From: peny@ppc.lpc.ethz.ch (Peter Nyffeler ,x4399)
Subject: Re: Turnpoint Cameras
Reply-To: peny@ppc.lpc.ethz.ch
Organization: ETH-Zuerich, Physical-Chemistry-Lab. - Switzerland
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 16:35:19 GMT

______________________________________________________________________________________

		Note: this is back posting for: 

			Rick Lafford			
			Eastman Kodak Co.	
			lafford@serum.kodak.com	
			Discus B (HS) N154RS

		please all replies to: lafford@serum.kodak.com
		^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

He wrote to me:
Maybe you can post something back for me. I don't get any of these
groups on my newsfeed.
______________________________________________________________________________________

In the US, there are many choices for databack cameras. Personal 
experience has been with Konica POP, Chinon, Ricoh and Minolta. All
these cameras can be had for under $100 US and one below $60. I'm
using the Chinon now and though it's a power winder, I've had no
problems with premature rewinding. We ran some cheap Chinese film
at the last contest and it was wound so tightly that many cameras
had rewind failures. The Chinon did not.

Interfacing with the barograph can be easy or hard. I use an EW and 
it has a marker line built-in. The trigger bar for the cameras (not
the camera button but the camera holder trigger bar) has a microswitch
which triggers the barograph marker when you depress the shutter 
buttons on the cameras. I think my whole rig was under $250 US.

I can't stress enough the importance of using a known quality film. I
particularly like (in order of preference) Kodak, Ilford, and Fugi.
Ilford seems to be the price performance leader right now. The big
problems with some films is the large grain size, lack of control
on winding tension and film humidity. Be wary of the very cheap
films. Grain size presents problems with reading times from the
film. Winding tension and humidity control how well the film
transports thru the camera. I personally like to wind my own 
Plus X (ASA 125) into reusable casettes and believe this is fine
for contests providing you have someone knowledgable do it. It is
the cheapest way to procure film and film will be a bigh expense
at any contest. If you do wind your own, be sure to pick a film in
the ASA 100 - 200 range to get correct exposures from the DX coded
cameras. Most cameras will default to ASA 100 or 125 if the film
casette has no DX code on it.

I have a video rig to read films. I have a 35mm negative strip holder
attached to my camcorder. We switch the camcorder to negative image
mode and the film (negative) becomes a positive! Project that on
a small RGB monitor for the photo crew to examine and you can rapidly
go thru lots of films. If you run a few seconds tape on each frame, 
you create a permanent record of the film and can then give the film
to the pilot.

Personal Opinion
-------------------

All the talk of silent starts with no start/finish crew is fine. But
having worked all sides of the picture from start/finish line, photo
process and interpretation and contest pilot, my personal opinion is
that we are making a mistake if we take too much of the fun away from 
the ground crews. I personally find working the start/finish gate to
be the most fun; processing/reading film to be the least and hardest
to get competitent help with. Until we iron out the GPS based systems
I suggest we leave the start/finish gate alone ... at least in the US.

Opinion off
------------------

BTW - I have two girls in dire need of a quality trailer for their
new-to-them ASW-19. Anyone have any hot leads on something. I'd tell
you some stories about the trip back to NY from SC but you can 
imagine the looks we got from the hotel personnel while the three of
us checked into one room. I tried to look suitably tired the next
morning at checkout ;-). Thirty-six hours of driving with two women;
do you think I had fun...absolutely, they were glider pilots!


	Regards,
	Rick

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Rick Lafford			|If God didn't intend man to fly, he'd never have
Eastman Kodak Co.		|allowed us to invent sailplanes.
lafford@serum.kodak.com	| Discus B (HS) N154RS
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