cheezy

<p>You know, I asked the exact same question here and on Nikonians about a year ago. I got a wide variety of answers , but I must say not so many vehemently anti 20mm 2.8 AF-D.<br>

The D700 is my first DSLR, as I was a film advocat (FM2) so I have manual lenses. The D700 made sense. It's also the first new camera I've ever bought, and I'll not be replacing it , as I'm not a camera collector, I like to take photographs.<br>

In the end I got a second hand 20mm 2.8 AF-D from Ebay for less than £200, it came in a box and is at least 20 years old, but works great for me on the D700. To be honest I haven't got a magnifying lens out to look at the extream edges, and I never will.<br>

I like to take landscapes and do this by walking. I've already upgraded the strap (I can recommend OP/TECH), as the weight of the D700 takes some getting used to. I tried the 14 -24mm , and yes it's a fantastic lens, BUT to more than double the total weight it is not an option for me.<br>

Yes you're right the Country File comp was won with a compact camera, it's because the subject is brilliant, and captures a unique moment. It was taken by a farmer who was rounding up his sheep last winter, and I can tell you that there is no way he would have been lugging a D700 with that 14- 24mm lens while getting the sheep in!.<br>

P.s I'm In Darlington and I'm bored of the snow now.</p>

<p>Funny I came on to look to ask what ultra/ wide lens people were using on their D700's. And as ever everyone has the same dilema!.<br>

I recently bought a D700 to replace my old FM2 with manual lens. And after using it a while I think I want to go wider (I mostly use an old metal non CPU 28-85 macro f3.5 Nikkor which is great). I have been to a local shop and strapped on the 14 - 24 beast, and it looks great, but it's going to be way too heavy to lug around doing landscapes. Plus to me whats the point of having an ultra to wide zoom, it's all basically "wide". And of course the price is a BIG problem. Also I like a poloriser , which is not possible with that beast.<br>

So I want something lighter , wider but with out too much bending or flare. From reading the above I'm looking at the 20mm f 2.8 nikkor or 18mm f 3.5 . Any comments?. I want to stick with Nikkor, I'm not aversed to manual , since thats all I have, but it would be nice to get a CPU lens with AF for a change!.</p>

<p>Got mine about 4 weeks ago, my first DLSR, so it was a big step. I've got a couple of F301's and my old fav a FM2, with the associated manual lens's , hence my interest in an "affordable" FX format.<br>

Because of my non CPU len's I turned every thing off and went manual. Read the manual (probably need a second read), and bought "Mastering The D700" from the Nikonians (via Amazon), this is well worth the money. (Also signed up for 25 days free service and got a whole load of questions answered.)<br>

Yes Vivid is the recommended Velvia setting, but your just scratching the surface. I didn't want to shellout more money for NX2, (though via the trail period , it does look excellent but I object to buying a very expensive camera and not having the software included.), I have PSE 6 (mac), and all I needed to do was get the lastest RAW file 4.7, also get DNG converter, it's Adobe's attempt to standardise RAW files, and it might just work. Shoot in RAW, why the hell not, adjust all your files before finalising, as though it's in the camera. Depending on what editing programme you have you may not be able to shoot in 14 bit. <br>

Once your in RAW forget about in camera tweeks, everything can be done post camera.<br>

It's easy to get tempted to setting to auto ISO, you'll end up taking amazing pictures, in light levels that should really need a flash. Make sure you set the high ISO noise reduction, then think.. why do I need this and turn off auto iso, and make the decisions yourself.<br>

So much to learn, have you notice how bloody heavy the thing is!. I haven't yet bought a "proper" neck strap, but I will, with my manual 28-85 it weights 1.7Kg!. And the strap you get is rubbish.<br>

The battery is amazing, but I can see my self buying a second back up. Don't think the optional camera charger also charges the battery, as it doesn't (or so Nikonians tell me).</p>

<p> </p>

Thanks to Nigel and Ronald.

I did a de frag as soon as I got home. Then tried to scan a slide. It got to 96% in Vuescan, and was much quicker. But still no cigar.

To Nigel I was USB'd direct into the newish USB2/firewire card that I have installed, and I have tried previously taking all the other USB applications out and still no joy.However a colleague suggested also a buffer problem and said to try the old USB1.1 built in ports. At least this would slow down the scan and might allow the buffer time.

I tried this , and to my supprise not only has it scanned perfectly well all my negs and slides (so far)but it is still fast, even with colour correction 16 bit 4000dpi and sharpening plus infrared.I'm no computer expert, but I thought the old built in USB1.1 ports would remain USB1.1 even when I added an additional USB2/firewire card.

Thanks guy's for your help hopefully this might also help other people in the future.

Cheers

Chris

I will try this later tonight. Any other things to try welcomed. Other info I forgot to mention my O/S is XP (home) SP2

How can I adjust the computer data storage?

Hi all,

Hopefully someone out there will be able to help me. I've googled the forum

and have taken some action all to no avail. Any advice has got to be better

than the Nikon "support".

I've just bought this scanner.As soon as I got it I tried to scan a B/W neg no

problem. Since then it will preview with the nicon scan 4.02 software, but

stops on the actual scan, locks up for 5 minutes then no image is saved, or

shown on the desktop in Nikon scan. Tried to aquire the image through the

coolscan using photoshop same problem. Started asking questions, took off the

nikonview software, removed the registries, eventually turned through this

site to Vuescan. At least in Vuescan you can "see" the scan. So same thing

preview not a problem. Main scan and it stops, randomly as little as 1% in as

much as 95% in. Freezes for 5 minutes, but it does then save what it has

scanned up until the freeze point.Thought it must be a hard ware problem spoke

with warehouse express who sent a new one and picked up the old next day (I

highley recommend them). Got it last night it scanned the first slide no

problem, but ever since only part scans in Vuescan.I haven't put the Nikon

scan software on.

I sent my entire system details to Nikon support, who can't see a problem with

them. I suspect its a buffer problem, if so any quick fixes? Otherwise it's

going back for good.

My system is Pent4 2GB processer, upgrades USB2 card, 1GB RAM plenty of HD

memory, recently upgraded Nvidia 6200 graphics card.

This problem still happens with all USB connections unplugged. I haven't tried

it on the old PC USB1.1's that are hard wired on the PC, I'll try that tonight.

I'm scanning in 8 bit B/W's with no fancy alterations so the file is "only"

20MB.

Please help ASAP , as I've got 6 days and counting to return it.