DickArnold

<p>I use USAA valuable personal property insurance. It is not a floater and covers full replacement value. When I had my business I carried business liability insurance. </p>

<p>Plus One, Jeff. I don't really know what the author was trying to prove.</p>

<p>I was an alive fifteen year old at the time of the flag raising and I am also a Viet vet. The flag raising makes me think of the troops. The grunts. The ones in all wars who slogged in the mud, bug infested jungles, burning desert sands and freezing Winters. They followed orders and went into unquestioningly into battle to be physically and mentally traumatized and killed in WWII to protect their country and its way of life. I have trouble with the later wars but not with the unfailing loyalty and dedication of our troops. I grew up next to Dibble General hospital in WWII and regularly saw horribly burned and maimed troopers who were there to try and recover. Iwo Jima was an ongoing agony of fear, volcanic sand and Japanese gunfire. Thousands on both sides died. Today I think of the troopers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who spent tour after tour who then had their efforts systematically ignored as they have brought their mental and physical trauma back home. The flag raising makes me think of them and their families and their sacrifices. I think the flag raising is a symbol of all those who served and sacrificed in our wars:both the just and unjust. The troopers who raised the flag were atop the most deadly battle of the Pacific theater. They are among the real unsung heroes of the battle for that island. There are a myriad untold stories of the heroism and sacrifice of our troops. They simply deserve better these days. If the United States is the greatest world military power it is largely because of the "grunts". I use that term with great respect and affection for I have seen some of them first hand.</p>

Julie. I just turned 82. I would like to put this in a kindly way but to quote Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind "I don't give a damn" about my legacy except as I pass on what I know to my offspring (when they listen) . i am still very active in shooting sports and taking a lot of pictures. I have some framed pictures and several hard drives that my kids will get but that's it. I think what I have learned is that nothing is permanent. A few generations don't matter much in the two billion years that the earth has existed in this vast cosmos that we still know very little about. I do my pictures for my own pleasure as I really enjoy walking around with a camera. I also keep fit and do this by competitive swimming which still offers me a challenge to keep going and the stamina to take pictures. The seasons, as you mentioned, keep me coming back with the camera. I shoot Azaleas and Rhodies in the Spring. I shoot outdoor swimming in the summer when the light is good (and indoor swimming in the Winter when the light is bad) and I love the Fall in the White Mountains. I love shooting faces year round. Their are only a few Rembrandts and Vermeers and some Greeks because they did their work in stone that survive the ages. Oh and some cave artists. I look back at my work as rather mundane and so I have prospects of a very small and short lived photographic legacy. I do have some pictures in newspaper archives that will probably outlive me. I really don't ponder or worry about what I cannot control so I normally don't think about the subject. </address>

<p>I came to wedding photography by accident and late in life. I brought forty years of dealing with people as a senior executive and before that as a military officer. I learned how to form consensus and to lead by respecting and establishing relationships with other people. One thing I had to learn when I started doing weddings after I retired was that I was no longer the boss and that I was there to serve my customers. I believe that a genuine interest in other people and their needs is essential to establishing good relationships at weddings. I placed a lot of emphasis on the pre-wedding meeting and finding out some things about clients and their preferences in order to establish rapport. I had a small studio and I gave away pre-wedding bride portraits as a way to communicate. I tried to get clients to talk some about themselves mainly so we could relax around each other. I also placed emphasis on developing a rapport with the bride and particularly the mothers as it is sometimes hard to tell who is running the show as I learned the hard way early on. If I established some decent relationships prior to the wedding my weddings generally went better and I got better pictures. I wasn't always successful in establishing that kind of rapport but I did for most of my weddings. Weddings are high stress events for the participants and sometimes reassurances are in order. That meant trying to establish comfort with my presence at the wedding. This was my job not the clients. I tried very hard not to affect the proceeding in a demand for poses. I stayed in the background and tried to record the ceremony. I usually got about 30 minutes for formals and other than that just photographed the events as they happened. </p>

