robert_moon4

Having used a Max 9 since it was available in Oregon I have been very happy with the 7D, in fact I've only shot one roll of film since I bought the 7D. BTW that was because it was loaded and I had a couple of shots that I needed. The VC 7D is available from 17th St. Photo for $169 and if you check Neighbor to Neighbor on PN they are a very reputable NY dealer to buy from. I don't think that if a 9D was produced I would jump in line to buy one.

I hope this helps.

Bob Moon

I have a 7D and am using a Sandisk Ultra II 1 GB and a 512 MB. and both will keep up with the continuous mode for 9 shots. After the burst it takes about 4-6 seconds to clear for the next burst. In most situations that seems to work for me.

I hope this helps.

 

P.S. those 1 gig CF cards are available from Costco for $82.95.

 

Bob Moon

I have been a Minolta user for a long time, first with MF SRT's and XD's and when I moved to auto-focus I gravitated to the 600si and started with 2, I then went to an 800si and then to a Maxxum 9. All of the before mentioned with the approriate verticle grips which I believe solves a lot of battery life issues. I've had my 7D now for about 1 month (with the VC 7D) and the 17-35 D lens and I couldn't be happier. Now to your original question about 3rd party lenses. I used the camera with only 2 a 20-35 Tamron 3.5/ 4.0 and a 400 Tokina AT-X SD. I have had superb results with both, but the Tamron was slightly long at the short end (remember the 1.5 multiplier) for my taste and that prompted me to step up to the 17-35. My only other foray into Digital was with a Canon Dreb which I didn't like and a Minolta A 1 which I still have but I may give it to my Grandson. I hope this helps

 

Bob Moon

When I first got back into still photography after many years in video I bought a 600 SI because it was a dial and nob camera that I was more familiar with like my old XD 5 & 11. I later traded those for an 800 SI and a Max 9. During this time I have accumulated a lot of Minolta glass from 20mm to 400mm but find the 2 lenses that I use most often are an old 28-135 and a 70-210 f/4. As far as other mfg. equipment when I decided to get into MF I liked the Bronica ETR system because of it's versatility ie interchangable backs, prism finders,flash sync to 1/500th and etc. I now have 2 ETRs and an ETRSi with 5 backs 6 various MC and PE lenses and 5 finders from WL to metered prisms. With a Minolta adapter I am able to use one of 3 5400 HS flash units on the Bronicas and for formal Wedding pix and 2 White Lightning Monos fired into umbrellas with Wein peanuts it works as well the wireless system on the Maxxums. I did spring for a Canon rebel digital with the kit lens as a foray into digital until the D7 shows up. I guess the main reason that I stuck so close to Minolta for my 35 gear is that I have so much stuff that I was just not willing to start over.

For what it's worth I'm running an old G4 400 MHZ with PS 5.5 for batch processing 35mm slides and negs while I do my PS CS edit work on a one Gig dual Quick Silver. The reason I kept the 400 is that my film scanner is SCSI that I could never quite get running on the dual machine. The old 400 does have 1 1/2 gigs of memory and still does a great job. I'm using an Epson 4870 on firewire for the MF stuff directly into the newer machine but using both a firewire hub and a USB hub I can pass stuff back and forth between the computers and use the same keyboard and mouse for each. I hope this helps. Bob Moon

There are some serious questions regarding the longevity of Cds & DVDs so my solution is to back up all of my photos on hard drives since they are the most archival and cheap. I just purchased two 160 GB Western Digital hard drives at Costco for $89.95 ea. and they can probably be had on line for less. I believe the break down of cost per Gig of storage bring that in pretty darn low. Also my G4 Mac can hold 4 HDs and they are a snap to put in and take out, of course one HD is reserved for the OS but I have 450 GB of pretty safe storage. BTW this is an area that has been covered on Tech TV quite a bit and the folks like Chris Breen, Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton are pretty much in agreement that this is the best way to go. I hope this is of some use.

Bob Moon

If you don't mind going mail order Citizens Photo in Portland Does MF processing for B&W, C-41 and E-6. Locally the turn around time for all is in by 11:00 AM out by 3:00 PM. Their cost are very reasonable and they are full service, Push, Pull, contact sheet, Proofs and etc. They are on the web at: <www.citizensphoto.com>. I would guess turn around from Seattle to be 3 to 4 days.

I use my I-book to download and burn to CD only I then use my desktop G4 dual to do my PS adjustments. The laptop works great for that purpose but I don't feel that the screen will display the best image especially because a very slight change in angle of view changes the appearance considerably. Also Photoshop takes up a lot of space on the hard drive and is a memory hog to boot.

I hope this helps.

Bob Moon

I've found that 2 of the Costco do a very good job on 35mm in the Portland area. Although I haven't tried them all. However you have a problem with them MF stuff, the just don't do it. If you can get to Portland the best I've found for MF is Citizen's Photo on SE 7th Av. just North of Belmont. They have one day service on both C-41 and E-6 and I believe their prices are very reasonable. They are a full service Pro Lab that will do push or pull processing if needed for a modest $3.00 over the regular price of $3.80 for process only E-6 that is returned uncut and sleeved.

Check them out on the net at <www.citizensphoto.com> and I believe they will do mail order. By the way I don't work for them but have been a customer of theirs for years. I hope this helps.

Bob Moon