wpoupore

<p>Yvon, you don't mention what video card the Gateway has. This is really important and at that price level I expect it will be the achilles heal of the system. I would also be surprised if it wasn't integrated which is best avoided if you can. The good news is that even if it has integrated video you can also add a video card into one of the slots at a later date to make up for any deficiency. Just remember that a "really powerful" computer for other things may be "just getting by" when it comes to video editing. </p>

<p>Yvon, I'm a longtime Mac user, and I can say with absolute certainty that you don't need a Mac. Mac-Windows, whatever operating system you want is fine. But you MUST have a powerful computer for video.<br>

Maybe I'l a little dense today, but from your post it wasn't clear whether you're the laptop and the quad core are the same or two different computers? A quad core laptop running XP seemed a bit incongruous. With that in mind:</p>

<p>1) Under XP only 2 GB memory is normally available to applications. So you are likely better off with Vista or Windows 7.</p>

<p>2) Video card - This is where manufactures typically save some money to be able to offer a computer at a lower price. If you computer uses what is called "integrated video" then it is using part of the main computer memory instead of it's own dedicated memory, which is slower than dedicated video memory and also reduces memory available for other tasks. And combined with this is a relatively low performance video processor. Together they mean poor performance when editing video.</p>

<p>If we're talking about a laptop then you're pretty much stuck with what's in there. I haven't heard of a laptop with upgradeable video card but that doesn't mean there isn't one. If it's a desktop then you've got a few choices, some of which cost more than some computers...</p>

<p>3) Laptops typically ship with slow hard drives. You can get a much faster (7200 rpm) 500 GB laptop drive for under $100. It will make it seem like you've bought a new computer just in regular use, even apart from video. If you're talking about a desktop, getting a new hard drive will still help a lot. Video needs all the speed it can get, and the drives have changed enough that just replacing whatever you have with something big and new will make a noticable difference.<br>

And that's just the beginning. If you need real speed then you start talking about striping drives together and...solid state drive (SSD) will go even faster, but are much more expensive per GB of storage and.....The old saying: Speed costs. How fast do you want to go?</p>

 

 

<p>I found the K7 to be dramatically faster focusing than the K20. Any occasion where I had a problem because the K20 was too slow vanished when using the K7. The shutter in the K7 is also dramatically quieter than the K20. YMMV.</p>

 

<p>Michael, here's the ink NIkon Girl video Hin mentioned. Enjoy:</p>

<p>

<p>As for the girl licking the lens...</p>

<p>Jeremiah,</p>

<p>Don't do it! It's a sickness. Once you buy one Limited you can't stop until you've bought them all!</p>

 

 

<p>While the Samsung adapter doesn't give you aperture control of DA lenses, I imagine it won't be too long before there are aftermarket ones that would give at least mechanical control. I believe it's Novoflex that already offers aperture control in some of it's adapters for M4/3. And if M4/3 is anything to go by, with this Samsung you'll get accurate metering in aperture priority and manual modes no matter which lenes you attach to it. You have to live without AF, but I imagine most of us here can do that. I've found manually focusing my FA43 on a Panasonic G1 to be very easy.</p>

<p>I was about to say that rather than size, it's the weight reduction that is most noticable about these EVIL cameras. Then I looked at the wieght of the NX10. At 500g(17.6oz) it closer in weight to a Kx at 580g(20.5oz) than it is to a G1 at 360g(12.7oz). It's the reduced weight that I find most liberating when I want to carry a camera with me but don't want to feel like I'm carrying a camera with me. The G1 is light enough to carry on a writst strap whereas I didn't find a Kx was, and I'm not sure that I'd want to carry the NX10 without at neck strap. And with M4/3, the G1 represents the high end of the weight and size spectrum, not the low end, so you can go even lighter if you're willing to go to a range finder style body.</p>

 

 

<p>If you hadn't already bought the Nikon I'd have suggested taking a look at the K7. I found it's autofocus performance to be noticably better than prior Pentax models. BTW, since micro 43 has been mentioned, let me add that while your Pentax lenses would adapt quite readily the current bodies are not an alternative for action photography. But putting one of the FA Limited lenses onto a M43 camera is delightful. </p>

