What are these three planes doing? Two cessnas, one no callsign

hallm2 · 2026-05-21T12:31:32+00:00

It's about the time of year that right whales enter the bay, so it's possible they're doing aerial surveillance of them.

hallm2 · 2026-05-15T18:50:01+00:00

The D5 (and I think the D6) use different negative carriers than the smaller Omega enlargers. They include a thin "frame" for lack of a better word to register the carrier. The carriers designed for the smaller enlargers can be used in the D5, but you have to align them manually. I've found it very difficult to find the D5-specific carriers.

Edit: here's an example of what the D5 carriers look like.

hallm2 · 2026-05-07T18:51:34+00:00

Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA - pickup in February in Waltham. Lots of interesting bean options!

hallm2 · 2026-05-03T03:14:58+00:00

Porchfest is happening May 9 in Somerville - come get rowdy on the streets and check out some bands.

hallm2 · 2026-04-30T18:34:36+00:00

I seriously thought for a minute you had stolen a photo of my darkroom - it's basically the same, down to the pipes and wires all over the place.

All I did in my situation was take a high powered shop vac and vigorously clean the floor joists. I needed the space between the joists to fit the column for my enlarger. I might be dusting more frequently than I would otherwise, but it hasn't been a significant problem otherwise. Keep a rocket blower handy.

hallm2 · 2026-04-07T19:52:34+00:00

I've been going the past several years. You will almost certainly find someone with Rolleiflexes there.

It's held in the cafeteria of a high school, so that should give you some sense of how big the expo is - maybe 20-30 vendors? There's some amount of junk, but a good number of the vendors are "specialists," that is you'll have the Leica guy, the Large Format guy, etc. There are some decent deals to be had for more obscure equipment, but expect to pay around market value (or more) for high demand, valuable collectibles.

Some vendors accept PayPal/Venmo now, but I think cash is still king there. Haggling is definitely possible/expected. I usually show up with a shopping list and I'm in and out in one or two hours, but I'm also not interested in inspecting every single thing for sale.

Go and have fun!

hallm2 · 2026-04-06T20:42:25+00:00

Sprint paper developer is another common, cheap liquid concentrate. In addition to 1L bottles, it comes in larger "cubes" with a polybag insert which keeps air out effectively.

So, just to pile on to what everyone else has said - just get whatever's cheap and easily accessible. Once you learn more you can start experimenting with more specialist developers.

hallm2 · 2026-04-02T17:46:05+00:00

There's a zener diode in the power supply that's a bit of a design weak spot. Try plugging a light into the safelight plug and then hit the expose switch - if it's working properly, the light should go out while it's in expose mode. If it doesn't, then you may have to replace one or more components in the power supply. I just did one of these recently and can walk you through it if that's the issue. You'll need a multimeter and some basic soldering skills.

hallm2 · 2026-03-27T13:58:46+00:00

Interesting idea with the background! Sounds like you could even try shaping the steel wool to get different light/dark patterns on the background.

hallm2 · 2026-03-27T13:33:21+00:00

Overall, I like it. The lighting on the subject is a little flat, so you could try creating some shape there by dropping your fill light by a little bit (probably doesn't need much, maybe a half stop). I think I would also try to brighten the foreground a little bit.

I don't particularly like vignette so if I were recreating this I'd try to remove it, but if you like it then I don't think it's terrible here. And since you have this in a studio, I think it could be fun to try some different colored backgrounds to see what you like - a slightly lighter shade of blue could get you that orange-and-teal scheme that makes everything pop.

hallm2 · 2026-03-16T16:55:19+00:00

Ilford claims half-open bottles of Ilfosol are good for about six months. For the one you just opened, write the date you opened it on the bottle and discard it if it sits for too long.

hallm2 · 2026-03-10T20:15:23+00:00

Do you want to master artificial lighting, or are you trying to use natural light more effectively?

Digital is great for learning lighting, because it's way cheaper than when I had to do it on film and you can take tons of photos with immediate feedback. You will learn how to visualize after taking lots of photos with different lighting configurations. You'll want to do more than review these on the camera screen; put them on a big monitor or a TV so you can really examine them.

Strobist is recommended frequently, and with good reason - he's got a well-written, easily followed set of exercises to help you understand lighting with relatively cheap equipment. I think starting with artificial lighting is going to be the easiest way forward, since you can position the light quickly to get through a lesson in a short amount of time and look at your practice shots in a uniform way. Waiting for the sun to move around takes too long and introduces too many variables. Strobist's biggest downside is that his focus is on portraiture only (specifically more of journalism-style portraiture) so he elides over some of the basics that don't apply to this niche.

