dan_belmont

John, That looks very impressive for 1600 but how does say an 8X10 print look???

 

Very interested in seeing more photos!

 

Thanks for the post.

Yes my monitor is calibrated. I use the adobe RGB color space in camera, printer and in photoshop. I am shooting in RAW. I have tried photoshop and nikon capture. Thanks for all of the suggestions though!

Hey all, I was just wondering if anyone else is having trouble with

the green channel clipping on a d70. I have tried all of the white

balance settings and am still having trouble with greens ( mostly

grass trees etc) The greens just don't look right. Any help would be

appretiated. Also if anyone is using a D2x do you have any trouble

with greens?

Sean,

 

Bottom line...You do not need a 4800 right now. Unlike most of the people writing to you in this forum, I actually own a 2400 and love it. I am a professional and while yes I would eventually like a 4800 I could not justify its costs (YET!). Instead I purchased the 2400 and am making more money with it (because of its excellent print quality!) than I was when I had the printed elsewhere (I no longer have to return prints for reprints I get what I want the first time without hassle)

 

Just add the extra costs (very minimal: about 7 dollars to print a 13X19 on semigloss) into your prices!

 

Pros

 

Silver Halide Quality B and W

Excellent Fine art printer (color or B/W)

Fast much faster than 2200

Accepts roll paper

Does not require a RIP program

Great skin tones

Large color gamut

Superior print quality to most labs!

Deep dark rich blacks

 

Cons

 

No paper cutter

somewhat expensive prints (trust me you wont notice!)

Not quite perfect glossies (but close!)

 

So go buy a 2400 and in a year or two you will have made enough money with it to buy a 4800. If you do purchase a 4800 the 2400 will serve as an excellent backup printer!

 

Remember don't get too big too fast.

 

E-mail me with any questions

Forgot to mention that the sigma apereture range goes from 32-2.8 and one nikon goes from 22 to 1.8 the other from 22 to 3.5... not sure if this helps or not...

Ok heres the deal... I just bought a sigma 24-70 fixed 2.8 from

B&H...The problem is that when switching from my nikon lenses

(shooting at F8 and 1/200th on both the sigma and the nikon at 50mm,

again fixed on both)to the new sigma lense I need twice the strobe

output (another stop).

 

In other words my sigma lense seems to need one more stop of light at

F5.6 / 1/200 and fixed 50mm than my nikon lenses. I tried stopping up

and down with the same results all through the apereture range, again

using a fixed shutter speed and fixed focal legnth.

 

I am wondering if I should return the lense for a new one or are sigma

lenses all like that??? Not really looking foward to spending 1500

dollars on a nikon 28-70 2.8.

 

This is the first non nikon lense that I have purchased.

 

any help would be appretiated...

I have had the very same problem and it turned out that I had my exposure compensation set to +3 or something ridiculous like that. I do a lot of hiking and somehow while in my hiking pack the exposure comp. got turned way up. If you have already checked that ignore my comment....

Looking for a website with the quality of MPIX that can print in adobe

RGB. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know thanks!!

If anyone can help me find some lense reviews I would appretiate it. I

have visited Bjorn Rorslett's site many times and find it very

helpful. Are there any other sites similar to that? I also would like

to consider (gasp) non nikon alternatives so if anyone knows of a

site that would have reviews on an assortment of lenses please let me

know!

 

Thanks in advance!

I am using a monitor calibration system. Its the 99dollar version of the spyder by color vision. I am also already working in Adobe RGB 1998 for a color space in photoshop. Any other thoughts??

OK Guys and Gals, this is probably a million dollar question... Here

goes: I have been using a nikon D70 and PSCS to convert RAW files. I

shoot only in RAW and do a lot of post processing. Recently I

downloaded Picassa version 2 and love it! The thing that I am

noticing though, is that almost without exception, my RAW files viewed

through the Picassa browser look better than the RAW files viewed

through PSCS RAW. Even when I try to match the color with PSCS I can

not seem to get it right!

 

I may be wrong but is the reason for the color change when viewed in

Picassa because the files are JPEG files?

 

If it is how can I do a batch conversion of my D70 RAW files to JPEG

so that the colors match?

 

If not then what settings can I use to improve my RAW files color?? If

I could match the color from Picassa I would be very happy.

 

Any help would be appreciated

Hey I have a question in regards to posing for weddings. I would like

to know the best way to learn about posing. Currently I am working

with a local photographer who teaches me a great deal about everything

but posing. While posing the subjects at the weddings he is extremely

quick and I have a hard time picking up what he is doing. I am looking

for an excellent book , online tutorial, or just great examples of

wedding photography that shows good/great posing.

 

Thanks

Hey I am wondering if the D100 is considered to be more of a pro

camera than the D70... If not what are the pros and cons of each?

thanks

I hope its better than that!!! Thanks for the info....

Hey just read a report of nikon releasing a D50 (they posted the

manual oops!) and a new version of the D70. If anyone can tell me

anymore about the new D70 I would really appretiate it! I was going to

buy another D70 as a backup camera but if a new one is on its way

(hopefully with 8mp!) I will wait.

