arkin_kora

Hi There,

I am thinking about opening a photography specialized art gallery in Geneva,

Switzerland. There are several quite unexplored (commercially) niche branches of

photography that I am very enthusiastic about. These are really niche branches

that I am thinking so even if it does not make a ton of money (it won't) I still

will be OK, as this will not be my primary business.

And Geneva is a special place for photography as this small city is very rich,

values fine art and also visited by numerous individual and institutional

collectors.

Could you briefly advise me how photography galleries work ? Specifically,

- What are the rates the gallery and artist agree on ?

- How different is it in Europe than the US ?

- Since the gallery will promote its photographers, can I ask them not to work

with other galleries in Switzerland ?

Many Thanks !

Arkin

4. The biggest thing I have noticed is that they are so stressed over not having any money to even pay themselves or the bills that they are forgetting to have fun. How do I encourage them to have fun and enjoy shooting pictures.---

My suggestion is share other struggling people's stories with them. In the US, there are lots of such people. In developing countries or in the third world there are endless stories of people going through much worse situations. There is a film Born into Brothels. This is about kids in Calcutta, India who were born into brothels. Whatever negative things you name these kids face it right from their birth. Health problems, physical abuse, drugs, alcohol, smoking, theft, near slavery and of course parents who put them in the terrace of their home as they accept clients right at their home. And see how their life can change for the positive thanks to just one stubborn person.

Your friends really suffer, that I understand. But if they act like the end is nigh, then I think they gotta be shaked hard a bit. The "suffering victim" mentality is disserving them professionally and also it may lead to depression. I think it will be easy to do something -whatever it is- once this mentality is over.

This is my humble opinion.

Arkin.

Hi everyone,

I am nikon user and need to make a suggestion to a friend who wishes to buy a

sony alpha100.

Sony is a pretty nice camera but this brand has no dslr history that I know. I

heard that minolta and konica was behind this camera too but I don't know. And

there is no guarantee that there will be DSLR Sony cameras or lenses in the

future. If they make a big loss, they may just stop operations.

My friend wants sony because he found a good deal that nikon dealers can or will

not match.

Would you go for sony get body + two lenses or go for nikon + one lens ?

(Assuming lenses are somehow equal)

Thanks !

Hi Guys,

A friend asked me about Sony A100 and it seems to be a good camera. Since I do

not associate the name sony with dslr I wanted to ask your suggestions.

What is the equivalent of a100 in other manufacturers ?

Which one would you choose ?

I returned back home today and while uploading my images -to my astonishment- I

realized my Transcend Compact Flash 2GB 80x memory unit contained many previous

images taken in the past on various occasions.

These were not visible in the camera monitor but only on the computer. I noticed while

traveling that my 2GB card would take only 52 raw images and that that was strange

because it should take more photos. Anyway now it is sorted that transcend gave me a

good surprise where sandisk never did before !

And I was told that transcend was made by nikon or a company close to nikon ! whatever it

is, I say be careful with this brand.

Now I formatted the card to see if i will have any further problems.

A long time ago I also bought a sigma 70-300 (with no macro) and though I enjoyed this lens as an amateur now I never use this lens.

We all have our choices, and I am not a zoom lover except my 28-70 f/2.8. Zoom lenses look very attractive as one thinks they are worth several lenses and you save a lot but it is not, at least not my taste. I would definitely prefer fixed fl lenses.

Enjoy your sigma, don't worry. I had some pretty nice photos with it.

Now instead of sigma, I use a Nikon 180 mm f/2.8 as a telephoto, it is devastating, addictive ! I sometimes lick the lens, talk to it and touch it in a different way when my girlfriend is not around... :-) Joking !

Now I am dying for a 14mm f/2.8 but Nikon TR does not have it...for months. Grrrrrrrrr !

I say go for the better lens than the better camera. For general use, a D50 will not take much different photos than a D2X. The difference is the ease of use, WB, ISO settings, tougher body, faster shutter speeds and many other functions etc. but for great photos you need vision and lenses more than a great body.

I believe all of Nikon's cameras are great for general use. Of course if you have a specific use or need (i.e. superior focusing ability) or shoot in raw format then d200 should be perfect. It is a great camera.

However, you will pay $1000 extra by choosing D200 over D70 and with that money you can get at least one top quality lens. I would personally go for the fastest lens available for daily use and steer clear from an f/4 but this is the viewpoint of an amateur who shoots almost daily.

Anyway, you will not go wrong with Nikon so get what you want and enjoy it :-)

I often had numerous problems with Nikon software on my Mac whether it was Nikon Capture trial version or the Nikon viewer.

I do not like PS, has too many features, takes a lot of time to learn the program, couldn't get proper colors and sharpness in RAW format with D100 & also does not give full access to WB data with D2X.

I use Phase One's Capture One for raw processing, it does such a great job. Would strongly recommend the free trial version. They also have a limited edition.

Hi Everyone,

A recent photo of my fellow office workers showed distortions,

especially on the top areas of the photo. From this I understand that

if u shoot people with this lens, it is important to keep their heads

towards the center.

