ian_white2

September 21, 2017

Delete my account. If you had sensible software this would be an on-line option.

In any case automatic "upgrades" for a fee is called "negative option billing" and is illegal.

November 10, 2016

Check out the very interesting piece on Bob Atkins’ site about focus errors due to varying amounts of IR in the ambient light.

I was having problems with the 50 1.8G and the 85 1.8G on my D800. AF was very inconsistent wide open until I started using a B+W 486 filter which cuts off all IR (and UV). The thing which connects these two lenses is that they both have significant chromatic aberration wide open.

As I understand it, the AF module in the bottom of the mirror box does not cut off IR because Nikon speedlights use IR in the AF assist light. The old F4 gave you the option of switching on/off an IR filter to avoid this problem.

July 18, 2015

I think we need to step back a bit and remember that we are trying to help the OP get decent pics in his first attempt at a difficult gig.

Eric, with your flamenco shot you clearly show the result of shooting in extremely low light conditions – they are probably around EV zero. If this is representative of what the OP is facing then he is probably wasting his time. I don’t think it useful to question whether blur is artistic or not when one cannot even see the dancer!

We need to remember that the event is akin to ballroom dancing with spotlights according to the OP. Pics of night clubs with very low lighting are probably not useful. Jeff seems to say he prefers slow sync flash over blurred hands, well I disagree with him as his example shows huge flash halos around the dancer which I find far more intrusive than the occasional blurred hand.

The point is moot in any case as the OP states that he is NOT allowed to use flash.

July 17, 2015

Craig, I appreciate your comments regarding figure skating but I would suggest that the speed of ice dancers is much greater, perhaps 3x greater, than ballroom dancers. Skaters zoom across the ice at very high speed and I would love to see someone try a triple axel wearing a ball gown and dancing pumps!

July 17, 2015

Jeff, in response to your request for samples I uploaded 4 pics to a gallery in one of my websites. I also gave the question of movement a good deal more thought. So here are my pics and comments:

Firstly in this type of dancing, generally there are groups of six who stand in two lines of three. The first couple then cross to the other side, do some fancy twirls and then move to the end of the group then stop. The next couple repeat the process. I will be shot if any Scottish Country Dancer sees this description but it is just to give photographers an understanding that the frame will contain people standing still, and people moving around in circles or swapping positions. Every movement is with a skip step.

<a href="http://www.whitepixels.ca/p457276687/h4f4e0d61#h4f4e0d61">http://www.whitepixels.ca/p457276687/h4f4e0d61#h4f4e0d61</a>

This should bring up Pic1 taken years ago with a D300, 34mm, 1/125 sec, F6.7. What is evident is that sharpness of the dancers depends upon how much they move across the frame during the exposure time. OK, we all know this but seldom think about it. The girl in the middle with the brown skirt is not in focus, but she is moving fast across the frame (see her hair). Her partner, the boy in the blue kilt has just about finished moving as far back as he can, so his relative motion with respect to the camera is essentially zero, so he is sharp. His kilt shows residual swing. The same thing applies to the couple immediately right. The girl in black tights has come towards the camera so relative motion is zero and she is quite sharp, but her partner in the white top is really active. The older lady on the right is moving much slower but also is moving directly towards the camera, so is sharp.

Click on the next thumbnail and Pic2 shows three women dancing together. This is D800, 24mm, 1/100 sec, F4. The woman on the left is clearly moving as her dress has billowed out but the hands and faces are quite sharp as the movement is along the lens axis at this point. One can also see two men in kilts with their right feet sharp and almost touching the ground as they skip.

The next image Pic3 shows a girl in red and a woman in dark blue. The dark blue dress flounces out as the woman curves in to meet her partner. In the middle ground, there is a woman in light blue who is sharp despite her launching herself into motion. She is in focus because her movement across the frame is still quite small given the midfield distance.

Pic4 shows a pretty woman in dark blue who is really moving fast (see the lean as she dances in a circle), but the relative motion towards the camera is still quite small so she is sharp. The man in black is moving across the frame, his kilt really flying out, but he is quite blurred.

