markp

I travel to Dallas for business frequently, but when I have spare time for photography, it seems I almost always end up over in Ft. Worth:

 

1) The Stockyards National Historic District has some great western/cowboy heritage subjects - preserved "old west" architecture, weathered old buildings, corrals, and even a daily "cattle drive" where cowboys in authentic garb run a herd of Texas Longhorns down the mainstreet - not sure about the schedule for this, but check www.fortworthstockyards.org or www.fortworth.com for event schedules and more info about the area. I was last there in March, and they were running the cattle drives twice a day.

 

2) The Fort Worth Zoo is nice, and quite photogenic, if you're into zoos. They may have reduced admission for evening-only visitors, I'm not sure. The zoo sits next to a large park which is also quite photogenic early in the a.m. or in the evening. Some of the early log structures from the first pioneers are located here and while fenced off, are open to visitors at various times.

 

In terms of Dallas itself, if you're into street photography or architectural detail, the area adjacent to downtown called Deep Ellum is probably my favorite. Lots of funky shops, restaurants, and live-music nightclubs attract Dallas' arts/music crowd. Many "colorful" street photography subjects roaming around this part of town. Evening's the best time to be here. Don't stay too late, though - this crowd can at times get a bit rough late at night, so I advise caution with expensive photo gear.

 

Also, the renovated warehouse district they call "The West End," now mostly entertainment/restaurants/coffeebars, can also be good for street/people photography.

 

Oh, several people have recommended the Dallas Arboretum to me, for landscape/floral photography, but I've so far not had time to make it there. I'm not sure how late in the evening it's open, but probably worth checking into if you're into those subjects.

 

Have a nice time!

I'm another who uses a toploader (LowePro Zoom Pro AW in my case), with its dedicated chest-harness. I put the toploader on first, before my backpack, then the backpack shoulder straps over the LowePro harness. The straps don't interfere, at least on my body with my setup. Attaching the toploader to the sternum strap is a good idea, if the buckles are compatible.

 

The lens I think I'm most likely to use is mounted on my camera, and extra lenses (and at times a Nikon FM2) go into really old Photoflex "Galen Rowell" padded lenscases in the outer pockets on my pack.

 

If you're still pack shopping at this point, be sure to check out the Black Diamond Equipment packs if you can find them. Mine is an older model now, but I've owned 3 of their packs over the years and the fit has been unmatched in my experience, at least for my frame.

I backpacked around Belize with my camera several years ago.

 

What I found to be one of the nicest/best preserved Mayan ruins in Belize is not too far north of Belize City, and called "Altun Ha." This site makes for excellent images of well-preserved classic temples rising out of lush surrounding grounds with jungle in the background. Early-am or evening are nice, especially since several small ponds and streams surrounding the area often cause the temples to be shrowded in fog or mist at dawn and dusk. When I was there, there were numerous birds and waterfowl on the site, making for some nice foreground accents in my temple shots. Do some research, though, lots in Belize has changed in the past several years.

 

The big issue with Altun Ha is transportation - will you have a rental car? When I was there, there was no public transport to the site, and I had no car, but my travel buddy and I were able to pretty easily hitch a ride with some Korean archaeologists who were working at another site nearby and dropped us off. I don't recommend this approach, though, unless you're experienced with and prepared for camping in the tropical jungle or are ensured a ride back. For all I know there's a hotel at Altun Ha by now, though. Either way, it's a great site if you have time to check it out and a way to get there (and back).

"Will the D2H allow me to make beautiful 11x14's if necessary?"

 

<p>Dennis:

 

<p>Check out this article related to D2H printing by nature photographer Mark Graf:

 

<p><a href="http://www.grafphoto.com/articles/printdogma.html" >Printing Dogmas</a>

With the samples I've had the pleasure of using (just one f1.4 AIS, several f1.8 AI, AIS, and AF's, and one f2), I'd say the f1.8's and f2 just barely beat out the f1.4. If you really like being at f1.4, then that's the tradeoff - a touch of performance for a versatility of f1.4. IMO you aren't sacrificing much at all. Use it and be happy!

