2Oceans

<p>Peter, I have an Induro AT014 8M 4 section alloy tripod. It folds to 18 inches and weighs 2.5 pounds. $64 at my favorite online camera store. Its seems well made and is OK for shooting static images in no wind on good surfaces but is not a substantial tripod. I also have 3 carbon fiber Gitzo pods and 2 aluminum Gitzo pods, and a 23 year old SLIK but my Induro that I bought for traveling with a small kit works OK for a single purpose when photography is not my primary goal. I am using a Kirk BH 3 ball head. You should probably look at less expensive ball head brands such as Barska, Benro, Oben and Induro to fit your price point at around $35 to $70. Find one that is "Arca-Type Compatible" and keep the plate mounted on the camera so you are good to go when you need the tripod. I strongly recommend Arca-type compatible ball heads even for less expensive options. You have a nice kit that will challenge the stability of your tripod support but will probably work out fine with everything tightened down, good shutter speed, mirror lock up and a remote or timer. I seldom extend the 4th leg of the Induro. Hope you have a great trip. Good hunting.</p>

Doug if you are using a power chair can you gain any motorized tilt from your chair?

I would take the clamp apart and clean it. I small amount of 3 in 1 oil rubbed on the contact surfaces after its cleaned probably would do no harm. Alternatively you could give Wimberly a call for the best solution. Good hunting.

<p>With a heavy duty flex arm or boom you can make gross adjustments and adjust where the starting point begins and then do fine adjustment with the Cam Ranger tilt up 15 degrees or down 15 degrees. The side to side in not limited.</p>

Doug, the CamRanger PT Hub & MP-360 Kit has electrical rotation (pan) and up and down (tilt). Around $230. Check out their web site. I would attach the head to a boom or a heavy duty flex arm that mounts on your chair with a super clamp. I am projecting it would run around $300 total. You can find all the parts including the CamRanger at B&H. Both B&H and CamRanger should be able to give you some good advice. If you live in the New York area a trip to B&H would be worthwhile. They could help you trick out your chair for shooting. Good hunting.

<p>Tom, you just answered an important question I was not able to google tonight when I asked myself if other brand columns would work. Five years ago I needed a very short column for my Gitzo 2530 mountaineer to get to ground level. I did not trust the ground set that came with the tripod. It cost me $60 bucks but a I found a short column without the the adapter plate in the back of the store. It was discontinued. Now I think Gitzo has gotten out of the business of making short columns. I was hoping with all the different brands that there would be some cross compatibility. Thanks for sharing your discovery. I have preferred using the systematic over the mountaineer series because I can choose between columns and base plates. I generally prefer the base plate but having interchangeable columns with respective heads is actually much quicker and easier than using a strap wrench to change heads on a base plate.</p>

Tom, I have shared similar frustrations with the Gitzo product line support. You may not find what you are looking for so I agree with Edward's recommendions to consider purchasing a second complete column. You might want to look at the much more expensive Really Right Stuff leveling base that allows you to hot swap your ball head with a Wimberley or other gimbal head. The system with two plates for the ball and gimbal are well over $350. Probably less than ideal given the high cost, but you have already invested heavily in a quality tripod no doubt to support very good gear. Good hunting.

I bought the 28-300 last year. It's a nice everyday carry lens but does not compete with my 70-200 , 28-70 or fast prime glass. A professional colleague has the Canon version that is better. I think that it is probably my weakest lens. That being said it suits my needs for casual shooting warts and all. I shoot raw almost all the time so I am tied to post processing.

Rebecca, it's hard to make a bad macro lens Most of the third party lenses are very very good. You can find a used Sigma 105 that will auto focus on your D3100 at KEH for under $300 that will meet your needs but you will need to get closer to shoot what your talking about. You can purchase a manual Nikon 50mm lens and reversing ring for about $60 to go on the front of your macro that will get you real close. I like to read on subjects. The first two references are classic. Bryan Peterson is fairly prolific, and current. Manual of Close-up Photography by Lester Lefkowitz John Shaw's Closeups in Nature by John Shaw Understanding Close-Up Photography: Creative Close Encounters with Or Without a Macro Lens [Paperback] by Bryan Peterson Good hunting

Nick, I own a D3s. I would take the battery out and replace it to see if it resets. Good luck

Matt, If your in the Northern Virginia area there is a fellow named Bernard Chen. He works at NIH as an IT specialist. Check out his web site by typing his first and last name together .com and then contact him. He is very easy to talk to and does some whizz bang stuff with drones and remote viewing. He may be able to come up with a solution for your problem. Good hunting.

Mark, I own a 28-300. While it is not my sharpest lens, it stays on my D3s most of the time if I am shooting casually and do not need to control depth of field. The 300mm focal length allows you to isolate your subject better. That is just my shooting style. For much less money you could buy a used 70-300 Vr and with the 24-85 Vr still have 2 lens solution. The 70-300 Vr is also a sharper lens over all and at the long end. But I do like the convenience of the 28-300. Canon make a much nicer version IMHO. I think the having a f1.4 lens so you can control depth of field is very smart. Good hunting.

I never used autofocus TC on my Nikon 300mm f4 ED IF it was always the manual TC 14B. I now have the TC14E and purchased the Kenko 1.4 Pro. for underwater work with wide angle zooms and macro. I was never convinced that the Nikon 300mm f4 AFS and the older 300mm f4 AF ED IF had autofocus speeds that were any different. They are both relatively slow. The Kenko would work on either lens and it is very decent but will slow things down some. I agree with Dieter's comment regarding wing shooting. I used the 300mm f4 AF ED IF for wing shooting and for the price it's a bargain. The D7000 is very a very good body and will take good wing shooting images with the 300mm f4 AF ED IF so long as you have a fast enough shutter speed and good light. I think it's a 95% solution that most of us would be satisfied with. Good hunting.

