RHDesigns fstop timers

Bob F. · May 7, 2006

I can't remember buying a domestic electrical appliance that did not have a 13A plugtop attached. I was an apprentice electrician working for a company rewiring old London housing stock when I left school in the early 1970's and the only differences you had then were very old houses that had a mixture of 5A round-pin sockets, that were decades obsolete even then, and the current 13A square pin sockets. Back in the day, when there was a mixture of 5A and 13A sockets, there probably was a difficulty for manufacturers to know which type to fit which might explain your experience. You must be going back quite a way in your experience of UK electrical appliances - I can assure you it has been standard for the last 25 years at least for appliances to have a 13A plugtop fitted when they connect to the mains.

To answer Authur's question: yes, the Stopclock Pro has two timer channels you can use with the split-grade exposure method. You can download a copy of the user manual from RH Design's site.

Cheers, Bob.

B&W_arthur · May 8, 2006

Dave and Bob, thank you for the input.

It seems to me that the high praise deserving RH products are indispensable.
Most of APUGers here are using the Stopclock Pro. Right?

Would anyone want to share his/her experience of using the Zone Master II or Analyser Pro?

Your input is important for me to decide on whether to buy the Analyser Pro (to save some $) or the Stopclock Pro + Zone Master II combo (more $ are needed). I do not have any timer at the moment anyway. I am using a condenser head. Does it work well with one of the RH designs model
but not the other?

Excuse me if you find my questions too simple. I am a darkroom newbie. ;p

RH Designs · May 8, 2006

nolindan said:
Ah, I should have checked, at one time they came without the plugs and jacks for US power cords and you had to add them yourself. This isn't uncommon in the UK where appliances etc. often come without the plug at the end of the cord -- never figured it out, maybe it is a left-over from the days when the UK had several different electrical systems: at one time part of London ran on 110V when the rest of the city ran on 220V.

Just to set the record straight:
All our products supplied to the USA are and have always been shipped with a USA-style power cord and wired for 110v.
The enlarger/safelight connectors we use are the same as those found on personal computers etc and are the only type approved for use throughout the world. There are numerous standards in different countries for mains connectors and it would be impractical for us to have a dozen or more different enclosures to accommodate all the different types.
It is not legal to sell mains-powered equipment in the EU without a moulded power plug fitted, this has been the case for many years. US-style mains plugs and sockets are not legal here.
As far as I can remember the UK has always been 240v 50Hz, although I believe there were parts of the country that had DC mains up till the 50s or thereabouts, but I'm too young to remember that!

Regards
Richard

RH Designs · May 8, 2006

B&W_arthur said:
Your input is important for me to decide on whether to buy the Analyser Pro (to save some $) or the Stopclock Pro + Zone Master II combo (more $ are needed). I do not have any timer at the moment anyway. I am using a condenser head. Does it work well with one of the RH designs model
but not the other?

Both the StopClock and the Analyser work equally well with condenser and diffusion enlargers so you needn't worry on that score. I'll leave it to others to post their views on the choice between the products, but I usually say that if you want good quality prints from a large number of negatives with minimal effort, choose an Analyser. If you want to wring the last drop from your negs using a lot of burning in, split-grading, etc, the StopClock is the better choice.

Regards
Richard

Matt5791 · May 8, 2006

Received my Analyser Pro on Friday - can't wait to start using it properly!

Juyst for the record - very impressed with the quality and price - very good value for such a specialised piece of equipment, especially when you look at the average cost of equally specalised computer software, for example.

Bob F. said:
I can't remember buying a domestic electrical appliance that did not have a 13A plugtop attached. I was an apprentice electrician working for a company rewiring old London housing stock when I left school in the early 1970's and the only differences you had then were very old houses that had a mixture of 5A round-pin sockets, that were decades obsolete even then, and the current 13A square pin sockets. Back in the day, when there was a mixture of 5A and 13A sockets........
Cheers, Bob.

Not strictly relevant I know, but it might interest people to know that the 5A small round pin plugs are still used today and readily available - I had the living room of a house I restored in 2001 wired with these for lamps and connected to the wall switch - so there is a mixture of 5A and 13A sockets in the room.

