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Introduce yourself and meet fellow Photoclubalpha members
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
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Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
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Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Welcome to Photoclubalpha Forums, which opened in May 2007. You suggestions for improving the Forum categories and subjects are welcome, as this is the first forum which I have set up personally. Please note that for Links to images and other sites or sources, you must use BBcode (shown above this window) and regular HTML is disabled within posts.

If you are registering for the forum, with a username and password, please note these down and also visit our newly structured main site, which requires similar registration. We suggest you use the same username and password for both, but we have not automated a single registration for both databases. Too many of my work colleagues have had their MySQL databases corrupted or lost recently, and I have decided to keep the forums separate from the main site.

These Forums are initially moderated by me personally, but in time I expect to grant moderator status to other individuals. I will be ruthless in removing any posts which use foul language or make personal attacks on other members - I've seen countless forums wrecked by this. Heated exchanges of views are no problem, as long I don't have to wipe the blood off my screen!

Forums take time to get going. You'll need to make a special point of cultivating involvement. As you post, your Ranking will rise, but you will have to post over 10,000 messages to get our ultimate accolade of 'Complete Nutter!' under your name.

You can upload your Avatar - a mythical picture of your cyberself - not exceeding 100 x 100 pixels or 10k in size. We do not have image galleries directly on photoclubalpha and probably never will have, as there are many excellent image hosting services out there.

David Kilpatrick
Publisher & co-Editor - Photoworld
Alex 007
Acolyte
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 5:05 am
Location: Israel

From "The Holly Land"...Israel, Cheers!

Unread post by Alex 007 »

Hello to all the Members! :D

My name is Alex, I'm writing from Israel, since I was 13 years old for my "Barth Mitzvah" ceremony day, my pass away Daddy brought me my first meeting with "Minolta" brand cameras was a Rolleiflex copy named "Autocord" which gave me 12 photos 6x6cm size negative on a 120 roll film.
This lovely camera was with me for more of 3 decades...& I gave to a collector friend, still working with NO problems. During the years I own a lot of brands, from Leica, Olympus OM-1 &OM-2s, Nikon F2, till during end 80ties I order from a friend that was visiting NY....to buy for me at "B&H Photo"...my first 35mm Minolta brand Autofocus 7000 was a Maxxum one, together with the originally Minolta macro 100mm 2,8 lens that still with me till today + the Maxxum 4000 flash unit. After 3 years i changed the body to a Maxxum 8000i (Also the flash to the newer 5,200 as the shoe changed...to the current one use by KM or Sony bodies)...two years after I changed again for my last film body that still with me guarded today a Maxxum 9xi together with a Minolta 24-85mm lens & changed the strobe to the last Film type the 5,400HSS one.

Now concerning the "Digital Epoch"...among my KM 7D DSLR I also collect a Panasonic 20 with a Leica 12x zoom, a cheap Nikon Coolpix L-4 (My kids use it!), & for my private use I acquired also a Canon P&S A-710-IS, which mainly as today it's very difficult for me to walk, & the 7D'Tamron combo is big & heavy...when I walk I take such Canon P&S as has an a Stabilized 6x zoom lens.

Near 99% of my photos I send by my mail account...trough Picasa photo organizer I have also the "Neat Image Demo" noise reduction software, + the "Faststone" photo program ONLY...for add Frames to my photos.

O.K...I really end this post, with my best wishes of continuing enjoying your KM/Sony gear.

Peace, to all of you :!:
Alex 007!
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
Posts: 5985
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Contact:

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Welcome Alex! As you will have found, I've programmed the BB to alter one or two camera names - and you have so many I think you used all but one! The reason for this is to make it not so comfortable to start entire threads about different makes, or constantly refer to them. It doesn't prevent the post being read and understood. Sorry to interfere with freedom of speech this way but I have seen what happened to the dPreview Minolta SLR forum when it was all about 'where shall I jump ship to?'.

David
Alex 007
Acolyte
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 5:05 am
Location: Israel

Unread post by Alex 007 »

Dear David,

It's 100 comprehended by me...only was my "History"...of course that here I will write concerning only my KM 7D one!

Peace,
Alex 007!
toti
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 23, 2007 1:38 am
Location: Iceland
Contact:

Unread post by toti »

Hi David,
I have only had Minoltas. The first one I got from my grandfather as a confirmation gift. It was Minolta Unomat if I remember right. Srt 101 came next then XD11 and so on. I bought A1 and then KM5D when I heard Minolta was leaving us. Still have all my film cameras and bought a hi-matic 7s some years back.

I have been your reader for few years and dont bother much buying other photomagazines on regular basis except foto8.

I really enjoy your photoclubalpha.

Thank you for all your work.
Tóti
http://www.pbase.com/flydra
Toti
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
Posts: 5985
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Contact:

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Tóti, great to hear from an admitted Canon virgin!

I think I have a Unomat somewhere. Clumsy design, but a good lens. I think it does not work, because the metering cell has failed long ago.

David
retoohs
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:42 am

Mag Sub Payments

Unread post by retoohs »

Hi David, Alan Kerr here from downunder (NZ). Great site and I'm sure I'll be visiting it regularly. I've just revamped my old Konica-Minolta digital group, renamed it Sony-KM_Digital (Yahoo Groups) and Tim Broadley posted this sites address. I'll add it as a link to the group. What I'm writing about is not so much to introduce myself to other members but ask about subscription options for Photoworld. Do you accept Neteller or just Paypal. I use Neteller as opposed to Paypal but is this isn't an option do you accept Visa payments? If not no problem, I'll just use the PDF option.

