danny_weber

>>>>>>>>The other shortcoming of the F4 is its 60/40 CW metering. 80/20 and 75/25 CW are generally more accurate (and more predictable than matrix).<<<<<<<<<<

The F4 has a spot meter, which is better still.

Danny W.

I'm a left-eyed shooter and I have no problem using the AF-L button on the D200. It's the key to using AF in fast-moving situations.

The F4 was a great camera--I loved using mine--but its poor AF started the migration of sports and wildlife shooters to Canon. I think Nikon has made huge strides in AF performance since then.

Danny W.

It works for me on RAW files, but not JPEGs.

Danny W.

By Donna Hogan, Tribune

East Valley Tribune

Updated: 11:35 a.m. MT July 12, 2007

An impressive 33.7 million travelers spent at least one night in Arizona hotels in 2006, nearly 9 percent more than in 2005, said Margie Emmermann, executive director of Arizona Office of Tourism. And they left $18.6 billion behind, $2.6 billion of it in state and local tax coffers, a 6 percent boost from the previous year.

That's according to the annual state of the state's tourism report that Emmermann released today during the Governor's Conference on Tourism, a two-day get-together of industry leaders at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix.

Most 2006 tourists to Arizona - 31.7 million - were from the United States. International tourists came both to Arizona and the rest of the country at about the same rate as the year before, Emmermann said.

Except for Canadians. Swayed by a favorable exchange rate, more air travel options and aggressive ad campaigns, U.S. northern neighbors boosted overnight stays in Arizona hotels by more than 17 percent last year, she said.

Nearly 500,000 Canadians visited Arizona in 2006 - and that doesn't include winter visitors who settle in for several months - and they spent more than $473 million.

But the largest increase in 2006 travel to and through the state was among Arizona residents, according to the report. Local folks spent 22.3 percent more nights in Arizona hotels than they did the year before.

"We are our own biggest market," said AnnDee Johnson, Arizona Office of Tourism research and strategic planning director.

More good news: Visitors to Arizona have higher household incomes than the typical U.S. traveler, Johnson said. For 2006, 26 percent of the Arizona visitors annually earned $100,000 or more, compared with 20 percent for the national average reporting higher income levels.

And they are getting younger, Emmermann said. That's key to keeping new generations enamored with the state, and has been a key promotion initiative, she said.

The average age for Arizona non-resident visitors - 47 - is down a year from 2005, but still higher than the national average of 45.

Despite sagging consumer confidence and high fuel prices, Arizona's tourism industry is healthy and expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future, Emmermann said.

But she expects the soaring 9 percent growth rate to slow a little, as consumer confidence level catches up.

The 17-55 is a great lens, but it's not VR.

Danny W.

It's right there on page 12 of my manual, as well as on the back of the pull-out flash card.

Shows the padlock icon, too.

Danny W.

I bought this kit for my R1 set from batteryjunction.com:

http://batteryjunction.com/4parc390reli.html

These perform well in the R200 flash heads--I've been using them for five months without

any problems. The charger and four batteries cost $32 shipped and I received them in three

days after placing the order.

Danny W.

The D200's flash will automatically be in balanced fill-flash mode unless the metering

pattern selector is set to "spot". When used as a commander, it will cause the remote SB

-800 to be in fill flash mode also.

You have a choice in the D200 flash commander mode to have the built-in flash contribute

to the exposure or not.

Danny W.

Having visited Hawaii many times and lived there for awhile, I've spent much time on

Haleakala--it's one of my favorite places to visit and photograph. While I'd agree that

sunrise can be sublime, some of my favorite shots there were taken later in the day. Mid-

morning to late afternoon can produce great lighting as the clouds move across the crater.

I prefer the viewpoints from the lower lookouts, especially the leleiwa, but all are good. I

always used a polarizer.

Check the weather forecasts before going up; a wet, cloudy day isn't pleasant up there.

