john_flores2

<p>Colin, RAID is not a backup but it does offer redundancy against drive failure (except RAID 0 IIRC). So it does provide data security. But as you suggest, don't mistake it for a backup, which ideally is stored in a different location in case of fire, flood, or other acts of God.<br>

Mark, I looked into the Drobo attached to my iMac via FW800, but I read that there's a bottleneck in the Drobo controller card. It may not be debilitating for photography, but I do some video now and then, and in those situations throughput is critical. I ended up buying a Western MyBook 4Tb drive. It's a double-wide enclosure that houses two 2Tb drives that can be configured for RAID 1. It's actually sitting next to an older Western Digital 2Tb drive that houses two 1Tb drives. That one <strong>is</strong> configured RAID 1 and it holds my Lightroom catalog and photo files. It runs plenty fast, the only serious delay is that it's a green drive that spins down when not being used, so when it needs to start back up you can hear it spinning up to speed.<br>

HTH<br>

john</p>

 

<p>Because it's there? ;)</p>

<p>Mozy didn't work for me - I could never get a complete upload before some technical glitch hit. While it might work for someone with tens of gigabytes to backup, I have over a terabyte and that was just too much. Until upload speeds improve, I think we'll be stuck with sneakernet.</p>

<p>very cool! well done!</p>

<p>Duffy was speaking of Avedon and Penn with begrudging admiration because they had pushed the frontiers of photography that Duffy had considered but did not himself explore or discover.</p>

<p>And while I won't debate whether photography died in 1972, I can understand the sentiment. I was reminded of that when I saw Robert Frank's <em>The Americans</em> at the National Gallery last year. There's so much photography being produced today that can be linked quite directly to the seminal work produced by Frank, HCB, and other pioneers. Even the categories in forums like this reflect this connection to the past - street/documentary, fashion, landscapes, portrait, macro, etc...</p>

<p>For me, the visually new and exciting stuff appears to be happening elsewhere. I welcome the introduction of video features in dSLRs because it may unlock a whole new avenue of creativity.</p>

<p>It's funny, I once had a Nikon 50mm/F.1.4 that felt too long for everyday shooting, but don't feel the same way about the DA40.That said, I've got the DA35/2.8 Macro Limited mounted most of the time these days, but only because the DA40 is my wife's lens, officially speaking. You may want to consider the DA35, some people speak of it in hushed tones:<br>

http://www.photo.net/columns/mjohnston/pentax-35mm-lens/optical-discussion/<br>

I do have the DA21 and it was my default lens for a while, but I found it a bit too wide for my everyday use. YMMV. I guess it depends on what you plan to shoot. As someone who crops more often than wishing they had shot wider, the DA40 works for me. It's also a very fast-focusing lens in the Pentax world, FWIW.</p>

 

<p>Hey Simon,<br>

There's something liberating about shooting with a smaller camera, especially if it's white or red LOL! Seriously, you walk out the door with a different mindset if you've got the K-x with a Pentax prime pancake versus a FF with a big zoom. In a way it feels less serious, less "I've got to take photos that are worthy of this camera." Which in fact is a bit of a ruse, since the K-x is capable of very good photography, especially if you feel less self-conscious about the camera you are carrying or lugging around as the case may be.</p>

<p>What will you miss? The viewfinder for sure, and the feeling of handling a very serious, imposing bit of kit. The K-x doesn't have the street cred that the 5dII has among photogs, so you'll just have to earn it with your results.</p>

<p>And while Hin may advocate for the white, I say go all the way to 11 - get the red!<br>

<a href=" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2569/4183566402_0da926a963.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /> </a><br>

One thing that we do agree on is the fact that the DA40 and all the Limited Pancakes make great companions to the diminutive K-x. Ultimately, you'll be quite surprised at what this little camera can do...good luck in your decision!</p>

<p>Picture's a little overexposed, but I think it's a widget. Or maybe a thingamabob.</p>

<p>Hey Marty, definitely try 2 second timer with mirror lock up. The timer also turns off Shake Reduction, which is recommended when you are using a tripod.<br>