So what does this mean to the OP? Shots should ideally be made at the peak of a movement, just before a change of direction since at this time movement of the body is relatively slow. In reality in the heat of the moment this is a lot to ask, so just fire away!

But we have to ask ourselves what type of pic is wanted. In my opinion a shot of ballet dancers destined for a fine art print might demand cross frame sharpness everywhere.

However with just about any other type of dance, especially if you want to show people having fun, you need to show movement of clothing and limbs to avoid a totally sterile image. Hence my selection of shutter speed but YMMV.

July 17, 2015

Grear,

This is not an easy gig and I have been sucked into doing it on four occasions for formal balls in the Scottish Country Dancing style. This is like American Square Dance with more formal clothing. The men all wear kilts and the women have ball gowns.

You need a shooting list – the dancers in performance, the audience, the judges, dancers looking wiped out after the performance etc. This means you need a lot of freedom of movement. Being stuck in a chair in the front row is not sufficient. Get an “official” badge and move around.

Typically I shoot with a D800 and 24-70 F2.8. Settings are F4 1/100 sec and auto-iso, spot metering, with a preset white balance. Your job is to focus on the dance so let the camera do its thing automatically. Do not fiddle with it during the session.

Particularly referring to Eric’s response, I do not want to freeze motion. That might be fine for ballet, but in most dance I suggest that you need to have a balance between blur and the movement of the ball gowns. I find that 1/100 allows me to see the swirl of the kilt/gown to show there is active movement there yet freezes most hand and foot movement. YMMV. It also helps enormously with the lighting problem.

You need spot metering because of the spot lighting, and F4 gives me wiggle room on the focusing side. I usually have lighting of about EV3 and end up with ISOs between 3200 and 12,800 -- all well within reach of your D700.

The needed focal lengths obviously depend on the layout of the room, wherever you are located and your freedom to move. I used to carry a 70-200 f2.8 but did not use it much so I now use the 24-70 for all this type of work. 75% of the shots are 50 to 70mm and 25% are at 24mm.

I hope you have a clear arrangement on the use and provision of the final images. People have some very strange ideas, especially when you are working for free!

Be prepared for people to expect huge prints for free and for women to complain bitterly that you have made them look ugly. There is no upside to taking on a gig like this.

January 26, 2015

This is one of those impossible questions which depend upon each person’s compromises and their shooting subject matter.

I shoot a D800 with the Holy Trinity. In an effort to reduce the weight of my camera bag I did a test with the four 24mm capable lenses I had. On a tripod shooting static subjects at about 100 feet distance using Live View etc, my results were:

Best 14-24

Zuiko 24mm converted for Nikon

24-70

24mm AFD a long way behind.

This was true at f2.8 and F5.6 for my lenses and this specific test. YMMV.

OK, so I could have sold my 14-24 and used the Zuiko, BUT, I also did an analysis of every shot I had ever taken with the D800 to see which focal lengths I actually used, and I encourage everyone to do this with the free software available on the web.

Only 5% of my shots were taken at 14mm, but essentially they were all keepers, which cannot be said of the rest.

So for now, despite its weight, I am keeping it.

December 25, 2014

The RB lenses have been used on view cameras for years and work reasonably well. The RZ is another story since you will have to learn how to cock the aperture and set it to your desired value. Overall I have found it to be a very clumsy system to use. Also you may be disappointed in the resolution of these lenses on a FX sensor.

The Cambo unit looks very cute but also very expensive. You might try the Fotodiox RZ adaptor first before spending a lot of money.

See my thread on Lula:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=90136.msg734659#msg734659

November 13, 2012

Dave, I print on an HP Z3100 24” and have used Qimage as my printing manager for many years. Search around the web, it has thousands of supporters.

I use both NX2 and CS6 for editing but I print everything from Qimage (one of the old versions). My whole workflow is colour managed. If you have the printer ICC profiles loaded on your system then Qimage will give you the choice of which one you want to use. The monitor profile is not really relevant as you have already saved the image.

