rich_b1

<p>A number of years ago I developed cervical issues and had to have c4-c6 fused. Obviously, any neck strap is totally out of the question.<br>

<br />The best solution I've found is the Cotton Carrier (www.cottoncarrier.com). which supports most of the weight on the chest and secondarily on the shoulders. It looks hot and cumbersome, but I do not find that it is. Camera is held securely in a slot on the chest and also has a secondary "emergency" strap. Did a trip to Antarctica a couple of years ago, wearing life jackets, getting in and out of boats for landings, with no problems, no pain or fatigue whatsoever. Highly recommended.</p>

<p>Try to put some silica packs in with your equipment to absorb excess moisture. Also, put the camera in a sealed zip lock bag while in the cool, dry room. You may get condensation on the OUTSIDE of the bag, but the inside will stay dry. Then let it come to temperature outside while sealed and you can safely open the bag and shoot.<br>

When going back inside, do not seal the camera as that will trap the moist air and surely cause condensation.</p>

<p>"I think you ought to think about a second body instead of changing your lenses."</p>

<p>"Depending on the weather you may find that your digital equipment fails in extreme temperatures. Get a cheap voigtlander, a manual 50mm fast lens, some film and you have insurance there."</p>

<p>Thanks for your responses, but so much for traveling light!</p>

<p>The temperatures in December shouldn't be extreme as it is their summer. Actually gets up as high as the mid 40's F (6-9 C) so I hope that it won't be that much colder than that. I do plan on carrying a pocket digital camera, so all will not be lost, and hopefully no blizzards so I can keep everything reasonably warm (including myself) under my coat to take out when I need to. I'd like decent shots, but as said, am an amateur and won't be making big blow-ups or publishing. If they both crap out, I'll be satisfied with my memories.</p>

<p>Louie, thanks so much for sharing your experience. This is not a Quark, but Hurtegruten trip, but hopefully I'll also not feel rushed in seeing the amazing sights and maybe coming home with a few photographic memories. In your answer and some others I've gotten elsewhere, I've confirmed my belief in the focal length choice and am trying to confirm my belief that I'm not giving up IQ by getting the Tamron vs. using my 17-85 plus 75-300, neither of which is a great lens, especially at the 300mm extreme.</p>

<p>Other than the actual focal length of the lens, the "equivalent" field of view of the lens is not lens dependent, but is sensor-size dependent. The difference with "digital only" lenses is that they have a smaller circle of light since they only need to accomodate the smaller sensor. Full-frame lenses have a larger circle of light, only part of which is used by the APS-C sensor, but the full circle is used by the full frame. Sort of like shining a pen light or a full size flash light at a mirror. The regular flash light will have a much wider beam than the small pen light.<br>

In relationship to the sensor, let's say you shine a flashlight on a hand mirror and a wall mirror. The actual size of the flashlight beam is exactly the same, however, it may cover 90% of the hand mirror, while only covering 25% of the wall mirror. This is the same principle as on an APS-C sensor (Hand mirror) vs. a full-frame sensor (wall mirror). The image size is the same, but the field of view is what differs.<br>

A very good explanation is here: http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/crop_sensor_cameras_and_lenses.html</p>

<p>I've had the 1400 for about 2 years after my 1280 died and at first was very disappointed with it, with most prints being too dark, especially compared with my calibrated screen. Played around with the settings but never got good results using it the way I had the 1280. I was running on a PC, but have now moved to Mac and use Photoshop CS4.<br>

Traditionally, and I believe, most folks do, I used PS to color manage and turned off the Epson color management. Tried the reverse procedure, turning off PS color management and letting the Printer take over and the pictures have been excellent since. Also, make sure that you follow Chas' suggestions other than that and you should get good results. If not, and still under warranty, talk to Epson about warranty service/replacement. When working correctly, the Claria inks give brilliant results</p>

