juan_su

<p>I too have been monitoring amazon, bhphoto, adorama and other reputable retailers for the 50mm f1.4G for months and months. I also don't understand why there is such tough time finding these lenses in the US. I've waited so long that I've even contemplated getting the 50 f1.4D. However, what's put me off is that recently in the last two weeks some retailers have bumped the price of the 1.4D version a $20-$30 US more. So then I also considered the 50mm f1.8G, but even then there seems to be some low stocks available.<br>

Luckily and yet at the very same time very unluckily, my D800 has yet to be shipped from amazon, else I'd be really tempted to order from other regions. hmmm. Good luck to you folks in finding one in the US. Please share if you come across stock online.</p>

 

<p>Well I have to say that since my D800 isn't shipped yet, having access to the manual is like a tease.. none the less it's an interesting read. Itching to get my hands on the actual camera though...</p>

<p>Thanks Shun. Looks like that definitely I wasn't the only one who received an email from Amazon with a shopping date of 2013! If that were the case, then it would be very scary and I'd cancel my preorder right away and try to get it locally instead. I'm very eager to see more review and sample videos/photos in low light situations of the beast.</p>

<p>I'd like to check with those of whom have pre ordered the D800 from Amazon or any other online stores like Adorama or BHPhoto. Have you received any notification as to when the camera may be delivered? I just got an email from Amazon stating that my pre order made on Feb 7, 2012 has an estimated date of Jan 7/8th 2013!<br>

I sure hope that's a mistake. I don't have any experiences with pre orders but this could be a sign that these cameras are indeed in really high demand. What are your thoughts?</p>

<p>Does anyone know if the D800/E models do video with AF? I'm just curious whether this is a feature of the cameras. I can't see to find any literature on that and most of the reviews I've read/seen online don't seem to mention this either. Thanks.</p>

<p>Wow a whole month later? Why can't they just fulfill to the people that placed the pre orders right away? I too hope that the D800 won't have this issue.</p>

<p>I'm excited that the D800 is finally out. It will may potentially be my first entry in to FX. Though pricey, I'm happy it's not the 4K USD as some of the rumors indicated. I'm liking the specs on paper, and some of the sample images and promotion videos around. Should be a very interesting camera indeed even for many who want to venture into HD SLR video. I for one, I'm interested in those capabilities. The D800E is really an interesting offering. While Moire may be annoying, if it does offer much higher resolution than the D800, it may be worth considering since it's only $300 USD more... What do you guys think? Is it worth the extra pain of removing the moire in post processing for the extra sharpness? I'm currently shooting a D200, so going to FX and D800 would already be a huge jump in resolution.</p>

<p>Hi Ariel,<br>

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad to know that $250 can refurbish it to the condition which you got your back in. I recently bought rubber grips and replaced them all myself. Just that along cost me closed to $100 since i replaced all of the rubber grips. $250 sounds like a bargain if they did a full clean and replaced the shutter for you. My D200 has about 88K shutter actuations and it's still kicking it real good. I too will consider one day either selling it or turning it to an infrared camera. I love the D200.</p>

<p>oh man... Finally some Nikon news and I must agree those cameras look horrible. I sure hope that the real things are much better looking than those photos show.</p>

<p>I just noticed also that the sensors are so much smaller than the competition... how disappointing. I've been considering the Sony NEX series with an F mount adapter, but had been waiting to see what Nikon would be releasing.. Now that I know, the Sony NEX is starting to look much more appealing.<br>

I'm interested to know what market are these cameras targeted towards?</p>

<p>well I've been using my D200 since 2006 as well and I have to say, this has been one of my favorite Nikon so far. Though I've been tempted many times by the newer cameras like the D300, D700 or D7000 now, for my typical photography, the D200 is more than sufficient. I show RAW + JPG in fine mode. As long as I shoot 400ISO or below, I'm happy with the results.<br>

Now when it comes to low light situations, and I have to go beyond 800ISO, there is a good chance I will just not be happy at all, but then again... it's 5 year old camera technology!!! This camera has travelled all over the world with me and it's still good as new... I've recently replaced all the rubber grips as they were coming off, but glad to see that ppl are still selling replacements for it online. So now the rubber grips are good and make the camera feel and look good as new. <br /><br />Will I eventually replace it? Absolutely, when maybe the D400 or D800 come out eventually. But will I sell it off for $400? I think not! I think this camera would be an excellent back up or as a specialized converted camera.</p>

