paul_sauer

Without having any film in the camera, remove your lens. Then open the back of the camera. Press the shutter button wind and repeat a few times. Did you see a flash of light come through the shutter as it opened. If so, that means the shutter is working correctly.

 

My guess is you didn't load the camera properly or the film slipped out of the reel on the right side. Did you watch the film wind rewind dial "spin" as you advanced the film forward or as your winder advanced the film forward? That usually the proof to me that I've go the roll properly loaded. If your negatives are totally blank, most Kodak darkroom developing books and the like will say the problem is film never was transported through the camera.

 

To always know if your film is correctly loaded, just watch the rewind crank as you advance the leader and first few frames in the camera.

 

Even though you may have thought you were rewinding a whole roll of film on these unexposed rolls, sometimes what your are really rewinding is just slack. When the slack is gone, then what you're doing is just pulling back the first frame and leader into the cannister.

 

Hope this helps.

I don't regret selling my D100. There's certainly worlds of difference in the IQ between the D100 and my current

clunky Canon 5D. The cult camera to me would be the D70 because it has a weaker AA filter and images appear

sharper, plus its flash can work as a remote controller, which the D100's cannot. I might keep my eyes out for

someone dumping a D70 cheap.

I second the earlier poster's suggestion to check and double check that the lens hood is turned to it proper position. If you don't have the lens hood properly aligned and clicked into its locking position, you will get black corners and vignetting. Trust me, I found this out the hard way with my 24-70. Now I know.

I bought an Autocord off Ebay and had good luck with it. I think I paid under $200. So as long as you don't overbid and you do your Ebay homework on the seller, you have a good shot at getting a fun, quality camera. If you live near a city, you might keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Bargains do crop up now and then. Whatever you buy, the beauty of medium format today is that you don't have to pay much to play.

The obvious and most convenient (and easily resellable for not much less than you paid for it) option is the Canon 17-40. By all accounts, it's a lightweight and high performance lens with no competition at its price point. If you want to get funky, you can get into adapters and start putting Nikon and Oly and other lenses on your camera. I have a drawer full of Nikon AIS primes so I have an adapter. The 28mm 2.8 AIS is stellar, and focuses down to 3 inches. But I wouldn't go the adapter route unless you already have another manufacturer's lens on hand. The AF and full functioning make it easier and faster to capture an image.

I wouldn't invest big money in pro DX lenses, which would rule out the 17-55 for me. I believe FF is the future of serious digital SLR photography for both Nikon and Canon. I would recommend buying the D700 and a couple of lightweight primes, perhaps even some manual focus ones. I'd get the 35mm F2, the 50mm 1.8, and the 135mm 2.8 AIS manual focus lens to start. You can also pick up the 24mm 2.8. The one lens I think become interesting as a walkaround photojournalists lens is the 17-35mm. In fact, now that I think of it, an interesting strategy might be to go the a D200 or D300 and a 17-35mm, a 50mm 1.8, and a 135mm 2.8 AIS.

I own the 24-70 2.8L. Before you buy, really handle it and realize just how big and heavy it is. If you can live with it, great, buy it! If not, I think the 24-105 will be a better "walkaround" lens. You have your other lenses for low light. Personally, I marvel at the 24-70's optical quality every time, but it's so big and heavy I don't always want to put it on my 5D for walking around the city.

I own both the 24-70L and the 50mm 1.8. The 24-70 is very sharp and produces beautiful results, but it sometimes so big and heavy that I don't want to take it around town. So I take the $100 50mm 1.8 plastic fantastic. I get great results with this lens and it doesn't weigh anything. I'd start with the 50mm 1.8. You can always sell it for about $25 less than you paid for it if you want the 1.4 or if you want the big, bad zoom.

I'd go IS no matter if you buy the F4 or F2.8 version because at telephoto focal lengths, why risk camera shake on a shot that would otherwise be killer?

 

To decide between the F4 and the F2.8, I personally wouldn't want to carry the weight of the 2.8 lens so the decision is easy for me.

 

For you, maybe not. You might roll up to an event in your car and not have far to carry your gear. I go on long walks and carry my stuff. So light is good in my case.

Go to Samy's Camera and ask if they can spare you the tax if they ship your gear back to where you live. Otherwise, order on Amazon or from B&H and see if they will ship it to your California hotel (you have a shot if you have an Amazon account). Otherwise you may be out of luck and your tax money will just end up buying books for schoolkids, keeping violent criminals incarcerated, and paving roads. So if you pay the tax, thanks!

Sometimes with Dell, they run a special and you just get about an hour to get in on the deal then it vanishes and you'll never get it back. Dell can also take weeks or months to deliver. But they often offer the best deals. I got the 5D for $2,300 last year, with the double rebate that put the body at $1,700. A year later, you still can't come close.

