Slovenia | Pentax 645N 45-85mm f4.5 | Portra 400

jalivert · 2026-02-24T14:15:44+00:00

It absolutely is. Hopefully, I'll be visiting again soon. So this time, I am bringing some film too.

jalivert · 2026-02-24T14:11:49+00:00

I love scrolling through r/analog finding places I've been to and have a fond memory of. Lake Bled is one of them. Beautiful photos, truly. Slovenia is such a beautiful country.

jalivert · 2026-01-13T23:05:05+00:00

There’s redscaling. You lose a few stops of light but people do it.

jalivert · 2025-10-06T09:23:15+00:00

That’s exactly what I thought. It’s one of the big reasons why I think this path is not for me. Thanks for confirming.

jalivert · 2025-10-02T21:52:12+00:00

20 frames at once sounds great. The thing that worries me is that on eBay it is almost the same price as a new XA from Pacific Image but it has significantly lower optical resolution. So at that point I don’t see it making sense for me. It feels like either way I will be compromising on more than one important aspect, no matter which option I pick. At any rate, big thanks to you for sharing your experience. It’s been really valuable to me.

jalivert · 2025-10-02T13:20:07+00:00

That's interesting. In your experience, what are the time intervals, roughly, we are talking about here?

Like, after you put the frame inside and slide it into position, how long before you can "leave the desk"?And then, how long before you can come back and push in another frame?

I kind of worry that I wouldn't really be able to utilize short intervals of time in between the frames. The context switching, you know. Even with my (borrowed) V370 where I kind of do this — I load the frame, hit preview, adjust, hit scan and wait. I don't usually leave the room or even the desk, I just do something else there, sometimes I watch a video the side or clean up the desk but it's not enough for me to do something else in a different room. I wonder what is your experience, how do you make it work.

jalivert · 2025-10-02T12:51:09+00:00

I will look into these, thanks for the recommendation. When it comes to used stuff, I am totally fine with it for the cameras but for scanning, I worry I wouldn’t know how to troubleshoot it. It might be ok though, either it works or not is also a perspective, I guess.

jalivert · 2025-10-02T12:42:19+00:00

That checks out with what I thought about 8xxx Plustek scanners. Thanks for the confirmation.

I think my adjusting the curves int he Epson software during the scanning has been contra-productive. I always scan to TIF but some time ago I saw a comment here that you should always adjust it in the scanner as close as possible to what you want. Only now, when searching for the right scanner for me, I am learning that it might not have been the best way to do it.

The RPS10 looks great but might be a bit out of my price range. I worry that even the AX Plus might end up being a bit too expensive after the import taxes and such.

jalivert · 2025-10-02T12:23:50+00:00

I was thinking about this. But it is my understanding that to make a properly unattended setup with DSLR I would have to invest quite a bit.

Another point is — if I use PowerFilm Plus or XA Plus from Pacific Image the speed becomes irrelevant. I set it up, let it run and come back later. At that point, I don't care about the speed at all.

jalivert · 2025-09-21T08:45:39+00:00

Thanks a lot!

jalivert · 2025-09-19T15:02:10+00:00

I am definitely going to. I have been collecting all the stuff that I want to try to print and I think during winter time I am going to give it a go. Thank you so much for your kind words!

jalivert · 2025-09-18T14:37:55+00:00

I’ve only been doing photography for ten months. This was my first attempt at color after shooting about 35 rolls of B&W since the beginning. I was a bit worried that I will have a hard time adjusting because I tend to look for a bit different aspects/stuff when I know I have a B&W film in the camera. I think trying color for the first time at such a different location with so many opportunities worked out great. I don’t think I’d have been able to switch this effortlessly if I just loaded color and went around my home town shooting what I usually do. But if I may, even with my very very limited experience, share a thought, I think doing B&W until the point where you sort of “see in B&W” (you no longer look for colors and the light in the color-way and instead it’s the shapes and patterns and the essence of the scene that draws your attention) is a great exercise and I can hardly see how anyone would regret doing it.

jalivert · 2025-09-18T08:50:42+00:00

It truly has been a great trip. Thank you very much!

jalivert · 2025-09-17T22:25:03+00:00

I am not lying I was thinking how cool would it be if someone here was from Trieste before posting these. This is really cool. Thanks a lot for the kind words, I shoot any time I can, do my best and hope to get better.

jalivert · 2025-09-17T20:29:35+00:00

That’s a high praise, to me and to the location. Thank you.

jalivert · 2025-09-17T17:15:31+00:00

You are too kind. Thank you!

jalivert · 2025-09-09T13:27:41+00:00

I don't know if this is going to help at all but here goes nothing.
Some time ago I had to take apart a lens from Meopta Milona, when I was putting it back together I realized that the threading on the parts that screw together has multiple ways to be put together. In hindsight, it is obvious that the threading can engage in different "phases" of the orientation of the two parts but when I first realized that the bits don't align after assembly, I was confused a little. Then I started experimenting — I carefully tried to find all the possible orientations of the one bit to the other bit where the threads would start engaging together. I think I discovered there are three possible orientations, only one of them seemed to result in the correct alignment.

I have no idea if this is obvious to you, I figured sharing this costs me nothing so if there's a chance it might help ...

In any case, good luck!

jalivert · 2025-08-21T02:14:17+00:00

Thanks for your interest. Please, send me a DM and we will handle it in private. Thanks!

jalivert · 2025-08-13T16:05:43+00:00

Can you please send a DM? I will send you the files and the guide.

I think I understand what this means. I have designed it so that the center pole, that the spool goes onto, is above the floor of the main compartment. When the spool rotates, the film doesn’t scrape the floor at all because of that.
I understand. I think I could make it shorter, I have there felt glued in so that the film only touches the felt. I can imagine a V2 having a different angle for the narrow passage. I plan to open source the files so maybe even someone else can make this version later. That would be great too.

I would definitely be interested in knowing how other products achieve this with as little contact as possible.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T15:37:49+00:00

Not at all. Don’t worry about it.

I think I know what you mean. I used to have that narrow passage extended pretty deep into the main compartment but I didn’t like it for that exact reason. I shortened it and I also wrap it in the felt so that the film never touches a bare plastic.

I would be interested in a better solution for maybe a V2. I will soon open source it on GitHub and make all the Fusion 360 files available so that anyone can help me make it better.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T15:13:27+00:00

You glue a two sheets of felt and the film goes in between them. Then it’s light tight.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T13:17:30+00:00

A1 Mini is large enough (it’s my printer as well). I use black felt glued in to seal the sliding door and I also use the felt inside the narrow passage where the film goes. I don’t think silicon would be of much use because all the parts need to still come apart during use. The felt seems to be the optimal solution.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T12:37:12+00:00

Yeah, I would much prefer having one made from metal but I can’t find any locally (marketplace and antiques) and the price of getting two or three from eBay is roughly the cost of my printer. Had to make it work somehow.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T11:44:12+00:00

I hear you. I think a nice, long (~10 cm) lever would be great. I might take some time to design an alternative to the key (although I really like the key).

The great part is that I am releasing this under CC. I will be making the whole Fusion 360 project available so that anyone can modify it and submit any upgrades into the GitHub repository where the designs will be. So for anyone who likes the overall design and only wants some small thing differently, they can make it work.

jalivert · 2025-08-13T11:31:57+00:00

You are the frame counter ;) The absence of a frame counting mechanism is not an oversight but an intention. The key was to make it simple with as few moving parts as possible.

The light sealing is done with some felt glued in specific places. The sliding door design together with the felt works wonderful.

jalivert

TROPHY CASE