jim schwaiger

I can wholeheartedly recommend the 50mm f/1.8 AF-D and the 28-105mm AF-D lenses. The 50mm is fast, sharp and cheap. The 28-105mm is a quality zoom lens with a wider range and less distortion than the 28-80mm.

 

If you want sharpness, look to the primes: 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, etc. If you want more reach, look at the 70-300mm, or better yet, one of the older 70-200mm or a 75-300mm (I have that one). They aren't fast lenses, but they work well outdoors during the daytime.

 

An 18-35mm zoom might also be worth thinking about if you want a wider angle.

Todd, the only reason the QRF might be nice is when I'd want to change the angle or position of the flash light. This doesn't happen often but when it does, it might be convenient. I don't have the accesory battery grip, but I was looking for an excuse to get one. I'd rather the bracket put strain on something other than the body for sure.

 

Frank, I tried the Stratos 835 and returned it after a few weeks of use. I didn't like the feel and the mount did not work properly (the part that screws into the tripod mount on the camera stayed there). It also has some slight twist problems.

 

I have no idea how to contact Stroboframe for info about the N65 anti-twist mount. If you know a web site or phone number, let me know.

 

Thanks again for the info and suggestions.

I'm looking for a good flash bracket for my N65 + SB-22 with SC-17

cord. <br><br>

 

Looks like the Stroboframe Press-T and Pro-T are nice, but it appears

that I'd need both a anti-twist bracket for the flash-bracket

connection and the body-bracket connection. Is that correct? <br><br>

 

Adorama Prices for what I think I want:<br><br>

 

$87 for Press-T or $89 for Pro-T <br>

$12 anti-twist for SC-17 to bracket connection <br>

$56 QRS - Quick release for camer or bracket to tripod <br>

$?? anti-twist plate for N65 (not on Adorama as far as I can see) <br>

$25 QRF - Quick release for flash <br>

Total cost: about $200 <br><br>

 

Does the anti-twist plate for the N65 exist? If so, how much moolah?

<br><br>

 

I will use it for fairly close portraits in both landscape and

portrait orientations and the ability to quickly get the camera and/or

flash off the bracket is attractive to me. The anti-twist is a must. I

have checked out the other similar quality tripods and I continue to

come back to these two models. I lean towards the Press-T because I

believe its height will be sufficient for close shots.<br><br>

 

Future plans are an upgrade to an N80 body, a more powerful Nikon

flash, and a Bogen 3021 series tripod with a good ball head. <br><br>

 

Am I going down a reasonable path here? <br><br>

Thanks for any help<br>

No metering is possible on non-AF lenses. You either have to guess or get a handheld meter. If you want to go cheap, I think you can get a 70-300mm G series or look at 3rd party mirror lenses that have AF.

Obviously the 18-35mm is the WA-WA zoom if you are on a budget. You could also buy a couple of wide primes in that range, ie 28mm and 35mm, but I assume you are looking for the ability to change focal lengths quickly.

 

The 18mm end will give you a wider angle, but not sure whether it will be noticeably different from your 20mm. If you are looking for a wider lens, I think they make 14mm and 16mm primes, although they are not cheap.

There are really a couple of problems. First, they create a "normal" size that is 3/4ths of the original size for default display. So, no matter how much care you use prepping your image, the first thing someone sees is a recompressed JPEG at a quality of their choosing.

 

Resampling causes a loss in sharpness and new artifacts are introduced when you start with a JPEG and interpolate down, resaving as a JPEG. This is a well-known no-no in the digital community, but it is the first thing photo.net does when you upload an image.

 

The 100k limit is NOT sufficient to present a detailed 800x800 image. Even an average 800x600 image probably needs a little more than 100k to look great on the web. A more reasonable limit would be 250k to 300k, but they do not strictly enforce the limits, so you can upload images larger than 800x800 and 100k. They simply have the right to delete them on that basis if they decide to,

 

The only reason I see to have a size limit at all is that some folks do not understand how to downsample their 3MB digital images to a reasonable size (in pixels) for web viewing.

