Other Sites

[David A. Goldfarb]

I haven't posted over at photo.net for a few months, but the Classic Camera and B&W forums are fairly civilized, and medium format is okay. The LF forum isn't as good as Tuan's at LFphoto.info. I haven't looked at the general archived or unarchived forums for years. They were a cesspool. The galleries were responsible for the whole downturn at photo.net. It used to be more like APUG. The Leica forum--a cesspool among cesspools.

 

[Will S]

The galleries were responsible for the whole downturn at photo.net. It used to be more like APUG. The Leica forum--a cesspool among cesspools.

I agree. The last time I looked at photo.net the top photo was a picture of a closeup of a hand with a naked lady with fairy wings walking on the palm.

I've never been back.

 

[gareth harper]

"Gareth, LOL. Perhaps you've never tried to hang out in the Leica Forum on P-net? Ask a question there that the membership thinks is "beneath them" and see what happens!"

Hello Stark, No, other than a couple of ventures into their 'no words' threads I haven't bothered with the Leica forum. I've no doubt that Leicas are lovely little cameras but I do suspect there is a little snobbery involved, for some folks anyway. I have seen very many totally crap pictures on photonet taken with Leica rangefinders with the very best lenses, as well as few stunners.

Now what could I ask them? How about I enquire about one of those Canonette things that Tony recently purchased.

Or what about asking how my Canon 50mmf1.8 mk2 compares to the 50mm f2 Summicron.

 

[TPPhotog]

..... Now what could I ask them? How about I enquire about one of those Canonette things that Tony recently purchased.....

That would be were the Canonet would come in handy Gareth. Nip in with the Canonet (remember to take also a crucifix) take the shot undetected and get out again. If they saw it wasn't a Leica they would burn me at the ...... brings tears to the eyes

 

[gareth harper]

Would that not be like stealing their souls, shooting em with a Canonet.

I've used many forums, though I only use a small handful now. One of the most pleasent and a joy to use is, err, umm, http://www.foc-u.co.uk/

foc-u stands for "Fazer owners club unofficial." That's Yamaha Fazer (you did say any other site!). Members are known as Foccers. I post on the Fazer 1000 corner. Lots of useful info, service guides, tyre recommendations, modifications, wee stories and so on. No hassel, no bitching, just good bike talk. Will be meeting up with a few of the boys soon. Great site.

 

[mark]

This is the last one for me. LF info on occasion, but it is getting less and less. The Kiev Report is a great site with a lot of way nice folks. Unfortunately every thread of interest ends up talking about how wonderful their new digital whiz-bangers are. AW well. SO long as Sean's wife is happy we will have our little island.

 

[TPPhotog]

Would that not be like stealing their souls, shooting em with a Canonet....

They have souls in that forum?!!

The RF Forum posted by Loose Gravel looks quite interesting.

 

[Max Power]

I like to check out the Cafe Ilfopro once in a while to see if there are any good discussions on the more technical aspects of Ilford.

Rangefinder forum is great too.

Kent

 

[Blighty]

Would that not be like stealing their souls, shooting em with a Canonet.

I've used many forums, though I only use a small handful now. One of the most pleasent and a joy to use is, err, umm, http://www.foc-u.co.uk/

foc-u stands for "Fazer owners club unofficial." That's Yamaha Fazer (you did say any other site!). Members are known as Foccers. I post on the Fazer 1000 corner. Lots of useful info, service guides, tyre recommendations, modifications, wee stories and so on. No hassel, no bitching, just good bike talk. Will be meeting up with a few of the boys soon. Great site.

Hmm, Nice motor the Fazer. Got an old FJ1200 myself. Used to get all my kit on it when shooting weddings. Took a friggin' age to get everything strapped on secure like. Talking of forums; I have to say this one is the best. The advice is (mainly) relevant and given with a large measure of goodwill. I get tired of forums like the AP forum we have in the UK. It's very clicquey and sometimes very bitchy. BLIGHTY

 

[jd callow]

I haven't looked at the general archived or unarchived forums for years. They were a cesspool. The galleries were responsible for the whole downturn at photo.net. It used to be more like APUG.

So true...
It is what happens when these things grow as large photo.net

 

[Jeffrey A. Steinberg]

Rangefinderforum.com is 2nd in my book to apug.org. The people there are very open and there are no religous wars over digital/film.

The only downside is that the user interface is not as nice and clean as apug.org. Apug.org has a wonderful, almost intuitive look to it. Sean, is it your code or are you using commonly available code?

Once again, thanks for the site.

I am a member of eham.net (K2MIT is the call sign here) and they have a nice (I think) feature that shows you when you last pledged on the home page. It reminds me to give once per year. I would not mind that here given the expenses involved.

Just a thought.

 

[Sean]

Sean, is it your code or are you using commonly available code?

