dennismk

<p>Looking to up grade my cell phone and ran across this one at my local phone co. Has anyone tried this camera phone? It can not replace my D200 but for something to always have with me I am impressed with the camera part of the phone very much. Has 8mp and " IS" a must have for these small cameras since holding them still is very hard. Plus it has tons of apps. Looks like a great unit and I can take Credit Cards with it at the shows I do and get rid of that old paper swiper. Plus all the other things smart phones can do.</p>

<p>I used my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 with a 2x tela converter a lot in Italy for landscape shots with my Gitzo tripod. It worked very well for zooming in on parts of the landscape in front of me. Some of my best shots were taken with that lens. I was low on money so I bought a cheap Tokina wide angle zoom lens and was very glad I did and I used the Tokina 28-80mm f2.8 for a great many of the shots I took. Check out my porfilo on Italy. I also used a belt system to carry all of this stuff and that saved my back and shoulders a lot of pain. And do not forget a very comfortable pair of shoes makes all the difference! So I had a range from 18mm to 400mm on a Nikon N80. Used a mono pod as well which doubles as a walking stick and a baton if you should need one. Have a great time. We loved Italy!</p><div></div>

<p>When traveling in Italy in 2000 I found the f/2.8 80-200mm to be of great use just wished it had VR. When traveling like that with many hours on your feet I found that using a belt system to be the answer. It put the weight on my hips and everything was at hand, not on your back. Also get a good pair of comfortable shoes, very important! Kinesis makes a great belt system or you can build your own by getting one of those black wide tool belts with hip support and add your gear cases to this. I like the tool belts because it has a real buckle not a snap on which can be released in a moment and all your gear is now at your feet and gone by deft handed theives. I now use the 80-400 VR in its place and sold the 80-200. VR is just great! Now this is a slow lens and if I were doing weddings I would get the 70-200VR and never leave home with out it. I have used the 400 at wedding and love the reach for getting canided photos but in low light it does have trouble focusing sometimes. With the 80-200 I used a 2x converter many times for landscape shots with great results. I used this in Italy shooting some amazing sunrises with a tripod of course. Hope this helps.</p>

Lil I would get an old manual focus 80-200mm f2.8 the manual focus lens were made to be focused that way. I have found that most AF lens do not focus as well when used manualy. The lens I am talking about is a very fine lens and Nikon made alot of versions of it and all were excellent and with a screw on close up lens on the end of it makes great macros. The lens is very sharp and should be able to find one at a low price. Good luck.

Find a used Nikon on ebay and save more money. It is a great lens, with a close up lens on the front of it makes a killer macro lens.<div></div>

I have to agree with Vic. My wife and I basicly shoot together in Prince William Sound, Alaska getting there with our own boat. We try to be try to be ready for anything from boat repair to having a surviel bag in our dingy. Like how would we get back to the boat if a bear took a liking to our inflatable dingy and tore it apart. The water is to cold to swim in so one would have to build a raff. Many times she goes off in one direction and I go another, we stay in touch with handheld radios, and carry shotguns because of the many bears that we see. We both have run into them many times and had no trouble but it is nice to know the guns are there. When we go on a shoot along the road system I always pack a 45 auto or my 44mag in summer. Living in the crystal meth capital of Alaska there are a lot of lowlifes that would love to put there hands on our valuble camera gear so the sidearm is part of my camera kit. So many jerks(especialy for women,sorry cant spell) and so few bullets. Ive only had one run in with a jerk and was glad to have my 45 as a back up. Don't like guns. Use bear spray or tasers or a monopod as a baton but that as with the guns takes training. Being sailors you must go over in your mind all that can go wong with the boat and have plans in place on what to do if such and such happens.

Tokina is my 2nd choice. I have the 12-24 f4 and the 28-70 2.8 pro lens. Both have been great preformers and are very sharp and very well built and half the price of Nikon.

I have used the Nikon 80-200 2.8 with a 2x teleconver and it worked very well. I used a Sigma TC

In the few weddings I have done I have found that lens I used the most was Tokina AT-X f2.8PRO 28-80mm Much cheaper than Nikons and about as sharp. Can be found used at good price point.

I feel that Kent has the right idea that using a camera that has a top viewfinder like the old Nikon 995 point and shoot the only reason I would not suggest this camera is the long delay in the pushing the button and shutter relise. When you are looking down at a camera people think (if they even see you) that you are just adjusting the camera. The Mamiya C330 can be used the same way as the Bronica and is very cheap now and has many Len's. But the Bronica is most likely smaller. Any camera with a moveable viewing screen would work as well.

I have the AF80-400mm VR lens and I love it. The freedom it gives from the tripod is great. I shoot most of my panoramic shots with it and all my eagles of Homer were shot with it. I have found that up grading from the D70 to the D200 has made the lens hunt and focus much faster. The lens is very sharp. If you can find one cheap I would go for it. Would love to buy one for my wife she shoots alot from her kayak and the VR would help her alot. Its a great lens.

