will_daniel1

I like your use of fill flash on the fire tower shot.

Somewhere in South America?

Jim B: Shedding some light on spiffing and camera store sales people (as opposed to discount store clerks who don't know a camera from a bottle of perfume): I was a Pentax rep back in the 1970s, and we did plenty of spiffing back then too. It is not really "bribing" -- consider it a commission over and above what the store is willing to pay them. Furthermore, it is never done without the full cooperation and support of the store's owner. Sometimes the tight-fisted owner will not allow spiffing directly to his employees, and will demand the manufacturer pay the spiff directly to him, or his brother-in-law, or his secret account in Switzerland -- you get the idea.

 

Another point about real camera store sales people vs. know-nothing clerks, is they are mostly photo hobbyists or wannabe pros, and they push the hardware that they are fans of and most familiar with -- just as you did in the 1980s with Pentax. Again, though, this "pushing" of one brand over another is usually directed by the store owner for strictly business reasons. If you insist on pushing Pentax because you are a fan but the owner wants you to push Canon, you won't be there long.

 

There are all kinds of behind-the-scene things going on between the owner/buyers and the manufacturers that the store sales people are never aware of. In fact, the manufacturer representative may not even be aware of deals made between a sales manager and a store owner with large buying potential. I was asked to go get the buyer and sales manager a cup of coffee during a meeting once (wink, wink), and when I returned with the coffee, there was an order for $250,000 worth of Pentax products waiting for me on the buyer's desk. I have no idea what was discussed when I "fetched" their coffee.

 

Will

Paul, I'm glad you're happy with that acquisition -- re-iterating that I had no sentimental attachment to that. Sharing the story with others: I was a Pentax rep in the 1970s (four years with Honeywell's photo division and one year with Pentax Corp.). When we (Honeywell) introduced the K series, Asahi sent us thousands of those in brass as incentives for the camera store sales people. But they sent us only a very small quantity of the pewter version -- they said it was a collector's edition. I don't know how many were minted, but each sales rep had only a dozen or so to distribute to our best customers.

 

Will

Sanford, that is exactly what I did with the camera. I have always had fun tearing things apart before throwing them away. The reward for my half hour of labor is a charming little pentaprism paperweight on my desk.

 

Will

Richard, I probably should have explained how I made the mistake so you'd know I'm not the moron you apparently think I am who doesn't know the difference between a Kalimar and a Minolta Rokkor lens. I bought a complete Kalimar camera kit at a yard sale -- camera, zoom lens, flash, case, film, etc. The natural assumption on a deal like that is PK mount because who in their right mind would think a piece of Chinese crap like that camera would have a Minolta mount? Who knew? Every off-brand camera I ever saw had Pentax mount. The camera is in the trash already, and I wanted the lens for my son-in-law's off-brand PK-mount camera. Ironically, the zoom lens appears to have been made by Cosina -- no slouch in lens construction or optical quality. Maybe if I had mentioned that I spent 25 years in the photo industry your post wouldn't have been so condescending.

 

Will

Roger,

 

Microsoft makes a free add-in for Windows called Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP. Go to microsoft.com and search on "raw viewer." They list all of the Canon and Nikon camera models it works with. They say it might work with other makes as well, but they haven't tested it with other brands. It wouldn't hurt to download and try.

 

I am using it with my Nikon NEF files where I work -- it works great.

 

Will

Hey, folks... I got a great deal on a zoom lens today thinking it was a Pentax K

mount. Turns out to be Minolta (non-AF) M mount. If anyone is interested in a

great deal, it's a Kalimar 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 in like new condition. Very compact

and light (49mm filter size), multi-coated and 1:4 macro. Make offer.

wjdaniel@excite.com<div></div>

Paul, I'm having trouble with this system giving me your e-mail address. Contact me at wjdaniel_at_excite_dot_com. The buckle can be yours for next to nothing. Let's talk postage -- it's heavy.

 

Will

Belt buckle anyone?

 

This is a collector edition because it's pewter. Asahi had thousands minted in brass, but the pewter version was limited edition.

 

Will

This may not be a big deal to some, but it is a minor disappointment to me. The D40 will let you shoot RAW+Basic JPEG, while the D80 lets you shoot RAW+Fine JPEG. The basic JPEG sucks so badly, that having the combination is useless for me. Whenever I shot RAW+Basic JPEG, I had to trash all the JPEGs and start over from the RAW files. That is the only thing that would have caused me to buy the D80 instead. I am otherwise quite pleased with my D40 purchase. I use D80s at work.

 

Will

If you're going to do any kind of aerial photography you should not only use a UV filter, you should try to find a UV2 filter or even stronger if they are still available. And make sure your filter is multicoated to help reduce glare.