Matt

antielectrons · May 8, 2006

Hi,

I am using a Zonemaster II with a Stopclock Original. Great combo. I may update the Stopclock to the Pro version at some point but it is hardly necessary, just has a few more bells and whistles. I just produced 20 contacts from 120 negatives in an afternoon using the Zonemaster II contact print feature where you read a blank bit of negative and then configure as described in the manual. Very easy and very painless. I don think you can go wrong with either choice, just depends what kind of printer you are as pointed out above.

B&W_arthur said:
Dave and Bob, thank you for the input.

It seems to me that the high praise deserving RH products are indispensable.
Most of APUGers here are using the Stopclock Pro. Right?

Would anyone want to share his/her experience of using the Zone Master II or Analyser Pro?

Your input is important for me to decide on whether to buy the Analyser Pro (to save some $) or the Stopclock Pro + Zone Master II combo (more $ are needed). I do not have any timer at the moment anyway. I am using a condenser head. Does it work well with one of the RH designs model
but not the other?

Excuse me if you find my questions too simple. I am a darkroom newbie. ;p

gr82bart · May 8, 2006

Just coming back from the APUG Conference and watching Les Maclean use that funky timer, I'm all in for everyone using it. Makes the work so much easier than a regular timer (which I have). Plus you should get the flash timer too.

Les uses one with two channels. That's the one I am going to get.

Regards, Art.

Paul Sorensen · May 8, 2006

B&W_arthur said:
It seems to me that the high praise deserving RH products are indispensable.
Most of APUGers here are using the Stopclock Pro. Right?

I imagine that the vast majority of APUG members do not use the Stopclock pro. For one thing, it has been less available in the US than in the UK and for another, it is prohibitively expensive for some of us (certainly for me).

I have heard nothing but positive comments about the product and am looking forward to seeing Les demo it here in June, but to say that most of the APUGers use it is probably a gross exaggeration. I might even venture to state that if you have limits to your funds, you might be better off with a more affordable timer and better lenses and enlarger. If you are not that limited, then go for it, I am certain you will be happy with it.

Paul Sorensen · May 8, 2006

lee said:
me either Mike I wonder if Les knows about his article being used here too? I will ask him when he comes here is a few weeks.

lee\c

With what I understand of the current legal situation on the web, he didn't do anything wrong here. Les' article is posted on its original web site and this person linked to the post. He does not make any assertions that Les endorses his product and doesn't even mention his name with the link. Linking to an outside web site is generally considered kosher on the web and it is one of the things that you accept when publishing on the web.

TheFlyingCamera · May 8, 2006

B&W_arthur said:
Dave and Bob, thank you for the input.

It seems to me that the high praise deserving RH products are indispensable.
Most of APUGers here are using the Stopclock Pro. Right?

Would anyone want to share his/her experience of using the Zone Master II or Analyser Pro?

Your input is important for me to decide on whether to buy the Analyser Pro (to save some $) or the Stopclock Pro + Zone Master II combo (more $ are needed). I do not have any timer at the moment anyway. I am using a condenser head. Does it work well with one of the RH designs model
but not the other?

Excuse me if you find my questions too simple. I am a darkroom newbie. ;p

I use the Analyzer Pro. I absolutely love it. My comments on the system are twofold -

One - I wish calibrating and programming paper channels was a little more straightforward.

Two - There are times when I wish I had bought the StopClock Pro with ZoneMaster because I have negatives that I know would benefit from split-grade printing, which isn't as straightforward to do with the Analyzer Pro.

That said, the Analyzer Pro was worth every penny (ouch ouch ouch!!!) I had to spend on it, and that was quite a few of them at today's exchange rate. It helps me decide contrast grade and exposure very precisely, and I'm usually spot on by the 2nd print, often on the very first print. I think it has cut darkroom waste in terms of paper and time by more than half.

