teru

What I really should have asked is: which brand/products are generally used?

I've recently taken up wakeboarding as a hobby and would like to take my camera

with me to shoot some of my friends doing their magic. What's the best way to

protect my body (D70) and lens (probably the 18-200mm or a loaned 70-200mm

f/2.8) from the splashing water? In the past, I've used hotel shower caps while

on vacation, but is there something more sturdy?

What's the most effective way of reducing the noise (both long

exposure and high ISO) in photos taken with a D70? Should I use a

combination of in-camera reduction + software or just software? So

far, I've been using the first method with pretty good results, but

sometimes I miss out on important shots because my camera is locked

up during the NR. I've tried disabling the NR and soley using PS CS2

to remove the noise but the results have been mixed. Maybe I'm using

the wrong settings?

 

<P>BTW, I know that Noise Ninja is the Golden Boy of NR, but due to

certain constraints, I can't install it on my work PC.

A bit off topic here, but how about Water Bead photos? What focal length would be better, 105mm or 180mm?

 

<P>By "water bead" I'm referring to those macro shots of droplets of water sprayed onto a glass surface, thus making dozens of reflections of the objects behind the glass.

"To me there is no one universal macro lens and if you have to make a choice you should chose base one on your shooting habits and size of your subjects. Best luck, Mark"

 

Good point. In the long run, I'll probably need more than 1 macro lens. I think I'll pick up the 105mm for flower shots and then maybe somewhere down the line I'll pick up a 180mm or 200mm for close-up insect shots.

Thanks for all the great samples. Nice to see what can be done at ~105mm.

Just when I nailed it down to 2 choice, Nikon goes and ups the ante with the VR version.

 

Hmm, I wonder if that means the 70-300mm VR rumors were true?

On my D70, it becomes a 270mm. Ok for bugs, but might be too much for flowers.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't any stores around here (HK) that let you try out a lens. You pretty much have to commit to the one you buy (unless it's broken, in which case the store will replace it with the same model).

I'm in the market for a macro lens for my film and digital SLRs. I've

narrowed down my choices to the <B>105mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor</B>

and the <B>Sigma 180mm F3.5 EX DG</B>.

 

<P>The deciding factor for me isn't the brand but the focal range. I

plan to shoot mainly flower and insect shots and the 105mm seems more

suitable for the former while the 180mm is for the latter. A friend

of mine advised that I go with the 180mm, his argument being that

while a 180mm can shoot the same things as a 105mm (by taking a few

steps back), the same can't be said about the 105mm for matching the

180mm.

 

<P>I've read mostly stellar reviews of both lenses so I'm at a

crossroads now as to which lens to choose. Since I don't have much

macro experience, I can't say for sure which lens would be more

useful to me.

 

<P>Any advice or comments on either lens would be greatly

appreciated.

Ah sorry, missed that thread.

 

Still, it seems that they merely flipped the the protection from the photographers to the voters. Sure, the voters are protected from retaliation, but now the phographers are wide open to unreasonable attacks.

 

But then again, I guess it's impossible to come up with a system to keep the faith on both sides. And in any case, I think the comments and critiques are what really matter.

...for a while now I've been wondering why the Rate Recent Photos only count the annoymous votes. Seems to me that a majority of annoymous voters tend to give much lower marks than Members do. Wouldn't it be better to just count Member votes? I think too many people are hiding behind the annoymous mask to purposesly lower other people's ratings. And it doesn't seem to be personal; it seems that some of these people are just giving low points for the sake of lowering down everyone else's rate (so that they seem higher by comparison?).

Could anyone point me to a webpage that explains all the different

types of lens for the major brands (Nikon, Canon, Sigma...)? I'm

trying to consolidate a table that contains explanations of what L,

ED, SP, USM, AF-S, etc. lenses are and I want to get things right. I

guess I could go to each maker's homepage, but ideally I'd like to

find a webpage that does comparisons between the different grades

(like how an "L" compares to an "ED").

 

Thanks.