Hey I own a D70 and use it in studio, are there any tricks you could teach me about getting skin tones right on??? Just wondering because your photo looks great!

Kari,

 

Check out my web site www.dbrockwayphotography.com (I write under a different name on this forum) Its all shot with a D70 and the "kit lense"...while this lense is capable I would highly recommend the 50mm 1.8 nikkor.

 

Yes you can use the lenses you have now. Any nikon or other brand F mount lense will work on the D70. Thats why most of us bought it!!

 

If you need more help e-mail me from my website. I went through all this about 8 months ago. Trust me I understand how steep the learning curve is!!

 

Overall the D70 is a great camera.

At 50% it should look like it will in print. Hope this helps

Ok everyone heres another zoom question. I own a Nikon 70-300mm 4-5.6

G zoom lense. I am looking for a better lense to cover this range or

at least up to 200mm. I want this lense for wildlife photography with

a D70. I am not opposed to using prime lenses (again at least 200mm).

I would like a faster lense than the one I have and one that is

optically good to very good. VR does not interest me because of

price!!!I would really like somthing at about 300-400mm but price is

definetely a consideration (Hoping to find something below $1000). I

prefer Nikon lenses but any lense in my price range with good to very

good optical quality will be considered. I am not opposed to buying

used either.As always I appretiate the help.

Francesco

 

Ok this gets a little complicated so if you have questions e-mail me.

 

First make sure your color space in PS is set to adobe RGB 1998 and make sure that you are capturing images in adobe RGB (if you can).

 

Second at the very least get a black gray white card from either kodak or gretag macbeth.

 

Shoot the black gray white card in the first shot. Bring up the first shot in PS. Press control M (PC) to bring up curves. Next click the black dropper in curves and then click the black area on the card. Do the same for white then gray.

 

To use this curve on the next photo just open it and press alt control M. Which applies the same curve to the next photo.

 

There are other ways to do this but this is by far the easiest.

 

Good luck

Ken,

 

You sure are right about the under your nails advice. It is the best hands down... Its real easy to blame the equipment and go out and buy a new camera when you are constantly learning. I am running some trials this week. I am probably going to take your advice on the 24mm as well. It seems that we have similar shooting tastes. Thanks for your help. Hey if you ever need a hand with digital imaging let me know its what I went to school for...e-mail at dam778@gwi.net

Dan,

 

I recently enjoyed your article on the 50mm 1.4 prime vs the 50mm 1.8. So let me see if I can help you out. 1.)As mentioned above shoot RAW.

 

2. Also it is good practice to always shoot in adobe RGB. Some will argue with this but the bottom line is you get more color to begin with and you can always convert to SRGB later.

 

3. I have found post processing works best with ACR. N.C is great but somewhat limiting. Use both for awhile and compare images side by side.. You will see what I mean. As in your review of the two lenses compare side by side.

 

4. If you dont have APCS. Then I can help you use NC just let me know what you need.

 

5. Overall your images look great. The unsharp mask can be a bit trick y but it looks like your getting it.

 

6. I find that for processing somthing that you want to have high contrast use NC. For something with fine detail and subtle tones use ACR.

 

7. Also start comparing JPEG and RAW files. You should find that one holds vastly more info than the other. If you are someone who always gets it right in camera then by all means shoot JPEG...but if you ever need to fix something in a bad way use RAW...

 

8. Raw takes more post processing than JPEG but in the end the results are typically better.

 

9. Heres my typical approach. Shoot RAW in aRGB. Process in either ARC or NC. Check levels in PS. Add 10 -20 of saturation. Unsharp mask 100-150 radius of 2-8 and threshold of 0-9.

 

10. If you need more help or want to see some of my work drop me an e-mail at dam778@gwi.net

Hey buddy go get a film camera and shoot for a few years then come back to digital and tell me what you think... Sounds like you need more expirience shooting period. In other words dont blame the camera look in the mirror. The D70 has proven itself look at what others are doing with it. Look at the work in half the portfolios on this site (D70 is used in many, with excellent quality results.) I dont mean to sound like a jerk but most times when someone complains about a camera that thousands of other people use with great results its the person not the camera!!!

 

Try a better lense especially if your using the kit lense..Its not a great lense!

Alright here comes a nikon batter to the plate...I would tell you hands down for the price range that you are looking in the nikon is the better camera. I have researched this endlessly D70 wins in almost every arena over 350D...(unless you visit a canon forum that is!) Build quality is better color is better camera handles better. I use it for profesional photography check out my site www.dbrockwayphotography.com ( all the photos on it are with a nikon D70) The nikon also looks and feels more like a profesional camera. Now just to show that I am not biased I think the EOS 1Ds Mark II looks like a much better choice than the D2X...

 

again just my opinion

Thanks for all the advice guys. Ken your advice in particular was very helpful. I was not aware of image diffraction at F22 or F16 and you are right the only reason I shot that way was for MDOF. I always use a tripod and electronic or cable release. 3 stops down...I will try this thank you.

 

Ken does this work the same way on medium format cameras? I own a mamiya 645 pro TL and would like to shoot more with it... The film and processing cost so much though!!