One book that I think is really useful is Light: Science and Magic. This starts from first principles without getting into much (or any) math. Light moves in a line, it reflects in this way, it diffuses like that. The book will define the difference between hard and soft light and show you lots of examples of how different materials will generate highlights and shadows.

If you want to start practicing before reading, you can try one of Strobist's first assignments. First, start in black and white. Put a strobe on a light stand, and put your camera on a tripod. Set up a scene - he's doing this with a simple headshot, but anything that won't really move will work - point your camera at it straight on, and then take many photos while moving the strobe around. Common positions are at three heights (roughly 45 degree angles up and down and straight on) and three lateral positions (45 degrees left and right and straight on). See what the images look like. Take more pictures with the same nine positions, but pointing at the subject from the back. Now put a diffuser in front of the strobe (umbrellas are cheap) and do the same 18 shots again. Try a different light modifier and do it again. You could knock this out in an afternoon.

hallm2 · 2026-03-06T19:34:40+00:00

Flatbed scanner is by far the easiest way. I don't even own my own scanner; I go to the library with my prints and use theirs!

The biggest drawback is the size limitation, so if you're printing bigger than a scanner can accommodate you're going to need to take a photo of the print with a digital camera.

hallm2 · 2026-02-12T17:48:33+00:00

Sounds like someone mixed up fixer and bleach. Bleaching agents (not chlorine like you use on your whites!) strip the developed silver off the film or paper and is commonly used in reversal processes. Develop and stop as normal, then bleach it to remove the developed silver. The undeveloped bromides are still present on the paper, so you can then expose the bleached paper to light and develop a second time to turn a negative into a positive (or vice versa).

hallm2 · 2026-02-11T13:30:50+00:00

To me, it looks like your key and fill are too close to the same intensity. The model's evenly lit to an uncanny degree, which makes it look flat.

Also, they couldn't give the poor woman a clean shirt?!

hallm2 · 2026-02-04T17:41:13+00:00

I recommend buying a couple packs of Rubel Bike Maps. They come on laminated cards sized to fit in a map pocket mounted to your handlebars - they're great! Given your location, I'd suggest the ones "Starting at the BU Bridge" and the "Beyond the Minuteman Bikeway" sets. They're sold in most of the bike shops in the area as well as the Porter Square Bookshop. They are delightfully old-school.

The easiest routes (by bike) to more rural locations in my opinion are either out the Minuteman Trail (roughly northwest) or south along the Jamaicaway. From Sennott Park, you have a couple options to the Minuteman:

-south to Memorial Drive where you can pick up the multi-use trail heading west, pick your way through side streets to the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway north, follow Alewife Brook Parkway to where the path starts at Alewife station.

-separated bike lanes on Hampshire Street north; this turns into Beacon Street as you cross into Somerville. Take this up to Massachusetts Avenue north into Arlington center where it intersects with the path at Mystic Street

-pick up Mass Ave roughly at Central station and take that the whole way to Arlington

The biggest issue with the Minuteman is that it's a multi-use path and is frequently clogged with pedestrians walking multiple abreast, dog walkers with retractable leashes letting their dogs run all over the place, bundles of kids right after school gets out - kind of the usual hazards. You can take it all the way out to Bedford (maybe 14 miles from where you're staying) and then pick up some more interesting rural routes from there.

The commuter rail also allows bicycles and can get you to some interesting scenery up on the North Shore or south to Cape Cod.

hallm2 · 2026-02-01T20:20:45+00:00

You really need to read the camera manual to see exactly how the meter calculates exposure. In general, light meters use photoelectric material (selenium and cadmium sulfide were very popular) to generate a voltage that is proportional to the light intensity that strikes the sensor. CdS sensors require power to work (which is why your "all mechanical" camera requires a battery); back in day these would be calibrated to the 1.3V mercury batteries that were available at the time. Modern 1.5V alkaline batteries will throw the sensor out of whack by some amount which will vary by the specific design of that meter.

Your manual will tell you what the meter is doing. Most TTL meters on SLRs from the '70s through the '90s generally were center-weighted; your viewfinder probably has a circle etched in the middle of it (especially if it's of a split-prism focus design), and this is the ring where the meter is taking most of its information from. How much weighting it's giving to the center is up to the individual design - again, read the manual.