<p>Interesting read here in this threat. Personally to be honest I didn't know that the SB900 didn't support TTL for film bodies anymore. I bought a SB900 thinking that it would still work with my F5 but never tried it yet. Good thing that I kept my SB800 as well cause I really was about to consider selling it off.<br>

Sad to learn that the new speedlights didn't include support of film TTL. Disappointing actually Nikon. None the less as others have suggested the used market has plenty so grab yours and just keep it. I have seldom sold of old speedlight anyway cause you can always put them on other cameras and use either in A or M mode. They become priceless tools when creating images at times.</p>

<p>Hi Rob,</p>

<p>Cool find. At $5, you had nothing to lose. Please post some pics of it and also from it!</p>

<p>Very impressive specs on the D7000. I was hoping to eventually buy a D90 or replacement for the wife while I wait for the D300s replacement to one day appear. With the specs that Nikon has introduced with the D3100 and now the D7000, I'm really curious as to what the eventual D300s replacement specs will be like.<br>

Nikon good job!</p>

<p>Its' great to have the budget that you do because it allows you the ability to have choice. There many great lenses out there. Many of them of course as pointed out are the 70-200 F2.8 VR or VR2. The 85mm f1.4D and the new AF-s G soon to be out, is the lens that I'd love to get if I had that kind of budget. I do agree that the 70-200 F2.8 is a fantastic all round lens that will come in handy on all kinds of shooting situations but the look of an F1.4 lens is one that I'd wish many of my portraits had.<br>

I wouldn't replace the 50 f1.8 lens any time soon, because that is a fantastic lens and one which I always tell people to buy, regardless! Getting the 50 f1.4 wouldn't make too much of a difference I think for you since you have something in that range already.<br>

Also, not sure how you feeling about buying second hand. There are many great 2nd hand lenses out there, you can stretch your dollar if you buy 2nd hand and perhaps get two great lenses instead one one new great lens? Perhaps a used 70-200 f2.8 and a used 85m, f1.4?</p>

<p>I've also wondered about this for the longest time. While I love my Nikon SLR gear, I cannot say I love any of the Nikon P&S shoots that I've used in the past. This is why all my own P&S cameras have been from Canon, such as the S30, S35, S45, and SD850 when that came out. Right now, I've been wanting to replace my SD850, and when the news of the new S90 came out, I said to myself, that is the camera to get. Well, after months and months of waiting, Nikon still doesn't have anything close to the S90. I would have assumed that everyone would want to take a piece of the pie from prosumer level P&S. Anyway, I never really buy the S90 because it lacked HD video, but now Canon has solved that problem by releasing the S95.<br>

Honestly, I'd still like to see a Nikon contender to that camera but if they don't come out with anything soon, I think my next p&s will once again be a Canon. Which I'm fine with, but yeah.. just wondering what is up with that?</p>

<p>Thanks for the news! Wow great to see the finally released an update to the 85mm f1.4. But wow $1650 USD??<br>

As for the update to 24-120mm I think that will be great lens to have, but seriously, I'm finding the listed prices a tad too high recently on new NIkon products. The D3100 looks like a great beginner Nikon though!</p>

<p>Congrats on the getting the F100. That was my favourite camera to use and kept on using it for a long time even after many of the digital SLR offerings were out. It's too bad I just could not justify keeping it on the shelf collecting dust and I parted with it last year. I think the F100 is a gem and one of the best Nikon film cameras I've used. I will miss it but I know someone else will put it to good use.</p>

<p>Hey Elliot,<br>

thanks for the link! I didn't think it was a shorting out issue, but glad that you pointed it out and also glad that i'm not the only one. Actually I always thought that the SB800 sat a bit loose even right when I first bought the two... Guess over time it did get loose. Frank... I did think about "gently hammering" but then I also though.. hmm... perhaps it could be something else.. perhaps electronics. <br>

Jerry, not sure how long I will keep the D200 for so not sure I want to spend to have it serviced. I do believe that the SB800 is still in tip top shape though, so if this is not going to cause any further damage, perhaps I can just get used to it...<br>

By any chance, anyone who has had this problem and had it serviced by Nikon, do you recall how much it would cost roughly? Thanks guys!</p>

