villain1

<p>One thing I never thought to take into account until now is how a company stands behind it's products, and unfortunately Nikon let me down. Sony has a pretty good return/repair policy, as does Olympus, which is beneficial for a camera that's in a purse or pocket all the time.<br>

Nikon told us that we would be required to pay for a new lense on the Coolpix we had because of a key scuff on the side of the camera. My daughter kept her house key in the same pocket as the camera in her bag, and it marked up the side. They told us that it was obviously damage from a drop, so we'd have to pay more than the camera was worth to replace the lens.<br>

I love Nikon's gear, but their customer service and unwillingness to listen to a customer explain the details of their camera leaves a lot to be desired if problems ever arise.</p>

<p>Another thought would be to setup your website with Gallery2 on it. I know that you can create multiple users, multiple passwords, etc. and you get to set permissions on what they can and can't do. I used to run a site with Gallery installed, and it's fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it.</p>

<p>If you're not looking for something overly spectacular, this may be the way to go. I really liked it, and the only reason I stopped was because Wordpress (which is what I run on my photoblog) had the features I needed, but Gallery had more than was necessary.</p>

<p>You can get really cheap hosting just about anywhere. I use bluehost.com for my domain, and I believe they even have a 1-step install for Gallery that you can then go through and tweak. I have also heard good things about Zenphoto, but I haven't tried it yet to see what levels of access control it has.</p>

<p>I took this one last month during a wedding practice, but it looked like a fitting picture to add.<br>

I wasn't sure how to make this image much smaller without losing the detail in my daughter's eyes, plus I'm still not very good with PS.<br>

This image was taken with a Nikon D40, 55 - 200 lens @ 82mm, SB600 flash at 1/8(?) inside a church... it's been slightly cropped to knock down the image size, but the crop is one I'm happy with.<br>

<img src="http://sauerphotos.com/files/ryleigh002.jpg" alt="" /><br>

now if only I could afford off-camera flash, I'd get rid of that harsh shadow :)</p>

<p>You should always use DVI to computer monitors and HDMI to displays such as televisions or projectors (if DVI is not available for the projector). This will give you the best image quality for the specific monitor type.</p>

<p>I have a book called 'Flash: The Most Available Light' that I found to be quite helpful with #1. For #3, I was given a 'Photoshop CS3 for Photographers' book that covers quite a bit of ground. I don't know how it translates to CS2 or CS4 as I haven't really tried it with either yet, but it gave me quite a few good tips on touching up portraits.</p>

<p>Some things I've been doing to keep the costs down on lights have been to use replacements that are cheaper. Instead of spending several hundred dollars on a lighting kit, I've used ideas from sites like diyphotography.net or strobist.com to come up with lighting. There are also many sites online that will show you how one type of light stacks up against another so you can mix and match bulbs, stands, etc.<br>

The best part about doing this is you can learn quite a bit about how the stuff works, and you can start to understand more about how it will affect your shots. Plus, a lot of the stuff you learn is easy to build, or you can find better ways to build it for your own setup.</p>

<p>Jaina, there are quite a few utilities out there that can recover deleted files from a flash card. A google search for Flash Drive Undelete will bring up all sorts of tools that are made for doing this. There are many freeware programs, as well as quite a few commercial ones that will do a great job of recovering your files.</p>

<p>I had one at home I've used in the past, but for the life of me, I can't find the name of it. I used it to recover about 4,000 images of an external harddrive that were accidentally deleted by one of my kids. If I can find the name I'll post it here.<br>

<br /> First piece of advice though, take the card out and do not use it until you recover the files. If you use it, the files may be overwritten and they cannot be recovered.</p>

<p>Just found a program called UndeletePlus that has a free trial you can give a shot with. It looks similar to the one I used, but it's not it (mine was older and may not even be available anymore). Undeleteplus.com is the website.</p>

<p>do they list workshops online? or just in the print mag for areas? I'm interested in doing the same thing, but haven't found anything doing quick searches on their website.</p>

