knobby6

<p>I noticed the same issue a while back, they assured me even though it shows up as an individual giving multiple ratings, that it doesn't really register that way for the person receiving the ratings.</p>

It depends what you want to shoot. If you want to shoot in low light and you want to shoot fast flying birds, then you are most definitely limited with your camera. If you have the money and you shoot a lot, its a no brainer, upgrade.

Looks like a Cooper's hawk. Probably you are being more observant now that you have seen the red-tailed hawk. Most urban areas have lots of raptors, you just have to be looking for them. I live in Los Angeles, and I see red-tailed hawks, Coopers, peregrines, red shouldered hawks, ospreys, and even great horned owls, but I am always looking for and seeking them out. You certainly could use more glass to shoot raptors, and money wise probably the 100-400 or the 400 5.6 lens might be good bets. But be careful, shooting birds can be habit former. Most people I know that shoot birds are beyond the hobby stage, they are obsessed.

I use cf and I would go for the 8, as cards are so reliable now.

Your evaluative metering is useful, as u don't have to think as much. As u said it will try to expose the whole scene. You have better control if u use regular ttl metering not balanced(nikon terminology). Most of my hummers without the flowers in them were with flash. I use like -3 on exposure compensation on the camera and about +2 2/3 on the flash, depending on ambient light. My object was to make the bg dark and just have the flash illuminate the bird. I mostly use BB if I want more distance, as it focalizes the beam. Moose Peterson has a tutorial on flash u might find useful, just google it. I also find flash photography rather confusing as to how to shoot certain situations are there are so many different modes.

Actually its quite easy to lowball someone anon. You just watch their category and when they present a photo, u lowball it. There aren't that many new photos in a given night that are presented in a given category.

 

Of course everyone likes high ratings, but the fact is u don't get that many anon ratings. Look at the people that get 30 or 40 ratings, or even a 100. They got them because they do a lot of rating in various categorys and they usually give good ratings. Over half of the people will reciprocate, thus explaining Necips comment about some bad photos getting good ratings. A lot of people who rate high don't do it anon because they want u to know they gave u a good rating and the expect u to reciprocate. That unfortunately is human nature.

I have to agree with Fred, I think there is a lot more 3's and 4's now. I'm sure some of it is from new raters. Also I've heard that kids make bogus accounts and lowball lots of people just to mess with their minds. There is also revenge ratings where people will lowball your photos to get even for low ratings you may have given them or maybe to keep you from getting into the top photos for the week because they want to be above you. I know this is an old subject, but the anon system needs to go and if you rate with a 3 or 4 your should have to leave a comment.

Tim and Josh, I have emailed twice in the last 3 days concerning multiple accounts. Once to abuse@photo.net and once to josh@photo.net. I realize Josh mush get a gazillion emails, but multiple accounts is detrimental to the whole pn community.

Its all about the ratings. A large portion of the people here only care about good ratings and nice comments. Kilgo, u want responses, try giving out high ratings and I bet u will get a lot more responses than from giving comments. I totally agree with Juha's comments. Also there is quite a few people here with multable accounts that vote for themselves, their friends and use the leverage to lower ratings on other members.

Ilkka, I use D3 with 200/400 vr everyday shooting birds. I see no vignetting. I shoot wide open a large portion of the time, and lens is very sharp. Like Shun said its not great with a teleconverter, but quite usable. These pictures in my folio are all taken with D3/200-400. http://www.photo.net/photos/knobby6

In software on the black screens, shutter speed and iso show, but apereture read is missing. You can get some detail when you bring exposure up in software, but not much. Even autofocus is getting intermittent today, have to turn camera off then back on, sometimes more than once. I use the af-on button, but I don't think that is relevant.

Anything been resolved concerning this problem. My D3 has same problems with false battery readings and now I am getting the black frames. This is with the 200-400 vr.

I have a D3 which has the same problem with the battery, but this is with the 200-400 vr lens. Cleaned lens/camera contacts with pencil eraser which seemed to help, but have same problem again.

Birds should get high ratings because it is the most challenging. You have very little control over lighting and background. The bird is where he is and does not pose for the camera. Try shooting a brown mottled bird flying in a marsh.. :]

<div></div>

<div></div>

How about having everyone that rates, forced to leave a comment. If they have to explain their rating, they may not be so apt to rate low and if they do explain, then at least you get some input as to why they rated it low.

Looks like this thread stopped a couple of months ago. I was wondering if Martin had resolved his focusing issues. I too have a d200 with a 200-400 vr lens and have been having focusing problems. I also have a 70-200 2.8 vr lens which does much better, but of course without the range. If thread is still active will post more info.

 

Monte Stinnett