Qimage invokes the HP print driver (which is a piece of crap, but that is another story) and then you select paper/canvas and the pics you want printed and send it off. It allows choice of profiles, multiple adjustments, sizing, sharpening and a ton of other stuff.

The interface can be a bit quirky but it has done wonders for me.

Search to see what others think.

November 12, 2012

Do yourself a favour and stop struggling with it. Get a copy of Qimage which acts as a software RIP and you can place any number of pics of any size anywhere you want to on a sheet or roll.

September 2, 2012

In Canada, Toronto Image Works at www.torontoimageworks.com is an excellent source for all printing/mounting etc for photographers. I think that you will find that the size of 6'x3' is custom wherever you go. They can handle it.

January 1, 2012

"I already know I'm not looking to change my lens mount. Doing surgery on my only DSLR makes me pretty nervous"

Lorna, just for clarity, the Leitax conversion does NOT require surgery on the DSLR. It does require that you replace the mounting flange on the back of the lens with the one provided by Leitax, and use the spring that they provide.

You may not feel comfortable doing this and I understand that, however I think that is the only way, at this time, that the OM lens can be used on a Nikon F mount and still retain infinity focus. Of course it will be manual focus and stop-down mode only, but you can meter with your histogram.

</blockquote>

December 31, 2011

The conventional wisdom offered here is, well ...conventional.

Of course you can use the OM series on a Nikon F. You just have to change out the lens mount. Go to www.leitax.com for conversion for the OM and many others.

July 30, 2011

Just imagine.

An F3, or perhaps an F4, with the sensor of the D3X.

No AF, no high speed shooting, simple.

$1500.

Chances of Nikon doing it?

Zero.

March 29, 2011

This post is specifically directed to Leigh B., but others may find it useful.

Check this thread for a long discussion related to the Green’s spin down problems. They are well documented.

<a href="http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Green-Caviar-High-Load-Cycle-Cout-after-short-operation-time/td-p/15731">http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Green-Caviar-High-Load-Cycle-Cout-after-short-operation-time/td-p/15731</a>

Even more commentary can be found here at WD’s official site:

<a href="http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_CA/DisplayProductDetailsPage/ThemeID.21986300/categoryID.13095400/parid.13092500/catid.13094900">http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_CA/DisplayProductDetailsPage/ThemeID.21986300/</a>

categoryID.13095400/parid.13092500/catid.13094900

From the Overview, this is a direct quote:

“*Business Critical RAID Environments – WD Caviar Green Hard Drives are not recommended for and are not warranted for use in RAID environments utilizing Enterprise HBAs and/or expanders and in multi-bay chassis, as they are not designed for, nor tested in, these specific types of RAID applications. “

Now go take a pill and learn some manners.

March 28, 2011

OK, let me say that we should be responding to the OP’s question and not getting sidetracked.

However, before I bought the WD Blacks, the web comments said that they could be noisy, presumably compared to other drives. And I found this to be so, at least with my pair, so I am not particularly worried.

Regarding Green drives and RAID, I found numerous web comments about their suitability for a RAID structure, with everyone suggesting not to use them this way. As I understand it, the Green drives are supposed to be energy saving and spin down when not in active use. So when you write to a set of Greens in a RAID array of some form they may take different amounts of time to be up to speed and can upset the RAID timing.

I may be full of BS, but that is what I read from people who claim to have experienced the problem. Check with WD and see what they say.

The point for the OP is that she was thinking about a “brand” solution without exploring what was behind the brand name. All of these systems are just a box of drives and some software. You should be exploring what you get in the box.

March 28, 2011

I looked at this two years ago and ended up using MS Windows Home Server (WHS) on a spare box. I have been very happy with it and it just sits in the background of my small network (4 PCs) and backs up on schedule.