My q is will there be that much distortion on the sides too ? I don't

mind some distortion but when people's heads are distorted it looks

weird :-)

How can I learn more about this distortion issue ? I want to make sure

that when I shoot people I will have at least some idea about where am

I going to come across unpleasant distortion ? 40mm guide sheet

contains little info.

I wanted to post the photo here but could not see how to do it.

Thanks

Arkin

Hi Guys,

I want use to use my Hasselblad 501CM for taking nighttime cityscapes.

Yet I have no idea how to determine exposure since all I have is a handheld sekonic

lightmeter and it will not correct exposure over long distances, or at least I think so.

I am shooting with film so trial and error will not be a practical option. I am sure a digital

back is a wonderful solution but I think it is too expensive and a bit out-of-league for an

amateur.

Any advice ???

Thanks

Hi Guys,

I've read all about how the Hasselblads were infallible, this and

that. Now my 501CM is stuck. The shutter is not functioning, when

pressed it pushes in but does not click. There are no other parts

jammed.

The Hasselblad importer in Istanbul could not solve it and the

camera was taken to a recommended service shop who said they would

examine it right away but 2 hours later these guys changed their

minds and said they did not check it because they needed to

disassemble the camera and that I should leave it at least for one

day.

I was not comfortable with their double talk so I did not leave my

camera.

I just tried to fix the left screw behind the shutter leaf as

described in the link from a photo.net article but it did not work.

If anyone can give me a suggestion I'll work on it, otherwise I'll

have to take my camera to this repair shop again, and honestly I

don't want it.

Thanks,

Arkin

I am taking a 1 year online photo course and we were just given an assignment to shoot a purple colored object.

It is difficult to find purple objects and more difficult to shoot them. I tried several objects but could not succeed to capture the essence of the color and just like in your case, purple appeared blue. Other students (mostly serious amateurs) did get some nice tones of purples though !

Maybe Nikon color sensor is a bit disadvantaged in capturing great tones of purple but still I think we should be able to get some nice tones.

It would be funny not to be able to capture purple ! A punishment from the gods of photography to Nikon users :-)

If I tell this to my girlfriend she will have fun with me all the time saying she could lend me her Sony point and shoot !

Great q, waiting for all answers !

Thank you all for your help and answers. I appreciate it.

I will call UPS and FedEx today. By the way, I am very surprised to learn about Nikon Canada.

Hi,

I guess I should have stated before why I put my complaint here. Nikon does not have hundreds of lenses. I read that 14mm is an important photojournalism lens and that I would definitely expect Nikon Turkiye to keep one of each lens in stock. At least, Nikon Japan should have asked these guys to do so. We are not taking about selling Lamborghinis in snowy winter days but just a high quality lens.

I am upset because I value Nikon and it seems I had too much expectations from Nikon. Yes, my complaint is weird in a way because it does not answer or solve anything. But actually, I think it does. At least it shows that even Nikon could not be totally trusted in delivering its products.

Suppose you fly from North America to Istanbul for 15 days and your lens is broken. Now that you have come all this way and since you will eventually have to buy a good lens anyway, would you not wish to be able to buy it here ? If you went to Nikon itself and they were to tell you "Sorry" would you not feel weird ???

And regarding customs issue, the lens will be kept at the customs area. They will keep the item and mail me a tiny, tiny note. If this note does not reach me (postal service is not that reliable here) then I would probably never hear about this lens again. Should I receive this not,e I need to travel to somewhere with lots of traffic and no parking spaces and get in a huge line to star a highly bureaucratic process. It will take half a day for me and I have no idea how much they will ask for me to pay. Things are not yet that civilized here.

New York is 11 hour flight from here and I am in desperate need of this lens for a commercial project. Or I can buy a lens I do not wish to buy, the 12-24mm f/4 DX.

In eseence, Nikon could do much better than this. They craft wonderful equipment but the logistics is no good here !

Hi Everyone,

Now that I lost my hope with Nikon Turkiye (see previous posting) , I

will order it from B&H and then wear an armor and go to customs

department to battle for this lens.

The 14mm uses gelatin filters but I have no experience with gels. (I

use Cokin P type rectangular filters - Can I use these with 14mm ?) If

not, am I required to shape gels myself ? What size should I get

(3x3) ? And why do they have no classic filters such as polarizing

filters ?

Many q's. Thanks a lot, I wish you terrific photo-moments !

I have been trying to get a 14mm f/2.8 wide angle for over 30 days.

I was told in mid January that they would receive the lens at the end

of the month and it's now mid February and they say they do not know

when or if they will receive the lens. And this is Nikon Turkiye, not

a dealer. I am UPSET.

Is this such a weird lens to carry in stock ?? I mean I did not ask

for a "Teddy Bear" edition 800mm, gold plated and spiritually

protected by a seasoned shaman !

I could order it directly from B&H but then I'll have customs problems.

Shame on Nikon, what can I say ?

Why bother non-existant ethical and legal issues if you are not going to damage the fish and their environment ? I once took an UW photo course and we were feeding fish all the time.

