gary_berg

I'm pretty sure that all firmware updates are cumulative; that the later versions are complete replacements for the earlier versions and you don't have to install the intermediate updates...

For information on building a computer yourself, plus some sample configurations, check out the Thompson's "Building the Perfect PC":

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596006632/002-1293490-6100066

CS2 doesn't have that automatic feature; it's a part of the PS Elements "Album" portion of PSE 3.0.

 

There are a number of downloading programs; one that I use and like is called Downloader Pro, from Breeze Systems:

 

http://www.breezesys.com/Downloader/index.htm

I recently purchased a 200EG from Amazon, which they delivered quickly. I went with this bag for the same reasons you mention. I use a Minolta A2 all-in-one digital. I could not get the camera to fit well in the top center area of the bag. The A2 is very much an "L" shaped camera, not a "T" like old 35mm SLRs. Or maybe a "U" taking into account the grip.

 

I found that the grip on my A2 was large enough that the camera sat at quite an angle off "crossing the top" of the upper compartment. It was also nearly too thick to fit inside the bag; sitting as it was it wanted to hang out over the zipper closing the bag.

 

If you don't plan to fit the camera in the top center comparment, it may fit fine. I'm not sure how much you can rearrange the dividers on this bag.

 

I doubt you can fit a notebook in this bag.

 

I will say that Amazon footed the return postage when I indicated that it didn't fit my equipment, so all I lost was a little bit of time...

I have seen mention of this a few times, always with the Lexar Firewire reader. I thought it was a problem with only old firewire readers, but you say you just purchased this one?

 

Some CFs and the Lexar Firewire reader don't seem to get along. Buy a new reader...

I believe the 49-200 is about a +4 diopter. I recall from the spec sheet (which is now nowhere nearby to be found) that it got to 1.25X on the old Minolta D5 (which a 35-xx instead of 28-xx like the D7).

 

I think you get to the traditional "life size" with the 49-200. It's not really life size when you consider the size of the sensor, but it'll seem like life size when working with the lens.

 

The A1/A2/A200 actually get very close in telephoto macro mode already, by the way.

 

So the 49-200 is better than a Canon 500D, and about the same as a Canon 250D lens. All 3 have much better optics than the typical inexpensive close-up lenses you buy in kits from Hoya and such. This is because there are two pieces of glass in the Minolta/Canon (and Nikon xT) lenses.

How about you contact your credit card company and dispute the charge?

Are you sure you turned off the camera and waited for the electronics to turn off?

I've found that the Formula MC cleaning fluid offered by the Filter Connection works well.

 

http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/formulamc.html

Make sure you don't have a bent pin in the camera; get a strong light source and look down into the card slot to make sure.

My understanding is that the Michigan UP is very pretty. I've only poked my toe into the far eastern portion of the UP. Tahquamenon Falls are very beautiful; it's one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. Not exactly a Niagara Falls, but a 50 ft drop and 200 ft across.

 

Also, Sault Ste Marie, Canada has some great area, including Lake Superior Provincial Park, but that would probably pull you off your route by too much.

 

If you come that way, there of course is THE bridge - Mackinac, plus the island.

You could take a look at Panorama Factory or PTGui - I've had more luck with PTGui. Both of these have demos available, and there's even a free version of PF that's several versions out of date.

 

I think PTGui works better, but you should be CERTAIN to download the Enblend tool and set things up so it works. There's also a download for a program to automatically match up the images that usually works well.

The problem with most of the P&S cameras is that they provide you with no feedback as to shutter speed, or even give much warning when the shutter speed is too slow. So you get lots of people doing "silly" things like shooting at a tenth of a second hand-held with no flash.

 

This just won't work on a camera without image stabilization, especially when you hold the camera out in front of you so you can see the LCD instead of holding it against your face which at least helps steady it.

 

The other thing that happens is that people use the "intelligent" focusing system, which then focuses on something which is not the desired subject, but is closer or higher contrast.

 

If you want to go digital, a camera like the Canon A95 is good, since as I recall it does display the chosen shutter speed in the LCD.

 

One of the best digital cameras for someone who is considering a film SLR but can't afford a digital SLR is the Minolta A1/A2/A200 cameras. These have image stabilization, which allows slower shutter speeds, and has a 28-200 zoom lens with an electronic viewfinder. You might find a good price on the A1/A2 on Ebay - there are some refurbished A2s on the market these days in the $500-550 price range.

 

Alternatively, there is the Minolta Z5, which also has image stabilization, but is not as much of a "photographer's" camera as the A2.

 

The Canon Pro 1 is an equivalent camera, but has no image stabilization. I consider the A2 to be superior - which is why I bought one. So let me state clearly, right here, I'm biased towards the A2, so much I skipped from my Canon Pro 90 IS (which I had a Canon flash for) to the A2 and bought the Minolta high-end flash to go with it because I thought the A2 was much better than the Pro 1.

 

If you want to stay in the point & shoot range, I'd suggest either something like the A95 or else a Canon S60/S70. The Sxx cameras are really very good, they have lots of exposure control capabilities, and lots of room to "grow into". There are lots of good P&S cameras on the market, but I strongly suggest buying one with some manual exposure control and readouts unless you wouldn't really consider buying the film SLR.