Come to think of it, Shake Reduction with a tripod may be the source of your lack of sharpness. I've stitched 360 degree handheld panoramics with a kit lens and a 6Mp Nikon D70. They were pretty sharp. The K20d plus your Sigma lenses should be even sharper.<br>

Also, if you are shooting RAW, understand that unlike JPEGS no sharpening has been applied. So a little sharpening is PP can help a lot.<br>

Good luck!</p>

<p>Hey Marty,<br>

Quick follow-up....I just looked at your portfolio. Resolution is low so I can't say much about sharpness. But you have some nice shots there - good composition and good light. Good luck in whatever direction you choose.</p>

<p>Hey Marty,<br>

I don't mean any disrespect, but your question about bokeh suggests that you're pretty new to photography. Before you go and drop some serious $$$ on some new glass or switching to a new system, can we review and make sure that you have some of the basics covered?</p>

<ul>

<li>Are you shooting when the light is good? midday haze is not good</li>

<li>Are you stopping down your lenses? The Sigma 10-20 can be soft wide open, but like most lenses, gets sharper when stopped down. It's a different lens at F11 than at F4.</li>

<li>Are you supporting your camera? A good, stable tripod can help a bunch. The K20d also performs a mirror lock-up on any timed shutter release 2 seconds and longer to help control vibration.</li>

<li>Do you have any cheap UV filters in the way? For the ultimate in sharpness, remove any extra glass.</li>

<li>there are probably more tips that dedicated landscape and macro photographers can provide...</li>

</ul>

<p>I've owned the K20d and the Sigma 10-20 but never used them together. They are both capable of very good images. And as another mentioned, it sounds like the "resolution" of the canvas may be the greatest limiting factor after your own skills.<br>

Forgive me if you know all of this, I just want to make sure. Better equipment can only help so much.</p>

<p>Another option...<br>

If you want to use your Leica glass, consider a Panasonic G1. It will mount Leica glass with an adaptor. Strictly speaking it's not a dSLR since it replaces the mirror (the Reflex part) with an electronic viewfinder. But your professor may accept it since you still need to use a viewfinder. I'd ask your professor before buying.<br>

And if your photojournalism education also includes video - more and more journalists are being asked to produce video as well - then consider the Panasonic GH1. It's like the G1 except for the fact that it shoots HD video. You may not need that in this class but maybe sometime soon?<br>

I'm also with the camp that believes that you will probably buy more gear when you graduate. With that in mind, the Panasonics can always serve as your personal gear and you'll always have a home for your Leica glass.<br>

Good luck!</p>

 

<p>Joe, I use Me.com to synchronize my work files between an iMac and a Macbook Pro. I also have access to the files on my iPhone and netbook so I can review a PDF or Word doc while on the road. But this is for my work docs (MS Office, PSDs, etc...) not for my gigantic Lightroom catalog where I've got tens of thousands of images. I think I pay ~$100 per year for 20Gig of synchronized cloud storage.<br>

This solution may or may not be workable, depending on how big your LR catalog is and the size of the directory with all your images.</p>

<p>I own a K20d and my wife just got a K-x and frankly, the K-x is a revelation. It's smaller, locks focus more reliably, and snags the shot in low light where I'd be struggling for focus and noise control on the K20d. The info screen is so well thought out that I don't miss the top display at all, and holding down the Av button gives you a virtual second dial/wheel. I figure that I can work 90% as quickly with the K-x as I do with the K20d and will probably get quicker with time. And the IQ of all dSLRs is good these days. Put 10 low ISO prints from 10 different dSLRs on a table and you'd be hard-pressed to say, "this is Nikon D3", "this is Canon 70d", "this is Pentax K-x", etc...<br>

If Pentax put some weather sealing on the K-x and added a visual display of the focus point I'd buy two without batting an eyelash, attach them to my DA* zooms, and roam the world.<br>

FWIW, I'm not a pixel peeper and shoot raw.</p>

<p>I had a D70 and a 50/F1.4. It was good in low light, but the paper thin DOF didn't work well with moving subjects. For me, the K-x with the high ISO + image stabilization (SR in Pentaxspeak) + F2.8 is much more useful.</p>

