gary h sp

This one is same digital image flipped on itself horizontally, left

masked, right blended with the background bokeh.<div></div>

two-transparencies (slide sandwich) scanned<div></div>

Well, this was taken early one morning.<div></div>

what passes through the house ...<div></div>

About as centered as I get ...<div></div>

while they chase a bargain, he chases a second look<div></div>

The Konica Minolta Dimage A2 has an optional noise reduction function that reduces the affect of dark noise caused by long exposures regardless of ISO set. But noise reduction is only applied to exposures of one second or longer. Processing is applied to each image after it is captured (the monitor remains blank during processing for a maximum of 30 seconds). This noise reduction uses dark-frame subtraction.

I look forward to reading about your impressions of the A2 and viewing work you make with the machine.

<p>Yes, I do wear eyeglasses of modern style (compact frames, medium wire type) and these or sunglasses do not hinder. I suspect that many who have problems also fail to recalibrate the diopter wheel (easy to do) on the outside of the viewfinder which can go out of sync with your viewing eye (with and without glasses) over the course of extended handling of the camera. I still haven't utilized features and combinations of settings that make the A2 an ongoing adventure in the best sense. Two more things. Carrying an extra battery always charged is essential. The machine eats up more energy (and heats up at times) with each feature you use, and most especially when reviewing and deleting unwanted images as you go if that becomes your habit. But what you should do right now is download the pdf file of the user manual from the Minolta site. Having it beforehand gave me a knowing head start to effectively test the item I bought in case I needed to return it within several days. I now keep that file on board at each of my computer stations as a handy reference. <a href="http://kmpi.konicaminolta.us/eprise/main/kmpi/content/cam/cam_product_pages/DiMAGE_A2?mDetail=Manuals" >A2 manual</a>

The A200 appears to be a streamlined/simplified, more economical?, but less feature-rich version of the A2. In addition to what has already been mentioned, it lacks a second control dial (A2 has two dials to separately change shutter and aperture, among other things), DOF preview (very good for close-ins and macro work), customizable memory sets (the A2 has five), and probably more that I am not yet aware. But the A200 is bundled with a remote release which you must buy separately for the A2, so that alters the price differential slightly.

 

The truly big difference is the unique tilting high resolution EVF on the A2 that I find indispensibly a huge plus and is especially useful when shooting verticals and reviewing images already shot. The A2 feels and handles much like a dwarfish 35mm model in so many ways, but if you have oversized hands all the controls may be a bit much in a small package. The auto-focus works best using the flex-point feature which can be tied to the spot-metering mode. When set up for manual shooting there is no apparent shutter lag. The topside illuminated LCD readout is always helpful especially for doing night photography.

 

As for the A200's image processor I can only guess that this is meant to improve the model line's jpg image processing since the A2 apparently was designed best to capture RAW images.

The all around, easy to lug camera you might be looking for is the Konica Minolta Dimage A2. It's got a flash sync port, a 28-200 mm (35mm equivalent) lens coverage, and a 9 megapixel electronic right-angle eyepiece viewfinder for fine composing and focusing. However, two huge caveats. It is designed for RAW image capture (which means PhotoShop) so your intent should to be create singular fine images, and not bulk production for customers. Also, be content to capture images at iso 64, 100, 200 before noise becomes intolerable for color.

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Did you properly calibrate your monitor, especially the gamma which determines brightness and contrast? If you use Windows, and if you're using too low a gamma, then what appears "right" to you will print darker if not adjusted by the commercial printer. You might want to download this utility (wiziwyg) to help reset your monitor's color space and especially its gamma ...

 

http://www.praxisoft.com/pages/products.wiziwyg.html

"<b>I found tremendous gain in highlits using the Prophoto RGB color space when converting from RAW!</b>"

 

<p>David, I was curious about the Prophoto RGB color option in Adobe Camera Raw. Can you explain what you meant by "tremendous gain in highlights"? Is this "gain" in ability to recover highlights? in highlight tonal detail? to better stretch the tones? And, how does this "gain" compare to the other color space choices?

Nestor, you are right about this, and I agree. And it's why I posted an active link to my photos at the top of my bio when I realized that the recent PN changes shut off direct access to my photos -- from my community member page -- by visitors and real life associates.

Just some thoughts. For the cover, make sure you leave some breathing space that suits the typical cover layout. This might mean shooting more (since you also wants tighter shots for your portfolio) and perhaps utilizing a motor drive mode, and therefore using more film rolls. Since the images will be scanned for press then editorial cropping should be assumed, too.

New York's City Hall Park's fountain circulating water was spiked

with red dye during the RNC ...<div></div>

You might want to consider the Konica Minolta Dimage A2. It offers a 28-200 type view (though more like 25-175), a variety of jpeg format sizes or an even better digital raw, very good image stabilization by 2-3 stops, up to nearly 1:1.5 macro (in 35mm terms), and up to 8 megapixels capture with neglible noise up to iso 200. There's a full accessory line including a wider angle screw on lens. As with any extended travel you also should consider the cost/size of CF media and/or an image transfer/storage device.

Or, a mall rat's eye view.

Melissa, the magic of light and shadow is universal, even if not at all times. Although a pretty young girl doesn't hurt this photo, the character of the wall shadow actually beckoned that I wait for just the "right" subject to walk into the "frame". By the way, this was shot within an indoor shopping mall, an extension of "street" that is probably available to you, too...<div></div>

One thing I look for is the contextural interaction of one or more persons within a particular location. I enjoy observing people sans camera, learning about their use of locational space, and then anticipating their actions for image capture.

 

I am never concerned about being "ever-ready" for fear of "missing a shot". I miss an infinite number of "shots" while I sleep, while I'm "here" and not "there", and while I type on the PC, so I don't care about what's going on while I'm "not ready" to shoot. However, I do feel disappointment when what I am anticipating to recur doesn't occur. But learning to anticipate behavior is what makes street photography a most rewarding experience.<div></div>

You may want to investigate this discussion:

 

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=006b6V" >Words like "Truth" and "Athenticity" and Photoshop</a>

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPG_Software/CPG_Software_Attachments/USB98DR.exe

 

and updates for the DiMage A1 Viewer, here:

 

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPGProducts?cname=dig

 

However, my experience is with the DiMage A2, no Windows drivers required. It's simple "plug-n-play" whereby Windows XP (home edition) detects the camera drive as "F" and displays the folders holding each day's "catch" which I simply copy to my hard drive for subsequent processing and backups.

Nestor, yes, I found those sites by googling my PN username. Flattering at best but I don't expect remuneration. Days are very eventful nevertheless I get not a dime from any of this nor expect it.

This "popolo" site has been posting PN member photos for some time now, as I just noticed a previous jpeg version of one mine.

 

BTW, the popolo blog-site also links the photog's name directly to one's PN community page, providing reciprocal exposure. But I agree with the tenor of this thread. What if a neo-nazi org. decided to use one of my photos (and name) without my permission? Another good reason to use a pseudonym as one's PN user name.