Alex, using an extender might soften up your images especially on an relatively inexpensive zoom. I would recommend against using an extender with your kit lens. I would be inclined to go with a 70-300 zoom if you need more reach. Also remember your shutter speed is key because the vibration your getting from the launch site will cause problems. Hand holding a smaller lens with adequate shutter speed will do a better job of uncoupling the vibration of a launch. I am impressed that you get to be so close.

<p>Denny, I have owned both the Nikon 300mm f4 AFS and the older 300mm f4 AF ED IF. The latter is comparable in image quality to the AFS version and should be compatible with your body. I replaced mine because I wanted a smaller filter size to better use my 77mm polarizer and supposedly better autofocus. The old lens has a much better tripod collar and has a decent autofocus. The newer version is slow for an AFS lens. You can pick the older version in EX shape for $465 at KEH. Its a rap real bargain. If you want a 100-300mm f4 zoom then the Sigma is the one with a good reputation but hard to find. Good hunting.</p>

<p>Alex, Given the distance you will be from the subject and the shutter speeds and apertures you can use in day light the D3200 can handle the load. With ISO 400 and aperture set at f8 you should be able to shoot at 1600th of a second, using the sunny 16 rule. This will well overcome camera shake and the need to use VR and should freeze subject motion. Given your working distance from the subject at f8 or even f 5.6 you would be well within the hyper focal distance of the lens and capture sharp images of a launch. While the d3200 body is less robust than some better models the particular sensor on this camera will give you professional quality images and fantastic resolution that is better than the best DX Cameras from 5 years ago. I think the D3200 can probably keep up with what you want it to do. I own this body along with a D800e and D3s. My 9 year old DX body is a D2X and does not have near as good a sensor. If you are shooting a friend's Canon Rebel you may find this camera even better. The D3200 has a buffer that will handle 100 continuous images when shooting 4 frames a second and 16 continuous raw images at 4 frames a second. Good hunting.</p>

David, I use the Nikon 16-85 vr on my D3200. It's a good all around lens though it lacks the reach of the 18-200. Good hunting.

ZT I would call Reef Photo. They should be able to help you with an appropriate set up. Good hunting.

Ismadi, if you have a bag in mind the B&H web site can provide information regarding whether or not a specific bag meets FAA specifications but be forewarned that the US standards are some what liberal and don't always work with commuter aircraft or puddle jumpers. If I suspect my carry on may be checked I go to a hard case Pelican 1510 with rollers that goes under most seats but protects my gear if it has to be checked. Good hunting.

<p>Peter, It sounds like your going to be paying for numerous CF and SD cards, if your shooting a lot. But it should work. With the D800e you need significant dedicated storage. My method while on the road is that I always back up with a PC note book with flash hard drive storage and then move my files immediately to two external terabyte hard drives before I reformat my cards for the next days shoot. I am using the fastest Lexar 32gb CF and SD cards available but if you don't need the speed then the less expensive but very reliable slower cards will do the trick for bulk storage. I only use my iPad for viewing and prefer the utility of a PC note book in my hotel room for moving files around. I am sure that if you have mastered the iPad then your method will work fine. This past week here in DC I shot a funeral for a friend at Arlington national Cemetery with my D800e and D3s in RAW and Fine JPEG mode. The CF card in The D3s and the CF and SD in the D800e were set as back up mirror images of each other. I sorted the JPEGS out on my PC and printed 20 for my colleague to share along with JPEG discs for family members who were leaving town a day later. I have always been a pure RAW shooter but was very happy with the JPEG results from the D800e. Your strategy should probably work fine.</p>

<p>Good people. Thanks to all of you for your kind advice and sharing your experiences. I will probably start by upgrading to CS6 and I appreciate the link that was provided. The fee for CC is less than I had originally thought and well within my humble means. I was surprised that the D3200 was not supported by CS5 but my D3s and D800e were supported. I like to have a hard copy of my programs that belong to me though I can appreciate the ongoing updates for CC. I am wary of recurring charges, cloud computing and security issues. In the last three years I have had problems with organizations not turning off monthly charges after I had asked them to be stopped, had the manager of my electronic medical record notify me on two occasions that the system security had been breached and had to get new credit cards 4 times. Twice for a mass breach of security of the credit card company, once when it was discovered that someone in Philadelphia had purchased gas and groceries with my account, I live in DC, and once when someone in the UK was using my credit card information to purchase $40 dollar gift cards. Honestly none of the occurrences were overtly my fault and have never ever happened before until recent times. I have for the time being a powerful image editing PC computer that I deliberately keep off line unless I am intentionally down loading and I have kept anti this and that soft ware on my PCs. Last summer my spouse switched our everyday house hold over to a MAC but I imagine that Apple products are increasingly ripe pickings for those interested in PII. I don't think my experience is atypical and while I was perfectly happy purchasing Photo Shop upgrades every other generation for the last 15 years I am sure I will eventually succumb and buy the online subscription as I am condescendingly dragged as a grumbling old man with a stubbled beard into the 21st century:) I have to admit that when I recently repurchased all of Led Zepplin first 5 albums/CD on line I also chose as well to rip the music onto my MAC since that was offered free of charge. Well after all it was Led Zepplin. Thanks again and good hunting.</p>

<p>All,</p> <p>I have several questions that I need assistance with.<br> 1. Is there a Adobe CS5 camera raw update that will acomodate D3200 raw files?<br> 2. If I purchase Photoshop CC (cloud) will my Picture Code, Topaz or Nik editing plugins be compatible?<br> 3. Where do I purchase a CS6 upgrade?<br> 4. How is Photoshop CC working for you? </p> <p>Thanks</p>