cappoldt

Josh, suggestions for improvements - both public in this forum and privately on emails to Admins - went on for years as frustrations mounted. The harassment and adolescent behavior is precisely what drove me off a few years ago, the cost of the aggravation outweighing the benefits of this community.

 

IMHO, what really needs to change is the culture of the site in these regards. Members need an up-front policy, as thorough an education (with examples) as possible, and a good policing.

 

At the end of the day, the facts are these: If anyone is going to take a rating to heart or with value, they should see what the rater is themselves producing, and what their habits are. The logic behind that is obvious, I hope.

 

Nice to see this one back on the table again. . .and will watch from afar to view its progress.

 

 

Meanwhile, food for thought:

http://web.mac.com/aaronandpatty/What_the_Duck/Comic_Strips/Entries/2007/11/30_WTD_358_files/WTD358.gif

Their problems do seem to stem from the fact that they've come up with a wonderful product, and are not staffed adequately to support it.

 

My site's running well, and has been, but the setup timeline slipped on every single date, delaying launch by almost ten days.

I'll have a Sigma 24-70 2.8 and the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR...which leads to my next question: which would you mount to which? I'm thinking the 70-200 on the D200, as if I'm reaching for that, it'll be distance grabs - and the more MP, the better with potential cropping.

 

Oh and there won't be an opportunity to pre-visit. On the D70, I've been cool with ISO 400, but not so much with the D200...like to stay at ISO 200 for that.

Forgot to specify - will use D70 and D200...

Hi Folks,

 

I've got an event shoot coming up. Dimly-lit ballroom, wicked high ceilings,

etc...pretty challenging for lighting. I'll have an on-board SB-800 and an

off-camera, assistant-held SB-600.

 

What ISO settings have the veterans out there used for such and been happy? It's

likely to be a lot of shots, and running Noise Ninja on the lot will be

annoying...but necessary if over ISO 400...

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Chris

Hi Folks,

 

I've got an event shoot coming up. Dimly-lit ballroom, wicked high ceilings,

etc...pretty challenging for lighting. I'll have an on-board SB-800 and an

off-camera, assistant-held SB-600.

 

What ISO settings have the veterans out there used for such and been happy? It's

likely to be a lot of shots, and running Noise Ninja on the lot will be

annoying...but necessary if over ISO 400...

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Chris

The D200 takes advantage of Nikon's CLS, which offers iTTL. Set the flash to TTL BL instead of AA (the 'BL' will pop up on TTL setting once you depress the shutter halfway and the flash recognizes the D200), and give that a whirl, instead.

Looks right to me...the camera doesn't lie, remember - and may even see more than you do with skin detail.

 

Most portraitists have a Photoshop sequence they run on faces/skin, often to mimic the smooth, natural tones from films like Portra...

I'm seeing a lot of great stuff with the 105mm VR (or the one it replaced, sans VR). I often use the 60mm Micro, as well as the 70-200 VR.

Welp, now I've done it - been recruited to shoot he company golf gang in their

last-of-the-season company golf outing.

 

I've never photographed a golf game before. Don't even follow the game. (Played

mini golf a few times, and was likely drinking - does this count?)

 

On the bright side, expectation is low, and pay not an issue since I'm already

on the clock.

 

On the downside, I'm not sure how to approach and would rather not wholly

humiliate myself.

 

I'm thinking a lot of fast shutter/slow shutter mixes with teles (70-200/300mm)

wide open, Aperture Priority, monopod. Plan on bringing a picnic blanket to get

low-to-the-ground for some drama, too.

Any advice?

 

Strobes will screw 'em up, too, right? Avoid?

 

THANKS!

When that happened to me, I didn't have the MBD200 two-battery extension tightly screwed on - the battery wasn't making constant contact. Check your battery contacts, that might be it.

I've only had an issue twice, and both times the issue was with battery levels and battery contacts. Make sure your battery contacts are clean (use a pencil eraser), make sure they're in tightly, and if you're using any accessories in the hot shoe (flash, IR controller), make sure their batteries are good - a dip in voltage can cause a write error.