I rarely use its remote server capabilities and it has been used successfully to restore two machines. The current version is a subset of Windows Server 2003 and is a robust piece of software. It uses MS’s own version of RAID, which I really do not understand but it covers the data across whatever disks you put into your box. The new version coming soon abandons this and goes to a RAID based solution.

Your question mixes several issues – software and hardware. The packaged solutions often use WHS in an expensive box, so just get yourself a large case, stuff it with however many drives you need, and load WHS.

You ask about noise. That is a function of where you put the backup box, the type of drives, and the fans you need to keep them cool.

Recently I did some upgrade and added two 1 TB Western Digital Black drives. They are noisy, but they can be used in a RAID configuration, unlike the Green version, which I use in several of my systems.

Let us know what you decide.

March 5, 2011

You need a "de-curler". The best one is the "D-Curler" but you can make your own. Check the web or search at <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com">www.luminous-landscape.com</a>.

October 20, 2010

I suspect that the real answer to the OP’s question is that it is a crapshoot. You do not know how you are going to get treated, and it should not be this way.

Like Ian Rose, I am talking about importing into Canada but I suspect the same issues apply the other way round. A number of misleading comments have been made here which deserve clarification.

Firstly “camera gear should not be subject to duty”. Well maybe. Duty is based upon the “Country of Origin” and whatever trade agreement is in place between that country and the receiving country. For cameras, most have a Country of Origin of Japan or Malaysia etc, not the USA. When a US importer receives a camera from Japan, duty is paid at that time. If a Canadian then imports that same camera from the US, a second round of duty is payable!

The great NAFTA agreement, which decimated Canadian industry, states that there should be essentially zero duty between goods shipped among Canada, USA, and Mexico, so long as the Country of Origin was also one of those three. Also, and it is a big also, to qualify for the zero rate you must comply with NAFTA regulations including a long series of forms, among which you designate the Country of Origin, the Value, the Tariff Code, and the Tariff Treatment.

Professional importers know how to do this stuff, but private individuals usually do not. The bad part is that if you do not comply with the NAFTA regs then you default to non-NAFTA trade. This is where most of you are getting caught.

The default “miscellaneous” duty is 25%, so you are usually relying upon a wonderful public servant to look up the correct code in the huge code manual and apply the right factor, when he doesn’t have to! The application of the rules is entirely random with no apparent rationale or oversight.

UPS and Fedex often (but not always) handle this sort of stuff for you and charge a “Brokerage Fee” for doing so. I have just received two separate UPS shipments from the US – one was from New York and cleared customs at Fort Erie, the other was flown from Chicago to Toronto International Airport. The first one had a brokerage fee, the second did not, so go figure.

The UPS form shows a variety of potential charges – sales tax, duty, excise tax, brokerage fee, tax on the brokerage fee!, a freight collect charge, and a “permit” charge. A tad complicated.

Ironically, whenever I purchase from Hong Kong (shipped by UPS air) I am never charged duty or brokerage. However with UPS truck from the US, I am usually charged both.

Perhaps someone from the industry can comment better than I can.

October 9, 2010

I am a Canadian resident and have purchased Nikon products in Canada, USA, and other places. A visit to the Nikon Canada Customer Support website should answer your questions.

1. Nikon Canada offers a 2 year warranty on certain DSLRs when purchased from an authorized Canadian dealer. This overlaps the 1 year International warranty.

2. Nikon Canada offers a 5 year warranty on most DSLR lenses purchased on the same terms.

3. The website specifies DSLRs up to the D7000 and D700 but is silent as to the warranty on the D3S and D3x.

4. If you are a US resident and purchase one of the specified DSLRs, and if you need service within the first year, Nikon USA is obligated to service the item under the 1 year International warranty. If the item needs service beyond the 1 year period, then you must pay for service in the USA or return it to Nikon Canada (if less than 2 years). You will need to show proof that the item was purchased in Canada.

