christopher_engeler

Tamron SP AF28-75/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro. I am so happy with it, I bought a second one for my Nikon F6 too. Minolta rebrands it for their own use. Reviewed <a href="http://www.photo.net/equipment/tamron/28_75_Di/index.html" >here</a>.

The most efficient option: Nikon Coolscan LS4000 (discontinued, buy used) or LS5000 with bulk slide loader. There are two loaders, the newer (?better) one is the SF210 which can be used with either scanner.

At www.keh.com there is a calculator for this ("ONLINE QUOTE" feature). You grade your camera yourself and it gives you the value KEH would pay you. This may be useful information to stake out the low end (auction prices are typically higher but very unpredictable). I just bought my fifth T90 at auction for $350 including the very nice T90 book by Canon (price of this alone often over $50), 300TL flash, manuals, and brochures. It is supposed to be mint, but I haven't received it yet. The highest I paid three years ago was $750 for a new and unused T90 from Hong Kong. For your T90, if it is in A+ condition, 97-99%, or "hardly used, no marks to mention", LN-, KEH would give you $371.

As Mark said, rechargeables have lower votages. On the other hand, I have used lithiums without ill effect. The camera appears to handle the increased voltage fine.

Wonderful series of photos at your website. Your lighting is very good. What flash do you use? It is very subtle. Congratulations!!

Thank you all for the responses and tips. I was there the last week of the season and stayed in one of the cabins. Spectacular!!! We will be back again.

I am going to finally "upgrade" from CRT television to a flat panel

display now that these sets have become more affordable and technology

has matured. What is the better technology, DLP or LCD for image

display? I would like to either view my 10000+ digital images from a

computer or disc? What pixel size would be appropriate? If I downsize

my 60MB TIFF files (scanned slides) and 6, 8, and 16.7 megapixel

digital camera files, what JPEG resolution or size limitation should I

use? I just batch processed all my images in CS2 to 2kx3k image sizes

and JPEGS. What computer or DVD player connections will I need to view

best quality images? Although I am not going to get a cinema-sized

display, is there a disadvantage to getting too large a monitor as it

appears the pixel density actually decreases with size (this is for an

average-sized living room). I am thinking of something in the 26-32

inch range. Thanks to all the HDTV experts!

I have the Leica trifocal finder but it is so big I rarely mount it, even though I could use it with both my 21 and 24mm Leica lenses. There is also considerable barrel distortion present. I would recommend a Voigtlander, either 21 or 25mm for your purposes. The Ikodot is perhaps a bit too rudimentary to give you a true wideangle perspective. Looks neat, though and I hope somebody who knows this device will comment. M4-P is a great camera, isn't it!

I generally agree with the above posters, processor speed is the least important. One comment though: rather get a true Pentium processor than a Celeron type processor if you are going to do image editing. A 2.4 -3.0 MHz Pentium would be just fine. Memory: I would shoot for 512 MB to start, no less. Hard drive size: as posted above, as big as you can go if you are going to store images there. You will need a CD-r drive for backup, possibly DVD-/+R or equivalent.

I am going to be staying overnight at the NORTH RIM of the GRAND

CANYON in the very near future. I have a limited amount of time, but

where would you go in the (late) afternoon, where in the morning. The

lighting is so dramatic this time of the year with the lower sun - I

do hope it will shine. Also, since I am staying in KANAB the night

before I drive to the North Rim, would you a recommend a half-day trip

to either Zion or Bryce or something else in the area - or would you

recommend going straight to the North Rim? I don't plan on doing any

hiking. Thanks for your tips.

The 28-90 ASPH does not fit my EOS cameras. I have tried a few of my other Leica lenses with mixed results. I have found that the rear coatings (absent?) on the 35mm/f2.8 Elmarit-R are insufficient to supress the strong glare reflected from the full-frame sensor - see below (the same situation with a modern EOS zoom lens was fine). Has anybody else had this experience with other lenses?<div></div>

What a steal, Thomas. Congratulations!

The Contax N 17-35mm/f2.8 is the best of all in it's range. It is faster than the Leica. It beats the Canon "L" f2.8 and f4 zooms and also the Nikon (Nikon opinion is second-hand, Canon is from my own experience). The N 24-85mm has superb sharpness, less distortion than most, beautiful color and "snap" and is also a top lens. The Leica 28-90mm is better and faster (I own both), particularly at the long end. The N system also has the 85/f1.4 and a great 70-300 zoom which is nearly in the league of the Leica 80-200/f4 (also Kyocera-made) lens.