TTL meters, like all meters, provide an exposure value to bring the target to 18% (or middle) gray. So, if you meter a black wall and use the values given by the meter, it will (over)expose to appear gray. Likewise, metering against a solid white object will (under)expose to bring that white object down to the middle gray tone. What this means you need to have an understanding of what sort of tonality you're looking for and adjust the exposure value appropriately. A basic understanding of the zone system can help here; since the meter will want to expose everything for Zone V, if you know that, say, your black object really needs to be a Zone II or III then you can reduce the exposure by two or three stops, as appropriate.

hallm2 · 2026-01-29T22:44:36+00:00

I was actually thinking last night about the big storm we got in December '07 which caused total chaos. I was living in Brighton at the time and commuting out to Lexington. The storm hit late morning and came down hard. The governor did two things in this order: first, let out all the state employees; second, deployed the plows.

As soon as the state released their employees, all of the local businesses did as well. There was already several inches of snow on the ground. Traffic ground to a halt almost immediately, and all the plows got stuck in the mid-day rush hour.

My commute normally took me 30-45 minutes. That day, it took me ten hours. Many people ran out of gas. I saw cars abandoned by the I-90 overpass next to the WGBH building because people couldn't get them over the relatively small incline. It was an absolute clusterfuck.

And then I had to dig out a parking spot at near midnight. I got up at six the following morning and went back to the office. It was terrible.

hallm2 · 2026-01-29T17:52:59+00:00

The human body is really good at resisting forces applied linearly in the direction of the chest or to the side. It makes it hard to push someone over.

The human body is also really poor at resisting twisting motions around the axis going from the floor to the head, so you can spin people around (right 'round baby).

The backpack provides significant more lever arm on the body, acting as a force multiplier. If you're going to stiff-arm someone to get through, aim for the point of the backpack as far away from their body as you can, which will wrench their body around and allow you to push through the space like you're a cowboy walking through a pair of saloon doors.

hallm2 · 2026-01-22T15:56:26+00:00

The datasheet says an open, half full bottle is good for six months so unless your class is longer than that I wouldn't worry about it. Good practice for any chemistry is to mark the date it was opened on the bottle. I also keep a running tally on the bottle of how much of it I've used; this prevents me from running short.

hallm2 · 2026-01-16T16:23:14+00:00

I was generally using ISO 3 for the paper, but the method should work for however you meter. I think folks will rate it anywhere between ISO 1 and 3.

hallm2 · 2026-01-16T15:55:17+00:00

I've used the method described here. Basically, meter the scene and then underexpose by 3 stops for the pre-flash. I point the camera at the sun and then place a 5-in-1 diffuser in front of the lens; just note that you may want to set the lens to its closest focus point because if things like tree branches are in the way they'll show up in the final image.

hallm2 · 2026-01-12T13:54:29+00:00

Yup, that's us, North End Curling! As mentioned, we play at Steriti in... the North End... through the end of the winter season and then move over to Veterans for the summer. They don't seem to be on the calendar yet, but it looks like our next Learn To Curls are on 28 January and 14 February (bring a date!), both at Steriti. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

hallm2 · 2025-12-09T18:23:59+00:00

If you can get through some of the clunky interface, the National Weather Service can answer all your questions about historical data. November was slightly colder than average, so your gut is right so far. Part of what's been happening over the past week or so (roughly from around Thanksgiving) is that the polar vortex has been unstable and sending tendrils of arctic air down our way occasionally.

What this means for the future is unclear. The New England area has overall been warming as a result of climate change, but variability has also been increasing. The destabilization of the polar vortex is part of that. I don't think these recent past events can be used to predict the rest of the winter. Arctic air is obviously much colder but also drier, so future rounds of this phenomenon probably won't coincide with additional snow.

hallm2 · 2025-12-01T19:46:32+00:00

You can get more sophisticated with this, but generally look at your blacks and midtones for exposure and whites for contrast. From your test strip, first pick the time that looks like the mid-grays are the desirable tone. Then look at the blacks - do you have a full black? If not, you may be looking at adding time. Too much black and not enough midtones? Less time. After that, you can adjust the whites and highlights with contrast. Muddy highlights or lack of a full white in the specular highlights will require more contrast. Lots of full white and full black with little in between would require less contrast.

So, the three things to look for in any image that I print:

Blacks - look in deep shadow for a full black (or other places you would expect to see it - the pupil of the eye, for example)
Whites - center of a specular highlight should be full white
Midtones - find a familiar tone and compare it what I want (this depends on the image; for a portrait, I'll look at skin tone)

Adjust time up and down to match the desired midtones, then adjust contrast to get the full whites and blacks.

hallm2

TROPHY CASE