jim_gifford

<p>Marcus: This is a business opportunity for you.<br>

Buy 100 Nikon D3X cameras from a U.S. company for $8,000 apiece. Set yourself up as a distributor. Pay the duty and taxes. Keep three bodies for yourself.<br>

Sell 85 of them in New Zealand via the Internet for the equivalent of $9,900 apiece, undercutting the existing importer by the equivalent of US $2,600 per body, and pocketing a total of about US $50,000 or so after reasonable expenses. Offer a one-year replacement warranty to your buyers. At the end of a year, you'll have had to ship a few bodies out as replacements, and you'll have some left to use as flowerpots or whatever.<br>

Piece of cake.<br>

(More seriously... in your shoes, I'd just buy two bodies from the USA and risk having to $hip them back to the USA if they needed $ervice... you're unlikely to encounter $4,500 per body in service costs, yes?)</p>

<p> </p>

I believe the focal point in question is...

 

Space Needle, the Seattle landmark. White building, usually pearl gray sky in drizzle (but for two months in summer, lovely blue sky and cumulus).

Zion... North Rim of the Grand Canyon (or does that close by early October?)... Vermillion cliffs and Navajo Bridge...

Bryce.

 

You could do all of that in a week, or spend a week at just Zion, or the Grand Canyon.

 

Bryce, for me, was a one-day or two-day exploration, tops. If I were more of a geologist, maybe I could spend years

there learning things. I'm not a geologist. I just enjoyed a day hiking among the hoodoos on the trails. Stunning, and

compact enough to see in a short time.

 

Vermillion cliffs area just struck me as throuroughly beautiful, a very big chunk of landscape with lots of small,

fascinating climates and sharp changes in flora and fauna. Navajo Bridge isn't a "go 100 miles out of your way"

destination, but a place worth a short stop rather than just flying through at 60 miles per hour.

 

Southern Utah is very appealing, visually, although one cannot help but think "I'm very glad I don't have to farm this

land to eat." Lots of rock, lots of minerals, not so much water, topsoil or shade.

 

Have a fun trip. Have lots of fun trips. Be well,

FYI, Sedona is a couple hours' drive north of Phoenix.

 

I'll bet the bride has some ideas more specific than just "Sedona."

 

The striking red rock formations are not hard to get to. Consider taking bride or her group on a Pink Jeep tour.

Okay…

 

Yes, you will want a tripod with a head to hold the camera, and a flash. These two tools will help you take the group

shots well.

 

The flash, used thoughtfully, will fill in shadows under eyes and noses for outdoor shots if the sun is high in the sky,

and can allow you to use a smaller aperture (for more depth of field, front and back rows in focus) if the indoor light is

somewhat dim, as indoor light almost always is.

 

The tripod will allow you to establish the framing of the shot, so you don’t have to worry that the "restrooms" sign or

some other distracting background element creeps into the edge of the frame of some of your group shots. Once the

tripod has allowed you to set up a shot, you can then look around or over your camera at the people as you talk to

them, get them ready and shoot a few exposures of each group. You're not looking at the dark viewfinder at the

moment of exposure (when your D80's mirror flips up for each shot). You're looking at the subjects... and you have a

better idea whether someone blinked... and you KNOW the flash worked, etc.

 

A good flash like the SB600 or SB800 helps avoid poor exposures of primary subjects in your walk-around candid

shots, too.

 

You will want to practice with the flash. One of the truly marvelous advantages of digital SLRs is that the instant

feedback in your LCD display can teach you very rapidly, for the price of some batteries, lessons a film shooter

might have to spend quite a bit of money and time on. You can see, immediately, what happens to flash shadows of

subjects when they stand right next to a wall vs. when they stand two meters in front of the same wall. You can see

where shadows go when you turn the camera for vertical format shots, and the flash is now to one side of the lens

instead of atop the lens. You can see the difference between (a) no flash at all, (b) Nikon’s set-and-forget TTL auto

wizardry flash, and © manual flash settings. You can decide whether you like to set flash compensation at –1 or –

1.3 stops or +0.3 stop, or whatever (many people do feel Nikon’s default flash setting is a bit “hot” so they dial it

back a wee bit). You can find the practical limits of your flash. A flash that sits on the camera and runs on a set of

four AA batteries can do a lot, but will it have enough punch to light up a big group from 15 meters back in a

church?? Hmmm.

 

Be sure to have some means to make one or more backup copies of all your wedding shots the day of the wedding,

and keep those backups safe until long after your brother and his new bride and the rest of the gang are happy with

the photos.

 

Consider whether to shoot in RAW + JPEG, even though that will reduce the number of images you get on an SD

card. RAW images (or what Nikon calls NEF images) are better for tweaking on a computer after the wedding…

especially if there’s some exposure issue with a key image. Additional memory cards are fairly inexpensive as photo

gear goes.

