charles_watson

US$200? For how many recievers / transmitters?

Just realized :

 

When I bring the recievers and the transmitter close together, they'll erratically fire. Also, they create a whining sound.

 

Is this misfire / won't fire problem universal? Do I need pocket wizards to get flash to fire quickly?

 

The thing is, the red LED indicator light shows up every time I hit the shutter, only the flashes won't always fire.

 

Thanks,

Charles

Hey all,

 

I have two Vivitar 285HV's hooked up to a D300 via eBay PT-01's [i think same as

the Gadget Infinity except, it's a Chinese version. Same product, cheaper].

 

http://yh21cn.com/Chinese/ProductShow.asp?ArticleID=138

 

My problem is this :

 

When I trigger the flash either by the "Test" button or by firing, the

transmitter active lights show up [the red LED], but the flashes don't always fire.

 

I'm going to shoot skate photos, and I got these to replace the cords I use

[which always fire perfectly, unless they're out of juice].

 

Anyone else had this problem until they fixed it?

 

I've tried both using the hotshoe contact and the PC-cord to connect the

reciever w/ the flashes. Sometimes neither fire, sometimes one or the other,

sometimes both fire.

 

Any ideas?

 

Charles

I'm with Vista, calibrated with a Spyder [one].

 

Thinking of getting a Spyder three with a couple of friends, but is the glossy nature of the M1530 compatible?

However, under the "Save For Web" dialog I selected "Embed Color Profile".

 

Wouldn't this guarantee accurate results? I embedded it with sRGB, my monitor is using sRGB and Photoshop is set up with sRGB. Why is there any hue / saturation variation?

Hey all,

 

I have a problem with my M1530. Unfortunately it has a glossy screen, but that

can be remedied by simply controlling ambient light.

 

The bigger problem is that my colors become much less vivid [reds become

oranges, greens become yellows, killing photos with those two colors].

 

 

Does this image show up as the picture on the left or the picture on the right

in this screenshot?

 

Thanks,

Charles

Ah alright, is there any chance Photoshop will add functionality? Maybe I'll just edit the color balance in CNX and then open the saved JPEGs in CS3.

Sure, but the final result is often drastically worse than the live view. Why is metering different for live view and the actual shot? There are lots of times where you can't take a second shot [granted, you probably wouldn't be in live view if that's the case], but still. There should at least be a way to work it.

Hey all,

 

Finally got enough money to get a D300.

 

Couple of questions :

 

1) I've shot 300 RAW images. Is there an in-camera or Capture NX or Photoshop to

convert them automatically to a JPEG similar to "Vivid"? Adding Contrast and

Vibrance in ACR doesn't create a similar effect. I'd be fine with an in-camera

button or something.

 

Also, does the Custom Color function affect RAW or only JPEG images?

 

2) What mode will meter the photo to take pictures identical to what you see in

live view? Program often underexposes or overexposes, and my favorite Aperture

Control mode often does the same. Why didn't Nikon include a feature that lets

you copy the brightness displayed by the live view? It'd be great!

 

Thanks,

Charles

Well, I got the serial from my teacher. It worked great on my 2407WFP, yet the glossy screen of my M1530 looks awful -- a VERY noticeable purple cast. Under the "Luminance" dialog on the M1530, the boxes are blank. On the 2407WFP, however, they have "Black : 19.45" and "White : 963.8". What have I done wrong? I'm turning off calibration on the M1530 because it's made everything look terrible.

 

Also, am I to keep the Color Space in Photoshop at sRGB, or change it to the custom profile that I assigned from OptiCAL?

Hey, I just got an "MAILER DAEMON" email. Here is what it said.

 

 

------

 

 

We're sorry. There's a problem with the e-mail address(es) you're trying

to send to. Please verify the address(es) and try again. If you continue

to have problems, please contact Customer Support at (480) 624-2500.

 

<frepho5@charter.com>:

216.33.127.20 does not like recipient.

