tropdude

For remote tropical nature/adventure photography, I am carryiung a large Nikon

film gear -- this takes care all of the pro images I am travelling for.

Last couple years, I also carry a pocket P&S digital, just to document scenes,

use as a picture diary, and for similar photos. I am not selling these latter

images, although, sometimes, I do wish they would be a better quality.

(Beforehand, i used to have the small Nikon Titanium 25 mm.)

Q: For the above purposes, which one would be better: Canon SD900 or Leica D-

LUX 3? They specs are similar, anybody has experience with field performance,

reliability, "sense of design", etc.? Money, in this case, is not a factor.

Any comment would be greatly appreciated.

Re: monitor while scanning.

Once the scanner-computer sytems are worked out/color-corrected, then the monitor color will be irrelevant -- it can be off color or even black and white.

Is this correct?

Thanks for the comments!

"calibrate your scanner using an IT8 slide and software...Silverfast AI is the best on the market, and comes with IT8 calibration"

"Make sure that your color management is set up properly from scanning to display"

Can you please provide the specific details as how to do this?

Anything else to think of?

Thanks!

I am preparing to scan several thousands of 35mm slides, cardboard and

plastic, mostly on Velvia by Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED and the SF-210. I am

aiming for the best possible scans (quality, pixel, etc.) from each slide --

regardless of time and filesize.

So before I start this huge project, what sorts of parameters -- on the

scanner, computer, software, monitor, slides itself, connections, etc. -- I

should choose, preset, try-out or watch-for to get the best results?

What I am trying to avoid is to discover after the 5,000th slide that I should

have choosen a different setting and all of my scans so far are less-than-

optimal.

Again, I am interested in everything from dusting the slides to fine

software/computer settings.

Thanks!

I have an extensive Nikonos-V gear and accessory set that was serving me

perfectly in the world's oceans. One major downside was that only 36 exposures

per body were available at each dive.

Now, with digital cameras with underwater housing readily available, is there

any reason or argument against selling the whole Nikonos-V gear and replacing

with one of the higher-end digital camera with an underwater case?

Any comments, pro and con, would be appreciated!

I am trying to obtain nonexclusive rights of an image taken by an other

photographer in order to use, re-use, alter, incorporate, etc. in my

publications and film documentaries, without every time going back to him for

a new permission. In each case, the image would be credited as "Photo by:

[original photographer]", but again, I would be free to use it for my work in

any way.

Three questions:

Such transaction is called what?

What form the photographer has to sign that would authorize me to do the above?

Who owns the copyright if the original photographer's image, incorportaed into

a lengthy article/documentary produced by me, is published/broadcasted by a

third-party publisher?

Thanks for all the comments!

For "real photos", I carry a huge Nikon film gear - and that's takes care of all the "mission" photographs.

An SD400 replacement needed just to make shots that more of a picture diary of the trip, recalling momemnts, and not for sale or artistic function. We have solar and car chargers, so that is not an issue. Really, I just looking for the most-pixel version of SD400, which, I assume, SD550 -- or something else?

Why the SD500, SD550 was discontinued? The newer "vibration reduction" models are in fact better to choose a 6 Mpixel over the SSD550's 7 Mpixel?

Thanks.

I am a nature photographer traveling with a huge gear to remote tropical places

and shoot mostly on film.

In these trips, a small but resonable quality point-and-shoot camera, is always

a big plus to quickly document the travel progress and other happenings. Most

recently, I used a Canon SD400 with great satisfaction for its purpose. This

SD400 has a pixel problem now, so I need to buy an other one -- and I am

looking for the "best" in its class.

SD550 gives the most pixels but there are newer models out there. Any

suggestion which one to go for?

Thanks.

RE: FedExing film. What is the guarantee and the real chances that FedEx does not X-ray photographic films?

That seems a total throwing the towel-in.

More optimistic suggestions?

RE: INSURANCE

Which is a good company/plan/option for insuring a $15,000-20,000 photo/video gear against EVERYTHING while traveling the world? (I am based in the US).

For nature photography, I used to travel all over the world with a huge Tamrac,

stuffed with about 6 lenses, 3 flashes, 1-2 bodies, and 100-120 rolls of 35 mm

Velvia in a Pelican. From time to time, this was suplemented with an entire

Nikonos system squeezed into a Pelican. I am talking about everything from

Vanuatu to Malawi, originating from the US or Europe.

--- and ALWAYS, on EVERY flight, I carried-on in the cabin with me this enire

photo-gear and films (films were always hand checked).

Given the current security craze at the world's airports, it seems that there

is a good chance that I can not continue this practice any more and have to

check-in part or all of it or find an other solution.

Of course, leaving a $15,000 gear, and 100+ rolls of Velvia in the checked-

bagage enroute from JFK to, let's say, Central-Africa is a very bad idea and

asking for trouble: you are not allowed to lock your bag, frequently not even

be present when they open it behind the chek-in counter, so gear can be

tampered with, damaged or stolen, films damaged by X-ray, the entire bag

misplaced - and some remote places have only once a week flights, or the entire

bag stole, etc.).

Any suggestion how to address this problem?

