i still need to figure out how to do better scans-tips will be very much appreciated.
 
Raul, Are you using Silverfast AI scanning software? IF not I highly recommend it! If you use it with the IT8 color calibration feature you will not need to make many adjustments in PS. This is assuming you have a calibrated monitor as well.
 
Hi John,

thanks for the tip. i had to cancel the uploads at the last minute because my pictures exceeded the 300x300 size format. i was still figuring out how to do it when i got your message. i didnt even realise my message got posted.

anyway, is there a site i can buy silverfast from? also when i reduce my pictures to 300x300 it goes to 300x110 by default. i think this is too small to be appreciated. I am at the moment contemplating a .mac membership so i can have my own website for my pictures.

I wanted to share those pictures which are fine ex&les of sports photography using the xpan (which i thought were not possible). It was an exercise in extreme panning with the cars going 300+kph and yet the pictures came out nice and relatively sharp! i hopefully will get the pictures up very soon.

thanks again John.
 
Your Welcome! Go to www.silverfast.com or contact Annie at (941) 383-4960 (USA) and let her know I sent you! I'd really like to see the images so if you want to email me feel free. My Web www.barclayphoto.com I honestly don't remember what size my images were on this site. Your own site may be worthwhile! Let me know when you have one. If I remember right you have the Mamiya 7? If so what are your thoughts?
 
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