fk319

<p>I have a D70 and still have no real reason to replace it.<br>

Your only technical point was a 50/1.4, if that is the case you may be interested in looking at a full size sensor.<br>

Remember also the the camera body is the cheapest part of a camera system, it is the lenses that cost the money. So before you commit to a line, make sure that the lens optics in your camera line will do what you want.<br>

I also prefer a heavier body, as it seems more stable to 'me', but my wife like a lighter body.</p>

<p>There really is only one question the determines the answer, what are you going to do with the pictures after you click the lens.<br>

I personally save them to disk, post a few on the web and print a few so that my wife can scrapbook. 1 out of 10,000 will get blown up larger that 8x10. The only post processing I do is crop. So guess how I shoot, yes, jpeg.<br>

You in this case planed on possibly post processing, where 'reimbursed' for your time, and you expected to have several enlarged. raw seems like the correct solution to me.<br>

From what you said here, there was one mistake, you shoot raw for the first time when it mattered. (I will presume that this was not the case, but I will elaborate as it is my pet peeve.) So many people buy a good camera right before going on vacation and then can't figure out why the stupid camera did not work. I encourage those who are going to do something new for an important event, spend time practicing the new well before the event!<br>

Frank</p>

Fast Sync is when your flash is much longer than your shutter speed.

This has the neat effect being able to take a picture of city lights, need a slow shutter speed, and a person in the foreground.

The flash is at the beginning of the shutter cycle, there is also rear sync when the flash is at the end of the the shutter cycle.

for stationary objects, it does not make a difference, but for taking a picture of a car at night with the tail lights it does.

Taking a Fast Sync of a car would flash the car, and the rest of the shutter would get the streaking lights. The effect would appear that the car is going backwards. In this case you want to catch the lights streaking then get the cars position at the end lights.

Basicly you use this feature when you are taking a picture of two sceems in one, one is dimly light and far away, ie needs a long shutter speed, and one that is closer and can be illuminated with a flash.

I carry 2. I keep one of those table top 6" tripods in each of my camera bags. It has a long strap so I can tie it small posts. They cost $8-$15. As for a 'standard' tripod, the other comments are better than I can add...

Dont get a $100, 500mm mirror lens. I have one. My cheap 70-300mm nikon lens gets better resolution than the mirror lens. I have done several comparisons. I have been looking at "Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens", it runs about $1100. A 2x teleconverter will get 600mm f/8. Another option, that can get 1000mm is a telescope, I think I figured it will run about $700.

keep in mind that the shelf life of a burned cd/dvd is about 2 years. If this is not ok, consider an external hard drive, either firewire or usb.

When I bought my N80, I have since bought a D70, I bought two cheap nikon zoom lenses. I think I spent about $200 for both. At the time I could not tell the difference between them and a single $1000 lens. It took about 6 months for me to be able to shoot pictures better than the lens. I have replaced only one of the lenses.

 

I am not suggesting that you get the cheapest lens, I already did that. What I will suggest is that you get the kit lens, and the Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 The 50mm/f1.8 is just over $100 US and opticaly one of the best Nikon makes. These two lenses will take you a long way in learning how to take pictures, and to better understand why lenses cost what they do.

 

-- Frank

The three first lenses for a beginer should be; a normal range zoom, a telephoto zoom and a 50mm/f1.8. All three of these lenses are in the $100-$150 range, and I prefer Nikkor lenses for these three. (But I like Sigma too.)

 

After that, your next lens will probably cost as much as your first three lenses together, sorry.

 

your 28-80 is fine, for now, plan on the other two. I replaced my normal range lens with a faster, cleaner, $600, 24-120 VR lens. I have not replace my 70-300 yet, and may not for a while. I have added on the low end, because I need the wide angle lens for my vacation. My next lens will be a fixed lens in the low 20's at f/1.8. And then a macro near the 100mm mark. I still do not see a replacement for my $100 70-300mm lens.

 

Hope this helps...

I would agree, list your major packages, Gold, Silver, Copper, with prices. Then list "other services", but no prices.

What lens do you have, and what do you want to take pictures of that you current lens cannot do?

Rob, absolulty not. When I am outside I grab for my 24-120. This is a good range for 'me' and I will use most of the range. When I am inside, I shoot 18-70, and use mostly the lower half. I would hate to have to choose between one or the other for a perminate solution. I shot a dinner party last week, my 24-120 would not get wide enough to get the small groups.

 

There are 18-200 and 28-300 lenses, but these tend to be slow, have barrel distortion on the wide end and soft on the long end. Also do zooms replace prime lenses? of course not. A prime may be just as sharp, as a zoom, but they are often several stops faster.