<p>White Pentax K-x with 18-55 kit lens is down to $510 with promotional code.<br>

http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2009/12/hot-deal-alert-pentax-kx-w1855mm-white-for-510.html</p>

 

<p>Taken with Pentax K-x with DA 18-55 F3.5-5.6 ALII kit lens @ 35mm.<br /> ISO 6400<br /> F 5.6<br /> 1/8s<br /> imported into Lightroom as a RAW and exported without any adjustments<br /> <a href=" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4187159056_a4a71f4798.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /> </a> <br /> BTW, I forgot to mention that the Pentax K-x has Shake Reduction (SR) built into the body. That's worth 1-2 stops. Add in the high ISO performance (another 1-2 stops) and you've got 2-4 stops extra latitude to capture a shot. It reduces (but does not eliminate) the need for ultra-fast glass. The photo above was taken with the kit lens @ F5.6.<br>

K-x's with the kit lens can now be had for a shade over $500.</p>

<p>The Pentax K-x is hard to ignore. I just bought one and am very impressed with its low light capabilities. I went to my nephew's birthday party and they turned out the lights when they lit the five candles on his cake. The photos I took at 6400 ISO are surprisingly clean, requiring little to no noise reduction.</p>

<p>look at the water- and cold-resistant Pentax K-7 matched with equally weather-resistant zooms.<br>

<br /> For $2k you can get the K-7 and either the DA* 16-50/F2.8 or DA* 50-135/F2.8 OR both weather-resistant kit lenses (18-55 and 50-200) plus a flash.<br>

<br /> For $5k you can get the K-7, the DA* 16-50/F2.8, the DA* 50-135/F2.8 and the DA* 60-250/F4 and even have money left over for a battery grip and flash.</p>

<p>The movie still has a very cool cast and very muted colors. Try overlaying a Cooling Filter (80) at 100% density on top of the photo and then turning down the Saturation -25. That should get you in the ballpark.</p>

Ricoh GX 100 has interval capability down to 5 seconds and for undress of photos. There is also an AC adaptor that you

can - with some other gear - probably plug into something like a 12v car battery if you wish.

 

You can also maximize the internal battery by setting the camera to manual focus and manual exposure and turning off the

rear LCD. I've managed hundreds of 5s interval shots this way on a motorcycle this way - maybe 2 hours of riding.

 

You might also consider motion sensor triggers

<p>Buying a D300 as your first SLR is like buying a Corvette right after getting your driver's license - you'll be able to brag about it in the bar, but you won't be able to drive the car to anywhere near it's full potential.<br>

The D90 is smarter money.</p>

<p>A Pentax K-x with one of the pancake primes (21/3.2, 40/2.8 or 70/2.4) will be not-quite-pocketable but much smaller than your current setup and with the quality that you seek. Buy all three pancakes and you have an ultra-compact travel setup.</p>

<p>Hey Alyssa,<br>

Since you're just getting into cameras and, like you suggested, will find out what you like to shoot once you start shooting, I recommend that you don't spend your total budget just yet. Buy a basic camera and 1 or 2 kit lenses first and then spend a couple of months playing with them. You'll be able to take the kinds of shots that you describe and more. Not pro quality, but you're not a pro yet either, so that's ok. You and the camera can grow together.</p>

<p>At some point in time, you may say something like, "Hey I really like taking macro photos of flowers!" or, "I like waking up early to photograph the sun rise," or "I do like taking portraits." Each of those statements leads to a very different lens recommendations, and maybe even the kinds of lenses that you aren't thinking about right now.</p>

<p>With all of this said, you might want to look at the Pentax K-x with the two lens kit (18-55 and 50-200). The camera has recently been released and is highly-regarded, and the Pentax kit lenses are said to be among the best kit lenses. And you can get the camera in colors other than plain black! I don't know the price of the kit in Australia, but I'd imagine that you'd have well over $1000 left over, to spend more wisely a couple of months down the road when you yourself are wiser about what you want and need.</p>

<p>My $.02, non-refundable.<br>

john</p>