No, but I'm glad they are finally coming around to FF. In the years to come, this will lead to more competition, better cameras, and lower prices all around.

http://www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews/85_100_135/index.htm

There's this place in New York, I think it's called B&H. They have everything. I bought a yellow Bay 1 for my Minolta Autocord a couple of months ago.

My opinion is Calumet (part of a nationwide chain of pro stores) is the only good photo store left in San Francisco -- they have stuff in stock and prices that are not that much more than B&H. Gassers may have been good at one point, but it's quite sleepy now and feels like it's lost in time.

 

As other posters have said, you will pay 8.25% California sales tax on any purchase.

 

If you can B&H or Amazon to ship to where you are staying.

 

If you want to gaze at a bunch old used film bodies, you can look in the window of Discount Camera (the name is a misnomer) on Kearny and Market. The window has become a bit of a museum.

 

Do not come to SF expecting incredible bargains on equipment. Come to TAKE photographs and come to eat!

Don't forget, the new D40 and D40X will not autofocus AF lenses if they are the screw drive type. They only support AF-S lenses. So forget that 50mm 1.8 AF prime that would make a nice portrait lens, or the venerable 35mm F2 that now is a decent normal lens.

 

The question is, how do you want your medicine? Like Canon, all at once, a total change of the mount? Or do you want death of backwards compatibility by 100 paper cuts?

 

The nice thing about the Canon line after the trauma of completely changing mounts is that all the lenses work on all of the bodies. Well, except EF-S lenses, which only work on... never mind.

I switched from a Nikon D100 to a 5D simply for full frame and as a bonus the incredibly good high ISO performance. Full frame would allow me to get exactly the kinds of lenses I wanted for which Nikon had no equivalent (the 35mm 1.4L, for instance). The fact that I had FF meant than any investment in lenses (say the 24-70L) would be a long term investment, unlike the Nikon 17-55DX (which would only be relevant in a DX world).

 

After a few months it comes down to this. Yes, it take a while to get use to the poorer ergonomics of the Canon bodies (my opinion), BUT for the first time in the digital age, I am not looking for the next big body to come out. I have what I want with no compromise.

 

With Nikon, I kept hoping that affordable (or semi-affordable) FF would one day arrive. It hasn't happened yet, despite the rumors of a n $8K D3X FF.

 

I have zero regrets and really appreciate having my 35mm film shooting experience back -- one in which you can buy a 50mm 1.8 lens for $70 and actually have it behave as it did in the film days.

I always have a Nikon FM body and a 45mm 2.8p in my "around town bag", which usually holds a laptop that I carry to work. The combo is so small and performs so well that it's a classic to me. Hard to beat this in a film camera combo.

I relied on this excellent comparison for my choice.

 

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Nikon-D200-vs-Canon-EOS-5D-Head-to-Head-Review-.htm

 

 

 

I don't want to get into which camera I chose. It's the toughest choice in digital photography today.

 

If I were a total beginner, I would choose the D200 because of the built in flash.

 

Then again, if I was a total beginner, I would probably buy a Nikon D40.

Michael is right. As a general rule with my Nikon DLRS, if I am in bright sunlight and there are white elements in the frame, I underexpose by -.7. If I am in cloudy or fading light and there are white elements in the frame, I drop down .3 in the compensation.

 

This is a common issue with most DSLRs. They don't have enough dynamic range to accomodate the bright whites and the shadows and other colors. Once you get into photoshop or Nikon Capture, just boost the exposure back up and your highlights will hopefully be preserved.

It's easily the best lens I've ever used on a Nikon DSLR. It's sharp, fast focusing, and well made. You will not regret owning it. You can at last have a fast "normal" lens for your DX camera that doesn't cost $2,000 like the discontinued Nikon 28mm 1.4.

I don't know. But I just got a GW690II to replace the GW690III I sold (and soon realized I really missed!) and I have to say the II seems better built than the III. I like the grip and the focusing better. Wonder if Fuji cut corners on the III.

18-70 will give you more versatility and quality than any other lens short of the $1,100 17-55dx and the $800 18-200.

 

If that's your price range, buy it without hesititation.

Don't attempt to manually focus that lens unless you switch to MF on the body. Otherwise you will be fighting the focus motor and putting stress on the pin that focuses the lens.

 

Otherwise, it's as Shun says -- lock the fstop to the largest number, zoom and let the camera focus.

 

I had the non-D version of that lens for a while. It's decent and light.

I had a black one, which was stolen, then lucked upon a silver one at a great "buy it now" price on the auction site. It looks very cool on my chrome FM body.

 

I find this lens is great on a film or full frame body, but its focal length is kind of dull on a DX body. Also, even with green light focusing, I found it tedious to focus on a D100.

 

I am getting a Canon 5D and cannot wait to mount it via a good adapter.

 

The site of the 5D with a chrome pancake on it will be very funny.