Fish will come to you if you are a good diver. They are very curious about who visits their house yet do not like divers who move like they are practicing chinese kung-fu. Be still, silent and bouyant and they will come and play with your bubbles. Indeed I once had to change my way to avoid a barracuda.

The problem with diving is that Open Water divers who can hardly control their bouyancy are let to dive among corals as diving industry does not wish to say stop to their customers. 40-50 percent of divers are underwater tourists sheepishly diving with little idea about their bouyancy, dangling accessories and are over consuming air while having little or no understanding of currents. Then of course, they create havoc down there. I stopped diving so as not to dive with such people.

Your query, especiaily the legal q made me feel as if you will do something damaging to them. I feed cats and birds in my garden all the time. What's wrong with feeding fish ? Are you gonna harpoon or dynamite them after supper ?

Hi everyone,

I know little about Macro lenses so want ask about them. We call them

macro but Nikon's web site uses the names micro and macro. Any ideas ?

Apart from focal distance what is the difference between macro

capabilities of different lenses ?

I have an old 28-85 mm zoom lens that I do not use. This has macro

capability too. Will there be difference between this lens and the new

ones ?

The new 105 mm macro looks nice to me too since I think I can shoot

nice portraits with this lens.

Do you have any suggestions ?

Thanks !

I have started to shoot RAW recently so my answer will not be expert opinion but I had my struggle among various software tested.

PS CS2 was the worst. I had sharpness and color problems. When I called Nikon to ask about it they told me Nikon and PS software uses different algorithms so I would be better off with Nikon or Phase One software.

Then I tried the trial versions of NC and Phase One.

On my Mac NC crashed many times and as stated, is limited in abilities. So, I do not use it.

Phase One's Capture One, on the other hand is very simple to use and I found it much more suitable for photographers than PS which has too many functions. Phase One's browser is a bit weird but otherwise it is a wonderful program.

My suggestion, get the trial versions and see.

Indeed I am going to buy Phase One these days.

Note : If you get a Nikon D2X, it is not fully compatible with CS2. There is an issue about WB and before uploading images you need to choose a WB setting in a small window. I also use Phase One because my second body is a D2X.

Hi All,

First, I wanted to thank the photo.net community members who answered

my previous q's about shooting in extremely cold weather.

I came back recently from Siberia and tested my D-100 & 28-70mm f/2.8

lens within a temperature range fron -25 C to -47 C. To my surprise, I

did not have any problems with the SLR, lens, lcd screen or the

batteries. Indeed the D-100 is very battery friendly. I could hardly

imagine a power hungry D2X in those conditions, sucking batteries one

after another.

However, I had a big problem with my fingers. I was wearing my

snowboard gloves which consisted of a thin inner glove and a thick

outer one. I could not shoot with gloves most of the time and when I

removed them I could not stay more than a couple of minutes. I tried

wearing just the inner gloves but they were too thick for camera and

too thin for weather.

Many times, I felt severe pain and in one instance I felt my nails

were being pulled out and had a 30 min suffering afterwards ! If

someone tortures me then I'll them to start with my nails since I had

that much experience :-)

Because of pain I did something I should regret but could not. I

walked indoors/into the car without putting the camera in a bag. There

was condensation in every case but nothing bad happened to the camera

as of now.

The trip was wonderful and unforgettable. Also I understood the

importance of shooting RAW, a format that I've recently started to shoot.

If you are going to shoot in extremely cold weather think about your

fingers first and find a solution. I have no solutions as of now but

next time I will get a pair of mittens. When my fingers lose the

ability to move due to pain or numbness then I can wear mittens in 2

secs and warm my hands for some minutes. Then I can recontinue

shooting. Gloves are hard to wear when your fingers are not fully

functional, at least my snowboard gloves !

I also think that thin silk gloves may be helpful ? After 10-15

minutes in cold the camera became sooo cold that I did not wish to

touch it. Some motorcycle gloves for winter have some kind of a thin,

silk inner glove which could be very helpful.

Another suggestion is to make your body get used to cold. You may try

holding ice among your fingers. I noticed that your body adjusts to

cold very very quickly though some Siberian toughness to cold can be

accumulated probably only after a full winter. Now, every time I take

a hot shower, it ends in cold water and I like it !

-- I understand there are many pros who had experienced much more than

I did so pls take my posting as one from a serious amateur to another

serious amateur.

Hi Everyone,

I have been looking for a 14mm f/2.8 wide angle and also a good macro

lens in Istanbul. Nikon TR does not have this lens for some time and I

am thinking about traveling to some other country for photo shopping.

So, it will be like seeing a new country and shopping too.

Can u advice me in which country can I find good gear at good prices ?

I checked prices in germany and they were a lot more expensive than

here. It seems Euro zone has no good prices.

I can go as far as Hong Kong. Do they have good prices there for

trustworthy equipment ?

Thanks !

Could u suggest me if I need to protect my camera (Nikon D100) and

lenses in extremely cold weather ?

I will be in Moscow and then in Siberia soon and may come across

weather as cold as -40 degrees Celsius (-40 F)