<p>Britt, unless you have something specific you're looking for, try places like the goodwill. I've found quite a few great items there, and sometimes you have to deal with an imperfection here and there, but it works quite well to find clothes on the cheap.<br>

Also, never underestimate the power of friends and family. Ask around, see if you can borrow for a while. Usually that works quite well for finding props and outfits.<br>

Finally, for props, talk to the local high schools and their drama clubs, colleges, etc. They will usually have something you can use/rent/borrow. It helps if you know someone who is a student at the school.</p>

<p>I would also recommend the 50mm/1.8 lens. I have it and find it to be quite nice. I bought it for a Disneyland trip (indoor displays, low light) and it worked out pretty well, even with manual focus. I'm also using a D40, as it is my first dSLR as well.<br>

I've never really tried the Tamron or Sigma lenses, but I'm thinking I'm gonna give them a try here soon, as they seem to be more affordable. I've seen the results of those lenses, and I know they can help produce some great images.</p>

<p>I have to agree on getting rid of the flash. If you're stalking someone, you're not gonna use a flash that will bounce all over the place and alert them to your presence.<br>

Also, there should be foreground, but then think of the Joker from the 1989 Batman movie. Telephoto zoom lens shots of Vicki Vale from a car. Things like that would be a good idea.<br>

Also, even if they are empty of the subject, nothing screams stalker like a shot of the living room, furniture and all, from a distance. As well as some of the places the person being stalked would visit, even if they aren't necessarily in the shot. It just really depends on how crazy you want your stalker to be.</p>

<p>I've taken quite a few good pictures with my Nikon D40, which is definitely on the low end of dSLRs. However, I've always found that the only thing I want from a higher end camera is the ability to control some of my lenses that require autofocus and a better dynamic range for taking some of the pictures I do.<br>

Other than that, my $600 investment has served me quite well. Could it be better if it had more focus points? how about more ISO range? I do a lot of pictures indoors, so having higher ISO with less noise is always a good thing for me. More focus points would be great because the 3 that are available in the D40 aren't nearly enough for some of the pictures I take. But, it still does the job, and I can always use manual focus if necessary for some things.<br>

Basically, the only reason I can see justifying a higher priced camera than one that covers those few things I need is basically just because I want it. Not because there's a specific need, but just because it's something I think I could get a lot of use out of.</p>

<p>I'm starting out with my camera, an off-camera flash (still working on this one, though), paper for the background and a steady light. There's quite a few posts on another site I read that talk about this type of thing that you might find interesting, as it's mostly do-it-yourself equipment:<br>

<a href="http://www.diyphotography.net/">http://www.diyphotography.net/</a></p>

<p>I took this one with the Nikon 55-200 lens on my D40, I'd have to check the aperature, but i was likely at whatever the highest available was (3.5?).<br>

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?topic_id=1481&msg_id=00TSDS&photo_id=9240969&photo_sel_index=0<br>

My subject was about a foot or foot and a half from the tree behind her, and I got some decent blur on the background. The branches on the right side of the frame were a little closer to me, so they were a touch more in focus.</p>

<p>I have just recently done this, having taken some pictures while on vacation in another state. I don't know the area, knew none of the people except the one person I was staying with, and that was it. I found it easiest to put my longest lens on, and take pictures from afar.<br>

I did have someone ask if I had taken their picture (which I had), and she simply asked to look at it, then if she gave me her email address if I could send it to her.<br>

Personally, I'm really liking the candid photography that I've been trying lately. Catching people in their natural environment, doing their own thing is something that is unique to each person, so being able to capture that is what I'm looking for. I try to stay as discreet as possible, though sometimes it doesn't always help. One thing I don't do anymore is to get fidgety and try to point my camera away if they look my direction.</p>

I would recommend checking out bluehost.com. I just moved my domains to them and am in the process of using their tools to create my new gallery and blog site. They have a quick installer for many web templates that you can use called 'Simple Script'.

 

Some of the stuff they offer for photographers:

 

wordpress, zenphoto, and coppermine

 

All have an easy to use installer and they keep the backend updated for you. all you have to do is worry about the content and the overall theme.