I use several commercial systems, mainly vbulletin3 and photopost, each heavily tweaked with looks and new features added into the codes, etc. Took a long time to set it all up but it's paid off with an easy to manage environment..

 

[micek]

I think photo.net can be very informative and stimulating, some of the fora enjoy a pleasant and constructive atmosphere and it is not too difficult to ignore the quarrelsome and the inane among its members. And it is true that Leica forum members can be opinionated, abrasive or ridiculous, but they can also be witty, colourful and knowledgeable, which, all in all, makes for great fun.
I like the largeformatphotography.info website, too.

 

[Max Power]

Although not a Leica owner, I actually have a good deal of respect for some of the members of the Leica forum on PN...At least they are passionate about their tools!!! Yes, there are a couple of loonies but they just add colour.

Kent

 

[Lee Shively]

"I haven't bothered with the Leica forum."

Don't. It's a pale shadow of what it was even two years ago. Back in the days, it had the most intelligent conversations on PN concerning classic photography. There were recommendations for books, galleries and shows as well as discussions about the history of Leica and the relative merits of different models of Leica cameras. Then political topics started coming up, Leica bashers started posting, digital geeks crept in, personal attacks became common, moderators cracked down and many people drifted away. As usual, those who left the forum were the ones who made the forum so appealing to begin with. What's left is really kind of boring. I still drop in and rarely post a comment on a thread.

 

[Natron]

I'm not sure what links were posted here but I also visit Fred Miranda's site and its forums. The problem is, it's VERY digital-oriented. I've tried to push film topics there only to have them turn into digital vs film wars from the multitudes of digital fanboys who are blindly obsessed with digital and spout off the 'disadvantages of film' which are more like marketing hype for digicams that they're parroting that has no base in reality. On the other hand, the few there who shoot film turn out some great shots and have solid knowledge. Even some of the digital-shooting pros there are at least very knowledgable and can offer tips on general photography.

Besides that and others listed here (rangefinderforum, photo.net), I love Unblinking Eye. I don't even think it has forums but it does have articles on films, developers and alternative processes as well as their staff's recommendations for film/developer combos and techniques. Really, really cool stuff.

Occasionally, I visit Luminous-Landscape.com but mainly to check out old articles based on film equipment. These days, he has been converted to a digicam cheerleader and is declaring even P&S digicams as superior.

 

[eagleowl]

the only other...

...site I use is "globalphotosite" ( www.globalphotosite.info ).
It's almost entirely 35mm or digital,but the comments added to photos tend to be friendly and constuctive-usually along the lines of "what I like about your photo is..."

 

[Dug]

I am surpised no one has mentioned Michael and Paula's Azo forum:

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/index_skip.html

If you want to see some interesting discussions about azo printing, that is the place to go. There are some very informative discussions about developing film that apply to other processes besides azo.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I check in at the Azo forum occasionally, and there are a number of APUG types to be found there as well.

 

[Perikles]

there is also pure-silver, very interesting reading:

http://www.freelists.org/archives/pure-silver/

P.

 

[gareth harper]

Hmm, Nice motor the Fazer. Got an old FJ1200 myself. Used to get all my kit on it when shooting weddings. Took a friggin' age to get everything strapped on secure like. Talking of forums; I have to say this one is the best. The advice is (mainly) relevant and given with a large measure of goodwill. I get tired of forums like the AP forum we have in the UK. It's very clicquey and sometimes very bitchy. BLIGHTY

You should take one for a spin. The old FJ was a great machine, but things have really moved on quite a bit. The R1 derived motor in the Fazer thou is just nuts. With the sit up and beg riding postion you can potter along if you wish, but twist that throttle, and wooooooooooooooooosh, I've never done so many unintended wheelies in my life! With an open can and an Ivans Jet kit, the engines even smoother and gives you another 10bhp. I think Yamaha's R1 type engines are best described as like ridding a bike fitted with a jet trubine. That engine really is trubine smooth and blah blah blah blah.......

I stuck a full set of Nonfango hard luggage on mine, no probs carrying camera gear, I even stick a tri-pod in the top box when required. One of my biking buddies really trid to take the mickkey out of my 'handbags' as he called them, that was until the old Fazer out dragged and out handled his heavily modified Bandit 1200 streetfighter.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Since I haven't been looking at photo.net that frequently lately, I've found the most efficient way to browse it is through the "friends" list (i.e., people whose posts I follow).

Every once in a while it turns up something interesting like this thread where Bill Troop (of Anchell and Troop fame), Ron Mowrey (ex-Kodak chemical engineer and blowhard who I think may be floating around APUG under an alias lately), Ryuji Suzuki (dedicated internet photochemistry enthusiast who has written more than you would ever care to know about D-76), and Lowell Huff (proprietor of Clayton Chemicals) are arguing about fixer--

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CEzQ

It's a little arcane and a bit strident at times, but an interesting set of views. I thought it was particularly interesting to see Mowrey's endorsement of TF-4.