wbowman

Thanks everyone for your responses. I live in London so I hope I can find someplace here (I

didn't see anything in the shops at Pied Bull Yard). I'll take a look at the options presented

here. The Luigi strap is lovely, but I don't want a strap that cost more than the camera (it's for

a Canon FTB and a Nikon FM).

I am looking for a classic plain black leather strap to go on my various old cameras. All of the

straps I can find have a manufacturer logo on it or have plastic bits on it. Can someone

recommend a source for something like this?

I'm not involved with the photo.net design team, but I can tell you that the pixelation is due

to the use of text for a logo instead of a graphic. The logo is simply <H1> text instead of a

graphic. I agree that it is not a good look. The pixelated edges don't bother me as much as

the odd spacing of the blue dot.

Hi Terry, I've sent you e-mail about the Petri.

The battery contacts and the wires from the battery to the meter are suspect. Make sure your

battery is good first. If it is new or you can verify that it has a charge then the next step is to

clean the contacts. If that doesn't help then the next step is to remove the top cover and

check the wires. This is not for the faint-of-heart as the meter needle and other bits will be

fully exposed. When I took the top cover off of mine I noticed that the wires were very thin

and would be easy to pull free from either end (battery or meter).

 

This is a great camera but I would probably take the seller up on his/her offer to take it back

and then you can find one that actually works.

In a pub in the Dusseldorf, Germany altstadt. It is the special sink for puking - so the toilets

and sinks are not fouled (according to my German host's translation of the sign).<div></div>

One option might be <a href="http://www.4by6.com">4by6.com</a>.

With a PowerBook you will almost certainly want an external monitor for critical color

editing. The screen on a the PowerBooks are good for laptops, but they can't match the

quality of one of the desktop LCDs.

 

You'll notice that the iMac will process images slightly faster, but not dramatically faster.

Photoshop will run fine on both. Make sure you get at least 1 GB of memory for either

machine (2 GB would be better). Laptop memory is generally more expensive than desktop

memory.

 

Hard drive space will be important. The iMac can hold a 250MB while the PowerBook limit

is about 100MB. Adding more space will involve a Firewire drive for either.

 

My suggestion is to buy the iMac and put aside the $600 until you can determine if a

portable machine is needed. If so, add another $400 to you $600 and buy an iBook to deal

with images in the field.

Sorry - one more time with inline HTML:<br><br>

<img src="http://www.photo.net/bboard/uploaded-file?bboard_upload_id=22951384"

border="1" height="300px" width="400px" />

The wide-angle zoom will likely take the vast majority of your outdoor pictures. There are

many places you just can't back up far enough to take in the architecture with our eyes -

nevermind a camera! I would stronly suggest getting a low-light lens as well. A 50mm 1.4

would be great if you can afford one. A 50mm 1.8 is less than US$100 and would be good

enough. Many places allow photography inside (Vatican, Parthenon, etc.) but they are

poorly lit. I found that even an f4 zoom to be too slow in those situations.

When people say that film is cheap, they are saying that film is the <i>cheapest part of your entire photography system</i>. Compared to a decent camera and a high quality lens, a 5 pack of HP5 cost next to nothing. Unfortunately, processing and printing that 5 pack can cost more than some reasonable cameras. Nobody said that photography was an inexpensive hobby!

 

As the previous poster indicated, you can keep costs down by doing much of the processing yourself. The biggest way to save, however, is to not get caught in an equipment upgrade cycle.

I think it is unlikely that you will find one camera that accomplishes both of your goals. It seems to me that you'd perhaps be happiest with something like a Canon G6 or Pro1 for your day-to-day commute and something different for time dedicated to photography. Have you considered purchasing a prosumer digital to keep with you at all times and a used film camera for fun and weekends? I don't think many people on this forum own just one camera. I don't think there is one camera that will do everyhing well. You need to find the right combination of camera(s) to fit your style. My situation is similar to yours so I keep a tiny Canon 3MP digicam in my work bag and I haul around a Digital Rebel or an ancient Nikon FM when I can spend more time on photography.

To Bruce and others who have a Hi-Matic 7s II, I just found out that you don't have to take the top cover off in order to adjust the horizontal rangefinder setting. The procedure is much, much easier on this camera:

 

Open the back to expose the film chamber. On the left side of the top film rail is a screw. This screw only covers the hole that exposes the horizontal rangefinder adjustment. Remove the screw and then turn the tiny screw inside the hole. Turn the screw in the direction you want your coincindent image to move. I was going past infinity, so I turned it 1/4 rotation to the right. Replace the cover screw and you're finished! No need to remove the top.