Remote host said: 550 Invalid recipient: <frepho5@charter.com>

Giving up on 216.33.127.20.

 

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

 

Return-Path: <SRS0=/Q3g=TG=gmail.com=charlesviper@bounce.secureserver.net>

Received: (qmail 25325 invoked by uid 1000); 17 Feb 2008 06:51:57 -0000

Delivered-To: bill@williamfreemanphotography.com

Received: (qmail 25322 invoked from network); 17 Feb 2008 06:51:57 -0000

Received: from unknown (HELO pre-smtp36-02.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net)

([64.202.166.102])

(envelope-sender <charlesviper@gmail.com>)

by smtp12-02.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net (qmail-1.03) with SMTP

for <bill@williamfreemanphotography.com>; 17 Feb 2008 06:51:57 -0000

Received: (qmail 461 invoked from network); 17 Feb 2008 06:51:57 -0000

Received: from photo.net ([216.127.244.133])

(envelope-sender <charlesviper@gmail.com>)

by pre-smtp36-02.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP

for <bill@williamfreemanphotography.com>; 17 Feb 2008 06:51:56 -0000

Received: from h160.lan.luminalpath.net ([10.101.0.160] helo=h160)

by photo.net with smtp (Exim 4.43)

id 1JQdNT-0006b0-SM

for bill@williamfreemanphotography.com; Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:51:55 -0500

To: bill@williamfreemanphotography.com

From: charlesviper@gmail.com

Subject: PICK-UP ONLY. Hong Kong - Various Lenses Cameras and Filters

Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:51:55 GMT

 

[the contents of the ad were here]

 

 

-----

 

This is in response to my classified ad, located here:

 

http://www.photo.net/gc/view-one?classified_ad_id=705936

 

Was someone trying to contact me? Was there something wrong with photo.net, or

was it a problem with my gmail account?

So it's safe to assume that this isn't a trait of all D80's, and that it is something that is stemming from the recent repair?

 

Thank you.

Well I know of many wide fast "L" lenses that are ~$2,000; but they may have all been zooms.

 

A 5D is $2,000, which is about 30% more than my D80 and 3-lens kit [18-200 f/3.5 - 5.6, 50mm f/1.4, Tokina 12-24mm f/4].

 

Canons are expensive. Plus, the D3 is a brand new professional camera, where as the 5D is two years old. It's like comparing a D80 and a Mark III to say that Nikon cameras are poor quality.

 

This is the "Gers" photo from Mongolia. Look at the sky -- it's very smooth, exhibiting none of the noise or banding of the "StopUnedited" photograph. What gives?

Hey all,

 

I just got my D80 back from the shop, it had a circuit board replaced since the

buttons stopped working. My warranty is now expired, but they said there's an

extended six-month warranty if I have the same problem again.

 

Thing is, now that I've got this "fixed" D80 back, it has severe banding that

wasn't there before. It only appears in the blue channel.

 

Does any one else have this issue with their D80? If they won't repair it, it

looks like I'll have a reason to upgrade to the D300 finally [considering the

D300 doesn't also suffer from this issue].

 

Please download the file attached and take a look at the three different

channels. It's a NEF converted in ACR, no adjustments to exposure or contrast or

vibrance that would produce weird results. The *ONLY* thing that was done to

this picture was it was resized to 1000 x 667 so you wouldn't waste bandwidth. I

think the problem is easy to see...open in Photoshop, go to "channels" and click

"Blue".

 

ISO100

f/25

75 Second Exposure

18 - 200mm f/3.5 - 5.6 @ 24mm

 

I took an eleven minute exposure at ISO200 in Mongolia over summer break, the

longest exposure I've taken yet, and it is displaying NONE of these

characteristics. I took a four minute exposure last week, and it also looks

clean in all three channels. Should I take the camera back to Nikon?