Consider getting a third party extended warranty as well. It is a good investment and thwy will take care of sensor cleaing for the duration of the extended warranty too. I am sure Mack Camera (www.mackcam.com) porovides internations service.

Just send in your adapter to Bogen. They will update it to M4 without charge, not even for return shipping. Best service ever!

Thanks for the inputs. I am encouraged that many of you are comfortable with just JPEGs and sharpening later. I'll probably flip back and forth between Large JPEG and RAW. I am not even going to take the bulky charger with me and hope two fully charged batteries will last for the 10GB. We shall see how this goes; my Leica rangefinder and a Rebel T2 will be film companions and backup for this trip. I'd rather carry an extra lens instead of a portable hard drive unit.

I am going to go on a two week trip with 10GB storage but no way to

download files to a PC (I don't plan to buy a CD or DVD drive for this

as I want to minimize my carrying load). These are purely recreational

pictures. Usually, I shoot Large JPEG + RAW but I need to conserve

memory space. Questions:

1. Should I just shoot JPEGS? Or just RAW?

2. If I were to just shoot highest quality JPEGS, should I do

in-camera sharpening? The default JPEG's are somewhat soft, as

everybody knows. I don't want to oversharpen in camera because that

cannot be reversed, but what would a safe setting be?

3. Alternatively, I could just shoot in RAW and process later.

However, that would take a lot of time. If this were your preference,

what workflow would you suggest, can this be batch processed?

4. Or, shall I shoot (the rather soft) highest quality JPEGS and

unsharp mask in PS later? Would that be the safest compromise?

Any suggestions would be very helpful. Particularly, specific

in-camera settings for sharpening of JPEGS would be useful to me if I

go that route. THANKS!

The Australian website brags about their popularity and is reporting record activity. I wonder why?

<a href="http://www.canon.com.au/about/press_room/story_1356.html" >Press release August 18, 2005</a>

The Australian website brags about their popularity and is reporting record activity. I wonder why?

<a href="http://www.canon.com.au/about/press_room/story_1356.html" >Press release August 18, 2000</a>

I was recently on a vacation trip with the 135/2.0 L and the Tamron as my main lenses for one film and one digital camera (EOS-1N RS and 20D). That was a superb combination and quite versatile. I didn't miss the wider angles at all. The Tamron is a fantastic walk-around lens, low-light capable, compact, and good for decent closeups. I'd recommend the Tamron any day. The 135/2.0 L is simply one of the all-time sharpest lenses out there, which nobody disputes. The telephoto perspective does have it's advantages in candid people photography and compressing perspectives. When I have it on my camera, there seems to be no shortage of subjects, so why not?

 

P.S. For wide angles on Canon I have the 17-40mm L which is a fine lens. It's just that Canon SLR lenses tend to get bulky and so I like rangefinders such as Leica and Voigtlander for that more (also have less distortion). Instead of the RS I'll probably take a Rebel T2 next time, though (a very fine little camera for around $200). Food for thought...

Does anybody know how many Minolta XK's were produced. If that

information isn't readily available, perhaps we would need to collect

some serial numbers to establish a range. I have four numbers I could

contribute from my own collection but have no idea how many of these

fine cameras were produced.

Stephen, you may not have noticed, but one of the serial numbers listed is from the lens shown at Douglas Herr's website. I emailed RCLCameras.com and found that that particular lens was sold a long time ago.

I am curious, was this the only lens for Leicaflex/Leica Reflex which

was manufactured in a chrome version? I understand that of the

original version of the Elmarit-R there were 200 made in chrome. What

year was this made, what serial numbers were assigned to these. I can

contribute three numbers I have recently seen online but it would be

very nice to compile a broader range:

#1995341, #227xxxx, #1995309.

I just got mine today and am impressed. They are very well made, every bit as good as Billingham (I have one almost the same size as this). I like the dividers inside, they are quite functional in keeping equipment organized and protected. I find these dividers are better than the velcro-adjustable flaps found in many other bags (including BH). I agree, the outside Velcro main flap may be noisy and a distraction, but it is also faster than the Billingham flaps in securing the latch (you could maybe tape over it or possibly remove the Velcro). In addition, there are three standard flaps of two different types on the front. I know my M-system will fit, but loaded a R9 with zoom attached in the center and three additonal lenses (50mm, 35mm, 100 Macro) to the left and right easily. This bag can be quite roomy, if need be. The original LEITZ logo licensed by M-Classics is a nice touch, and still discreet. I ordered mine Friday, got it the day after the holiday weekend for only $9 shipping!!!

Sexy, excellent, and different: Voigtlander APO closefocusing 90mm, 125mm, and 180mm lenses. Voigtlander aspherical 35mm/f2.0.