 

Of course I found this out only after removing the top and the rangefinder/viewfinder assembly from the camera. I now have all the pieces back in place and I'm looking forward to taking pictures in focus again!

 

Thanks!

Thanks Bruce!

The rangefinder on my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s II needs horizontal

adjustment. It goes past infinity and all images focused using the

rangefinder patch are out of focus. The vertical alignment is OK. If I

buy an online manual showing how to disassemble it, will it also tell

me how to adjust the rangefinder? Does it require removal of the top

plate? Is it difficult to do?

 

I would also like to adjust the light meter to use modern batteries.

Is that something I can do easily myself with some mechanical skill?

 

Thanks!

Hans, perhaps I should have said it was unable to <i>charge</i> my PowerBook with the

shaver plug.

As one poster above indicated, the "shaver" plug in every bathroom in the UK will accept standard US 2-blade plugs. Just push hard and it will snap snugly in to place. They are often dual voltage, but the charger doesn't care if you plug in to the 120V or the 240V side. There really is no need to buy an adapter if you will use it for your charger only. As a caveat, the amperage of these plugs is quite low, so you won't be able to run anything more powerful than your camera/mobile charger or an electric shaver with it. The one in my house will not even run my PowerBook.

My 50mm/1.8 is excellent. This looks to be more missed focus than camera shake. Try using your camera in Av mode at f8 to take a picture of a still life while the camera is on a tripod or a sturdy resting place.

Your charger should be fine. If is like my Digital Rebel charger it will handle 110-240V and

50-60hz. One other note is that most places (hotels and private homes) have "shaver"

sockets in the bathrooms. These are lower amperage outlets, but they are dual 110 and

224 volt that often accept standard US plugs (no converter needed, just push hard!). I

recently moved to London and I'm able to use these to charge batteries on my cameras

and my iPod using the standard US plugs that come with the chargers.

I'm attending a wedding next month and I've been thinking about the same question. I

have the "down market" versions of your gear: Digital Rebel, EOS 30 (Elan 7e), and

a Minolta Hi-Matic 7s II. I think the answer will come from what type of pictures you want

to capture. I'm leaning toward my Minolta rangefinder because it is small,silent, and has

excellent low-light capabilities (I just wish I could meter Delta 3200 in it!). If I still had my

M6 classic I would certainly take it.

Check out: http://www.kenrockwell.com/mamiya/6.htm [<a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/mamiya/6.htm">Link</a>]

iPhoto is great for standard 4X6 to 8X10 prints that come from files needing light editing. The latest version has some nice features to help you straighten, adjust white and black points, change color temp. and other things very easily. The big drawback for RAW users is that edits are done with JPEG. If you want to manipulate uncompressed files you'll have to pull up something like Photoshop. That being said, it is pretty good at what it is designed for: capture, browsing, light editing, and basic printing.

I was in Rome last October and agree with much of what has already been said:

-There is no problem with non-flash photography just about anywhere.

-Photography is forbiddin in the Sistin Chapel only but many people where using their point-and-shoots with the flash turned off without attracting much attention. The lighting is beautiful in there. You can probably snap a few pics as long as you use something less conspicuous than your 7D. There are probably 300 people in there at any one time, so its easy to not be noticed

-Since you're going in March this probably won't be a problem, men must wear long trousers (no shorts) and women must wear long skirts or trousers. They won't let you in if they see your legs.

-I wish I had a fisheye while I was there. I found that you need something really wide for most of the interiors, something telephoto for a lot of the Forum, and something in the middle for nice peoplepics. It looks like you have all of that covered.

I'm not and I won't pretend to be a wedding photographer, but I have an alternate suggestion. You could buy a used film body for much less than a Rebel XT. A used professional camera like an EOS 3 or 1N will be less than a new XT. An Elan 7E or even a Rebel Ti will be MUCH cheaper. Just have film scanned when it is processed if you want digital pictures. Once your event is finished you can generally sell a film body without much loss.

Penn Camera (www.penncamera.com)<br /><br />

 

<a href="http://penncamera.com/services/rentals.asp">Link to Rental Page</a>