 

I have done what you are about to do… once… for a sister-in-law’s wedding. Everyone was happy with the

photography. I didn’t mind essentially missing the wedding excitement to be the photographer. If it had been my

brother’s wedding, well, I think I might, in retrospect, have been sad to work behind a lens all day instead of

celebrating with him. You are giving up a lot to help your brother. That’s awfully kind of you.

 

I am sure the day will go well, and your photos will be treasured by your family.

 

Get a flash and a nice but not million-dollar tripod (you mentioned Manfrotto, a fine brand), and practice taking

pictures of groups of 10-15 people so that everyone if the group ends up in focus, well lit and looking happy.

 

Be well,

Look at the specifications, prices and demo videos (on youtube.com for example) of the Sanyo Xacti line and the Panasonic SW20 camcorder.

 

Not sure how shockproof they are... but flash memory recording of digital video does keep the moving parts count to a minimum.

Perhaps the impact that broke the battery door also broke other things, rendering the camera incapable of capturing an image? You may need to send it to the manufacturer for service, or replace the camera.

 

More details... including the type of camera, the nature of the incident in which the battery door broke, presence of dents or dings after the incident, status of the LCD etc. could help us diagnose the problem.

 

Be well,

<<Takoma to Ellensburg (WA) through the canyon>>

 

A very belated correction, sorry: What I meant was not Takoma, but YAKIMA to Ellensburg, through the canyon. Sure, you

can get from Takoma to Ellensburg, and the pass east of Seattle is nice... but that's not what I had in mind. The scenic

route I had in mind was the short and lovely, gently twisty road along the river north from Yakima to Ellensburg. There's a

museum in Yakima that includes a small working 1950s malt shop that makes real, honest, very tasty malts. Get a malt,

head north along the river, stop for pictures... maybe get your toes in the river at a quiet bend. Just a thought.

 

So how and why do you get to Yakima? Well, if the malt shop isn't enough of a draw... I find the rapidly changing climate

on the route east from Mount Ranier to Yakima just mesmerizing. You start with a very wet coniferous forest at

appreciable altitude, and descend into the rain shadow of the Cascades so the climate goes less and less green with

every passing mile, until you're in Washington's dramatically arid midsection at Yakima. So much change in so very few

miles! (The more you look into Oregon and Washington, you see that the story is always water. Too much... too little...

times when mighty walls of water crashed through... rivers and their canyons... orchards and farms... waterfalls and

dams... places where the drizzle is so constant it's a wonder the local people do not have moss on their north sides.)

 

Have fun each time you pick your way across the Northwest... lots and lots to see and to take pictures of.

 

Be well,

Mario,

 

It seems clear you acted in good faith, but the client is correct that your performance differs from what was specified in

the contract. They got less, in some tangible ways, than they contracted for. You have not told us if your contract specifies

what remedy the client can expect if the contracted terms are not met. That would be helpful information to us as we

ponder your questions.

 

It seems that feelings are bruised. That's sad, especially when the people with bruised feelings have known each other a

long time.

 

Ask yourself: What is more important to you, retaining as large a proportion of your contracted fee as you can from this

event, or maintaining the friendship with someone you have known for decades? Either is a valid objective. You seem to

be in a situation where you cannot have both things. You will need to choose.

 

How much financial pain would you be in if you gave these clients the refund they seek -- or even a larger refund than they

seek -- as an indication that their friendship and goodwill is worth a great deal to you?

 

How much emotional pain would you be in if you declined to refund the clients' money, and the clients were bitter with you

thereafter?

 

How much and in what ways might your business be affected by word of mouth, as either of those scenarios plays out

over time?

 

There are good and bad repercussions of either course of action.

 

The lesson to remember from all of this: Avoid contractual obligations you are not SURE you can fulfil. Adding

the "backdrop for portraits" created a contractual obligation you could not, in fact, fulfil.

<<There are very few hills in Singapore >>

 

Maybe you are more fit than I am, and therefore consider the terriain more even. I remember hills, going to my

friend's place (at the time he was an ex-pat working for Motorola). Lovely flat on the 11th or 12th floor of a big tower.

From their balcony, it was a long way down to the nicely sculpted lawns and gardens between their tower and

several neighboring towers. And they are the ones who said the ex-pats tended to cluster in that part of Singapore.

One infers that is because the companies leased lots of flats at those remarkably high rates for their ex-pat

employees to live in for a year or two.

 

Anyway, my point was and is: Singapore has a fairly constant climate and a wonderful collections of ethnic and

religious cultures that cluster here and there, and mesh quite successfully to make Singapore what it is.

 

Also... I see that the waterfront World Trade Center where I attended a conference in the latter 1990s has become a

shopping center (centre) since then. Time marches on...

