mlynch

John:

 

They are fine. I recently received a note back with my last set of slides saying to correct the address on the mailers to:

 

Kodak Slide Processing

P.O. Box 1171

Parsons, KS 67357

 

The expiration date on slide mailers purchased from B&H was 02/28/07 and that was revised from an earlier date that was blocked out.

 

Changing the address should save you a lot of time.

 

Good luck!

If this is an AKC event and you are not the official show photographer you may have very little call for ring shots of champions or high place finishes. Ring stewards and judges usually know who the official photographer is and use them exclusively. They are often called to an open ring by two way radio.

 

Regarding pricing you may want to grab the catalog of the show you are attending and see who the official photographer is. Most have websites and from there you can get pricing information.

 

I shoot a lot of dog shows for free for my local breed club. I always make it a point to stay out of the way of the professional folks. It is a very fast paced business and judges don't/can't wait around. A good dog show photographer usually works with several folks. There is a real art to getting a dog to pose with the handler and judge, quickly. They are highly organized and have a substantial investment in equipment.

 

May I suggest you get to several large shows and observe first. It is quite a different situation than taking candids.

Google A Better Bounce Card. Works very well and is cheap.

 

The SB800 comes with a bounce card built in, which is what you saw. I have better success with the A Better Bounce Card Method.

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John:

 

The deal at Adorama clearly stated that the film was short dated at 5/2007. I just bought some and it arrived today.

 

That said, I'd freeze it and not worry about it.

 

Short dated film can be a great deal.

I apologize. This photo was handheld with Anti-shake on. But from very far away.

 

Still like the lens and will buy the same for Nikon mount soon.

 

Regards

Tom:

 

I found the 200-500 to be a very good. The following was shot with a tripod, Minolta 7D, antishake off. Our "Cairn" terrier, no pun intended ...

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/5511427

Jimmy:

 

I'm with Artur's point.

 

That being said, I recently sold all my Minolta gear accumulated since the 7000 came out through the 7D.

 

Why, well I was a little frustrated with Sony's lousy job on the takeover of KM, but it finally boiled down to:

 

A. I own a Nikon F4s and some Nikon lenses through some good fortune several years ago.

 

B. I enjoy using "older" technology (witness is my Canon FD collection) but also need to go digital for some of my interests.

 

C. I needed to consolidate my equipment base down to what I knew would get most use.

 

D. Nikon allows me to use great manual focus glass on the D200 body as well as AF. The D200 lens compatibility is about the same as the F4s.

 

If you only have Minolta/Sony gear I'd think long and hard about switching. It was a very difficult decision for me and you never get back the money you've spent in trade. Most people who you share your pictures with seldom ask about the camera used ...

FTBn Kodak Gold 100 50 f 1.8 one of our Cairn Terriers. The small metering pattern on the Ftb really helps capture small dark critters.<div></div>

I've liked the Tamron 200-500, even though I'm considering selling all my KM gear.

 

See http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5511427

 

Handheld at about 300 feet.

If you are close to NJ, consider sending it to Essex Camera Services, Inc. . They do great work.

Joseph:

 

Thanks for your reply, but as I indicated in my post I was not using a "modern" camera. Actually a Canon AV-1 with a 299 flash. Both require an ISO setting, which were set at 400.

I recently shot a roll of Portra 400NC, or at least I thought it was until I

looked at negs that came back. Border reads 160NC. The roll of film came from

a 5-roll sleeve of 400NC. Now I'm reasonably observant of the film cartridge

because I do a lot of shooting with my old cameras where I have to set the

film speed manually on both camera and flash. All the negatives look fine when

scanned with my Nikon Coolscan V.

 

Did I get lucky or was the film miss-marked somehow?

Chris makes a good point via the 300mm lens pricing comparison. I also find it interesting that on B&H I can purchase the K/M version of the 100mm Macro lens for less money than the Sony. This fact, and the slowness of Sony to get Zeiss lenses to market, has been irksome to me.

I'm with Brian on:

 

"Where is the test results that compare comparative IS lenses with non IS minolta lenses using AntiShake technology? I have not seen these tests."

 

The review misses the mark and is not informative at all. The reviewer must have never purchased an image stabilized lens from N or C. If he had he would appreciate the fact that all lenses in the Minolta AF system, with perhaps an exception or two, are image stabilized with the Alpha 100, 5D and 7D.

 

Perhaps I'm a little to tough on the author. I wonder what holiday party his editor must have been attending when the article was published.

Try C.R.I.S. Camera services. (www.criscam.com) These work very well. Although they are somewhat expensive, if you are working with older equipment chances are you will use this adapter again and again.

More food for thought ... you might get lucky and find Kodak Gold 100 or Kodak Bright Sun 100 print film, not bad in a pinch if you can tolerate a slower film.

Jay:

 

Very often you can find Kodak Ultra Color 400 (AKA 400UC) film for sale at Wal-Mart or drug store chains.

 

In your post you mention Provia 100F. A fine slide film, but you are not likely to find any slide film at a "Big Box" type store on a consistent basis.

 

400UC is a very good choice that probably would suit you. Kodak also makes a 100UC film but I don't see that as often in chain stores

According to Fuji's US website the film isn't due out until early 2007.

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Leave it be, please.

There is no cable release for a 450si (from Minolta at least). Best you can do is the self timer.

I like the layout too, but folks like B&H might not. When I open the main page Adorama is the only sponsor that shows at the bottom, until you scroll the center wheel of the mouse (at least on my machine at least). Wouldn't a horizontal arrangement make them happier?

I'll second Ted's experience. I have had good luck with Dale Labs service.