ptucci

I own both the 24-105 and the 85 f1.8. Both great lenses. The 24-105 stays on the camera as the default go-to lens BUT if I turn to

shoot just one person, the 85 goes on.

<p>Being congenitally cheap, yet handy, I built a set of battery packs from lead-acid batteries for my Sunpak 383s. At Fryes Electronics, they sell 6V lead-acid batts in 1.2Ah and 2.4Ah for $15 an $17, respectively. I originally bought the 2.4Ah, because a NiMH AA is about 1.5Ah, right? I don't know if the lead-acid spec writing people engage in less hyperbole, but even the smaller lead aid battery is equal to two or four sets of AAs. The best thing is the recycle time--with the right sized wire, I get about 1.5 second recycles after a full pop. I bought a belt-mounted camera pouch to hold the battery, fuse holder and disconnect. All in, I'd say it's $30. It doesn't look as nice as Al's, but it looks OK and work's great. I'll post how-to pics if I get a moment. Do remember to include a 1A fuse right at one of the battery terminals, because exploding acid makes me sad. The AA replacement is a wooden block shaped to fit snugly inside the battery bay, with room for wires and screws to contact the flash's terminals.</p>

<p>Another way of asking this question is to ask "Why not put the camera in manual mode at 1/250, f8, and ISO100, and adjust the RAW files at home?". That way, you don't get camera shake, reasonable depth of field, and low noise, right? RAW files will give you a few stops of latitude on the underexposed side, less on the over. When you make dramatic adjustments, the image falls apart, although going to B&W helps.</p>

<p>Dawn, I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked on your Flickr link. I was expecting the usual beginner junk, but what was there was quite good. We're all assuming you got more than the artsy odd moment, like the processional, exchange of rings, kiss, etc. etc. I don't really see the madding crowd in the pictures, and the light wasn't bad if you know how to handle back lighting, which it appears you do.<br>

Now, where you made your mistake is that you begged them <em>twice </em>to take advantage of you. Once in your contract ("if you're not totally satisfied") and once after ("I have promptly offered to refund them in full, to complete and pay for their album out of pocket, and their prints, AND to help edit any family pictures"). You have left out only repairing torn photos of deceased relatives and lifetime family portraits. This is what we call "leading with your chin". They haven't responded yet to your offer because they have a tiny bit of decency, and have a nagging sense of conscience that is preventing them from jumping on your offer.<br>

Retract the offer now.<br>

Let your husband be the <del>heavy</del> manager. Artists sometimes have horrible business skills.</p>

Regarding the advantage of SD cards over CF cards:

I had a IPAQ PDA that took SD cards. I dropped it, and it ceased functioning, though the screen was still intact. I tried a few things, then pulled the SD card and rebooted. It worked! The SD card showed no outside damage, but that flimsy little plastic case can flex easily, then your images are gone. I'll keep buying CF card cameras as long as they make them.

Look up Mark Tucker's beautiful plunger cam pictures, if you haven't already. He did exactly what you're thinking about, but on a Hasselblad and a loupe. The photos have a distint Holga-esque look, but I like it.

Almost all contracts have scary language in them. I'll bet his photography contract included some scary language too. Mine does. He's trying to protect himself from what liability? There is no likely scenario. How were the images in the album? Here's what will happen: you'll get the disk, download some software, open the images, and they'll be flat and lack "pop". Digital negatives are usually like that. Ask him for the color-corrected TIFFs or JPEGs or whatever he used to make the album photos.

This not a scam. This is a businessman who has terms and conditions that aren't negotiable. I know plenty of people like that. There are two sides to every story.

As a user of the LS, I can say, without hesitation, that it depends. Mainly on what you're bouncing off. You can use the LS with the lid on, pointed at your subjects, but what's the point? Lot's of light loss, tiny effect on softening. I go by the rule of thumb that you lose 2 stops of light when you bounce it off white surfaces or diffuse through a reasonably thin material, so if you've got an 8-10' white ceiling, the GN is ~63 (ft).

