jmoody

this may not be the "right" answer, and you will lose some speed when shooting, but a circular polariser might help

It's gonna depend on lots of factors I'd say (quality of shot taken, quality of printer and printing techniques (or if you have them done online), quality of post processing (takes practice to know what's just right and what's too much, especially compared to what's on your screen vs. what prints well), plus expectations (are you thinking of high speed films, IS0 50 slides etc...? Are you going to look at the prints with a magnifying glass or from a normal distance?)

 

I've shown work twice so far (one with the majority of shots at 12x18 and one with prints as large as 16x24) and have always surprised the attendees (many of them very much "in-the-know" as far as photography) when they find out which prints are film & which aren't (let alone the fact that all my digital is from the original 6mp dRebel).

 

I honestly don't think that you'd be able to spot the difference of the 12x18's hanging in my house or a similar size from a 35mm (and that's at 6mp. My own non-expert hunch would be to say that 10mp would bring you beyond 35mm quality for the most part and closer to medium format)

Only change I've noticed is with photographing buildings and the like. I'd previously only noticed security guards etc... throwing fits about camera's facing their buildings in other countrys (like Spain due to ETA terrorist fears when it came to military and government buildings etc...) and had never seen it here. Now, seems like I have to be pretty light on my feet more often than pre-911 to avoid being asked to stop or being questioned as to what I'm doing.

 

I think the average daily Joe would've been equally intolerant pre-911 as now. Don't think it really much affected "individuals"

MPIX offers a great service. Reads TIFFS (you could probably solve the other company's issues by converting to JPEG), lots of sizes and options/products to choose from. Excellent quality, and good turnaround. Price is pretty good (especially compared to buying your own printer :-)

good luck

I was going to say the same as Alan. Bright skys and darker valleys may be beyond your camera's reach without an nd filter or some post processing. Post an example maybe?

and.. what your shooting. If you're mainly ramping up to 800 or 1600 or more etc.. ISO for concerts and such, expect noise (at least some). If you typically shoot landscapes with a tripod (100 ISO) or outdoor portraits or something...

 

I'm no pro (not by a long shot), but I think I've only shot maybe 2 out of several thousand shots at anything above ISO 400. And no way in Hell were those shots good enough subject wise to go above maybe a 10x15. 9 times out of ten I'm at 1 or 2 hundred ISO.

 

If you're doing weddings...?

Here it comes... "I'm not a lawyer but..."

 

I just heard the other day that's it's more or less illegal and infringement (well, not "more or less". I think it "is") even to have a radio playing music in your restaurant that you don't have permission for (the idea being that it's contributing somehow to your ambience, and helping you to make money therefore...pay up.). So, I'm guessing that if your demo is designed as a sales or marketing tool... same thing right? Of course, you'd have to have the bad luck of running into a copyright lawyer or someone somehow affiliated with the music biz or the actual piece your using but little by little, I'm learning the world is a VERY small place. Sounds like it's not ok, so I'd avoid it if at all possible. (might be easier to find a 100+ year old piece of classical music that's now up for public domain and use that. Probably work well for a wedding I'd guess)

Market street is usually quite lively (especially near the turnaround for the trolley). Haight Ashbury and Lower Haight (or Fillmore or whatever it's called is cool. I got lucky and was there for a street festival the other day, so hard to be sure what you'll see on a day-to-day basis). Chinatown is good (be sure to hit the side streets too). I wouldn't be caught dead in the Tenderloin...no wait, I probably "would" :-( Maybe if you're with someone that knows there way around or you don't stick out too much. I'm just now posting my feeble atempts at Street from S.F. if you wanna have a look. Another interesting site you should look at is http://www.sanfranciscodailyphoto.com/sfdp/today/index.html the guy even lists map points of where the shots are taken. Good luck and enjoy

cool site. Not the easist to navigate, but very powerful work. Thanks for the link!

this is probably going to come off as a super "rooky" attempt at an answer, but just out of curiosity... at what ap is the back/front focus problem happening? In other words, 2.8 doesn't afford a whole lot of DOF... it might be focusing right where it's supposed to and leaving the other depths blurry? If the problem is at most or all apertures, even the smaller ones like 11, then it sounds like there's an authentic equipment problem

sorry, me again. Just noticed that you responded to my sales pitch. Bay Area California (San Jose). And also just realized that you're maybe comparing the screen size of the original rebel with the 30d. Definitely different.

oops. That should be 17-85.