Best Wishes for '08
Al
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
Posts: 5985
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

I've never heard of Neteller. We do have a site page somewhere which accepted Worldpay, but that was bit of a pain. The benefit for me of Paypal is the very clear listing of all transactions like a bank statement going back many weeks - it allows me to check that every payment has been actioned on. I will locate the changed Yahoogroup and provide a link.

David
slant
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:26 am

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by slant »

I stumbled upon this great site, while surfing for info about The Sony Alpha 200.
Now I am happy I did!

My name is Rolf.Live in Ontario,Canada and just bought the new in store Alpha 200.
In 1984 I purchased a Minolta Maxxum 9000 which is still in great condition.
But with digital photography, what can I say... I deserted film some years ago
and have used mainly a Fuji Finepix S602Z.
Now I have to learn all over again :roll: .with the Sony.
Looking forward to many visits to this forum.
Rolf
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
Posts: 5985
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Rolf, you were an early 9000 adopter - according to my records, it didn't arrive until late 1985! Remains one of the classics of camera design, but my surviving bodies have 'bleeding' LCD panels which no longer work.

David
slant
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:26 am

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by slant »

Thanks for the welcome
At age 73 , I have to make allowances for "memory-loss" :D
However I do remember having to wait several weeks for the arrival of my 9000.
They were just introduced and maybe available a few weeks earlier in N.America ?(Canada)
My oldest camera, still usable/in occasional use, is a Kodak Retina IIIc
Which I bought around 1957....I think .
trebor 25
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:03 pm

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by trebor 25 »

Hi David
totally new to this , got hooked by minolta a few years back , and stayed on for the ride with sony .
current gear is a100 ,dynax 6o , 300si , 18/70 28/100 35/70 2.8 28mm 1.7 50mm 2.8 50mm macro 24/105 70/210 ( no not a beercan ) tamron 28/300 di 19/35 tokina sony hl36 manfrotto mono /tripod dicain v/g for a100.

Looking forward to seeing whats going on at this site

Regards
Rob :D
nate
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:04 pm

Dave is my alpha guru

Unread post by nate »

I have read everything Dave posted on depreview and am much better educated on all matters ALPHA.
I am in my twilight years as a photo enthusiast and can't wait too long for the ideal DSLR. I suffer from optic neuropathy. The light rods in my retina is slowly atrophing from lack of adequate blood flow. As a result my eyes perceives everything dimmer and with less contrast than normal eyes. I had the hardest time and needed help just in entering the security code to register for this forum. The font color of this forum is also a challenge. Dpreview white on black is more easily read.
Anyway I registered because I was just banned by dpreview for posting something I thought was fairly innocuous. I posted it because I want Olympus (heresy on this forum) to abandon 4/3 and use their innovation to produce a camea I can use before I go blind. Look at the infrequent history of my posts there and tell me if I deserved to be banned by a forum hosted in a country that gave us the magna carta. I visited London over 40 years ago. The public display of free speech that I witnessed there was refreshing. On dpreview I criticized no one and received much vitriol. I used civil language and only supplied facts.
What old folks like me need is a camera like the sony RI with full frame and interchangeable lenses. For me even the best APS ovf is difficult for me indoors. I can make do with something like the minolta maxxum 5000 finder (a budget camera) which is better than the expensive canon 5d finder. Why are decent prism finders such a luxury today compared to the past. Right now I imagine a 960000 (really 640x480 learned from Dave) evf would be fantastic and may extend my photo taking by 5 years.
The trouble with the A3x0 LV is that I can't use it outdoors since the contrast will be too low for me. Sony's implementation of LV results in small mirror ovf which will also be hard for me to use. So short of R1 like slr, a camera with Pentax prism hi mag ovf and Oly E420 fast contrast focus LV is what I need soon. So either SONY adopts Oly LV or Oly go to larger sensor, I have to use 3" LV PS indoors and my KM5D outdoors.
User avatar
bobwalk3
Acolyte
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:10 pm
Location: Southwest Pennsylvania
Contact:

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by bobwalk3 »

Dear David, I am a new member and this is great. I am a retired newspaper photographer (73-years-old) and I have evolved from the 4 X 5 Speed Graphic, Linholf, and even an 8 X10 studio view camera to Konica/Minolta/Sony. During my darkroom days I was always amazed to see an image come up on a piece of paper emersed in developer. Now I can make large (13 X 19) glorious color prints in minutes. I am still dazzled by the process. I am doing some event photography and weddings. Please look at my web site. I'd love to read your comments. Thanks you for this site. It's fun!
RW
David Kilpatrick
Site Admin
Posts: 5985
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:14 pm
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Dave is my alpha guru

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

nate wrote: The trouble with the A3x0 LV is that I can't use it outdoors since the contrast will be too low for me. Sony's implementation of LV results in small mirror ovf which will also be hard for me to use. So short of R1 like slr, a camera with P*nt*x prism hi mag ovf and Oly E420 fast contrast focus LV is what I need soon. So either SONY adopts Oly LV or Oly go to larger sensor, I have to use 3" LV PS indoors and my KM5D outdoors.
Pentax make a 1.18X magnifying eyecup and Olympus make a 1.2X version. These increase the view of the prism/screen. I have been trying the Olympus one on the Alpha 700 and the result is like returning to old 'real' SLR finders. It is not spectacle friendly but if your retinal problem is not accompanied by serious lens/corneal problems, you could use one of these £30-ish accessories and get the view you want. I am sure the Pentax one will fit the Minolta/Alpha eyepiece even better than the Olympus one does.

David
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