B&W_arthur · May 8, 2006

Paul,

I agree with you. I do not have unlimited budget.
Also, I have to spend much money on other darkroom
equipment for my first darkroom. The RH design
products are not cheap that I cannot
afford making a wrong decision. Besides, the choice between
the Analyzer Pro and StopClock Pro/ZoneMaster II combo really matters.
The price difference between them is more than enough to buy a decent
enlarging lens in e-bay.

But, time is another expenditure for me. I do not want spending much
time trying timer A and then buy another useless timer B and so on.

TheFlyingCamera said:
Two - There are times when I wish I had bought the StopClock Pro with ZoneMaster because I have negatives that I know would benefit from split-grade printing, which isn't as straightforward to do with the Analyzer Pro.

TheFlyingCamera, thanks. That's what I am worrying.
Maybe, I have to make up my mind for a $painful$ but but
non-regrettable decision...

lee · May 8, 2006

get the stop clock I have one and without a doubt one of the 2 or 3 best things in my darkroom.

lee\c

photomc · May 8, 2006

Agree Lee, and when compared to the price of a Zone VI or Metrolux (even on ebay) it is a good deal.

lee · May 8, 2006

I have a Metrolux also

lee\c

Les McLean · May 27, 2006

Mr Lindan, you have used my Photovision article on f stop printing without permission. Please remove it or you leave me no alternative but to take legal action for payment.

Donald Miller · May 27, 2006

Les McLean said:
Mr Lindan, you have used my Photovision article on f stop printing without permission. Please remove it or you leave me no alternative but to take legal action for payment.

Les, You may want to check with an attorney before you make threats. The way that copyrights work in this country is that the publication owns the copyright to material that is published in their publication. It is no longer the property of the author once it is accepted for publication. I think that this is true in the UK too. Case in point is the ill fated law suit by the writers of the book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" against Dan Brown and the "Da Vinci Code". The authors of the first named book did not file the suit...but rather the publisher of that book did. The reason being that the authors had no legal basis from which to approach the court. That law suit so far as I am aware occured in your home country.

Just trying to give some legal understanding to what seems to be a needless and ill founded point of contention.,

Roger Hicks · May 27, 2006

Dear Donald,

Are you sure about this? Because it flies in the face of all that I know as both a lawyer (LL.B., though I have never practised) and as a writer and photographer. I am familiar with UK law and it certainly is NOT the case here, and from my (reasonably extensive) understanding of both US and international copyright I am sure that it is not true elsewhere either.

Any material that Les (or I, or anyone else) writes is LICENSED to the publication; we do not assign copyright. If copyright assignment were automatic as you suggest there would be no need for several of the clauses in various contracts I have signed (and, I have no doubt, Les has done the same).

The publisher has copyright in the design and layout, but not the material published.

My understanding of the Da Vinci case was that it failed because there is no copyright in facts, and the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail claimed that their book was fact. Also, these are 'facts' (I use the word loosely) that were in the public domain long before 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' appeared: I read it when I came out and was amazed they were making so much fuss over a rehash.

Using a writer's or photographer's material without his permission is theft plain and simple, and I heartily support Les's position.

Cheers,

Roger

BWGirl · May 27, 2006

Roger is absolutely correct on this. Here is an article that specifically pertains to internet publishing.

Dead Link Removed

Intellectual property (Les' articles... especially because this is part of how he makes his living) should never be reproduced without the express permission of the author/photographer/painter/etc.

(Not a lawyer, but played one in First Amendment Law class )

seadrive · May 27, 2006

I must be missing something here. I don't see how this is a copyright infringement. The article is only linked to, not copied and pasted into a page on the nolindan.com web site.

The link is described as information about the f/stop approach to printing. It doesn't say "Glowing Review of My Product", and in fact, it's pretty clear that the article is praising a competing product.

IANAL, but I really don't see the problem here.

Donald Miller · May 27, 2006

seadrive said:
I must be missing something here. I don't see how this is a copyright infringement. The article is only linked to, not copied and pasted into a page on the nolindan.com web site.

The link is described as information about the f/stop approach to printing. It doesn't say "Glowing Review of My Product", and in fact, it's pretty clear that the article is praising a competing product.

IANAL, but I really don't see the problem here.