I think the screen size of the 30d and the newer rebels is the same isn't it? 2.5 inch? The viewfinder isn't, but LCD should be. Lenses can be very expensive (just bought an "L" for an obscene amount, so I should know) but for the most part, you get what you pay for (though sometimes cheap(er) gems exist and vice versa). I think that if you're not tooo demanding, the 18-85 sounds interesting. Gives you a decent zoom range (28 to 136 on a dslr), and image stabilization. I know it's more or less a kit lens, so not "pro" in quality, but doesn't sound like you want that either. Buy the Rebel Xti for 799 or so body only, and that lens at around 400 (I think) and you should be similar or cheaper than a 30d with a lesser lens. Anyway, I am biased towards canon, but I'd guess you'd be pretty happy with them as well since you're already using their product (and happy doing so)

don't make your choice based on what "a most people" you see are carrying. I started from scratch (Minolta anyway) to Canon DSLR's and have been very happy. Truth is, I probably would've been happy with Nikon too, but I have noticed that Canon typically comes out with "newer & better & cheaper" a little before the rest of the crowd (though recently competition is stiff). Also, seems like lenses and other choices etc... might be a bit more extensive for canon.

 

So, you;re sort of starting from scratch given that you want to replace your tamron lens with something nice... For me, the new Drebel (though small) is very tempting (I have the original Drebel). Lots cheaper than the 30d, equal or better in image quality, and any of the features it lacks shouldn't make much difference for a "weekend photographer". If you lived close by, I'd sell you my original rebel and my sigma 18-125 lens for a heckuva deal :-)

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=534915<div></div>

Oh, it will be obsolete no matter what you do. Only way to avoid that is just buy one and then lock yourself into a cave with no magazines/p.net/t.v. etc...

 

I remember the pain of seeing the 20d come out 4 months or so after I got the 300d and for nearly the same price! Then, same thing a few months later with the 350d!

 

I probably will upgrade now just to have the extra flexibility of the extra mp's for crops or huge prints (though I've already seen good results at 18x24 with the 300d), the dust sensor, the "picture styles", and maybe even the size and weight.

 

Very probabable that a "40d" is right around the corner that will combine the majority of the pro's for each into one nifty $1300 body. sob sob

I'm in the same boat you are and will "probably" end up going with the Xti. I don't really like the idea much of the smaller body (and hate that it won't use the same battery size/battery charger), but for the economy and the extra megapixels...? (from our current 6 and change, I've heard that 8 wouldn't be a huge jump, nor the would the jump from 8 to 10. However... from 6 to 10? Probably very noticeable).

 

The only thing I have (hypothetically since I have neither) in favor of the 30d is its build and size. The problem is, I take super good care of my gear, so build "shouldn't" be much of an issue and size might actually become a blessing as I'm getting into higher quality much heavier lenses little by little. Good luck with your choice

jeff

p.s., brace yourself, many of the following messages will probably be borderline nasty (ie: "this questions has been asked many times. Try searching google". Ah, we can be sooo friendly)

oh, one other thing. Why's New York in the middle of the ocean? :-) (boy, I sure can be picky! :-)

Second site I've looked at today (totally different from the first, and totally different from my own! Hard to imagine that ideas could vary so greatly). Anyway, wonderful photography, and very creative graphics (love the gallery 'map' as a navigator. Very cool (literally for some of the places) idea). Very impressive "press" work too.

 

Only thing odd to me was the intro page (though it's pretty obvious to most of us who often use the web that if the only thing on the page that turns your cursor to a hand is a photo, that we should click on it... there is some momentary confusion as to "where's the button". Maybe some sort of text to hint at how to enter or...).