<p>Greetings all,<br /> I hope you guys can point me in there right direction with this strange behavior I'm seeing with my SB800 and my D200 body. Ever since I bought the SB800 with my D200 about 5 years ago, I had noticed that the has been some wiggles between the flash and the hotshoe. Anyway, things have been great until recently. The SB800 speedlight has been flashing on its own, even without me pressing on the shutter release. I've seen it do this before when it was very close cell phones but now I really notice it doing these unexplained flashes more and more.<br /> Tonight, while I was shooting some friends, it began to misbehave again. Upon close inspection, I started noticing that the wiggle has become more pronounced than before. I can now rock the attached speedlight and sometime it will flash. Have you guys seen this before? Could it be the case of dirty contacts? I've never cleaned the contacts before, but I'm tempted to go out and buy an eraser to try it. Any suggestions and recommendations would be very much appreciated.</p>

<p>I've captured many beautiful images with the 80-200 F2.8 AFD, but I can tell you that I wish I had the 85mm F1.4 for a lot of portrait sessions I've done. As many will indicated, the bokeh of that lens is really something to be admired... in my case... desired. =) So the question is what kind of look are you going for? How close do you feel comfortable working with your subjects? If you need that extra distance, then the 80-200 F2.8 is a great option, but if you feel like you can get right up close and personal, then I think the 85mm f1.4 is great.<br>

Both are quiet aged lenses, of course the 70-200 F2.8 VR2 is already out but no signs from what I see that Nikon will be releasing an update to the 85mm f1.4 beauty.</p>

<p>This has been an excellent read so far. Errol, I also feel that what you feel at times. I've been doing photography for a long time now, and yes like many of you, I like to keep up with the latest and greatest that I can afford... Well, so far that has been the D200 for that I bought 5 years ago. I have to say, in the last 5 years, I've traveled a lot. I went from the guy who was being admired to the guy who eventually started to admire others' equipment. So really it's nothing unusual.<br>

There will always be people who think that by buying the most expensive gear, they will be able to produce a better picture. To a very limited degree that is correct, but their "improvement" will be limited to how they understand photography as an art and skill. I know many of my friends who have been using point and shoots for years and finally when they found the right reason to upgrade, they went off and bought the latest gear, lenses, etc and they still come back to me and say how is that you can produce such a better, sharper, more contrasty image than mine?!'m sure many of you guys know what I'm talking about.<br>

Anyway, for me, I do love checking out what people have for their gear but experience has thought me that it definitely is how you use the equipment more so than what equipment you have. However, I'd be lying if I told you that I did not wish that I had traded bodies with someone who did not fully know how to use theirs. =) </p>

<p>Greetings all! Sure has been a long time since I posted here. =) I don't know where the future will lead us but all I can say is that I have been investing a lot of time and money of course on digital gear but I have kept my F5 and Nikon LS2000. Even though I barely shoot film now a days, I still at times like to go out and put a roll of black and white film in that old beauty and play around with it. Film is becoming more and more of an art now a days with so much of the industry focusing on digital media.<br>

If I could afford a newer model of the Nikon CoolScans, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I have still tons of old negatives that I will want to convert to digital one of these days. To me I see this as an investment because I think converting film to digital will become more and more expensive as less and less labs offer this service. I could be wrong, but either way, I just like doing things myself.</p>

 

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<p>Hey Ray,<br>

Welcome to the Nikon forum. Lots of good advice over here. I have to agree with a lot of the comments made. Remember a camera is a tool. Just like paints and paint brushes for a painter. You still need experience and creativity to make an excellent painting. Same goes with photography.<br>

However with that said... I find that if you can get motivated by using a different camera, then that is worth it. I can tell you that as soon as I got my first pro f2.8 lens, I began to shoot a lot more. By shooting more, I learned about my previous flaws and that inspired me to keep on shooting and shooting and participating in more discussions and photography events. <br>

If you have Nikon buddies that you can go out with and even borrow some lenses, then that will be a great start. Whatever you choose do to, it's about motivation and inspiration. You will learn as you shoot and you will improve with a critical eye, so just go out there and shoot. Regardless of whatever tool you use. </p>

 

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<p>Brian, well said! ESPECIALLY the part "That still doesn't mean I won't think up reason why I need a new body every few years or so."</p>

Hi Howard,

 

the website for Alien Bees and White Lightning shows that you have to pre order these cybersyncs. How do you find them and what kind of lighting set up do you use them with? Do you know how they compare to the pocket wizards systems? The price of them sounds quite appealing.