4th issue finally out -- come and get it

[MJSfoto1956]

Wow. The 4th issue is finally "in the can" and is available to download for free from our website www.magnachrom.com (http://www.magnachrom.com). Time for me to take a day off (or two) and then start the 5th issue.

Anyway, we have really been listening to your your ideas over the past few months. And as a result, this issue has been totally re-designed in order to allow us to better provide MAGNAchrom in alternate media in the future (such as CD-ROM, print-on-demand, etc). We have lots more planned in the near future and only need your continued support.

Featured in this issue:

SOAPBOX: A Brotherhood of Photographers
HOT MODS: MP4 with Technika-style lensboards
4-SQUARE: Tim Myers
STUDENT WORK: The Royal College of Art
REVIEW: Shen-Hao HZX 45IIA
CENTERFOLD: Mike Stacey
FEATURE: Sandy King: Carbon Prints
CUSTOMIZE: A Homebrew 6x17 Camera
INTERVIEW: Robert Kresa
NEWS: New Stuff
COLLECTIBLES: Rolleiflex TLR
PROJECT: Working Class
PARTING SHOT: Guggenheim, Bilbao

http://www.magnachrom.com/issue_images/MAGNAchrom.v.1.4.1.jpg

We hope you enjoy the new "look" of MAGNAchrom -- please let us know if you like the new direction we are taking. Again, we REALLY value your feedback -- keep it coming! MAGNAchrom is a labor of love.

P.S. the next issue, the 5th, is all about night photography and we still have some "room" for a few additional supporting articles -- please feel free to pmail me at editor "at" magnachrom "dot" com and I'll try to fit your work in.

P.P.S the following issue, the 6th, is all about hybrid photography -- probably our most ambitious issue yet. Any of you who are comfortable mixing analog and digital processes should REALLY consider contributing to this issue. Pmail me as above.

[MJSfoto1956]

Oh, technical glitch: the 4th issue is currently listed on the BOTTOM of the downloads page instead of the top. So be sure to scroll down. Sorry!

[Antonio Corcuera]

Hello Michael, I tried downloading issue #4 several times this morning but got an "error in the file" message when opening with acrobat writer 5.0. I haven't had any problems with the previous issues... any ideas?

[Jim Noel]

:mad: For those of us who struggle along with a standard format monitor, and a printer which does not accept 11" wide paper, the new format is a PIA.
It is so difficult to attempt to read it, I will just forget about it.

[Jack Flesher]

Only comment is the new document width is perhaps a bit much... I have an older monitor but still 1600 pixels wide and I can only get to 94% at full-screen. I have to scroll if I want to view at 100% inside the Acrobat window and of course even at 94% the images and text are somewhat pixelated...

[gari beet]

Second the download problem, I have tried a couple of times and it tells me "error" at about 7mb. any ideas?

cheers

Gari

[Amund BLix Aaeng]

What a great issue! Sandy`s carbon prints looks great, the Rolleiflex article perfectly timed(I bought a Rolleiflex yesterday), and that 23 year old Polish kid, what a great eye! Too bad he can`t find an 8x10 in Poland...

[Eric Rose]

worked fine for me. the scrolling is a drag though. beyond that excellent issue.

[kjsphotography]

I have tried to download the file three times and after 4 megs it stops.

I keep getting errors.

Is there another source of download?

[Paul Ewins]

I got a PDF error after downloading it yesterday. I might give it another go now and see what happens as some people appear to have got usable copies.

[BrianShaw]

Looks like it might be great content. I had no problem downloading but I do have a problem reading magazines on screen. Printing is the problem for me - my printer won't take 11x17 paper and I can't seem to figure out how to print on 8.5x11 - even at 50% reduction. eMagazines aren't working too well for me. boo-hoo. :(

[Paul Ewins]

Tried again, still getting "this file is damaged and could not be repaired". I'm using Acrobat Professional v6. I also downloaded issue 2 again (v1.2.3) and got the same error, but issues 1 & 3 which I had downloaded and kept still open fine.
Have you upgraded or changed the software used to create the PDFs?

[Jerzy Pawlowski]

I did not get any problem during downloading (Windows, Firefox). Great issue.

[Kirk Fry]

I've tried 3 times and crashed and burned 3 times. Comes up a little bit short each time.
K

[Brian C. Miller]

I downloaded the issue OK, but apparently its not compatible with Adobe 7.0. Now the download of Adobe Reader 8.0 is promising to take an hour.

[Ben Chase]

Good stuff - I like how the magazine is laid out. It's one of the few photography publications that's actually worth reading these days!

