ci_p

It might help if you post a picture of the ape.

The security protocol departing London (UK) is more severe than elsewhere. Where "departing" includes transiting. In particular (as far as photographers are concerned), there is a quite severe limit on the size of hand luggage and it is enforced. If you arrive with big hand luggage, you might find yourself having to check in valuable/delicate luggage before being able to procede. Also people transiting are particularly susceptible to security related delays in the transit airport.

 

If I were flying from the US to europe with a stop en route, I'd try to make the stop in the US, or somewhere else in europe (like Frankfurt or Paris or wherever)

 

Check http://www.baa.com If you know what you're facing you can reduce the unpleasantness of the experience. If you're lucky, things might have changed by the time you get there.

avoid england.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5332894.stm

What we need is all that we can get, obviously.

I don't know about Hong Kong, but you can get 5% sales tax off in Japan at point of sale on production of your passport. I think that goes for any camera shops, but certainly for biccamera and yodobashi. Check prices at their web sites www.yodobashi.com www.biccamera.com .Take ear defenders to protect yourself against the in-store music.

I go with Craig on this one. Don't obsess about bag visibility - get one that is comfortable.

 

I think a theif would be happy to assume that a tourist bloke carrying a shoulder bag *will* have a camera in it. And secondly, there is a very good chance that any bag/pack carried by a tourist will have something valuable in it.

That happened to me during a wedding and had me a bit anxious. Fortunately it didn't explode when it got to zero.

 

I don't think a 1ds2 can format a 4GB SD card.

Firstly, one of the benefits of buying from a store is that you can inspect the goods before you buy them. I guess many people don't do that, but if the opportunity is there, taking it may reduce the probability of unpleasant experiences later.

 

I'd suggest you deal with the store, and then nikon. I've no idea what country you're in, but if you're in the USA, you probably don't have any consumer rights that you can exercise in a meaningful way, unlike over here in Europe.

 

Also I've no idea who the "Somebody" you refer to is. If they're just your pet monkey, you can safely ignore his opinion. If they're actually someone who matters (like nikon) then just emphasis how grumpy and disapointed you are.

Don't charge the batteries in the unit. They are connected in series, so if the cells have different levels of charge, either some cells will be over charged or some will be under charged. Either way it is bad. You should charge them in a proper (and probably faster) standalone charger.

I don't think *any* batteries will hold a charge in the unit as it discharges them (slowly) even when it is "off". You probably want to check the voltage of the Rayovacs.

As I see it there are two ways you can go.

 

The cheap way is to get a fixed focus camera, and hope that the shutter lag is small. The expensive way is to use a SLR with an expensive (ring USM / AFS HSM etc) lens.

Well. I know you went to Nara & Kyoto (and maybe Osaka & Shinjuku). You've seen the big budda, the deer and the golden pavilion (in black and white). But the only reason I know that is because I've been to these places and recognise them. I imagine having no idea where things are is maybe a little frustrating for your average viewer. Or, if it is just about the *image* why even say they are from Japan?

 

You've also over compressed some of the JPEGs so you get blocky areas of smooth tones.

 

And I'm wondering if you know what JPN003 (the 3rd one along) is.

The primary actions of a "pro" is that they give people photos and get paid for it.

 

In some fields of photography, the camera is the least important part of the job and sometimes it isn't. Before you go photographing snakes, I'd have thought knowing snakes is *way* more important than knowing cameras / lenses, or even having top kit.

I don't think so. Probably I'm just being fussy, or it's just not a great lens. My experience seems to match a lot of the reviews linked to above.

Giampi, is that a 100% crop or resized? The problem is that without this vital additional piece of information, your image just isn't scaring me.

I seem to have a contrary opinion (and the 16-35 lens (on a 1Ds2)). I have to use f8 to get it so I'm happy with the sharpness in the corners. Depending on the subject, that might not matter and it is ok with a wider aperture. Or it would be if I used it, but it is sitting on the shelf while I wonder what to do with it. I expected better, really.

I've got one and you can definitely download 50GB on a charge. That requires decent, recently charged, high power NiMH AA batteries, along with fast flash CF. With a microdrive, slow / small cards, batteries that have been in the device for 1+ weeks (the device discharges them even when it is off) you will get a lot less. Also using 7200 rpm disks is not efficient.

 

You should try with another set of AA batteries and check the ones you are using are sound. If that doesn't work, you've probably got a bad unit.

I would second avoiding heathrow.

RainerT

 

You'd better be hoping Arjen knows what he is doing and doesn't have a SATA machine where /dev/sda is the first HDD.

 

It might be possible to the same thing with windows disk management in W2K or XP. I mean, it *should* be possible, but I've never done it.

I'd concede that a 1.6 crop + 400 f5.6 is great for wildlife, but there you're into a specialist application. When there were cheap FF (film) bodies, there were lots of photogs with not much money wanting more than 300mm. With 1.6 bodies, a lot of that demand goes away. Obviously, a 400 f5.6 + 1.6 sensor enables you do do some interesting things for not much money, but you're not part of the mainstream any more, you're a bit off piste - similarly to using an 8mm fisheye (which canon does not make at all)

Turkey / Syria

I'd say the crop factor did for further development of 400 f5.6 lenses.

It's all a load of tosh.

The "legend" is just a big misunderstanding translating from Japanese to English. Really canon were refering to "leg end" - a mistranslation of "foot" as it was their intention to give their competitors a kick up the a*se, or "put the boot in", so to speak with their 10 Mpixel marvel.