<p>I am an amateur and shoot with amateur equipment and have an already ancient Canon Rebel XT, Canon EFS 10-22, 18-75 IS & EF 75-300 IS (first generation) lenses. While I haven't spent the $$$ for "L" lenses, I've always been a bit nervous about third party glass and have only Canon lenses.<br /> <br /> Am very fortunate to be traveling to Iguaza Falls and then Antarctica on a cruise (not photocruise) in December, and am trying to minimize the kit I carry. I probably won't have time to be switching out lenses all the time & most likely would find it clumsy to do so with a parka on anyway, so am thinking of bringing my 10-22 and getting one of the newer superzooms like the Tamron 18-270 or 18-250 to replace the existing 18-75 & 75-300. While I know the superzooms are not rated highly, will I lose much over what I have, since they're not the best lenses going anyway?<br /> <br /> Any experience & advice, especially from those that have been there &/or have used these lenses would be greatly appreciated. Any other lens suggestions that don't have a red band & contain the letter "L" in them?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Here's a video tutorial which may help. I've also seen this done on a separate layer and then you can play with opacity and blen modes for the effect you want.<br>

http://www.bestechvideos.com/2008/11/14/techtutor-tv-remove-dark-circles-under-eyes-and-wrinkles-in-photoshop-cs3<br>

Good Luck</p>

I use a Lowepro Orion AW, which is a combination beltpack and detachable

backpack. When worn together it looks like a normal backpack, but the 2 sections

are clipped together. When you unclip them, the beltpack can be rotated around to

the front to access your camera gear. While the backpack portion is not large, it

can carry enough water bottles &/or jackets for me for a day's outing. Tripod is

carried underneath the beltpack by included straps.

 

You can just wear the beltpack by itself or the backpack portion alone, although I

suggest with not too much weight in the backpack when its alone as the support is

minimal in that configuration.

 

There is plenty of room in the beltpack. I carry all my gear in it which includes a

Canon D-rebel XT with 17-85 lens attached, and 10-22 and 75-300 zooms, along with

flash, filters, chargers, memory cards, etc. with no problem.

I was just in Israel, Jordan & Egypt in March and it was obviously an amazing trip.

They offer incredibly varied sites, however, you only have 1 sunrise and 1 sundown

per day with too many photo opportunities, so its really impossible to plan what time

you should be taking pictures. When you get there, just fire away and you'll bring

home winners.

 

Focusing on Israel (pardon the photography pun), I second Larry's advice. In

Jerusalem, with the right equipment, you can get some amazing shots of the old city

wall at night, especially from the patio of the King David Hotel. During late

afternoon, I would recommend that you walk the old city ramparts from the Jaffa to

the Damascus gates for totally unexpected and different views of Jerusalem, and

seek out the Austrian Hospice. It will cost if I remember $1 US to go up on the roof,

but it gives elevated views from the middle of the cacophany that is Jerusalem.

There are the obvious shots of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Western wall, however, I

also suggest you take in the view from the Mt of Olives and its cemetery.

 

Tel Aviv, I did not find to be a particularly interesting city, however, within walking

distance down the coast is the old port city of Jaffa. You can even get some scenic

views of Tel Aviv along the walk which make it look much prettier than it is up close,

IMO.

 

In the Galilee area are a number of churches and digs like the Church of the

Primacy and Capharnum. I would also suggest a short trip into Tiberias which offers

some interesting lakeshore vistas and if you have time(we were unable to go), take

in the Golan Heights, Safed and Rosh Hanikra.

 

While down in Jericho, try to get some time to go to the Dead Sea. Its amazing how

buoyant the water is. I lifted my arms and legs out of the water and still floated.

Just don't splash and get any of the water in your eyes, mouth or nose as they will

burn for a couple of days (yes-personal experience!).

 

Also, Masada is a must. You will be shooting in bright sunlight on sandy soil, so

expose as if you were shooting on snow.

 

A lot of the time we were in Israel, the sky was extremely hazy, which was due to a

combination of sandstorms in the south and moisture from the Dead Sea and Sea of

Galilee. Be prepared for that, but even without the haze, make sure you have a

polarizing filter to deal with the bright sunlight.

 

Oh, and if you have time, try to schedule a trip into Jordan to see Petra. It was

actually the highlight of our entire journey. I don't know if there are single day trips,

from Israel, but even if you have to stay overnight in a hotel, is more than well worth

it.

 

Lastly, bring more film or memory cards than you would for any normal trip!

 

Have a great time.