Put the entire gear into a Pelican 1600, have it insured against everything

then take a chance? Go digital and then at least the film X-ray problem is

gone? Fedex it in a Pelican ahead?

Anybody knows that for "avarge remote-location tropical nature phtography" use,

with image/recording settings at the highest, what is the expected number of

images that can be taken with one fully charged EN-EL4a battery pack?

Related to this, any option/suggestion to extend the capacity to shoot without

seeing an electrical outlet for up to a month? Maybe bringing 2-3 EN-EL4a,

charging it with a solar panel or car cigarette lighter, etc.?

Comparable info withe D2X would also be appreciated.

RE: considering full switch from film to digital photography.

Did it happen to any of the pro or advanced amateur nature photographers that

one of their digitaly-shot image has been either (i) rejected, or (ii) was not

even suitable for submission/consideration for/by a buyer/publisher -- simply

and solely -- because of the technical specification of the digital image (ie,

pixel dimension, color depth)? That is, a film original of the exact same image

would have been acceptable?

Did this happened to any of the digital photographers?

If yes, I would appreciate a few lines of details (rejected/not suitable

digital images' size, intended publication, etc.)

Thanks a lot!

Again, thanks to all for the answers.

Realistically, how many slides I can expect to scan-in using the SF-210 feeder with the Coolscan 5000 before either of them brakes?

I have a library of 35,000+ slides. Of course, not all needed to be scanned (although would not hurt), but what would be a "good and realistic" target number to start with? The best 10% = 3,500 slides? Or the SF-210 and the Coolscan 5000 are robust enough to do let's say the best 30% = ~11,000 slides?

Ang how long does it take to scan in 1000 slides - so I can plan?

Thanks a lot to all for the suggestions!

One more related question: Apart from the "getting stuck" issue, has the bulk-scan any possible effect on the quality of scans - e.g. focus, other parameters what sometimes require individual adjustment in single-slide scans?

Thnaks.

To hopefully significantly enhance the Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 productivity

while scanning in a few thousand 35 mm slides, I am considering to buy the SF-

210 Auto Slide Feeder.

Question: Does the SF-210 works smoothly, does it - by any means or chance -

pose a risk to the actual slide film, does it get jammed, can it really

be "left alone" to do the work, etc.?

Slide mounts in question are typically the Kodak-processed paper cardboard and

the comparable thickness Kodak/other plastic mounts.

Any suggestions, pro or cons, would be appreciated a lot!

Thanks for all of the comments!

Getting 10-15 8GB CF cards (or comparable capacity in 4 GB cards) is an attarctive solution. Treat them like films, after filled up, just put back into a small and secure Pelican for the rest of the trip and download the images at home. Any risks to the CF cards full with images while standing idle in the Pelican for 4 weeks? Is dessicant a must? Else to keep in mind in this approach?

Apart from the above, I am still open for preferably non-rechargable battery/solar panel operated options for burning into DVD and portable hard drive. Again, the entire backup system should fit into a volume of ~100-120 rolls of 36 exp films - if a secure digital backup system requires carrying half of B&H inventory, then digital has to still evolve.

Thanks!

HyperDrive Advanced 24-bit Hardware-based ECC Copy Verification.

Any take on how reliable is this to ensure and confirm that all images have been dowloaded EXACTLY as they are in the card?

Thanks a lot for the suggestion, more are welcome!

More about the situation: Rainforest in Congo. Batteries (AA or D) are NOT rechargable. The whole backup system should fit into an approx. 11x9x9 inches Pelican case (ie, the "medium" size deep case which used to hold 100 rolls of Velvia), not including the solar charger. No vehicle, no 110/220 V or other power access for 2-4 weeks.

The wole backup system must run on non-rechargable batteries, and as I mentioned, in addition to an external hard-drive backup, I would very much prefer a burned DVD (least likely to fail).

Is the HyperDrive works with traditional batteries?

Any of the stand-alone DVD burners run on AA?

Again, all and any comments along the original question would be greatly apreciated. The D2X runs at its highest settings, up to 100 image per day kept.

Using Nikon D2X at its highest image quality settings and shooting

about 80-100 images per day. What options and equipments are

available/recommended to backup the images every 2-3 days onto an

external HD AND DVD without access to electricity for 2-4 weeks.

Solar charger with a car cigarette lighter connection is available or

up to ~30 D or ~120 AA batteries as energy sources.

Equipment volume and weight is a factor. Solutions without a laptop

are preferable. Money/equipment cost is not a factor.

All the best and thanks!

Duggal offered a refund of processing costs and options to have some slides scanned. They also running some tests to see what could have been the cause.

Given the situation, this is a professional way to end the issue.

I am enclosing a sample to show the above discussed bad job by Duggal.

The four images were taken onto two different rolls of Velvia 50, but the same lot, same lighting, same lenses, same settings, etc. - only the processing lab differs. I just changed the films in the middle of the shooting. One roll was processed by Kodak, the other by Duggal, as indicated above the slides.

(This image was taken by a small digital Canon P&S, direcly from the light table, so disregard the focus - in real life, all four is perfectly sharp.)

Result: the Kodak has proper exposure/color/contrast, the Duggal, well..., see yourself how terrible.<div></div>