 

Then, once the write error is on the card, the card itself seems succesptible to total corruption.

 

So, my experience is that a chain of events can leave to lots of tears - I don't find the D200 unreliable, therefore - I find my habits unreliable!

Conrad came closest! Turns out that the MB-D200 wasn't tightened...I was getting a break in the battery contacts. Ooops.

Lily, I think all of your questions are good ones, and ones I've had myself - anyone exploring flash has, I'll bet.

 

With the D200 and the SB-800,

1. WB - it depends. I've used the gels if the lighting is consistent; if I'm in an all-flourescent venue, this works fine. But if you've got incandescent, flourescent, and window light, I'll take the flash to manual and set the shutter speed for a minimum of 1/160 so that I can make the flash the dominant source/color temp.

 

2. Same here, with a lot of flexibility. I chimp a lot, checking the LCD

 

3. My solution to NR is Noise Ninja software. Really, when using flash, I try never to go above ISO 400. The -800 has the juice to make that work.

 

Also, when shooting aperture, I'll often go +1 instead of -1 on the comp...

Hiker in crater, Sicily's Mt. Etna...<div></div>

Digital Photo Pro, a newer magazine, I've found terrific - lots of great tutorials on advanced techniques in the digital darkroom. Also Outdoor Photographer, American Photo, and Popular Photography & Imaging.

I can't seem to find a previous post re that lens and my D70 - it wouldn't always allow me to stop down to 2.8. I think in fact is WAS stopping down that far, but just wasn't being recognized...

Been having some weird happenings with the D200. Noticed the view in the

viewfinder go nuts - everything available would illuminate, and the AF would

adjust itself a few dozen times with the shutter button depressed. Releasing and

re-depressing the shutter would clear it, but too I'd have a sporadic "No Image

File" message on the LCD with every 5-10 shots, with no image apprently recorded.

 

I had the SU-800 in the hotshoe, thought maybe it was the battery drain in that

causing the issue...but it really wasn't that old (second shoot with it, less

than 150 shots).

 

Anyone have something like this happen before? Any resolutions evident? Or, am I

looking for a trip to get her a checkup?

I just had an interesting preview of Joel Meyerowitz' (NYC street photog)new book, "Aftermath," which features his large-format color images of the cleanup - he was the only photographer authorized by the city to make pics for the archives (not to be confused with a recent cop's book of similar title). Moving.<div></div>

I use stuff from here to clean my sensors...http://www.photosol.com/

 

It isn't hard - follow the directions here:

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

 

Be smart, take your time, do it in a clean, sealed room such as a bathroom, and you'll be fine.

D70, 50mm 1.8<div></div>

D70, Sigma 24-70<div></div>

Faux pas or no, the double entendre is great:)

I so far, as a casual shooter, have found that I've got to have a pretty long day of shooting to fully drain a battery - even one- when using the MB-D200 with the camera. Even when spending full days in Rocky Mountain National Park, I wasn't killing whole batteries. I usually only use about half a charge during any photo venture, tops, then have the opportunity at home to pop the battery back into the charger.

 

Are you going on long shoots? I imagine that a football game or something, using a VR lens with a lot of chimping (reviewing on that giant, energy-suckign LCD), might be cause to blow through a few batteries...and if you're shooting an entire football game, it might be wise to invest in extra batteries so that they can be swapped out.

 

I guess I'm saying that if you're shooting so much that you're sucking batteries dry on shoots, a few backups is likely the diligent way to go so you can still get a long life out of those batteries.

I've got the 24-70, like it just fine. At f8-22, I've been pretty impressed with it. All the landscapes in my portfolios are made with it, and quite a few assorted others, from portraits to objects.

 

I bought it as a substitute for the 18-70 when the D70 came out (I couldn't score a kit at the time), and haven't looked back - though have longed for a 12-24, and I think I'm going to go with the Tokina DX version for that.