What did St. Nick bring You?

[John Kasaian]

St. Nick brought me a copy of the 2004 Photographer's Market---I guess He couldn't find any 12x20 Folmer & Schwing film holders at the North Pole(but thats OK!) What cool LF photo toys St Nick bring You this year?

[Mike Troxell]

An 8x10 Ansco, a Turner Reich triple convertible (12"/19"/25"), 3 8x10 holders and a custom case for all of the above :)

[Jay M. Packer]

A lump of coal; maybe I should try carbon printing.....

[Michael Kadillak]

Ansel Adams at 100 - The Book.

[David R Munson]

Not strictly LF photo (or photo for that matter), but useful nonetheless - a new Leatherman tool and a new compass. Now if I get lost in the wilderness and die, I'm just gonna feel stupid...

[Dan Fromm]

What could be a lump of coal or a nice diamond.

To wit, a 16/2.5 Luminar that has problems. How bad they are remains to be seen. The lens forms an image and cleanly resolves the tick marks on my 100 marks/mm stage micrometer, but ... The big obvious thing is what appears to be balsam (now hard, didn't used to be, amber color with embedded bubbles) that has extruded from the barrel around the periphery of the front element. The balsam, if that's what it is, is visible to the naked eye, seeing the finer details requires a microscope.

Should be able to borrow a known good one for comparison, also a USAF 1951 target on glass that goes to 228/lpmm for more serious testing.

Cheers,

Dan

[jantman]

A Speedotron 2401a with 102 head, so I can finally do some still life with the 8x10. A brick of TMX 120, and 10 rolls of Pan F+ 120. Some money, and a B&H gift card. Ansel Adams: Examples. Some little trinkets. The Concert for George CD set. And finally, from my aunt, "The New Manual of Photography" by Hedgecoe which is arguably the worst photo book ever. According to what is subtitled "the definitive guide to photography in every format", sheet film only exists in 5x4, 5x7, and 10x8 sizes. No mention of larger or smaller ever existing. No mention of alternative processes. I'll write him a letter before i return it. Anyone else not like him?

[Mike Chini]

Robert Adams books and a Logan framers edge Matt Cutter. Better than I had anticipated!

And lots of calories.

[Doug Meek]

A 2004 Harley Davidson Road King Custom. It's going to be real interesting trying to cram all of my LF gear into those saddlebags.

[Doug Meek]

Please accept my apologies for the above post. I just reread John's original posting and he clearly stated "LF photo toys". A Harley certainly does not qualify. Perhaps next year Santa will bring me a set of reading glasses.

[Mike Troxell]

Doug, you gotta have something to transport the LF gear. So, I think the Harley qualifies as long as you use the LF pannier (uh, saddlebags) you mentioned :)

[Mike Lopez]

My mother-in-law made me a pretty sweet tripod carrying case. It looks just like a rifle case, but it does have a place for a business card, should the police get a little nervous.

[Jay DeFehr]

A scanner and a book ; Arnold Newman's Americans . Thanks Mom.

[Alan Davenport]

A GPS receiver. Now I can find my way back to the car. Maybe.

[Bill_1856]

For Christmas I gave myself A Day In The Darkroom. Something I haven't done since getting my digital cameras last Christmas. I found a perfectly clear 2 liter Diet Sprite bottle of Ansco 130, which had to have been mixed well over a year ago. I'm pleased to say that it works perfectly -- an amazing product! Last night I printed on Agfa RC Multicontrast paper, today I'm making final prints with my last box of 11x14 Portriga Rapid #2.

[Steve Hamley]

A GPS receiver also. I'm writing guides for the Smokies manways that aren't on the maps (like Whiteoak Sink, a famous wildflower walk) with GPS coordinates so others can easily navigate the unmapped manways.

Thanks!

Steve

[Ken Cravillion]

I gave myself a kevlar/carbon fiber kayak. 17 feet and only 44lbs. Apostle Islands, here I come with LF!

[Joe Smigiel]

I gave myself an 11x14 Burke & James view camera. Actually, it arrived the Saturday before Christmas, so I'm considering it a Christmas gift even though I've been trying to get one for over a year. By Monday I had an 8 1/2" square Packard shutter in the camera and adapted one of the lensboards to hold a large lens mounting iris and a 24" RD Artar. Today I picked up some wood to make some new 9" lensboards so that I can finally mount that 18" f/4 Verito I've had in storage the past 3 years. I hope to be shooting with it in a couple days.

[Ben Calwell]

I didn't find the Canham 5x7 I've been wanting under the tree, but my wife did renew View Camera Magazine for me for another year.

[Brian Ellis]

The Henri Cartier Bresson book "The Man, The Image, and The World."

[Dan Fromm]

That 16/2.5 Luminar is a lump of coal. Turns out that the 16/2.5 is basically a tessar with a field flattener behind it. The balsam that's around little lump's front element originally lived between elements 3 and 4. They're still somewhat cemented together but there are voids. The lens must have been baked in an oven. Wide open at 30:1, little lump resolves about 1/3d as many lpmm on the cheap USAF 1951 on glass target as a borrowed known good 16/2.5. Oh, well.

Season's greetings,

Dan

[Don Boyd]

I received $350 toward a new lens. In anticipation of the event, I bought a Fujinon 450 C (which quite naturally required the ordering of a 4 1/2 extender from Grimes). After already having the 450 lens, the gift money arrived. So, I decided I wouldn't put the money towards the 450 after all, but towards a Nikkor 300 M instead. Realizing that there was a 150mm hole in my kit, after receiving the 300 M of course, I quite logically decided to get a Rodenstock 150 Sironar-S. It is simply amazing what $350 dollars will buy these days.

