peter_glass1

If you want sharp, frame filling photographs, I doubt either camera will produce quality bird images. Bird photography is one of the most difficult genres. I would suggest a DSLR with a very minimum of 300mm lens (450 @ 1.5 crop factor).

Nice photos, Paulo...

 

The troll accomplished his goals, and you guys bit into it.

Mihai,

Thanks for your story, but...what did you charge?

It seems you've done a lot of investigation, and you've settled on a camera you like. As long as you're satisfied with the handling, viewfinder, and other criteria you've mentioned, just do it. From what I observe at my local camera club in St. Louis, the Nikon cameras are excellent, as well as Pentax, Olympus, and Canon models. You didn't mention Pentax, but their latest offering looks good too. Given your stated purposes, the D40 would work very well for you. Be selective about lenses, so you don't buy glass that doesn't suit your needs. I personally don't like my Sigma glass (17-35), but that's just me. Others may argue.

 

As was the case with film cameras, and now with digital, the success of one's images depends on the eye and technique of the photographer, and not so much on equipment, particularly with "fine art" image making.

I use the Dual Scan IV. I get pretty good scans from existing color slides, if the originals are excellent. Scans of existing 35mm b/w negs leave a lot to be desired. I can get fairly decent 11x14s out of slide scans, but letter size is about the maximum from b/w negatives. I realize "pretty good" and "fairly decent" are subjective terms, but I don't time to do an objective analysis. I don't print large, so the Dual Scan IV is sufficient for my purposes.

 

I use a PC, though I doubt the system matters. Others may disagree and educate me.

Ditto John's reply. I mail order Moab it and it quickly arrives. Never a problem with service or quality. I've pretty much standardized on Moab Entrada and Kayenta.

Please verify this, but I don't think the 5D is as well sealed as the 1DS MKII.

 

Do you own the metered pentaprism for the Pentax67II? It's probably slow, but it, along with a little Sunny Sixteen Rule application may get you very close. But the camera is very heavy, large, and obtrusive (I used one for years), and, you're right, a DSLR would be better, particularly with the lenses you sight. I would go with the 1DS. Better yet, don't spend any money on any camera gear, and treat me to a trip to Africa!

Sell all your stuff, Fuji, Nikon, etc, and get a full frame 5D. But will you still need a scanner for your existing slides and negatives? In that case, purchase the Nikon.

 

Hell, I don't know!

I've been using Moab papers almost exclusively for the past year. I like their Kayenta and Entrada papers. Honestly, I got tired of testing so many papers...expensive and confusing, so I settled on Moab because their offerings are relatively inexpensive and are of good enough quality to satisfy my demands. I believe Kokopelli is a glossy surface, isn't it?

No, all things being equal.

No

Keep shooting your LF film. I'm an experienced view camera shooter and architectural photographer. As much as I love digital photography for what I do these days, there is no way the current technology in DSLRs and lenses equal the ABSOLUTE perspective control a view camera affords for architectural photography. That may change some day, but not now. LF is a pain in the ass, but utlimate image results are profoundly better with 4x5 or larger.

 

Scan the LF images, either at home using a quality flat bed scanner (Epson V750), or have them commercially drum scanned, depending on your image quality requirements.

JC has it right. Spend a lot of money on quality optics, and then "protect" it with cheap glass. False economy.

Ronald,

What a very nice family picture of the your Dad's birthday. Have this printed on some archival color paper, or convert to b/w and have it printed archivally, and you'll have a wonderful keepsake photo. In other words, make it permanent. Maybe crop a little from the sides. I would be very proud of the photo and the family!

Can you spell, "SPLITTING HAIRS"?

For street shooting, I find the 50mm with the Canon crop factor almost perfect. Everyone's eyes are different, I suppose, but mine tend to hone in more narrowly. Less cropping in the final print, for me. In film format days, I always thought the "normal" 50mm lens didn't really match my "normal" field of view.

Thank you Peter and Roger. I grope around PS, and know a few shortcuts, but I've never found (even looked for) a list of shortcuts.

Woops, never mind. I dropped the p:// off your link and it works fine.

 

Fine image. I don't have it, though I have others. You might not want to circumvent the copyright stuff and print it yourself. Just a suggestion.

Your link doesn't open for me. Check spelling. I'm a Uelsmann fan, so I'm interested in what you're interested in.

Canon used to bundle Photoshop Elements with their cameras, but apparently they don't anymore, as per you post. I don't know much about DPP, but others may. I think PS Elements is a fine program, and probably worth purchasing, especially if you later decide to expand your editing capabilities in a full Photoshop program. Elements 5 will probably perform all of your photo editing needs if you are new to the digital darkroom. It's relatively easy to use. That's what I would do, but others may have a different opinion.

Geoff,

Ales and Mendel are exactly right. Unless you are retired and/or have nothing else to do with your life, scanning LARGE quantities of slides can be incredibly tedius, frustrating, and VERY time consuming. For professional commercial work, fine art, editorial, or other critical work, investing in a good scanner or having drum scans made is probably the way to go. Depending on the quantity you have, and your objectives (nostalgia, photo album, etc.) I would send ten or twenty off to Costco and see if they meet your standards.

 

For what it's worth, I have file drawers full of catagorized slide pages. I bought a Minolta scanner several years ago, and set out to scan some of my favorite slides, one's which I wanted to make prints of or convert to black and white. I'm still working at it. I can't imagine trying to scan all of them. Nor am I interested in making digital files of all of them at once. I'm happy to allow them to exist as just transparencies, and if I want a digital scan, I'll just pick them out and do it. But my purposes might be different than yours.

I am purchasing a new desktop computer, delivered some time next week. It

will replace my fairly sophisticated laptop which serves me well at home and

on the road for PS CS and business. I want to dedicate my new desktop soley

to PS photo editing and my digital darkroom. I'll continue to use my laptop

for road work as I do now.

 

Though I know and use PS and other software applications, I'm not particulary

savy about hardware. I have a lot of plug-ins (QTRi, Photo Sharpener, etc,

etc - some purchased and some free downloads) already downloaded to my laptop.

 

I have a disc for CS and other software to directly load on the new computer,

but how do I migrate all the other extra downloads from my laptop to the new

desktop?

 

Thanks in advance for ideas.

Peter

Remove memory card and battery. Set your oven at 120 degrees (temperatures may vary). Put camera on cookie rack and leave it in for 5 minutes. Repeat if necessary.

How many here would like to have your name being credited for this photograph? Think about it and respond.

Roger - I'm trying to simplify things. If I can get good color AND good b/w on the 2400, particularly on glossy papers (which I can't get on the 2200), then I'd be willing to upgrade. I guess the bottom line is that getting good glossy b/ws would trump my current set up.