Too bad I didn't read the focusing cloth comparison BEFORE I purchased my Hybrid Blackjacket...I definitely find that the opening is too small for my TK45s.

Cheers,

Ben C

[Brian C. Miller]

OK, I just finished installing Adobe 8.0 and it can't open the file. Says the file is damaged and can't be repaired.

[Delft]

Download failed with me too. I tried 3 times and got document sizes between 8 and 10 Mbyte. The dialog-box said 'download completed', but the file should be 15MB. (Windows XP SP2)

Bye,

Dirk

[John Hannon]

No Problem downloading it here. I enjoyed the issue very much.

The pages are a bit wide but I set View-->Page Display-->Single Page in The Adobe V8 Reader and had no problems.

--John

[Doug Howk]

I like the new format (landscape style?) since I don't have to schroll down or reduce size to see a full page. Layout is good. Excellent job! Btw, I'm using Acrobat 7.0 on Mac without any problem reading your magazine.

Concerning content, Sandy's Carbon prints are superb and the other images & articles are very good.

[Stewart Skelt]

Tried to download twice - unreadable file both times.

[Rick Moore]

I downloaded it fine without problem, Safari on OS X 10.4. Adobe Acrobat 8 opens it without error.

[sanking]

I downloaded the file on three different computers without any problem. One was a 24" iMac running OS 10.4.7, another a G4 Mac running 10.3.9 with a 22" monitor, and the other an IBM 14" ThinkPad running Windows xp. Version 6.0 of Acrobat Reader used on all three machines. Safari on the iMac and ThinkPad, Camino on the G4.

I wonder if some of the problems are not caused by server file size limitations?

Sandy King

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Michael,

I am surprised that you did not assert copyright as of this year. Probably an editorial oversight (easy to do with so much going on!).

[MJSfoto1956]

to those of you who have had trouble downloading any issue of MC, pmail customersupport "at" magnachrom "dot" com, tell us which issue you had trouble with, and we will send you instructions as to how to download it via another mechanism.

(Note: our technical guy has a new baby in the house and is out of his mind, so bear with us!)

[roteague]

Enjoyable issue Michael. I had no problems downloading or reading it. However, I do like the previous landscape format better.

[Michael Jones]

I still get a "damaged file" message after downloading (for the 3d time).

Mike

[BrianShaw]

I downloaded today (again) but this time at work. No problem with the downloads. Also printed on the printer at work, which is much better than what I have at home. Wonderful issue! Only suggestion is to be wary of low contrast images like the two "monochromes"... they look bad on both of my monitors and not much better in print.

[kjsphotography]

I really wish I could see this issue. I still cannot download it. everything I try it ends up crashing after 3-5 megs. Is there any other way to get this issue?

[Gordon Moat]

Maybe MagnaChrom is becoming too popular. Every attempt to download so far has halted, many at under 4 MB of the PDF, and the best only slightly better than 8 MB. Guess I will try late at night, perhaps when the servers are less busy.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[MJSfoto1956]

Yikes. We are having trouble on our end streaming the file to a small percentage of registered users.

So, if you want a temporary link to the file, send email to customerservice "at" magnachrom "dot" com and we will send you a super-secret, extra-double-handshake, temporary link where you can get at it more directly.

Sorry for the technical problems -- we hope to have it all resolved by the next issue. In the meantime, send support an email!!

[Gordon Moat]

After many attempts, I finally managed to get the entire issue downloaded late at night. One thing that can help your file sizes on PDFs is to use less fonts. This would also lead you towards a more comprehensive publication design. The use of Tekton Pro on the 6x17 camera article was not an easy to read choice, though it works okay for titles. Perhaps standardizing on a SansSerif or SemiSans font overall would simply the layout and enhance readability and consistancy of the publication design.

I might imagine this going to press at some point in the future. When it does, the colour backgrounds on some pages, and the numbering at the edges of pages (bleeds) can look very nice. When it is individuals printing off their own gear, a larger than 11" by 17" (Tabloid) paper would be needed to get a bleed. Probably anyone printing on Letter size or Tabloid paper would loose some of the edge markings.

Okay, so the good stuff. I like the writing style, and most of the articles (I've read every issue so far). I even find myself agreeing with the Pros and Cons in the Shen-Hao article . . . now you have me searching for an accessory mount solution. The images work nicely on a computer monitor, and I like the ratio of images to text, though I would like to see a minimum image size slightly larger than was used in some places. It would have been nice to see a top view or back view of that 6x17 camera. Overall I think the publication is growing nicely. Thanks!

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)