To all my family and friends, please no more gifts! I can't afford them!

[Frank Filippone]

New books... Chris Woodhouse and Ralph Lambert's new book and Barry Thornton's most recent book.... I am indeeed lucky....

I also feel rather sad as Thornton, Grimes are no longer with us and Galvin is apparently also in medical chrisis... not a good LF year for our forbears...

[James Phillips]

St. Nick delivered three alternative process kits to explore with. A cyanotype, a kallitype and a new Pt/Pd kits from both Bostick & Sullivan and the Photographers Formulary. Unfortunately the darkroom is under renovations as I install the new fiberglass sink I created this fall. I also will be installing a temperature control unit with both hot and cold filters I recently acquired. My "printing time" should be considerably more enjoyable in the future.

So now I am on the hunt for UV lights to build a lightbox with. I am quite excited and looking forward to the new year, my upcoming journey into the world of alternate techiques and processes, and of course sharing all with my LF friends.

Kind Regards,

[Philippe Gauthier]

I got an unimaginative wallet sized picture of my baby nephew and niece made in a fancy and expensive local studio. That's the only thing remotely photographic Santa brought me this year. That's what happens when your family believes photography is a waste of time. Sad, isn't it?

[Paul Levin]

Santa brought me a Shen Hao HZX 45-II. Unfortunately a reindeer stepped on it during delivery and ruined it. The good news: One of Santa's elves (Jeff @ badger) replaced it immediately (FedEx 2 day), superior service indeed. So now I've spent the past two mornings freezing my butt off in cold windy New England playing with my new Shen Hao. I really like this camera. Much easier to take out than the 'ol sinar F2! Santa was generous this year also providing a Gitzo 1227 carbon fiber tripod. Ho! Ho! Ho! Any suggestions on a pair of warm yet flexible gloves?

[Daniel Grenier]

Santa (aka Arlene, my wife) brought me an all-expenses-paid trip & spot on the next Michael A Smith and Paula Chamlee's "Vision and Technique" workshop (he figured, and rightly so, I could benefit from it). He also brought me (or was that me?), a 165mm Super Angulon and a Thomas Safelight (I hear he got em on ebay at rock bottom prices!).

In previous years he got me (or was that my wife?)a 480 ApoRonar, a compensating timer, a Harrison change "tent", and lots other great stuff. Last year, he got me a trip to Chicago specifically to dine at Charlie Trotter's !!! (the next best thing to a fine Azo contact print!).

Ya gotta love that Santa!

[Mike Troxell]

Paul,

Manzella Windstoppers

[Ernest Purdum]

For Dan: I wonder if a 16/2.5 Luminar might not be one of he very few lenses worth having recemented? At somewhat near the other end of the lens spectrum, I know of a 300mm Apo Lanthar having been satisfactorily recemented at about one quarter of the going eBay price.

[Dan Fromm]

Ernest, the thought has crossed my mind.

I haven't composed the begging e-mail to John Van Stelten yet. Does anyone know John's age and how his health is?

I made the mistake of not sending a Retina to George Mrus, and while I was doing other things he up and died. Steve Grimes is gone, Fred Lustig's health is uncertain, latest news is that Jim Galvin's on the way out. Wouldn't want to lose John and the work he can do because I have other repairs that are, in the short term, more important to me.

Re more important, I've compared a good 16/2.5 with little lump of coal and my 17/4 Tominon (counted bars in test target on the GG) and the 17/4 Tominon is pretty respectable. The good Luminar resolved group 7 almost element 6, the Tominon did group 7 element 3. Not bad, especially considering it is f/4, not f/2.5. With better lighting, little lump isn't quite as bad as I first thought, but the contrast just isn't there.

Cheers, thanks for the suggestion,

Dan

[Andre Noble]

Santa brought me a 1 Liter kit of Photographer's Formulary WD2D+ Pyro and another bottle of TF-4 Fixer.

[Ernest Purdum]

Dan, you're welcome, and thank you for including the interesting comparison with the Tominon.

[Sandy Sorlien]

From my brother, one of the best architecture/place books ever, Robert Polidori's Havana.

From my beloved Santa, a tripod case for the airplane so I don't have to use a duffle bag stuffed with blankets, and a new locking lever for my Bogen/Manfreddo tripod head (the one broken in a Central Texas high-wind accident had been held on with electrician's tape precariously for two years). Also, two collapsible orange traffic cones so I can keep shooting on city streets with impunity. Santa knows what I need.

Cheers and Happy New Year to all, Sandy

[wfwhitaker]

Man, you guys scored!

[jesskramer]

My wife gave me an Arca Swiss B1 tripod head

I love her

[John Kasaian]

Ooops! I forgot I St. Nick also brought me a 5 piece Micro-Tech Precision Screwdriver Set!:-)

[Anne Williams]

Santa brought me the Apple Computer advertising poster of Ansel Adams that says "Think Different". Also, a safelight that works with Panalure paper.

[Ian Fields]

The Camera, The Negative, The Print, and Examples by Adams. 25 sheets of 4 x 6 paper, roll of tri-x 120. Also got 58mm #25 red and two rolls of tmax 100, but that is all 35mm. Lots of good stuff.

Ian