I to am interested in photonets insurance program and tried calling the company but they were closed when they should have been open. I was wondering about street crime and acidental breakage and I would like feedback from other members on how has this insurance has worked for them. Thanks

I just bought a mint lightly used D200 with extra battery from a friend for $800. I had wanted the D300 but a number of things broke down around here and I just could not do it. I to am coming from a D70 Which I have been very happy with but I wanted to make a large jump to the D300. But I have found the D200 to be a pretty nice camera and a real improvement over the D70. It has faster auto focus with my 80-400VR lens, which that lens needs and has a bit more resolution. The larger rear screen is a treat and the controls are well placed, coming from the D70 learning the D 200 has been easy. Plus I can shoot at iso 1600 with NR on in camera with real good results. So I am pleased and will up grade when a D400 comes down the track.

Oh yes, Happy new year to all on this great forum. Lets have a great year!

Have to agree with Dieter on what he has to say. I to own the 80-400VR and love it. I had a 80-200mmf2.8 and loved that lens until the I found myself using the 80/400VR most of the time because lots of my shots are taken from our boat. I used to use a 2xconverter on my 80/200 and that worked very well. But it had no VR. I found myself using the VR lens more and more from large stitched together pans and shooting Eagles all hand held, what freedom to be free of the tripod!I haveleandto well with this lens and find it to work even better with my mint D200 that I got for xmass(to many things brokedown around here and I just could not afford the D300).This was before the 70-200mmVR came out. If I had the choice now I might go with that lens and the converter I used with the 80/200.Check out my portfolio on the "Eagles of Homer" All were shot with the 400. Some of them were a bit soft. Also most of the pans were used with the 400 check out "Winters Day" A B/W pan of the Mat Valley here in Alaska. All were shot with the D70. Now this lens focuses faster with the D200 and I can shoot a higher ISO up to 1600 with NR on in the camera. Shooting birds takes some highmm lens. The 80/400VR is a good compromise. The big glass is so very expensive. Another Idea is to find on ebay a old manual focus 400mm and use a 2x converter. I used to use this on my F5 and it worked very well. Could not use on my D70 as metering did not work,but one could always ajust it via the screen.But using the D200 it will meter with my old lens.

I love my Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. It frees me from the tripod. I use it a lots for taking multiple shots to make large pans in photoshop and stitch them together. I used it in my "Eagles of Homer" in my portfolio.

I vote for the Tokina AT-X PRO 28mm-80mm f2.8 This lens is very sharp and very well made. Have used mine for 7yrs. I love it. Can be found on ebay used and well priced.

Maybe that is why you got such a great deal on the lens. This is a great lens! Half the price of the Nikon, very well built and very sharp.Been using this lens for 7yrs and love it.

Ryan, Welcome to the best photo site on the web. You can learn so much here just by reading the subject matter presented on the homepage. I know when I got interested in getting back into photograph seriously. I found this site and it has help me so much. Use the search tools for questions first and the forums if you cant find the information you need. Another of the best sites on the web is Luminous Landscape. It has a great tutorial on the basic use of photoshop and many other subjects as well. Also there is site by Thom Hogan which covers Nikon gear very well just look him up on google. Welcome again to a great site. The people here are great!

I have used this lens for years now and find it very sharp. So sharp that I traded my 80mm-200 f2.8 for a D70 afew years back and have been very happy with lens. Try all of the above but sounds like to me that you got a bad sample.

I had this happen to me once. My flash card reader would not read a card but would work with other cards. I use Sandisk cards. I tried using my wife's card reader which was a different brand on her computer and the card worked fine so I burned a disk of them for me to use. Also of interest when I received my new 27"Dell LCD screen it came with a flash card reader built into the side of the unit. And the card I had trouble with worked just fine in the new reader. So I would get a different brand of reader or try down loading straight from the camera. I hope this helps.

Well, I bought the 27" Dell and I am not sorry. With the 27 I can have a A3 size print open on the screen and with all the tools on the right side of the screen leaving me free to view the entire image at one time. The image is very sharp and all I needed to due to get good images printed was to take down the brightness quite a bit. I am very impressed with this thing.

I bought a Refurb. D 70 for my son through them. And I have bought other things as well. The D70 had some problems after a short time and Nikon USA fixed it and sent it back quickly all repaired. They are good sellers.

I am tying to decide whether to buy the current 24" Dell LCD or pay some more

for the 27"Dell wide screen. Money is a little tight and the 27 might mean I

have to up grade my computer. Anybody out there use the Dell 2707 WFP for PS

work. What do you think about it and how hard is it to calibate. In other words

is it worth the higher price than the 24". Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

I too would like to speak in favor of the 80-400VR lens. I have found it to be very sharp.But it does hunt at times, but I do alot of my shooting from a boat so the VR helps alot. I have also used it a lot to shoot pans without a tripod and stich them together in PS with very good success. "The Eagles of Homer" in my portfolio were all shot with the lens at iso of 400 on a D70 camera. And it would have some trouble focusing on moving birds but I came away with quite a few keepers all hand held. A new verison would be great with all the up grades. But then I would have to save up to buy one.:)