I may be a contrarian to all the posts here, but in almost all cases where I use flash, I end up only focusing on the center point. Cropping in Photoshop easily fixes the centered blahs. Most Photographers I know do likewise. Do you really find that you use the other points very often, that this is a big deal? The lack of swivel on the 380 EX that some posters prefer would be a big deal to me and in fact I sold my 380 to buy the Sigma.

 

Not knocking anyone else's preference, but I have the Sigma flash and find it to work really well at a very affordable price.

I may be wrong and if so I hope someone will correct me, but I believe the image you view prior to RAW conversion is acutally a .jpg thumbnail, which may have saturation, contrast & sharpening boosted by the in-camera circuitry. The .tif that you view after conversion is simply the RAW file converted, so you need to make the adjustments as part of your post processing.

 

One way around this problem is to shoot both formats. It'll take up more space on the CF card, but memory is relatively cheap today. Without getting into the whole .jpg vs. RAW argument, those shots that need the adjustments you can make only from RAW, you can post process accordingly, while the others will need a lot less PP if in .jpg from the start.

That has been a problem with the XT's which was supposed to be addressed by an ineffective firmware update. I've had the problem with both JPEG & RAW.

If you use the wheel to advance the images, rather than the four-way button on back, that eliminates the problem.

 

Good luck

"thanks for the replies everyone, its going to be a Nikon for sure, i've heard alot about ergonomics and build quality about the two brands before."

 

Matt,

 

Before you buy the camera, try it out in a local store to see how the ergonomics fit YOU. Hearing is not the same as holding and you could possibly be very disappointed with your choice. How comfortable the camera feels is going to be the difference as these are all great units and the picture quality will be strictly up to your skills.

 

Good luck,

You might try posting at this forum http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/forum/

 

Good luck

"Colorlife is being discontinued by Epson. It currently is still available in 44 in. by 100 ft. rolls"

 

Dan,

Where did you see this? The 8.5 x11 & 11 x19 sheets are still listed on Epson's web site, although the "Epson Store" is out of 11 x19

Sent e-mail

My old flash used to stick in the hot shoe of my XT. Try pushing down on the flash whilst sliding it out. That always worked for me.

 

Good luck

"If you have to use the 350XT, certainly get the Anglefinder C."

 

For those of you who use this on the XT, does it make the already dark viefinder appreciably dimmer? I would think that any magnification would do so.

I went throught this process a year or so ago, except that both my monitors are CRT's. I went for the inexpensive Diamond Stealth S80 ATI Radeon 9200SE and it works very well. Probably not available anymore, but I'm sure there'd be something similar

 

As others have stated, unless you're also doing gaming, no need for an expensive card.

I saw something like this on another forum and the poster said he fixed it by pulling the main battery AND also the button battery which is located inside the battery compartment on the front edge. Of course you'll lose all your settings, but may be worth a try.

 

Good luck

Larry,

I made the same switch as you and have not had that problem, in fact, if anything, I get overexposure with my 380EX & XT.

 

Did you use it with the Elan II recently? If you still have that camera, try shooting with it & check the results to narrow it down to camera or flash. Besides the very good answers that Nadine suggested, check the contacts on both the EX & XT hotshoe and gently rub them with a soft pencil eraser. Sometimes electrical contacts can get some corrosion coating on them which is not visible to the eye.

 

Good luck

Fuji itself has closed the plant that was processing film for the NYC area and discontinued most of its mom & pop accounts. AFAIK, the only retailers they're servicing are Wal-Mart & Shop-Rite. Don't know if they do slides though.

I recently tried installing Roxio on my system that already had Nero on it. Result: Had to reformat hard drive and clean install Windows XP and all programs. Fortunately had redundant data backups.

 

Once had a problem with an earlier Roxio, though not as extreme. In my opinion, Roxio doesn't play nice.

You may be able to download it from your computer mfr. For instance you can download everything that originally on your system (including updates) from Dell.

Erik,

Since you've really only gotten a couple of helpful posts out of so many responses, why don't you simply exchange the 10-22, or if able, buy another and return the one (or both) that you don't want after a comparison.

 

Incidentally, I have both of these lenses, and while the 18-55 is a good and sharp lens for what it is, IMO, the 10-22 is sharper. Unfortunately, I can't access any of my shots right now to show you.

 

Good luck