I, too, fail to grasp where this is copyright infringement. It would appear to me that if another work related to the subject matter at hand is included as a reference to the present writing it would serve as a bibliography nothing more.

A "link to" would not materially differ from a bibliographical reference.

I really think that anyone who wants to pursue this on the basis of copyright infringement has far more money then I have.

Roger Hicks · May 27, 2006

If the link is to a site available to the general public at no cost, I suspect that a link is indeed, as Donald says, exactly the same as a bibliographical reference. In a parallel situation, I cannot see how I could (or in most cases, why I should) object to anyone providing links to the free modules in www.rogerandfrances.com.

If the material is not available for free, then it is theft, e.g. if someone downloaded one of the paid articles in www.rogerandfrances,com and posted that as a free link, then I would hope that no decent person would willingly receive stolen goods and I would seek redress for the theft.

This is a somewhat different legal point from the (incorrect) assertion that copyright is automatically assigned (thanks for the support Jeanette).

Not knowing the status of the article in question I can say little more, except that if Les does not want his material used in a particular way, I for one would be disinclined to use it. It's in poor taste, and Les is someone I would MUCH rather have as a friend than as an enemy. I say this as a friend of his and I would say it a lot more emphatically, I suspect, if I were an enemy.

Cheers,

Roger

KenM · May 27, 2006

Perhaps Les thought the contents of the article were stored on nolindand's site, and not on the Photovision website. As long as Photovision has permission to post the article, all should be well. If not, then it's Photovision that Les should be talking to.

BWGirl · May 27, 2006

Roger Hicks said:
If the link is to a site available to the general public at no cost, I suspect that a link is indeed, as Donald says, exactly the same as a bibliographical reference. In a parallel situation, I cannot see how I could (or in most cases, why I should) object to anyone providing links to the free modules in www.rogerandfrances.com.

If the material is not available for free, then it is theft, e.g. if someone downloaded one of the paid articles in www.rogerandfrances,com and posted that as a free link, then I would hope that no decent person would willingly receive stolen goods and I would seek redress for the theft.

This is a somewhat different legal point from the (incorrect) assertion that copyright is automatically assigned (thanks for the support Jeanette).

Not knowing the status of the article in question I can say little more, except that if Les does not want his material used in a particular way, I for one would be disinclined to use it. It's in poor taste, and Les is someone I would MUCH rather have as a friend than as an enemy. I say this as a friend of his and I would say it a lot more emphatically, I suspect, if I were an enemy.

Cheers,

Roger

Actually, even though the article is, in fact openly available on the photovision website, there still remains a potential problem because of an implied perception... ie, that the author of the article is supportive (ie, endorses) a product. The link to Les' article appears on a page selling a product, never mind that in Les' article, he does refer to a different product... that doesn't really matter, legally. Legally, because his article is referenced on the site, there is an implied perception that he, in fact does endorse the product.

While this may not be a blatant infringement, it could be legally argued, and Les would win the case. Especially because Les asked to have to link to his intellectual property removed.

I guess what really matters here is that Les has asked for the link to be removed, and it should be removed. He should also get in touch with the webmaster of the photovision site, and request that the publicly available link be removed.

(You're most welcome, Roger)

Roger Hicks · May 28, 2006

Dear Jeannette,

I think you're right about the implied endorsement, though I'd be slightly less sure than you that Les would necessarily win. My 13th century Law French is not what it was but there's a saying to the effect that le loy est un cloche, le nature du quel ne peut past connu jusqu'a il est sonney: the law is a bell whose note cannot be heard until it is sounded.

Cheers,

Roger

pentaxuser · May 30, 2006

Andy K said:
Gor bloimey Guvnor, Oi be'er ge' mesel' down them apples an pears to check moy umberrella is still hangin besoyde moy bowler 'at! It looks a royt pea souper out there today me old china! Chim-chiminy chim-chiminy chim-chim cheree...

Dave, Andy and FrankB. Now be fair boys this funny voltage system in the U.K. was probably the case only just a couple of years ago when Jack was performing free surgery in Whitechapel.

Andy I love your Dick Van Dyke accent here.

pentaxuser

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