5. Returning an item across the US/Canada border can be a pain. Shipping costs and insurance is at your cost in both directions. The various courier companies have hugely differing charges and policies regarding customs brokerage fees, and you are likely to have a problem avoiding customs duties and sales taxes on the return to the USA. Even if you have documentation that you paid taxes in the first place, it can take a long time to get reimbursed for the double taxation.

6. In summary, you really have to get a bargain before you want to contemplate this, and bargain Canadian prices are very rare.

7. I consider a DSLR to be far more complex than a lens and purchase the bodies in Canada, but I take a close look at lens prices and sometimes buy from B&H if the differential is great enough. Only in one case did I regret taking the gamble with a US lens purchase.

July 4, 2010

Strange. I go through about one roll a month, obviously not on the 3800, but I have never seen any colour casts. It is a great paper.

You have done all the obvious things, so the dumb things are left – is the paper upside down?? Try another type of paper to eliminate the monitor and printer. Check that the inks are in the correct slots and seated correctly. Have you upgraded the OS recently or changed printer drivers?

Let us know what you find.

April 14, 2010

I have the 120-300. This is the third sample -- the first had dead AF out of the box, after about 3 months I was given a loaner until the next production batch was available. The third sample is a good lens, but given the model history, I cross my fingers each time I shoot.

Given that you have the D3S, the ISO-meister, I would suggest by-passing the 120-300 and getting the 100-300 F4 for half the price, half the weight, and arguably better MTF results (per Sigma's website). If I had the D3S, that is what I would do.

Posted February 12, 2010 · February 12, 2010

The 135 F2.0 is a magnificent piece of glass. I had this combo (including the KatzEye) for a while and found that the lens gave me similar results as my AF85 1.4 at f2.0 when focused perfectly.

However my eyes are aging along with the rest of me and the percentage of keepers was much smaller than the AF85 due to focus problems so I sold it. I am 100% AF now.

Bjorn does not like it much, but I did not find the problems he experienced. If you can routinely focus it then it is a wonderful lens to have. You should check on the depth of field at f2.0 and see whether that fits with your planned use.

January 1, 2010

Arthur, my congratulations – 15 minutes is impressive. Mine took 7 days of hell.

However now it is running fine. I did a clean install of Win7-64 converting from Vista Ultimate 32. The machine now runs fast and without hang-ups. It took a new motherboard, new CPU, new RAM, and a new CD drive so basically a new machine.

Bill, regarding Nikon Scan, I had the same problems until I followed “Steel Chn” in this forum. He found a way to fix the scanner file and it works well on Win7-64.

A couple of suggestions:

a. Backup everything first.

b. Write down all your serial numbers. Key codes etc, since you will be re-installing everything.

c. Be VERY careful in specifying your boot drive. In my installation, it did not matter what I selected in the Win7 setup screen, it reformatted and installed Win7 on the first IDE drive in the box. I had one IDE as a slave and two SATAs. I wanted one of the SATA drives to be the boot drive, but Win7 insisted on putting it on the IDE drive.

I blew the contents of two IDE drives before I discovered this, hence my suggestion to have everything backed up. As an aside, I proved to myself that Windows Home Server is an excellent back-up system.

CS4 installs with two versions, a 32 bit and a 64 bit. Some plug-ins are still 32 bit so I end up switching between the two, which is a pain. NX2 2.2.4 works OK, possibly a bit faster than previously but I have not given it a rigorous test.

The best part about Win7 (which is really a cleaned-up Vista) is that you can configure it to look like something adult , eg NT4, rather than the childish XP or Vista appearance. YMMV.

January 1, 2010

Be aware that thanks to the Nigerian clown trying to blow up a Delta flight over Detroit on Xmas day, there are significant changes to the carry-on policy.

How long these will remain in force is unknown, however at present any flight from Canada into the US (and it is my understanding any flight beginning in the US) you will only be allowed one small purse OR a laptop bag, which can only contain computer accessories. You are still allowed to have a camera strung round your neck, but everything else must be checked !

As this is a fluid situation, you should check with your airline before departure to find out the current rules.

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Posts posted by ian_white2