david-m

Well to reiterate, the focussing seems perfect, it is only very very rarely that it refuses to

focus at all (does not search, whirrr, move, nada). I think it is a contact with lens issue (just

a wild guess). Next time it happens I am going to just re-seat the lens straight away and

see if this is the cause. Hopefully this 'next time' is in another 2/3 months!

Apart from this (rare) problem, I think this is a great camera that has served me really well

so far.

David

Thanks Bill, if/when this happens again I will try remounting the lens, although this time I

just shook the whole camera around a bit, and then it worked again. Although this has

only happened half a dozen times in the past 12 months (of heavy use) it is still pretty

irritating, but I am not too concerned.

David

Does anyone ever get a problem with a D2X in that it refuses to auto focus; in other words

nothing happens when I depress the shutter release, then after a few minutes of turning

off and on it works fine again? Seems to happen kind of once every couple of months.

Otherwise the camera works fine. BTW only ever had this problem with a 17-55 but then

again that is the lens that is on the camera most of the time.

Any thoughts (apart from send it back to nikon!).

Thanks

David

Hi,

I have been booked to take some actors portraits in small ante-rooms in theatres (just

before they perform). The rooms are about 10 feet by 8 feet and 7 feet high (I know, tiny!).

I want these to be really well lit and am worried that my Elinchrons will bounce all

over the place and give me flat dull light.

One thought I had was to place black velvet on

the background and side wall (as an absorber) and just use one small soft-box quite close

to give a hardish side light, thinking that the other side of the face will be filled by the

reflected (from the ceilings, other walls etc). Could this work - maybe for a moody shot?

Or, should I just encourage the bouncing light, use a white background and make a no-

shadow kind of shot? I would just be concerned with unwanted shadows on the

background and light

spill coming from any backlight (that I would use to light the background).

Or

just use a snoot? Any suggestions how to cope with this kind of small space really

welcomed. As you can see I'm pretty confused!

Many thanks.

David

Talking of the extra fifth battery - for the life of me I just can't remove the lid to be able to

slide in the fifth battery holder. Any ideas of how to do it (I've read the instructions but

feel

I will snap the hinge off if I prise it back too far).

Thanks

David

Thanks Shiver, maybe I will think about the octa for while longer .....

David

Could anyone tell me how easy and quick (or slow!) it is to set up an Elinchrom Octa -

especially if I am doing it without an assistant? I find it difficult enough just setting up my

normal large Elinchrom softbox! But ... I am very tempted to buy one, as I am always

impressed by the versatility and quality of light they give.

Any thoughts really welcomed.

Thanks

David

Sorry if this is something that you have already dismissed, but I recently bought a Sigma

10-20 for my D2X and the results are truly superb, with excellent sharpness and contrast.

It is also really well made, solid and professional feeling. I thought it was more useful for

me than a 12-24 as I already own the 17-55 and wanted something really wide (which this

is!). Also it was a great price (about 325 GDP as opposed to 750 for the nikon 12-24).

Regards

David

Also - is there a better/alternative way to easily keyword images (without having to open

each image and go to File Info).

Thanks

david

This is driving me nuts. I am keywording hundreds of photos for my Stock agency using

Bridge. It kind of works fine most of the time but occassionally Bridge will crash and

although the keywords are saved with each image, most of the keyword folders and lists

are lost. This is absolutely infuriating as it takes ages to make these individual folders.

Anyone have similar troubles and what to suggest.

Thanks

David

Very slightly OT but years ago whilst cycling through a small town in Nepal I watched a

guy (I guess it was the owner) of a small photo lab, step out of his shop with a still-wet

roll of processed film and then dry it off by rubbing it on the back of his shirt - essentially

imitating the action of drying his back with a towel after a shower.

Ha ha ha

David

I think you are expecting too much to get decent lab results from these places. IMHO, it is

only 5 weeks and a few doses of scanner x-rays will be absolutely fine. I returned last year

from 6 months on the road in South America with all my slide film from day one - all

unprocessed - as I couldn't find a decent looking lab (even in Buenos Aires). I was cycling,

but in the end with stop overs/ changes of planes etc I took 6 seperate flights. I honestly

cannot see any difference from first to last roll of Provia F (using two M6s. On other trips I

sent film home (from Pakistan it arrived unprocessed 3 months after I posted it, and once

in Argentina I gave 4 films to a friend to bring back who was returning home two months

before me, and she had her bag stolen). The only hassle is the bulk and weight of 100

films, but worth hanging on to them for the security.