We used to go to Costco and sit in their parking lot eating a frozen yogurt while watching

the clouds on the mountain. If things looked good, we could be up there in an hour.

Danny W.

Along the Hana Highway, take the turnoff to the Keanae Peninsula. Surrounded by crashing

waves, you can easily spend the day there shooting seascapes.

Danny W.

I've owned and used all of Nikons AF macro lenses. When I got the 70-180, I stopped

using

both the 60 and 105mm lenses and soon sold them. When I started using the D1 (now the

D2H), I found that this lens became my ideal flower lens and soon after, sold the 200mm

that had been my favorite macro lens for many years. The only advantage I find with the

200 is that the longer working distance is better for critters, but the ability to change

framing without moving the tripod makes this lens unique and well worth its price. It's

also much more useful on a trip, being a fine short tele zoom as well. I

also use a Canon 500D, but it's very limiting compared to the 70-180.

Danny W.

The only DX lenses that Nikon has announced so far are wide angles: 10.5 full-frame

fisheye, 12-24 zoom and 17-55 zoom. The FFFE allows users of Nikon DSLRs to get

180 diagonal field of view. The 12-24 offers superb wide angle performance. The 17

-55 isn't available yet, but this is a huge range for this type of lens. The real

advantage of DX is not as ephemeral or vague as "improved performance", it's in

providing D1, D100 and D2 users true wide angle performance at a much lower cost

than with a FF sensor.

Note that the 200-400 VR, announced with the D2h, is not a DX lens. Some people

seem confused about this.

Danny W.

The model for the SB-80DX (FX-1B) fits the SB-800 too. I use the supplied shims with

mine.

Danny W.

You are right--the photos appear to be swapped.

Danny W.

I use an ML-3 with my D1, so I'd expect it to work with a D1x.

Danny W.

I bought my B1 in 1991 and it has always worked perfectly for

me. I never look at the index marks; I just loosen the knob until I

can comfortably move the lens without it flopping over, tighten it

just a little, then tighten the thumbscrew. The head then

performs consistently until I change it. It takes just a few

seconds to re-adjust if I want a little more or less tension for

what I'm doing. The largest lens I use is a Nikon AF-S 300/2.8

with a TC-20 on a D1 with flash--maybe it's a problem with larger

lenses.

>>there no such thing as TC-14c<<

Yes, there is. Although it's no longer made, the TC-14C is

probably the best one for the 400/3.5.

The 300/4 AF-S is not a G lens and it does have an aperture ring.

You can see it clearly here :

howhttp://www.prnewswire.com/nikon/images/AFs_300.jpg

Eric, my B1 is almost 10 years old and sees constant use. I

always make sure to loosen the locking knob before stowing the

tripod and it has never locked up. I can't swear that that's the

solution, but it works for me.

I tried using it to shoot body surfers--got lots of sharp water and

mostly out-of-focus subjects. It frequently would latch onto the

water drops falling off the curl of a breaking wave, producing an

interesting effect, but not what I wanted.

The Comfort Inn in Ellsworth was quite nice the last time we

stayed there, which is probably 5 or 6 years ago, and it had

post-labor day rates that were reasonable.

A Nikon source told me unofficially that the current US release is

October, 2000.

I used to keep a picture in my office that I had captioned

"Boothbay Harbor, ME. in fog". It was a piece of Kodak gray card

cut to fit a 5" x 7" frame.

Actually, you don't need to set the aperture on the flash at all if

you are shooting in TTL mode. The aperture information is used

by the flash only to show the distance scale--it has no effect on

the flash exposure. Same with the film speed. Since the N6006

doesn't communicate this data to the flash, using a newer model

won't change anything. An SB-24 is a fine product and will work

very well with your camera--just be careful to stay within the flash

range.

If you shoot with a 20mm lens, you'll have some falloff around

the edges. Whether it's a problem depends on the subject and

your expectations. You will have to manually zoom the head to

the widest setting, since the camera doesn't control this feature

either.