I corresponded with Tamron USA sales about the RF645 a few weeks ago, and indeed, they confirmed that no more are available in their US inventory. They also confirmed that they will not be importing any more to the US. Those that are available on retailer's shelves are all that are left.

I have found this little bugger to be nothing but a pain to use, as well. I'm sure feedback like what we're seeing here contributed to Nikon's implementation of an actual corded remote release on the D70s.

I agree with all stated above. If your hearing is good, you can also tell when the battery is near exhaustion by the sound - the high-pitched whine of the flash as it recycles becomes, well, not as high-pitched. I usually notice the pitch sound before I realize the longer timeframe to recycle.

Another endorsement from me for the 105mm f2.8 AF Micro. Compared to the 55mm (which was briefly made as an AF lens, which would meter with the D70) or 60mm f2.8's, it gives a little more working distance from the subject for macro work, has a narrower angle of view which helps control backgrounds a bit, and is also very versatile as a portrait and short tele lens.

I bought an absolutely mint LNIB 70-200VR on the fredmiranda.com forums for $1150 shipped about two months ago. There are used samples of this out there if you look. I've seen a few show up on the PN classifieds in recent weeks, too, but they go fast.

I wouldn't sell. In fact, there are some very low prices on closeout Contax gear these days. A friend of mine just picked up a "demo" N-1 with the 24-85 and 70-200 zooms. In actuality, it was brand new in the box, not demo'd at all. What a gorgeous camera - lovely, beautifully-engineered gear that will last for many years.

I'm 6'0" and 190. I really Lowepro bags, and all but one of my bags is a Lowepro. That one non-Lowepro bag is my photo backpack:

 

When I set out to purchase a largish photo backpack a few years ago, as much as I "wanted" another Lowepro, I found the Tamrac backpacks to be more comfortable than the comparatively-sized Lowepros, for my frame.

 

Happy shopping,

Mark

Dust inside lenses is a fact of life, unfortunately. Zooms tend to be worse than primes, as the air displacement of the lens elements' zooming action sucks in dust. In my experience, push-pull zooms are worst of all.

 

That said, primes are not immune - some prime lenses that focus by moving rear elements (i.e., that are "rear focusing") seem particularly prone to accumulating internal dust, as well.

I have used a Dell Inspiron 600m as my photo laptop for nearly two years now; it's very similarly spec'd to the Latitude D600. The 610 is higher-spec'd than these, so it should provide better performance than the D600.

 

I've been very pleased with my 600m. The small, dim laptop screen is the weak link, but I profile it with the Colorvision Optical Spider and get very acceptable color matching in prints. I also tether it to an external 19" Dell 1905 Ultrasharp when using it at home. That's a lovely monitor - sharpness, brightness, and color accuracy are wonderful.

 

If you want speed for Photoshop, order your machine with 2 gigs of RAM. I just have 1 gig in my 600m, and it's pretty fast for everything except PS and Nikon Capture batch processing. I need to add another gig.

 

I've found the Dell 600m to be a good compromise in performance, features, and size. The 8x00 series is, IMO, too big to be a take-everywhere laptop.

For my shooting style, after the 17-35, I've always found the 24mm f2.8 to offer the best combination of performance and versatility. So here's another vote for that one.

I would also check with Authorized Photo Service in Morton Grove, IL (suburban Chicago) -- 800-406-2046 or www.authorizedphoto.com.

The 300mm f4 EDIF AF is a pretty slow-focusing lens. When I owned this lens, I was disappointed with the focus speed on my F5. Of course, the D100 focuses non-AFS lenses waaay slower than the F5. As such, I would expect the combo to be a disappointment for soccer and wildlife. For motorsports, it might be okay on straightaways.

 

For nature, I found the 300mm EDIF AF to be good for isolating landscape subjects. But it autofocuses LOUDLY - by the time you get a framefilling wildlife shot, the AF noise will scare your subject off.