What about scanners and proofs? You can be an all-film photographer, pricing your packages with anticipated print sales, and end up with bupkus because the couple scanned your 4x6 proofs and printed them out at 16x20 at Sam's Club. Yes, they would make us cry if we saw the prints, but not the subjects.

 

The genie is out of the bottle. It's expected, and unless your name is Buissink or Williams, people are going to pass you over for someone who will sell them what they want.

 

Do what many people here do--include a CD, but put the images up on Smugmug or something similar, so the out-of-towners can easily buy prints without bothering the B&G.

"a couple of photos did not seem on the same level" would indicate that the resolution of the

camera wasn't the problem. If we could see a sample, we could probably tell you whether it

was misfocused, had camera shake, subject movement or excessive cropping. Many

photographers won't let the client see blurry shots, but maybe these had some other value,

such as strong emotion, a key moment or interesting composition.

My mistake. It's also possible with the 40D and the WFT-E3/E3A transmitter. There may be others I don't know about.

This happened to Stacy from Indianapolis, too.

To do it wirelessly would require a 1D Mark III with a WFT-E2A wireless transmitter.

Yay! Physics discussions! Wow. I must admit I too had the H.U.P. confused with the O.E., but I learned something today :)

I don't think that search engines are that responsive that if a few thousand people hit a site today, that the rating will go up. Nice site. Are you linkbaiting? They tweak the rules every now and again, and it sounds like the feature or aspect that had you climbing was de-weighted, if you know what I mean. It's a black box, and unless there's a Goooooogle programmer here, it's all conjecture.

to Sam Motskin:

I've never been to Russia, but one of my favorite photographers is Margaret Bourke-White, and I believe she did a pretty good job of covering Russia in the thirties.

Does anybody even bother clicking on such poor spam?

How about a flash bracket, with the flash flipped over to the side while the camera is held in landscape mode?

You've got to make it right. I once edited photos on my uncalibrated laptop, sent them to MPIX, and had to throw out the batch. The client never knew.

Google says its either Framingham MA or Orlando FL. Which is it?

Do you know if the table was the groom's side or the bride's side? Recently, while taking the dreaded table shots, an elderly lady absolutely would not let me take the shot till her husband got back. I got busy with other things, came back a while later and the table was virtually empty. I didn't worry about it. BTW, it was near the head table. The bride called and asked about it. I told what happened, and she said "no worry, it was hubby's family, and he doesn't care". If she asked for the table shots, do point out that you didn't get it. She'll be more understanding.

It's my understanding that the reason the 50 ISO is extended is because the dynamic range is reduced. Sounds a lot like they're overexposing by one stop and bringing down the values with in-camera software. You could do the same>>>with your RAW converter.

No extension tubes for sure. Way too slow. A close-up lens, maybe, if you want something really, really close. A 24-105 has 1:4.3 magnification, which means a close-up of a ring that's say, 3/4" (18mm) in diameter will be about 4mm diameter on the sensor, and 26mm (about an inch) in a 4x6 print. I carry a close-up lens, but never use it at weddings. You just don't need anywhere near true macro magnification. For portraits, there are many better and cheaper lenses than macros.

When resizing down, I find "nearest neighbor" option better/sharper than any other option.

Peak foliage is going to be mid- to late October. Try Belle Isle.

Why would 450 8x10's be a ridiculous number? It'll be spread across 450 families. I have three kids in different sports leagues, and I watch what goes on very intently when they get their team pics taken. Not my idea of a dream job, but it pays someone's mortgage. The key of the day is organization, and secondly, organization. The kids flow through the areas (team shot, individual shot) very smoothly. How is the organizer going to know what individual is which? You need an assistant or three to help out. Wear a referee's shirt (all four of you). Have a plan for tracking which shot is whom, and on which team.

 

I pay US$11 for an 8x10 which has both the team photo on it plus an individual taken in front of a goal-themed backdrop. I can also pay US$8 for a 5x7 of just the individual. The gear requirements for taking 900 shots is not insignificant. Ice arenas are very poorly lit, so you'll need AC strobes+umbrellas, IMHO.