Originally posted to rec.photo.equipment.medium-format newsgroup 22 February, 1997

>Hi,

>I need to replace the sealing foam on my Pentax 6x7 TTL prism. Does someone know where I
can find such a foam and how I can apply it?

>Thanks,

>Olivier

Olivier,

You may be able to get the foam from your local repair shop. I have had enough of this stuff
GIVEN to me by the local shop to replace the mirror damping foam on 2 Pentax Spotmatic II's, 2
Nikkormats, and 2 Nikon F2's. It is apparently easier for them to give me the stuff (I offered to buy
it) than to take on the job of replacing the foam themselves. The shop is currently backlogged by
four weeks.

Replacement is pretty easy, but must be approached with care and PATIENCE.

Most of the old stuff can be scraped off with a flat toothpick. Be very careful not to get any of the
remnants of the old, sticky foam on any optical surfaces. It's hard to remove.

Use nail polish remover containing acetone, or straight acetone available from the local hardware
or paint store, to clean the metal surfaces. DO NOT USE ACETONE ON ANY PLASTIC
SURFACES! Dip a Q-tip in the solvent and blot off the excess. DO NOT approach your equipment
with a sopping, dripping Q-tip full of acetone. It will migrate to places where it doesn't belong and
can cause damage to internal parts and possibly your external paint job, if you have a black
camera!!

Use the Q-tip to swab the areas where the foam was removed. Try to get them down to bare metal.
Use a new Q-tip when the old one gets full of the nasty black stuff.

After you get the surfaces clean, use some Duro contact cement (Wal-Mart, K-Mart) to attach the
new foam. Cut the foam to the proper length. Use another flat toothpick to apply a THIN coat to
the metal and another THIN coat to the foam. Each foam should not take more than a drop of
cement to adequately cover BOTH the metal AND the foam. APPLY SPARINGLY!

Allow the cement to dry for about five minutes before trying to mount the new foam. Be careful
when setting the foam in place. It is very difficult to move once contact has been made. The
lightest touch makes a pretty permanent attachment.

That's about it. Take your time and it's pretty easy.

Best regards,

Stew

Fixed Focus Mode.

Two of your three lenses lend themselves very well to what may be described as 'fixed focus' mode.
You have to understand depth of field and its advantages, but it gives you a very large 'lever' in
PJ. There should be a depth of field scale on all your lenses. It consists of a bunch of lines on
either side of the black dot center of focus indicator. Each line extends back toward the aperture
ring and the ones toward the outside have colors matching the higher-numbered aperture settings,
ie: 16, 22, 32... These indicators allow you to set your lens to be a 'fixed focus' lens by setting the
aperture to a small diameter (large number) and matching your focus setting to the depth of field
scale instead of focusing the image on the viewfinder screen. For instance, I have a 50mm F1.4. If I
set it for F16, I can set the focus ring infinity mark (sideways figure 8) on the light blue colored
mark on the left side of the center focus indicator black dot, and on the right side light blue mark
I can read that the close end of the acceptable focus range is at about 9 feet away from the
camera. I no longer have to focus on anything that's from 9 feet away from me to infinity! If my
work will be closer, I can set the focus range appropriately and still not have to focus through the
viewfinder for each shot. In addition, the wider lenses you want to use (24, 35) are even better for
this practice, because shorter lenses have even more depth of field. You will get the same long
focusing (depth of field) range at more open apertures, allowing higher shutter speeds. You now
only have to adjust the shutter speed dial to control your exposure. The depth of field will always
be sufficient and focus will always be acceptable. Imagine, having only one control to adjust for
each shot! I learned a lot from the photographer for our local newspaper in the small Indiana
town where I grew up. He used a Nikon F and 28mm Nikor, along with Tri-X. The 28mm was his
key to simplicity. Having too wide a lens is not a worry because on one end (inside a building) you
will always have wide enough coverage when you can't back up any farther, and on the other end
(outdoors and some distance from the subject) you can always crop the print for composition.
Most readers will never notice the wide angle distortion, either. They only look at your photo for
1-3 seconds anyway.

You'll need to use a faster film with the above technique. It requires the lens to be stopped down
quite a bit. In outdoor situations this is not a problem. Remember the 'sunny 16 rule': F16 and the
shutter speed set at the same number as the film speed. When it's cloudy or in shady areas, you'll
appreciate the faster film for the higher shutter speeds it allows. Don't worry about grain, your
shots will be reduced to a half-tone (dot) image that will be printed on the cheapest paper anyway,
so grain is totally unimportant. Remember that film is also a tool, and that it will be your least
expensive tool. If you've shot half a roll in bright sunlight and rated it at 200 to keep your shutter
speed reasonable, don't hesitate to take it out of the camera and put in a new roll that you can
rate at 800 for use indoors or in the shade. FILM IS CHEAP!! GRAIN DOESN'T MATTER!!

If you will be shooting sports, there are two other techniques. One is 'shooting at the peak of the
action", the other is 'panning with the action.

Shooting at the Peak of the Action.

Shooting at the peak of the action requires some practice, but is a very effective technique. During
a sporting event, the most exciting moments occur when the action reaches a climax: boxer
connecting a right with his opponent's jaw, running back diving into the turf of the end zone,
basketball player going up for a layup, hurdler clearing a hurdle, etc. Something else occurs at
exactly these same moments: the athlete's motion comes to an almost complete standstill. As I
said, it takes practice, but you CAN learn to get a high percentage of good shots by trying to
shoot at the moment the action peaks. Spend some time shooting high school or junior high
sports events to sharpen your reflexes and refine your technique. You may even be able to write
off the experience on your taxes by donating the good shots to the school yearbook.

Panning With the Action.

Panning with the action is another dynamite technique that can be easily practiced along the side
of a busy street. Set the shutter speed at 1/30-1/60 and follow the motion of passing cars through
the viewfinder. While panning with their motion, begin a slow squeeze of the shutter button. As
the cars pass directly in front of you, the shutter should release. This takes a little work to become
consistent, but produces very satisfying results. DO NOT jam the shutter button down! This will
cause everything to become fuzzy. Squeeze slowly and rely on timing the squeeze to the point
directly in front of you where the subject's speed relative to your position is the greatest. This
produces shots that show a blur of background motion and a remarkably sharp subject. Do not
forget to 'follow through'. Don't stop panning when you think the shutter will release. You must
continue to pan with the subject motion until well after the shutter releases or you will begin to
jam your finger down on the shutter release at the same time you stop panning. This will lead to
nothing but 'garbage' shots that have blurry subject, foreground, background, EVERYTHING!
Pan smoothly and continue to pan as the shutter releases. You can easily begin your practice of
this technique with an empty camera, loading only when you are confident of your shutter release
timing (which should only take about 5 minutes!). There are some examples of this technique on the
NASCAR Brickyard 400 page, indexed from my home page.

Finally, there's no substitute for a good tripod... OK, there are quite a FEW substitutes for a good
tripod. USE THEM!!! Any rest is better than none! Use a monopod, lean against a wall, tree, car,
lamp post or anything else that will help you hold the camera still. If you can, use the heaviest,
stiffest tripod you can carry.

Practice, practice, practice!

Best regards,

Stew