 

A more logical thing would be to give eash photographer a few mega-bytes and limit pixel dimensions in a better way that allows for panoramas and such better. A simple idea might be:

 

Width + Height <= 1600 pixels

 

That way square format 800x800 are still allowed, but so are 300x1200 panoramas.

 

But, this is all too much for the admins to worry about. The placement of people's names and such are their primary concerns. Useful improvements are, by default, low priority here.

For a soft effect, use a softening filter. Polarizers are good for outdoor portraits.

 

Filters aren't as common for indoor stuff though, as the lighting basically controls the mood of the shot.

According to Ken Rockwell, the D feature makes very little difference (unless you are shooting into a mirror with flash).

 

Avoid using the flash or use a diffuser/umbrella with the flash off-camera (SC-17 cord).

 

The 50mm should work great for full length portraits, the 85mm will do fine for head and shoulders shots. 105mm and 135mm will give you a little more working distance and a slightly flatter perspective, but the 85mm would probably be plenty for you.

 

I would simply work on technique with the lenses and lighting you already have.

I bought a used SB-22 for about $100 online that totally eliminates red-eye and has a lot more power than the little built-in light. I never use the little flash anymore. Any TTL flash will work great.

I would guess that 800 speed is the minimum you can get by with using that slow lens.

 

Manual exposure should work well. Just meter around the rink when you get there and find out what average exposure will work, then set the aperture and shutter speed one time. If you are metering off the ice, the camera is underexposing (which would explain the dark backgrounds). You probably need an extra stop or so which means slower shutter speeds. I might actually underexpose a stop on purpose just to get a little higher shutter speeds, but you'll have to see how much blur is acceptable and how well you can pan with the players (a monopod can help a little there).

 

Consider the wider end when players get close. The extra aperture and wider DOF will may getting a non-blurred shot a little easier. A cheap solution is the 50mm f/1.8, about $100 and you could probably go to 400 speed film.

You have a low end camera with a cheap, slow zoom lens.

 

There are a couple of issues. First, the lens is slow, f/5.6 at the 300mm end which makes it tougher for the body to focus. The camera will "hunt" in low light, that is, it will go from infinity to close and back a couple of times before finding focus.

 

The N65 is not the fastest body either, but I have to say that I've never had a problem with the focus speed in good light.

 

You are also comparing it to a lens which has it's own motor. Nikon makes these as well, but they are not cheap.

 

So, the solution really depends on what you are shooting. If you have low light, you really need a faster lens. A 50mm f/1.8 is cheap and sharp and great for low light, but if the objects are distant, you may need the longer focal lengths.

 

The N65 does have focus tracking which can keep moving objects in focus (ie birds), but I don't know about the EOS lenses, so give us more info about what you are having problems getting fast focus on.

Who cares? I know that 1,542,236,483 pictures of roses already exist, but I took a few shots of my mother's roses last week anyway. Will they be featured on the news tomorrow, maybe not, but I think they will be better than my last flower pictures and hopefully my mom will enjoy them.

 

My philosophy is to photograph people and things that I enjoy photographing. If others like them too, that's a bonus, but I do not avoid things like flowers and sunsets simply because they have been shot billions of times.

 

If you want to be a famous photographer you certainly need a different vision or a unique passion. One perfect picture is not likely to make you famous, but if you spend the next 20 years photographing a few specific subject, you may indeed have a chance at having the best portfolio for one niche market.

It really depends on the person and their desire to learn. I have a cheap N65 and I often use it in manual mode, sometimes using manual focus as well. Some folks will leave their F100 in auto modes and others will hardly ever use them.

 

If you need to be forced to learn something, the manual cameras are great, but if not, it's nice to have the auto options. I would never hand a manual camera to members of my family, but I never think twice about handing them the N65 in auto mode.

I ahve to agree with the guys above, get out of the cities and touristy areas. Find a vehicle (even a motorcycle) and get out to the countryside or smaller towns where tourists seldom venture. Often exotic people are far less interesting than the common man going about his regular routine.

I have to agree, simply shoot a couple of rolls of relatively cheap film to see if the camera is working okay. Eevn expensive film and processing will be cheaper than the $75 checkout fee. The only exception would be if you use the camera for business, then have the shop check it out.