Anyway, have fun.

David<div></div>

I have found my 28 cron to be absolutely sharp from centre to edge, and even wide open it

is still pretty astonishing. This is my most used and favoutire lens. The Nikon 5000

scanner will allow you to selectively focus wherever you want, so check it this way.

David

Hey, great site Thanks!

David

Thanks for the answers, I will look at the sites suggested. Ross, I know all about DOF and

was not confusing anything - thanks all the same.

David

I want to get an 85mm to use wide-open (for very selective DOF on portraits) for my D2X,

ideally the 1.4 if they would drop the price by �400. So, how much different is the DOF

between the 1.8 and 1.4 anyone? Guess the quality is roughly the same at this kind of

aperture -a little soft?

Thanks so much.

David

I use my D2X (presumably similar to the D200) with Elinchrom 500 flash units. Don't worry

about the synch voltage, and normally I leave the WB on auto for the Elinchrom flash, and

this seems to give consistantly excellent results.

Have fun

David

I have used the little 308 for years on big expedition trips (on my bicycle) all over the

world - and it has been perfect. I also have had 2 608s that have refused to work properly

even though they never left the studio? Arrgghh!

Stay with the beautifully simply and cheap 308.

David

I travelled around for a month on my bicycle and if you are into this idea then it's a

fantastic way to travel and see the bits 'inbetween' the tourist areas. I think that if you rent

a car you can get to any remote bit you want easily but actually if I was to do it again

(without a bicycle) then I would hitch rides (busses, trucks, private cars). The people are

really welcoming and it would be a constantly good way to meet them and take photos.

There are cheap places to stay all over the Island - you just need to ask the locals.

Enjoy.

David

With two M6TTLs for three weeks in Bolivia with temperatures ranging from plus 15 each

day to minus 20 degrees C each night (and sleeping in a tent), I found the only problem I

had was snapping three

rolls of Kodak E100G film midway through the roll (I presume because it was minus 20

degrees).

I was with someone whose 'fresh' Nikon film camera batteries died at about 4pm the first

afternoon and was unable to use the camera! (That was not to say anything against Nikon

- I own and use one myself).

David

So what is happening is - when I batch scan slides (using Nikon 5000 and SF210) with

Nikon Scan, it embeds 16 bit info that does not seem to be able to be changed with PS,

but if I batch scan though Twain in PS it converts to 8 bit with no problems.

Trouble is that when I use Twain through PS, I am unable to check the box that 'saves to

file' in the Nikon prefs, so that they the new scans (130mb) pile up on the desktop until

the computer freezes (I have 1.5GB of RAM). Aaaargghh. Surely someone must use the

batch slde feeder with the nikon 5000 and a G5 with CS2 - surely.

Any thoughts please.

Thanks

David

I am just converting and saving, so it's the same image in the same folder. The library

specifically asks for 8 bit, as this is what a printer would require from someone who buys

it. if it is a 16 bit image at (say) 50mb then the client or library may reject it as being too

small when converted down to 8 bit for printing.

This is driving me crazy, as I have spent weeks doing this same proceedure with no

problems. Just baffles me.

Regards

David

I have been happily converting scanned 16 bit images into 8 bit (using PS CS2 on a Mac

G5) until today. In PS under image-mode, it confirms that I have converted to 8 bit, but

when veiwed through bridge it says I still have a 16 bit image. Duh, any ideas. I have tried

saving, closing down bridge and re-opening but still says 16 bit, even though it also

shows it as being half the file size of the 16 bit image.

Any ideas please, as I want to submit some images to a stock library and I am concerned

they will veiw it on (eg) Bridge and see it as a 16 bit image, so reject it

Thanks

David

Every couple of years I take 6 months off and travel around with my cameras, Provia and a

bicycle. I can honestly say that even though there should be a problem, I can see no

difference in the film I shot in January in Patagonia and the film I shot in Bolivia in July. All

carried in my bag (through 30 degrees plus and 20 degrees below), and all developed back

home. And I like to thnk I am pretty particular about quality.

Good luck

David