process

I have an 80-200/f2.8 which is heavier than your normal "kit" lens. And when using it on my D80, no brainer, I do as everyone has mentioned: hang on to the camera by the lens.

About the only time I´d need to let the lens hang freely is when I have to operate the camera with both hands, for example to set ISO or WB. I´ve found that many times sitting the lens on my lap works nicely for this scenario. But other times you´re not able to (think when you want to change ISO quickly for moving subjects.

Anyone know any neat tricks for when you can´t sit down to change ISO and need to support a heavier lens?

Seeing Abhijit's comment, I can't help but wonder. What is it that people do to hard drives? =)

I've known several people over the years who have hard drives crash. They buy another, and while later it crashes. Another... and they crash it. Another, and another crash.

In my case I've had only one crash, and it was a factory recalled WD drive. The rest of the drives have performed for years and continue to perform without any trouble... on PCs that stay on for at least 15-20 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have no voltage regulation or UPS installed.

They're your regular off the shelf $100 hard drives, and they perform until they're totally obsolete and need to be replaced 'cause nothing more fits in there.

There's no universal response really. It depends a whole lot on your specific needs and habits.

Difference between Mac and PC: Mac is radically more expensive and has less generic low cost hardware than PC does. Mac, I've been told, tends to outperform PC when it comes to high-end graphics work and is simpler to learn and use. I've been a PC user all my life and that probably won't change in the future.

I have 1 Gb of RAM on my machine and 30 Gb of working space (drive is a 60 gig, applications take up 30). That's usually enough given the most I'll bring back from a shoot is 1-2 Gb of photos. The shots I decide to work on get stored on the drive, the ones I decide to archive get sent to a DVD-R unit.

It's worth saying my work is purely amateur/recreational. If you're doing professional work on a day-to-day basis your mileage may vary.

I run a Linux system and Gimp has been my "complex graphics editing" tool for a few years now. I have to say that, unfortunately, the people who have commented that gimp is lacking have a point. Many filters you find on ps are unavailable on gimp, the interface is a bit complicated...

I've also found that while X does it's job quite well, monitor calibration and mouse response tends to be a bit coarse for my taste. Then there's the issue of printing. Getting a high-end graphics printer to respond correctly under linux is almost impossible.

IMHO gimp is great for basic graphics work: web design and illustration and such, but for digital photography unfortunately PS still rules.

Here's a diagram of voltage measurement I took with the unit (550FD MPO) fully charged. Guess this one's trigger goes at 9V right?

<img src="http://www.celeridad.net/550fd-voltages.jpg">

Hi,

Got my D80 in the mail this past week, and I'm still playing around with it,

trying to figure out all the functions and switches.

While looking through desk drawers, I found an old Vivitar 550FD flash, which

was originally used with a Pentax film SLR.

The thing's at least 15 years old, but it still fires correctly when placed on

the Pentax.

Which begs the question: is the flash worth trying out on the D80? Are the

voltages/contact geometry/etc compatible?

Greetings,

After much reading and browsing, I've finally set my sights on a Canon EOS400D

as my choice for going from compact to SLR.

The only question that remains regards the lens. So far I have little real-world

experience with lenses, and really have no clue as to which ones perform better

or worse.

My interest is currently landscape/architectural and "everyday life"

photography. With my current 35mm my main complaint is low light performance.

When the light starts to dim, I either have to activate the flash and burn out

areas of the shot, or simply set the camera down and rely on long exposure

times, which generates noise. I would like to minimize that annoyance with the SLR.

Canon offers an EOS400D kit with an EFS 18-55 mm lens, which I'm thinking would

be a good startup option, and when I get the "feel" for where the setup is

lacking, I'd jump to a more suitable lens combination.

Can anyone comment on the EFS 18-55 lens? Is it a half-decent option, or one of

those bundles that tends to cause more trouble than it's worth?