 

The other thing is almost exactly the same. Once you're inside, not sure if it makes much sense to have those two photo's linked to anything. Clicking on them takes you straight to the gallery page, but so does clicking on the "gallery" button. Maybe just leave them unlinked, or link them to a specific location gallery or a specific publication or something. Just thoughts. My page has plenty of weird issues, I'm sure.

 

www.jmoodyphoto.com

excellent photos! Didn't really have time to delve much beyond "traditional japan", but really some stunning work there. Very much made me want to visit again and look further.

 

Site seems very easy to use and intuitive. One minor nitpick would be to have some sort of a "next" button or a slideshow feature or something as (hope I didn't miss it. Boy would I sound dumb) the less effort the better when changing photos inside the gallery (ie; now you have to move the mouse on those "small" vertcal numbers)

 

Anyway, looks great. Simple. Effective. And most importantly, very nice work inside. Makes me rethink some of what I've done on my own :=)

Jeff

http://www.jmoodyphoto.com

ooops. Just visited your site, and now I'm sure I didn't give the right answer. With only one massive gallery, you're kinda SOL if you have to re-do them all each time. Site looks nice, but might want to think about seperating out some galleries like "sports", "landscape", "events", or whatever. Also, I haven't been to their homepage in a while, but stop by simpleviewers main page and see if they offer any explanation.

 

Like I said, I haven't got it down yet either, but what's worked for me (like in my "new" folder) is to save that folder from its Picasa download, and then either add to it or add over it and resave it so I can just click and drag the whole folder to my site. I still have to go in and rename all the shots in the html so that they don't show as CRW.-011.jpg or something, but I don't do it often enough to be a big deal). Good luck (let me know if you figure it out

almost guaranteed that this ISN'T what you're looking to do, but if all else fails. Use "picasa" (free download) if you're not already...add simple viewer as one of the choices for "web galleries" (I don't remember how at the moment, but I think that the simpleviewer main page gives a decent instruction so that even a non-techno-lame-o like me could get it), then choose photos you want and export/ download to a simpleviewer layout.

 

This should give you the folder you want and maybe then you can upload the entire folder to your site (though it sounds like you want to simply add single photos to an already existing folder which I have not yet figured out. However, once you can make your own simpleviewer folders, you can simply re-use an original while in Picasa and add more to it and re-export it).

 

Hope I wasn't too far off base.

www.jmoodyphoto.com (simpleviewer galleries too)

before everybody jumps down your throat for not having TOTALLY investigated this by yourself... My 2 cents are as follows: I don't own either one, but am pretty interested in the XTi right now & have thought long and hard about the 20d. Looks to me like the main difference between them is the size and the quality of build. Neither have "image stabilization" (seems to be the general consensus that such technology really only works appropriately when in the lens, not the body, as longer lenses will show more movement and shake than will shorter...). The XTi seems to mainly win (for me anyway) in that it is a few mp's more than the 30d, its price is nearly 1/2, and in its dust remover-thingy (not totally sure how worth it that will be, but probably nice to have in the long run). I currently have the 300d, and would realllly rather have my upgrade be to a similarly sized camera with the same batteries and all, but no way in hell I'm paying an extra $500 just for that. Otherwise, the two seem very similar in their technology.

 

Ok fellow p-netters, he's all yours. Go for blood

 

p.s., For lenses, no real idea on architecture but 28mm sounds a little long (don't forget that dslr's are 1.6 times longer than film camera's so your 28 is closer to 40mm (no calculator handy))

MPIX is a great online printer... they're not really set up to have your clients order directly (like smugmug etc..) but you can easily take the order and have mpix deliver to them rather than you (they mail an invoice slip with the prints, but don't list prices or anything which is nice. just the name of the digital file and its size).

 

If you're mailing out your own stuff, maybe look into Light Impressions. I don't know if they have exactly what you're looking for, but they seem to have pretty much everything imaginable that has to do with photo presentation (and at least some shipping stuff)

MPIX for me and "Millers" (same company but more geared for the professional side of it all) for my cousin who has his own studio