Tim if you choose the 4GB CF option, do yourself a favor and get in the habit of renaming directories on the CF, it is a camera ?setup? option. Do it by place, or day or whatever. I find the part of the phot job that I hate the most is sorting and deleating dups and remembering if that was in place A or B, or x, y or z.

When I went on vacation, I would organize my photos at night. The display on the back of the camera will help you with exposure, but not blurr or focus problems. A Photo viewer will give you more detail and organize by folder. It will also slide show and mp3s. It helped me so when I got home, my pictures where already grouped by subject.

 

I have used Epson 2000 only three times in the past year and a half. And all three times it was nice to know I had all the disk space I could need. I have 2 high speed 1/2 GB cards, but I paid about $125 for each, so $500 for 40GB was worth it to me. Now 2GB are about $100, the choice is not as easy....

I have an Epson P-2000, $500. There is a P-4000 and has 80GB, the 2000 only has 40GB. And yes, they are a great piece of hardware. (The software has some oddities, like file rename and no concept of moving a file.)

I have 2 normal lenses, and inside and an outside. My inside lens is 18-70/3.5-4.5 and my outside lens is an 24-120/3.5-5.6. I do have a Sigma 12-24, but it is not a complemnt lens, but more of a special purpose lenses. (I use it for very close quarters,ie caves, and extream wide angle, ie full room.)

 

Most landscapes I shoot in the telephoto range. Buildings may need the wide angle.

 

The 18-55 kit lens for the D50 is a cheap lens. It was made to be a full dSLR for under some magic dolar/yen price point. The D70(s) kit lens is a much better lens and is in this range.

 

The 50/1.8 lens mentioned above is an execelent lens for many reasons and should be considered, although it does not directly help you in the super wide range.

 

I would suggest thinking of a good quality lens that has a range of 18-35, instead if 12-24.

The differnce is cost. The larger mm will give you a larger working distance, and will cost you more.

 

If you are doing stamps or coins, then the shorter is probly better. If you are doing bees or flowers, you want a longer one.

<img src=http://frank.kujawski.org/Jan/15/water3a/large/05.jpg>

I will not address the question of pro-quality, but strictly focal length.

 

I have an N80, film, camera, and I was using a 24-120 lens. This lens is the perfect range for indoor and outdoor general family pictures. When I bought my D70, digital, camera with a 1.5 crop, I wanted to buy the body only, but ran out of time as I was going on vacation soon, so I got the kit lens, 18-70.

 

What I have found is, that inside a house the extra focal length is really noticable. The wider angle allows for more of the room in the picture and to be closer to the children. And of course outside, I have the option of getting a little bit closer, opticaly, to my subject.

 

In regards to 50/1.8 and 50/1.4, you are looking at about $100 and $300 for a half stop increase. It is my understanding that the optics is about the same. Btw, the 50/1.8 is the sharpest lens that I own.

<img

src=http://frank.kujawski.org/blog/2005/Oct/15/TwinS/large/dsc_5649.jpg>

My Nikon CoolPix 950, 1999, can take a picture of a full frame picture of a fly. I believe that several of the new all-in-one Nikons can do this.

I stayed away from primes when I started. Opticaly they are about as good as primes. But my next two lenses are going to be primes, I already have a 50/1.8. The speed that a prime can get you is worth having primes in your bag.

Most people that have a few lenses have a 50mm lens. They are about $100 new and expressed earleir, opticaly excelent. Unfortanitly the 50mm lens is the only inexpensive lens that has excelent optics.

did you remember that using a TC to double your focal length costs you two stops? ie, 200mm to 400mm cost you f/4.5 to f/9

 

yes you need to focus at infinity, this assumes that your lens has the correct stop there. although at this f-stop the depth of field should be ok.

 

The web page you refer to, looks about right. (I use the sunny 16 rule for a full moon, 1/4 the light for a quarter moon.)

 

Advise, in low light situations, I shine a flash light on the subject to help the autofocusing work, but I am not sure it would apply in this case. I have a problem with my f/8 mirror lens auto focusing in the evening. I think I would bracket once stop each way also. I would also recored the phase of the moon and the setting of the camera, f/stop, shutter speed and iso. When you get the film back YOU can look at the pictures and see what you like, and then match it upto the notes you took. If I understand you correctly, you are looking to get one good shot on your roll of film.

 

Have fun, stay warm and good luck

My brother wrote a comment about antartica, http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CwHA

I would like to suggest getting a fast wide angle lens. I have a 50/1.8 and it is not wide enough. Look up at the whole sky and you are looking at least 90 degrees. There are F/1.8 lenses in the 20's mm range.