 

The simply truth is that any mfg's consumer bodies and lenses aren't made to survive hard impacts. Plastic breaks and metal lenses can dent if they hit just right. If you come away only losing the cheap 28-80 G, consider it a bleassing, an excuse to get a really nice lens like the 28-105mm or a fast prime.

 

And use the neckstrap, unless you're using the 70-300 G and you want to break it as well. ;-)

Looks like another case of NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome). That setup is quite impressive for a "beginner". Kinda like getting a custom Porshe on your 16th birthday.

 

It's quite a challenge to learn a new body, 3 lenses and a flash all at once. Let me suggest that you shelve 2 of the lenses and start learning the body (exposure, controls, etc) and one lens (maybe the simpler, smaller 50mm). Maybe wait on the flash unless you have a specific need (if the money is burning a hole in your pocket, the SB-80 is certainly in line with your other purchases.

 

If you can take images without the flash, they will look significantly better. In other words, use a fast lens or wait for good natural light when possible. With some fast film, you can even do pretty good indoor/low-light photography with those lenses, especially the 50mm.

 

Landscapes are seldom better with a flash, but I have seen a handful of good landscape-flash shots. Portraits with a direct flash are often poor looking as well. You either need to get it off camera or bounce it off a white ceiling or wall.

 

Macro shots with flash are difficult to do well also. The zoom lenses may actually block a portion of the flash lighting, so many use ring-flashes for macro stuff. Some flashes also have a minimum flash distance that may come into play with macro shots -- basically the lowest power flash may blow everything out.

 

SB-80 is simply the model number and it may have some obscure meaning to Nikon, but the really meaningful things are the Guide Number, coverage angle(s), recycle time, compensation options, flash modes, etc.

 

It may actually be a good idea to learn the limits of your existing fast lenses, so you will not overuse the flash when you get it.

The f/1.4 is just over 2/3rds of a stop faster than the f/1.8, but that is about the only area where it is superior to the f/1.8 (well, it's price is superior too). Both are very good deals, but the consensus here seems to be to get the f/1.8 unless you really need that extra 2/3rds of a stop. Either way, your digital images are likely to be quite noisy over ISO 800 in low light.

Any Nikon AF lens will work with the N75, the older manual focus will work as well, but the camera will not meter with them.

Get at least one fast prime for the class, the 50mm is cheap and nice, but the 35mm and 85mm are worth considering too.

28-105mm AF D has IF and the quality and price are great. I can't recommend it enough - one of the best all-purpose zooms that Nikon makes.

Part of it is knowing which street to walk down. Some places simply have more activity and more interesting people. Parks, downtown, and public gathering places are fairly obvious, but interesting people hang out arounn local barber shops, gas stations, fast food places, and such too.

 

Point the camera at the right place at the right time and click the shutter. Conversly, if it isn't the right place or right time, save your film (or megabytes).

 

I haven't ventured into street photography for several reasons, but my gut tells me that getting one good shot out of a roll of film is probably average. Getting a great shot is a little lucky, and getting a perfect shot is pretty unlikely in your lifetime. If you enjoy the challenge, go for it, otherwise find something you do enjoy shooting.

With ISO 100 and the "sunny 16" rule, you need ND filters that cut out about 8 stops of light for a 1 second exposure. At ISO 50, you'd only need 7 stops. Once you get in the ballpark, you can use shutter priority and let the camera pick the aperture.

 

B+W makes lots of NDs, where 0.3 = 1 stop, 0.6 = 2stops, etc. For 8 stops you want something like a 2.4, a 3.0 would be 10 stops. They make slim ones for about $100 and the normal ones are $50 or so.

 

Most professional ISO 100 films are very good, so try something like Superia Reala 100 and see if the grain is okay.

As an electrical engineer, I can definitely say that "burnt electrical smells" ain't good. Generally that means something in the power supply shorted and fried. Solution: new scanner.

Sounds like a good time for a fast 50mm prime f/1.7 or f/1.8 and some fast film, maybe ISO 800 (eg Fuji NPZ or Press).

Team Pictures: 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm

Full Length Portraits: 50mm

Headshots: 85mm to 135mm

 

All should be in the f/1.8 to f/2.8 range or close