 

If you really want to have a camera to grow into, consider the Canon Digital Rebel (the one that's been around for a year). That's come down to $799 list with the standard zoom lens. It weighs more than an A2, and you have to deal with dust on the sensor from time to time, and you'll spend lots of $$$'s on lenses, but it is ultimately more flexible than even an A2 or Pro 1, and will produce even nicer images (in theory).

I doubt that you will get a "real deal" in Dayton, but Click Camera is OK, as is Malone's camera.

 

Fairborn Camera is a step above, I'd say - Click is the most "consumer-oriented" of the three, Malone's is sometimes weird, sometimes good, and generally will not "deal". Fairborn caters a bit more to the "Pro" market.

 

Downtown Cincinatti has some choices too: I like Provident Camera downtown there.

Dan,

 

Minolta "optimized" the A2's writing system to work with certain CF cards they used for testing. Most likely they tested primarily with Lexar and Sandisk cards, as they are some of the most popular cards. However, I believe the Ultra II and Extreme III cards came out after the A2 CF writer was designed (which may have been back in the time of the 7 series), and the controller behaves differently.

 

Best bet, from what I read, is any Lexar CF from 12X through 40X; the premium for the 80X units isn't worth it. Even the 40X will be only marginally faster than the 12X.

It depend greatly on the CF card. Typically, Lexar and Sandisk cards are some of the fastest. Here are some timings I've gotten on my own cards:

 

Writing two RAW images:

 

Lexar 12X 512Mb - 33 seconds - 16.5/RAW

New Viking 512Mb - 35 seconds - 17.5/RAW

2003 Viking 512Mb - 88 seconds - 44/RAW

Transcend 25X 512Mb - 90 seconds - 45/RAW

Kingston 256Mb - 25 seconds - 12.5/RAW

 

You can see there's a range of 2-3 over the range of cards. As I recall, the Sandisk Extreme may be the one Sandisk card that doesn't work all that well in the A2. I just checked out a list over on DPReview (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=11881022), it looks as if the Ultra II performs well in the A2, the regular and Extreme are slower.

Multiple CF cards is a "safe" solution, but expensive. You need to come up with some idea as to how many images you think you might shoot - do you shoot twice as many digital as you used to shoot film, or what? Do you shoot RAW or JPG? From that, you should be able to get a handle on how many images, and total capacity, you might need.

 

For example, my K-M A2 holds about 120-140 images on a 512Mb CF card in "Fine" mode. About 3 rolls of film.

 

The hard drive units are very nice, but suffer from the limitation that if the hard drive fails, you lose everything. Of course, you can carry two (preferably different brands) to cover yourself.

 

The other alternative is to buy one of the units that can write your images to a CD-R or DVR disc. You can always cover yourself by writing to two discs. Even mail/Fedex home one set of discs. I have an Apacer CP-200, which is very nice for this sort of use.

 

For the easiest use, you want to have sufficient memory cards to cover you for a day, or the longest you might want to go without power (if hiking/camping). Then I'd double that. I would typically want to have at least 3 cards in whatever size you choose; for example, 3 512Mb cards.

IBM used to sell a PC Card CF II adaptor to go with their microdrives. The Delkin Cardbus 32 CF adaptor (which runs at a very high speed) takes CF II cards. The cheap $10 adaptors are not cardbus and don't run faster than about 1.5Mb/second.

 

You do realize that the Ultra II card is CF I, not CF II?

 

I've got the Sandisk USB 2 reader/writer at home, the one that's just one type of card. It works fine.

Lisa,

 

The price on PS7 is pretty hard to believe for a legit deal, as mentioned above.

 

I have PS7 and PSE 3. I'm tending towards using PSE 3 because of some of the added tools, such as photo filters, shadow/highlights, RAW image capture. I don't tend to use actions myself, or I might say that PS7 was more useful.

There is quite a bit of discussion on Michael's forum about this brush. Also, Rob Galbraith has written positively about it.

If you're coming from the bridge, don't miss checking out Tahquamenon Falls.

I've used Pair Systems, www.pair.com, for years. They have plans from $5/month to dedicated servers. And they definitely know what they are doing...

I've seen straps designed to wrap around the body of the camera to position a plunger to use the old style cable releases on the shutter button. I'd bet a place like Porters Camera would carry one...

You need to compare the trigger voltage on the flash with what the camera can handle. Also, the A1 hotshoe isn't the same as a standard shoe; it physically won't fit. The A1 does have a PC sync socket, but again, check the ratings on that.

You will probably find the Cokin filters a bit slower than circular filters for each size. On the other hand, with the Cokin (or other brand) square/rectangular filters you can change the point where the grad ND filter changes to work with your photo. With a circular grad ND you have once choice - the middle of the frame.

 

Circular NDs (non-grad) are fine, except for the advantage of sharing filters between lenses. Cokin sells hoods to fit the end of their adaptor; you aren't going to be able to use any standard hoods with a Cokin filter attached.

 

Best choice is probably the Cokin P adaptor, then go with non-Cokin grads, such as Hitech (probably the best tradeoff between price and quality). Notice that Cokin just sells "Grey NDs"; they are not particularly neutral in color.