phyrpowr

<p>Go new. Seller and lens are probably Okay, but why take the chance for such a small $$ difference?</p>

<p>I'll bet the seller has a 5 Star rating from the "Federation of Official ('no, really') Consumer Rating Associations"</p>

<p>go to <a href="http://www.nps.gov">www.nps.gov</a> for the parks' websites and general info, would also recommend going to state of Wyoming tourism site.</p>

<p>I was there last in October, surpisingly pleasant weather, lodges open and full. Book soon as possible</p>

<p>At one time, I had something much better: an "Authorized Person" button, and an "Authorized Vehicle" bumper sticker, don't see 'em for sale anymore.</p>

<p>Repeat after me "Well, Sportin' Life, if ya got no talent, I guess ya gotta buy fancy 'stuff'". Practice the delivery with a sneer.</p>

<p>Or a simple "I<em> know</em> what<em> I'm</em> doing" , bored manner, raised eyebrow if possible</p>

<p>That's the hydraulic head, right? Saw one report on Fred Miranda that one exploded in extreme heat/sunlight, this in the middle east.<br>

The head has a good rep for sturdiness, adjustability and stability. The main difference is that the Manfrotto plates don't have a lip on them, as do the AS types, so a camera mounted vertically (flipped over) with a heavy lens will tend to creep downward. If you have a tripod ring on the lens, that's a non-problem</p>

<p>I've found a good starting point is using Unsharp Mask, setting 300%, 0.3 radius, and 0 threshold</p>

<p>They'll flash until the full sequence is over, to let you know it's not done yet. Mine quits after #3</p>

<p>Ya know what really burns me about these new young photographers with their digital everythings? They're young!</p>

<p>This lens is very low rated over the years, probably the lowest of any brand in that range, so I would advise passing it up. The Canon 55-200 IS is a much better deal, though of course more expensive and lacking the range</p>

<p>Abhijit, I was going through a number of ballhead threads on Fred Miranda's site, and a recurring complaint about the Markins is that the panning knob doesn't lock as tightly as other brands. However, this seemed mainly to be a problem when carrying a camera/long lens on tripod/over shoulder, not when shooting </p>

<p>Ditto above on the 488. Lacking a tension control, it gets a bit fiddly to center your focus point precisely, but you can eventually, it locks up rock solid. Kirk and RRS sell replacement clamps and plates that are A-S compatible, and this helps when camera is in vertical mode. The RCs lack the lip that prevents camera droop with heavier lenses (well, they do sell one, but it's generic and not that good) </p>

<p>I was going to put a Kirk clamp on mine, but went ahead and bought their BH-3. Just as solid with my 5D and 100-400, am now hooked on the tension control feature, and not that much more expensive than a 488 and replacement clamp. You can get used plates at KEH and on Ebay</p>

<p>A gen-u-wine Official Boy Scout model, don't recall if it was a Brownie or a Hawkeye</p>

<p>I have one of the first Mountainsmith backpacks, with camera and regular gear storage, and water bottle holders....of course, they quit making it (this is called Herblock's Law)</p>

<p>Keith, had brain freeze and read this as a request for a "warm hat". Bean also makes a cheaper Tilley style hat, but like DB I like the "bucket" style. Golf shops sell this as a "club style" hat, and tennis shops have a similar. Would of course be cheaper to buy at a large sporting goods store (sort of like vests and "photo vest$")</p>

<p>Simon, for warm weather look for a high crown, at least a two inch brim, chin strap a good idea , and mesh or vent holes in the crown....like the Tilley. Cotton is a good material for high temps, as it can be soaked and worn, as DB pointed out</p>

<p>Company called Outdoor Research makes several styles of wide brims in gore tex. One thing to consider: if the brim is stiff, it can cause the hat to "pop" off when leaning down to a tripod, or quickly pulling the camera up to eyelevel. This happened to me with a ball cap in Santa Cruz, it flew nicely though</p>

<p>LLBean has a tweed gore tex hat with two inch brim, very nice</p>

<p>Ditto Lex. How many times have you heard someone say about <em>any</em> gear "Man I just wish this lacked..."?</p>

<p>Why not stepless auto ISO with no noise? Voice activated DoF preview and adjustment? Forget face recognition, I'm a leg man, "Great Gam Recognition". GPS programmed for auto anti-tourist cropping/clone out at, e.g., the Eiffel Tower?</p>

<p>Put in all those and someone will be heard to say "Man, if this only had...".</p>

<p>Bighorn ram at a parking pull off in Glacier NP, HUGE horns, at least 150% curve, dusk, three cameras on the seat beside me, and I grabbed the one set for timer/mirror lockup, Velvia 50 and 1/20 sec.<br>

By the time my brain started working (what's wrong with this camera? oh, yeah....) he was gone</p>

<p>That club owes you no duties, true, but that Michelle can see the inside of her own navel if she thinks YOU are somehow in the wrong for selling your work. And I would DEFINITELY be wary of dealing with that PR person again. </p>

<p>Check out <a href="http://www.feisol.net">www.feisol.net</a>, I got their 3342 without center post, am six feet even and it's just right. They sell an adjustable (horizontal et al) center post also </p>

<p>Oh, yeah, and if you follow one of the links, these 30-60,000 monitors will be "hand picked...carefully chosen"</p>

<p><em>YOU CANNOT "HANDPICK" 60,000 PEOPLE!</em></p>

<p>I'll sing my same old song: anything I can take a picture of, has already been photographed, published, put on the web, and indexed in the libraries<br>

Might be cool if a British photog, arrested for "illegal photography" showed up at the Police station, or magistrate's office, with an armload of magazines and a demand that everyone down to the copyboy be hauled in </p>

<p>thanx, Lecks, nau I kno what a prime lensse is</p>

<p>Let me add a PS: book now for lodging in Yosemite, and try to decide where you want to be on our Memorial Day, last Monday in May, as that weekend will be booked almost everywhere you want to go soon</p>

<p>Well, if San Diego is only a terminus, and not a particular sightseeing destination, it's doable.<br />Four days in SF, three in Yosemite, including 1/2 day to get there (too little time, but so is a month), leaves you seven to get to GC and then to San Diego. I would HATE to tell you to pass up the Canyon.<br />The big problem is that the West is so beautiful, and so different even from the eastern US, much less Europe, that it is going to be very hard not to linger, pull off and shoot, take little detours, etc. You'll find from the start a dozen reasons to spend just <em>one more day</em> in San Francisco, and if you go down the coast to Big Sur, or north towards Mendicino, you might decide to send word home to sell the house and send the money. And when I say 3 days in Yosemite, I actually mean just the Valley, not Tioga or Mono Lake or the eastern Sierra, or the little towns on the way from SF<br />You can't do full autobahn speeds, but not a lot slower on the Interstates, about 120km/hr. Not strictly legal, but that will be the standard flow of traffic, around 100km/hr on other roads. This is actual travel, not including pit stops, eating, pulling off for shots, etc. You'll pretty much need to drive straight from SF to Yosemite, Yosemite to the Canyon, and Canyon to SD with very little if any side trip sightseeing.<br>

I just did some cross checking in the European and US atlases, and Grand Canyon to San Diego is about the same as Amsterdam to Geneva, if that helps<br />If that sounds like too much, then at least an extra day in SF, same in Yosemite/Mono, then back towards SF and down the coast more leisurely.<br>

Either way, welcome and enjoy</p>

<p> </p>