 

I saw a recommendation for GoDaddy up above and had to comment. I used their services for about 5 or 6 months, and got frustrated when my parents couldn't view pictures of their grandkids because the service was so slow. Moved many pictures to another domain I was administering on BlueHost and I will be moving my main site there soon.

 

Dreamweaver isn't the bad tool someone above made it sound to be. I think it has many benefits to other software, but please do not get into the 'design mode' too much. Although you can preview a layout as you are creating it, I have found it to not be what you will see if you're using Internet Explorer, Safari, or Mozilla. All 3 of the major browsers will render the page differently than you are seeing it.

 

Instead, use dreamweaver in code mode and press F12 when you want to preview what your page looks like. You'll get much better results, and your site will look fairly clean on many browsers (you can set whatever browser you want to preview in).

 

One of the major benefits to dw is the code completion and tag closing that it does. Once you get used to it, you can quickly design XHTML compliant pages, and their templates are readily available for you to do this. If you already have it, use it. You should be pretty happy with it, as long as you don't take too many shortcuts.

I have a monopod that I usually use on my video camera, but with some of the

places I am looking at to take pictures, I think it would work better than a tripod for

my Nikon digital camera.

 

Are there any 'unwritten rules' about when someone would use a monopod vs. a

tripod or vice versa?

I grabbed the SB-600 last week, and I am quite happy with it. When I save up the money for another flash, I'll grab the 800 and use this one as a slave. For now, though, this works quite well for what I need (simple fill flash).

Thanks for the help. I am probably going to get the 600 for now, and then will work towards the 800 and other lighting as time goes on. I'm trying to build some of my own lighting using tutorials I found online for softboxes and such, so maybe with those savings I can get a better hot shoe flash later.

I'm trying to find any western Washington photography workshops which people

might be familiar with. I have done some looking on google, yahoo, etc. and am

having a hard time finding anything outside of Seattle or down in California.

I actually live closer to Portland, OR. and wouldn't mind going down that

direction if anyone can recommend a decent class.

 

Thanks.

I just want to get some opinions on the Nikon SB600 and 800 speedlights. I

have a D40 that I would like to get a non-body flash for, and these were

recommended by others here on the site, as well as at the local camera store.

The 600 seems to cost the most that I would like to pay, but I can wait a

little longer if there is a real advantage to the 800 instead.

 

Can anyone give me some thoughts and ideas on these? Which is more

recommended? Why would you use one over the other?

If you know your general itinerary, would you be able to call ahead to a couple of camera shops in the areas you will be at? They might be able to either have some film on hand for you, or point you in the right direction on where to go to get it. This might help in avoiding the issue altogether.

The main appeal of macs is that they seem to be designed for the arts. From music to movies to photographs, they really do the job quite well. My next laptop will likely be a macbook pro, just because I can use bootcamp to install Windows XP (or Vista) on it and run either one as I see fit.

 

The one suggestion that I didn't see here was that if you get an MBP, buy a larger/faster harddrive for it. The one we have here at work was good, but got even better when we put a 200GB, 7200rpm harddrive in it. Once that was up and running, the thing screamed. It originally came with a 120GB, 5400rpm drive, and it was noticeably slower.

From my understanding, talking with the guys at the local camera shops here, a demo lense is simply one that is given/sold to a shop for use in displaying the capabilities of the lens. This means that it could be slightly used, or it could have just been sitting on the shelf where people could see/feel it. He did not know if the quality would be any different when compared to the actual retail version.

 

I would ask the seller some questions about where the lens was obtained before placing my bid, though. At least that way you have some record of where the lens may have travelled.

Would the 400 make a good addition for a D40 (6MP)? I'm looking at getting my first flash, and I know that I'll likely be sticking with Nikon for a while, so even though the D40 body is limited, I do want to get some equipment that will transfer to another body later. I've been looking at the SB-400 and the SB-600, and I don't think I need remote (at least not yet), but I do want to be able to bounce light.

 

Would this be worth getting for someone that is just starting? or will it lead to some headaches?