 

Thanks,

Charles

I think that if I'm willing to spend money on a new camera and a 35mm f/1.4, I'd simply spend the money on a 28mm f/1.4.

What I'm saying is this :

 

The Vivid Plus mode embeds a JPEG file preview into the NEF. Why can't I find a way to match the full-size, losslessly compressed NEF with the highly compressed yet brilliant-looking preview? It's obvious that I have the data, since as you said, RAW is only shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings, with embedded data for "recommended" white balance.

 

I can't find a way to get "Vivid Plus" colors from a NEF file. I've only used Photoshop and Lightroom though...

That's the problem though. The EOS system offers wide, fast lenses, but for $2,500 a lens. I chose Nikon because I've found it's got more bang for the buck and easier ease-of-use. I'm only a student...

 

Looks like it'll be the 20mm f/1.8, with an 11-16mm f/2.8 Tokina for the super-wides.

Hey all,

 

Do the color controls matter on the D80 if you're shooting in RAW mode?

 

I set my camera to "Vivid Plus" and was EXTREMELY satisfied with the colors. I

took lots of colorful photos with my 50mm f/1.4, and after loading them onto the

computer, the color was gone. It's as if someone had made a new 18% gray layer

and applied them over my pictures. If I set the "Vibrance" slider in ACR to a

higher amount, the colors would blow out yet they'd never match the nature of

what I saw on the LCD on my camera.

 

Is this a problem of calibration or is it a problem with RAW?

 

Also, the same thing applies to my Coolscan -- crappy looking reds, without any

punch.

 

What to do?

 

Charles

I enjoy shooting film, but it's getting too expensive. The dynamic range is better than with digital, but the colors are lost when I scan -- and that's using a Coolscan V.

Hey all,

 

What is the widest f/1.4 lens, by Nikon or a third party, that will provide

aperture metering with a D80?

 

I know of the 28mm f/1.4, but that's out of my price range and still not very

wide. I own the 50mm f/1.4, which is good for portraits, but I prefer wide

angles. Is there something like a Sigma 20mm f/1.4? I only know of the 30mm f/1.4.

 

Thanks,

Charles

Oh, and this is a Spyder 1. I tried the serial on the end of the USB cord but it didn't work. It's probably some complicated A3H94-C49SX-98S83 kind of key; rather than the eight-number barcode w/ serial that's on the USB cord.

 

Oh well.

Hmm, looks like it's time to get another Spyder 2.

 

This seems like a stupid workaround. The serial key should be on the device. Why pay an extra $200 for a whole new kit, when all you need is the software?

That's what I was afraid of. Groups are terrible on Flickr. I hate seeing 80% of the comments on flickr being invitations to a group.

Hey all,

 

I've recently made my first flickr account.

 

 

I didn't want this to be a big project of uploading my entire catalog of

photographs, so I instead chose 16 photos at random from Picasa. I made a set

called "Old Photos", and they're the last photos from before 2008 that I'll

upload. The photos show where I am in terms of composition, exposure, technical

matters. I'd like to look back in two years with a set called "New Photos" and

see a huge difference.

 

My question is this -- my D80 is in repairs for another 3-4 weeks. In order to

gain exposure on a website like Flickr, do you have to comment and join groups

and upload photos? Does the number of photos you have on your photo stream

correlate with the amount of exposure you get; like is there a "recent uploads"

page that people often look at?

 

I'm not going to go mad and start pimping myself; as one of the things that kept

me off Flickr was that there's little constructive criticism -- a

semi-professional posts an excellent photograph, and they recieve 200 comments

that say "SHUDVE BEN HDR!" and "Join my group, FAVS FAVS MORE FAVS". It's just

not a cozy environment. The people I see with hundreds of comments all tag their

images with every keyword under the sun, are part of two hundred groups, and

have thousands of friends and about five hundred photos.

 

Is that what it takes to have more than fifty views on a photograph; or can I

just upload photos that I think are good and gain exposure that way?

 

Thanks,

Charles