Singapore is just one and a half degrees north of the equator, so there's no seasonal variation in weather to speak of.

There is no distinct rainy season or monsoon season, but expect rain any time. It's so humid most days, it might as

well be raining. The midday temperature is beyond just warm, but not hellishly hot. All in all, Singapore has a climate

one can get used to quickly, and you only ever need one wardrobe.

 

Singapore is such a lovely mix of many cultures, with an overlay of British colonialism. When I was headed for a

week in Singapore a few years ago, everyone told me, "Well, Singapore is not really ASIA, is it?" English speaking

folks fit in without strain.

 

The geographic segregations are interesting for such a small, tightly packed urban community. Ex-pat corporate

types all live in the tower blocks up THERE on the hills, and the locals tend to live HERE, and the shopping distrrict

spreads out along THESE main avenuies, and there's little India THERE and so on and so forth.

 

Take wide angle lenses because there are many fascinating things to see, but few really long sight lines from which

to capture them on film or digitally.

 

There are harbor tours that get you offshore enough to take skyline pictures... although much of the harbor is looming

cranes to load and unload container shipping, Singapore's economic lifeblood.

 

Sentosa is worth a visit.

 

Have a wonderful time.

We saw no grizzlies in Glacier. We saw two in Yellowstone. There are parts of Glacier -- places that we did not hike to -- where grizzlies are more plentiful. If you want to see bears, you can go where they are frequently seen and try your luck.

Well, you might try a place that almost became a ghost town, but then was resuscitated:

 

http://www.virginiacitychamber.com/

 

Virginia City, Montana, is more of a walk-around museum than a ghost town. Very nice people, plenty of fascinating aspects of late 19th century and early 20th century living to see. It's a touristy atmosphere, but it's not crowded shoulder to shoulder like Disney resorts, or even like Yellowstone, because it's just not on the beaten path. It's not far from the thriving metropolis of Ennis.

 

The drive between Ennis and West Yellowstone is all kinds of beautiful, with open range and grazing land and the occasional orchard, and rivers and lakes, framed by the mountains.

 

There may be parts of Montana that are ugly... but I haven't seen them.

Well, okay, maybe one: there's a paper mill or pulp mill or something that some geniuses located upwind and upslope of Missoula. That facility, necessary though it may be for the regional economy and all, makes Missoula one of the Top Ten Places To Live if You Need To Hide Your Unctontrollable Flatulence.

 

But mostly, Montana is a treat for the senses, and the people you encounter are generally cheerful and kind.

 

Be well,

Of all the used Nikons I have seen, held, considered and NOT bought, the only two I now regret not owning are:

 

1) a beautiful, mint or nearly mint, black F2AS

 

2) A very nice, not beat to hell, F3P

 

So my advice is: given the chance to own a well cared for F3P, go for it.

There's a beautiful lakeside picnic area on the Many Glacier side of the park (east side) tha would be a beautiful place to camp.

 

The trails for hiking are not difficult to find. You can follow the herds of tourists or, by being willing to hike more than a mile from the road, find places you can have pretty much to yourself.

 

One well traveled trail that is worth the walk, although you will have lots of company, is the trail to Hidden Lake. PLenty of wildflowers, goats, sheep, little pikas, etc.

 

Take the Going Very Slowly To the Sun Behind a Truck Road up to Logan Pass.The usual advice is: go very early, because the parking lot fills up. If you want very interesting light, get there before the light does... Your Plan B is, get to Logan Pass after everyone else has had their fill and has started to leave (mid-afternoon) and get a parking spot. We did that on our visit a couple of years ago.

 

For every good scenic picture I took in Glacier, there are ten photos on the web taken from the very same spot of the same subject but with much better light. The moral of the story, for me, is to take the eye away from the viewfinder often enough to enjoy the beauty in front of me more fully.

 

Be well,

You mean, aside from the in-camera card format command? That's the trouble-free way to get an empty card again.

Mount St. Helens (WA)

 

Mount Ranier (WA)

 

Takoma to Ellensburg (WA) through the canyon

 

Cour d'Alene (ID)

 

Wallace (ID) ... tiny. very lovely town underneath I-90.

 

Kalispell (MT) good home base just outside Glacier NP

 

The Prince or Wales lodge at Waterton Lakes

 

 

I'd also recommend Chelan and Grand Coulee in Washington, but they're not really on your way. If you spend time in Waterton Lakes, you can get the same sort of fjord-like setting (even if you're renting a Chevy, not a fjord).

 

The Prince of Wales is a lovely place to stay. Not inexpensive, mind you... but lovely. see it at http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/glacier_princewales.htm

Take pride in your work. Deliver the high-quality photos to your clients.