<p>Come on Dave. Confession is good for the soul.</p>

<p>Twenty-eight lenses? Well, that makes feel like I'm a little less addicted than I thought I was. In the two years since I joined this forum I've managed to accumulate 17 lens, including six of the eight Limited lenses. I've got a spreadsheet that tallies what I've spent and when I look at the total I have to remind myself that almost all were either bought used or before Pentax raised prices last year, so I can get back what I paid for them.</p>

<p>Perhaps a Panasonic G1 might be suitable as well. My own preference is to hold the camera to my eye so I prefer the built-in viewfinder of the G1. Once you add one of the external viewfinders to any of the range finder style µ43 cameras any size advantage is lost and they appear susceptible to damage if you are regularly pulling the camera in and out of a coat pocket.</p>

<p>On a practical note, make your rental car contract allows you to take the care out of the country. Also make sure your insurance, car and medical, covers you out of the country. </p>

<p>Thanks Godfrey. That's just the info I was looking for. Sounds like it can also do the equivalent of Pentax's Quick-Shift focus system which is an unexpected bonus. I saw some of your past comments about how you liked the 43 Limited. Have you used any of your Pentax lenses on M43 or did they go when you unloaded the K10D? I'm considerng using the 43 and 77 with an adapter.</p>

 

I'm interested in the G1 and I'm trying to determine if I can get the autofocus to work the way I have it set up on my Pentax K20D. I want to completely remove the autofocus function from the shutter release and have it assigned to dedicated buttion. I want the camera to autofocus when that button is pushed and then lock focus when the button is released.

 

 

I've read the G1 manual from Panasonic's web site, and it seems the AF/AE button can be set to work just the way I want. What I haven't found out is if it is possible to completely remove AF from the shutter release button. Oh, and I want to be able to do this while the camera is set to AFC.

 

<p>Orlando,</p>

<p>Responding to your earlier post, in my experience, the K20 isn't indicative of Pentax autofocus at it's best. I can't comment on the focusing speed of the K-x, but I found that the K7, in practical terms, had dramatically faster autfocus than the K20. By I mean that I picked up the camera, hit the autofocus button and it was done. The hunting that I was so common with the K20 was a thing of the past. I don't know if it's as good as any Canon, but it was certainly unlike any other Pentax I had used.</p>

<p>Bill</p>

<p>Yvon,</p>

<p>I mistakenly assumed you meant you had removed the obnoxious copyright watermark from all your ebooks. I just repurchased and downloaded the K20D book only to find that nothing has changed and the "fraudulent copy" watermark is still present on every page whether viewed on screen or printed. It is unfortunate that you continue this practice that reduces the value of your otherwise fine publications.</p>

<p>Fantastic!</p>

<p>Yvon, great to hear you've got the K-x book done. Have you got rid of the annoying copy protection you've used on your other ebooks for this one? I'll be first in line to buy the book if you have. </p>

<p>Barnaby, Morse, Frost, Poirot, Monty Python, Top Gear. Love it all. Murder in Surburbia was a good one too.</p>

<p>

<p>While it's a challenge to pick just one of the DA Limiteds, as Dave Hollander touched on, even tougher is choosing between a DA Limited and an FA Limited. The DA 40 or the FA 43? The DA 70 or the FA 77? Then, once you convince yourself that you REALLY need to have them all, just try to explain it to your spouse.</p>

</p>

<p>Does anyone have any sense of how big the 645D will be in comparison to some of the biggest current DSLRs?</p>

<p>

 

<p>Gregory, owning both the K20D and the K7, it has been my experience that the K7 autofocus is noticeably faster than the autofocus on the K20D.</p>

 

</p>

<p>After doing a search and a quick browse, it seems "battery problems" boil down to "use Eneloops or equivalent" and you'll be fine. A more indepth search may get different results. YMMV.</p>

<p>Thanks Andrew. Found the thread from two years ago with your instructions. That did it.</p>

<p>Howard, didn't see shutter count or acctuations in exiftool. Maybe I'm blind?</p>

<p>Javier, I got it used a couple of months ago at a ridiculous price. Owning a K7 at the moment isn't really in my budget, but the price was low enough that I figured I could buy it, enjoy it for a couple of months, and then sell it at or above what I paid for it, and go back to using my K20D. It's just gone onto Craigslist so we'll find out if I was right. So if anyone on here is in Toronto...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Looking to sell my K7 and need to know how many shutter actuations there have been. Anyone know of any software that runs on a Mac that shows the shutter count in the EXIF data?</p>

<p>The "familiar guy" in your second post looks like Woody Allen to me.</p>