<p>So I am not wanted anywhere I don't think and my picture is not useful in any way and not very interesting so whoever takes it is welcome. i have been a bit successful lately taking hula hoopers practicing in local parks with permission. I don't know what they are practicing for but these are a lot more interesting than pictures of this old man. </p>

<p>I have an EOS M. It has virtually the same sensor as the SL1. It makes very good pictures and is light. It has one drawback and that is it will never have an electronic viewfinder as it is not designed for one. The lcd is subject to glare and is hard to use in bright light. The M is very inexpensive and you can get one and a very good M lens for around $400. My suggestion at under one thousand is the SL1 and the new kit 18-55 IS STM lens. This lens reviews very favorably. I have a 70D and it is quite capable but quite a bit heavier than the SL1. It with kit lens is just above a thousand.</p>

<p>Nubble light with EOS M, adapter, and 10-22 at 10mm. Yesterday</p><div></div>

<p>Ii have an M. Plus one, Patrick. </p>

<p>I too have fallen prey to technical obsession and spent far too much for marginal gain. I might join a support group to recover from gear fixation. So I humbly ask you. Will 36MP make you more money? Will you be able to see the difference on a large print from a normal viewing distance or even see it without a loop? Will it contribute significantly to winning a show?. What exactly would it do for your end product that is more than marginal?. It's like spending the total user conversion cost to get to the last one or two per cent of an approach to perfection. Who would notice the difference besides yourself? Having had a Sony EVF, I would compare your current Canon optical finder to the EVF on the A7R. I don't know the answers to these questions for you. I have been with Canon EOS since 1988 and considering the large amount of gear I bought over that time frame I have come to the conclusion that upgrading is an absorbing obsession but that the real quality (if there is much) of my work product comes from my inspiration, composition and photographic knowledge and not from gear. I too did some of my best work in shows, with wildlife and with a paper and weddings with a 6MP D60, a Bronica ETRSi and an EOS 1n. I can't wait for the 7Dii, however. I swear right now I won't buy it because I know my current 7D does really good job. Yes, but the 7Dii will ----- </p>

<p>duplicate<br> .</p>

<p>Having owned one you can take the focusing screen out and clean it. Carefully. </p>

<p>I had a full complement of lenses with a Sony NEX 5N. I also had a pricey EVF. I sold all of that after using it for two years. The Sony menus were difficult and long and hard to understand logically. The emount lenses IMO were not that good. I really liked focus peaking. The Sony 1.5 crop sensor was excellent and I thought was quite good up to 3200 ISO which I did not hesitate to use. The EVF was certainly usable but I had difficulty in bright light and my 7D optical finder is better particularly in bright light. The 16mm pancake was panned in reviews but I thought it was better than reported being quite sharp in the center. <br /> After a six month or so interregnum I couldn't resist buying another small camera. I also could not resist the EOS M fire sale that was going earlier this year and bought the following for about 650 USD: A Canon EOS M, a miniatiure Canon ETTL flash, 18-50 and 22 mm lenses, and a Canon Adapter that transmits all Canon functions with all Canon EF and EF-s lenses. I have seven lenses that are usable. There have been problems with the M with slow focus being one of them and the reviewers have not at all been kind. Canon came out with a firmware change last July and that helped the focus issue. You cannot use an EVF with the M. Having said all of that the lenses are unbelievably sharp and the color and quality of my pictures are the same as my 70D or 7D as the sensor is the same 18MP and size as the 7D. I have just ordered an Olympus optical hot shoe viewfinder which approximates the 22mm lens to handle bright light when it is not possible to the see the lcd. The menus are easy to use for an old Canon hand. The build is quite solid. The lcd is bright and colorful. Regardless of its defects I really, really like this little camera. I use it much more than I did my Sony. I have a big pocket on my leather jacket and it fits with the 22mm pancake. Of course, as a 24 year eos user I am biased. The lenses are said by some reviewers to out perform their ef-s counter parts. This camera will never replace my DSLRs but when I shoot swim meets it is great for head shots and groups while I use the 70D with a three pound lens for the action. </p>