a long time ago

I love my 20d and it does work on wild life

and crop to this

Go to KEH.com........many of the lenses listed above are availible in excellent shape for 60 to 80 cents on the doller for new....my favorite would be a 50 f1.8 and a 300 f4/L...Shooting from the side line your going to be all the way out most of the time any way so the need for a zoom is marginal, you could then do your pre/post game stuff with the 50mm.....and....if an eagle flew by at half time time you could catch this...

canon digireb w/kit lense and a $100 flash (about $1000) would do work that would please alot of mom and pops. Kodakgallery.com does good work at good prices and could take many of the shots you would get clear up to 20"x30".....BUT.....better do the math on your margin. A small operation like you describe may take a while to pay back. If it's a small enough town with no or few pro's you may get some other work also.

the 100-400L is kinda heavy....a 300L is easier to swing and still gets out there pretty good.<div></div>

what is your "refresh" set at?

I too have spent 100's of hours reading here at photo.net....There is an awfull lot of information to be had right here.(read every line by phill green)..and I would suggest unless you are a very good "student" with lot's of time and money to go entry level DSLR right off the bat.These systems provide instant feedback and do all your note taking for you in the file capture process. This is how I learned that I am such a shakey old fart that i needed to be in the 1/1000th second shutter speed to get the sharpness in my pics to blow them up like i wanted.Not to mention this is where you will probly end up any way and if you start there you won't end up with a closet full of "classic film" gear collecting dust like the rest of us.Also the thing about learning your subject is ...very!...inportant . I have spent many ,many hours watching my chosen subject and can now anticipate some of there moves by there body language and this is a big help for catching those action shots<div></div>

paul.......how did you do that?

" but if you were close enough to eagles......"

mississippi lock and dam #15....around thanksgiving....but I must admit this is 300mm and cropped....It is about time amd patience..keep at it you'll get there<div></div>

what i find interesting is that you can get a hatefull response within 2.7 seconds.It makes you wonder if some people haven't allready run off everyone around them with there rude demeaner and now they are limited to there dank little rooms and keyboards to potshoot people nieve enough to put there hearts on line for all to see... these mean little souls are lucky they didn't come about a 100 years ago when people needed people to survive. Nasty little trolls like this died in there cabins in winter and the rats picked there bones come spring....your right all the way Jayme. And your life will be better for your kindness to others. And to the rude, hatefull little trolls may the rats dine happily.

ya...what mike said

mcmastercarr.com lists metric jam nuts to 36 mm for about 10 bucks for a package of 5 pcs., if you call them and it is an avalible "standard" nut they will get it for you at a similar price. i'm afraid that from page 2994 in there catalog that the pitch looks very fine for that big of nut. it may be a special. if it's a common problem getting this nut you should contact a local cnc machine shop. they would make you a box of them for a minimum buy of a hundred bucks or so and you could sell the rest for a nifty profit. p.s.--- try not to say "just a nut" to us A2La acredited fastner guy's. since the "Fastner Act of 1992" written by congress due to the millions of inferior fastners (boron for hardening instead of molibdium, but that's an even longer story) brought in from china that ended up in reactors all over the country, nut's and bolts are a pretty precise business these days.

keh.com is good for used. have you considered primes? 300/4L is great

i would have to put this entire ordeal under the heading of "how did men kissing get to be a bigger issue than young men dying in the desert" (daily show -comedy central).i have to admit i was surprised to have a picture of mine that i said up front sucked slammed for all kinds of stuff then i relized it was from someone who asked "what do you think of this work of art" and i saw a little soft focus and said so. that was the end of my rating days. now if i put something up it's 'cause i like it. if you don't great give it a 1/1. I still got my wife, my kids, my grandkids and my dog. life is to short to worry about numbers.

used a2 from keh....more better

my thought was to duct tape my canon to my forehead and hold the remote trigger in my teeth. I'll let you know :)

"over 600mm" ....including the 1.6 crop affect...sorry

If you take what a new canon 1.4 or 2x would cost your half way to a 3004/L used at keh.com. with the 1.6 crop effect and the quality of the L glass you can make some very nice close up's printed at 8x10. Next year put a 1.4 on that and your out over 600mm WITH auto focus and tac sharp

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i think it is easy to take wedding pictures....i think it's pro'bly a bigger deal to take expert wedding pictures. I think there are many people who don't know good from expert. I do weddings for the kids in my family that don't have the money for a pro shooter. No pressure just fun, but I do it for free. I just hope your 28th customer isn't my son's father in law. Because unless your contract say's " i suck and i'm just makin' some easy money" you got a problem when you hand him a picture of his daughter and she looks like she just drank a glass of blue kool-aid.

if you can't swing the flash bracket. an off shoe cord with a tripod and my daughter holding the flash over head has worked for one of the other nieces (i've got about 8)wedding. Not sure about the current price but my sunpac af5000 has the manuel functions talked about and i believe it is ettl (won't swear to it) but b&h has all the spec. glad to see jim stepped in with some great advice.

have you ever noticed that some of the oldest most established pnetters don't post any work? everyone's a critric. screw the rating's and enjoy your work. And if you want some real abuse weld up a hitch for someones truck for free layin' in the driveway in the rain with there dog sniffin' at your butt the day before they plan on pulling there boat through the ozarks....you can't please everyone.

there are some good sunpack flashes out there that are a little cheaper than canon. A tripod and remote shutter cord will help alot in the posed alter stuff. Take lots of batterys for the flash so you can keep your recycle time down when shooting,at my nieces wedding i went through about 16 aa's by the end of the night. get there early and do some test shooting. with the dreb you could borrow a laptop and get some real good looks at how stuff will come out before the thing starts. shoot lots of everything, using the auto bracket feature. If it has one, use your film cameras spot meter and then set the dreb to manuel to help the camera from being "confused" by it's "balanced" metering.Shoot lot's and lot's and lot's of pictures. That one picture of a tear in gramma mammy's eye with the wedding party in the backround will get you off the hook for a little slip in tech. quality everytime. And remenber they "asked" and your saving them thousands that they can spend on something else. You'll love it, have a great time.

will my 300/4L work with black body ;)

never worked with lenses but in machine tool repair the cut the damaged piece and bend it away from the good piece is what i have done to save some pretty high doller stuff....go slow!....good luck