 

Do not deliver to clients any photos that do not meet your own quality standards, for whatever reason. Perhaps there was a hiccup in the technique, or some equipment trouble, or a subject who blinked, or the shutter captured some ephemeral bad expression, or something in the background spoils the foreground moment. Whether the trouble was with the subject, the environment, the equipment or the photographer, the result is the same: The picture is not worthy of delivery to the client.

 

You might, on rare occasions, have to make exceptions to that policy when your best available photos of some highly desireable instant all turn out to be flawed somehow. The photos you describe here do not seem to be of a "must-have" moment, so I would suggest not deviating from your policy of only providing to the client the photos that meet your rigorous quality standards.

 

Be well,

Hi Steve,

 

My very best suggestion is: do not give the number of shutter actuations another thought. It really is not significant.

 

If the thing had taken 20,000 pics before you got it, well, that would be a noticeably used camera. One might worry that a significant portion of its ability to serve YOU had been lost.

 

Your D200 is close enough to unused and pristine as not to matter. It was going to have SOME shutter actuations before leaving the factory, and it has not been through enough cycles to accumulate anything we could reasonably call "wear and tear." It's working well -- better than the one that was replaced? -- and it's in your hands ready to serve you.

 

I'd suggest just shrugging off the "problem" of the 500 or so clicks. No big deal.

 

Enjoy the camera and the terrific pictures it can deliver at your command.

 

 

Be well,

You'll enjoy the AF-D 85/1.8.

 

Your habit of not shooting wide open means you won't really push the limits of bokeh for your 85mm lenses anyway. If you did shoot the lenses wide open, you probably would be able to tell that the f/1.8 lens does not have the ultra-silky effect on out of focus highlights at f/1.8 that the f/1.4 lens does at f.1.4. I can see the difference in photos other people take... I did not spring for the 85/1.4 lens myself. The difference is not vast. It's not as if one lens is stellar and the other has horrific bokeh. They're both nice. One is better, but it is the one that costs a LOT more.

 

I have a manual 35/1.4 and both manual and AF-D 50/1.4 lenses, but saved some money at 85mm by selecting the AF-D f/1.8. I have never regretted doing so. The 85/1.8 takes great photos, from tight head shots with nicely blurred backgrounds to mountain scenics at f/11 with sharp detail all around the frame.

 

For me, the 85mm focal length makes more sense on film than with my D200... but I use it sometimes wirh the D200 anyway. I love the lens.

 

(Now ask me about the manual focus 105 f/2.5 ... )

Shoot, that photo wound up being too big. This ought to be better.<div></div>

Okay... at the other PC now, so I have the images. Here's a small version of the view from the Sky Ranch looking back toward Sedona, as sunset approaches on a hazy spring evening.<div></div>

The airport at Sedona is on a mesa and there are wonderfully panoramic views of many of the rock formations from there, and a good angle on sunsets.

 

See the lovely new Waco biplanes that burble overhead? Crimson with the 1-800 number on the lower wing... let those folks fly you around the area for $150 or so. Photography is not particularly easy from the passenger seat (you sit up front; the pilot sits behind you) because there are struts and wires galore. But you can scout out places all around Sedona in an hour, while enjoying the burble of that radial engine and the aerial perspective is hypnotic.

 

We stayed at the motel up next to the airport. Sky Ranch, I believe. It's at the edge of the mesa, maybe 300 or 400 feet above the southern portion of the town and directly facing some of the most dramatic red rock formations. The view from the deck on our room was nothing short of astounding. I'm at the wrong PC just now so cannot post a pic of the view. Maybe later I'll create a 500-pixel-wide version and post it here... Even if you do not stay at Sky Ranch you can get pretty much the same view at a public parking lot across the street at the top of the mesa.

 

We did not take a Pink Jeep tour but everyone recommends the idea. I'd happily hop into a pink jeep for a tour if I go back to Sedona someday.

 

There are lots of places to hike on, around and through the red rocks. The requisite parking permits are maybe $5 per day.

 

Have fun. It's a fabulously photogenic place.

The shutter noise might be the least of her worries.

 

Cats and dogs might be able to hear the ultrasonic (as in, higher frequency than HUMAN hearing can detect) focusing motors* in modern SLR autofocus lenses. So even if the shutter is quiet, the lens may shriek at the pets right before the exposure.

 

* or, if they cannot hear the principal frequency emitted by the motors, they might hear a harmonic.

 

 

Just a thought. Maybe not a helpful or accurate one.

 

Be well,

I have an older Nikkor AF 35/2 (mid-1990s) that DID suffer the oily aperture blade problem. Because of that, I have been paying some attention for the last several years to the idea that Nikon fixed the issue.

 

I think they did fix it, because I have not seen any threads here or in other photo sites where someone complained of being bitten by oil on aperture blades of a 35/2 Nikkor bought after 2003 or so.

 

All the "oops" lenses seem to be older than that -- like mine.

 

Be well,