 

Based on my experience overall, I found it to be an optically outstanding manual focus lens. I now own the AFS version, and I find I use this lens far more than I ever did the EDIF version, because the AF is actually useful.

Joshua - are you sure your battery is properly charged? I know a number of people with D70s (including myself) and haven't heard of this one.

 

----------

 

"...it seems a day doesn't go by without someone posting some problem with the D70."

 

At the same time, many tens of thousands of people are using the camera every day without experiencing problems to post about....

I did a weeklong field workshop not long ago, with one of the prominent national nature photographers. There were several women in the group, and *every* single one of them was using the LowePro Nature Trekker. We never really got into a conversation about backpack satisfaction, but certainly no one was complaining about them. So you might want to check out that bag.

 

The Nature Trekker is larger than the MiniTrekker mentioned above, which may or may not be of benefit to you.

 

Good luck,

Mark

Wayne,

 

I bought my 2200 from amazon.com for $579 + free shipping. Even the free shipping, which Amazon says is typically 5-9 days, got the printer to me in 3 business days! I print almost exclusively on Epson Premium Luster paper for gallery exhibits, and have been very pleased with the results.

 

Good luck,

I did his 2-day weekend workshop through Rocky Mountain School of Photography last spring. I think his current 2-day workshops are a similar format: Saturday devoted to photographic technique and equipment in a slide-show format, Sunday mostly devoted to digital optimization.

 

I found the workshop to be excellent. If you own all his books like I do, the Saturday component offers nothing earthshaking, other than the great opportunity to listen to him talk about details of the familiar images in his books as well as lots of new ones. His gear preferences have changed since his last book publications, and it's interesting to discuss his though processes on gear selection.

 

The Sunday digital sessions were predominently Photoshop image optimization techniques, and I found them to be very helpful. It was a live walk-though demo using a laptop and projector to optimize several images in different ways. I have found the handout from this session to be invaluable, and he said it's covers much similar ground as his recent eBook.

 

As of April 2004, when I did this workshop, John claimed to be approximately 50/50 film/digital. It was clear from his remarks that he was heavily involved in testing the D2x, though he didn't state this directly (NDA, of course). Even though that was 9 months ago, I don't think he's completely digital yet: if you look at his "current gear" list on his website, which he updates frequently, he still lists 2x F5 and a D1x as his daily gear.

 

John was a very engaging speaker, welcomed questions, and graciously lingered during breaks at at the end of both days as long as people wanted to hang around and ask individual questions. Based on my experience, I don't hesitate to recommend his workshop.

 

Hope this helps,

Mark

I bought a Lexar 1G 40x card at B&H, with a $30 rebate, in late October. A week or so after mailing in the claim, I received the email that my rebate was being processed and would take 6-8 weeks, with the link to rebate-zone.com as a previous poster described. My $30 rebate check arrived earlier this week, right on schedule. No problem, no hassle.

 

Perhaps I'm lucky, but here's one more that "worked".

My most-used lens for landscapes is my 80-200 f2.8 zoom. Next is my 24mm. My third most-used landscape lens is my 300mm. So yes, I'd certainly argue that the longer focal lengths are of great value for landscapes.

Ron,

 

I have Kirk's L-plate for the F5, which is essentially the same as the RRS model. I strongly recommend an L-plate, whichever brand: the F5 with pretty much any lens attached is heavy, and the L-plate keeps your camera's center of gravity over the head. The B1 is strong, but your camera/lens will be much more stable with that center of gravity over the ballhead via an L-plate, rather than hanging off to one side.

 

I've even noticed a difference on my relatively-light D70 since I replaced the standard arca-swiss plate with the RRS L-plate. L-plates are definitely worth the cost.

I have owned one of each of the two versions of this lens. The D and non-D versions of this lens share the same identical optical formula. The only difference is the addition of the D electronic chip in the D version, which "may" make a small difference in a small percentage of flash-exposure situations.

 

If you plan to use the lens for a lot of flash photography, you may occasionally get a better result with the D version. Otherwise, there's simply no difference.

 

I'd attribute any difference in the photodo curves to sample variation.