photosbyasher

<p>Ilkka,<br>

For shooting jewelry, what would you consider a "specialized macro/enlarger lens" to be used with the bellows and which bellows do you recommend PB4 or PB6?</p>

<p>Thanks for your replies.<br>

I have looked at the PB4 and PB6 on eBay. I have the following questions based on your replies:<br>

1. Can I not mate my 60 mm macro onto the PB4? What are you, Jospeh recommending the 50, 85, 105, or 135 put together with a 4X enlarger? My understanding is that with each piece of glass between me and the jewelry, there is the risk of degrading the image quality. Why not somply go with the 60 mm MACRO on the PB4?<br>

2. Why the PB4 and not PB6?<br>

3. What is the difference between going with a t/s bellows like the PB's vs. going with a digital T/S lens besides of course, cost? What will be the difference with respect to the final image?<br>

4. Matt, given your experience, what is your response to postioning my D300 farther away from the jewelry when shooting it as it pretains to increased DoF?<br>

Final comments: I have looked into Helicon as an option for assembling focus stacks and my response is like this-I prefer to get the image done right from the beginning especially because it SAVES SO MUCH TIME! which is my peferred way of working.<br>

Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to reply to me and I await your responses.</p>

<p>Thanks for your replies.<br>

I have looked at the PB4 and PB6 on eBay. I have the following questions based on your replies:<br>

1. Can I not mate my 60 mm macro onto the PB4? What are you, Jospeh recommending the 50, 85, 105, or 135 put together with a 4X enlarger? My understanding is that with each piece of glass between me and the jewelry, there is the risk of degrading the image quality. Why not somply go with the 60 mm MACRO on the PB4?<br>

2. Why the PB4 and not PB6?<br>

3. What is the difference between going with a t/s bellows like the PB's vs. going with a digital T/S lens besides of course, cost? What will be the difference with respect to the final image?<br>

4. Matt, given your experience, what is your response to postioning my D300 farther away from the jewelry when shooting it as it pretains to increased DoF?<br>

Final comments: I have looked into Helicon as an option for assembling focus stacks and my response is like this-I prefer to get the image done right from the beginning especially because it SAVES SO MUCH TIME! which is my peferred way of working.<br>

Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to reply to me and I await your responses.</p>

<p>Thank you all for your input.<br>

To Matt Laur: the images are targeted for an internet site. Here is a sample of the work I have done: <a href="http://www.josephegalliano.com/">http://www.josephegalliano.com/</a> (If you explore the site, only the images on black background are mine...the white background'ed images are being replaced by my work)<br>

I have not found a lack of softness in my images at such a pinpoint f-stop, but I will now look for it. I will also try backing up an cropping down to see the effects on DoF.<br>

NOW THEN, the reason for my original post is that I want to continue to improve my style and technique so that I can comfortably move into magazine work. I love working with jewelry, it does not talk back and looks oh, so pretty. I hoep to becom good enough to be called upon outside of Canada or Israel, where I am dually-based. <br>

To all, I will try your recommendation for focus stacking programs. Many thanks again.<br>

Yours in Photography,<br>

Asher</p>

<div></div>

<p>I am shooting Jewelry with a D300 mated to Nikon's 60mm micro 2.8. I am happy with my results, except for one thing...I find that EVEN at f40 I do not get a deep enough depth of field in my ring images. At that focal length, you probably already know that I am using strobes and in addition, I am shooting the light through a small light tent.<br>

I have considered taking multiple images while changing the focusing plane. If I do this, then I need recommendations for great software to handle focus stacks.<br>

However, I prefer always to get the shot right from the beginning...any ideas on improving my DoF?<br>

Thanks in advance<br>

Asher Fine</p>

 

Keith and Iverson, are you happy with the Katzeye and how much did it cost?

Is it a complicated procedure to change over the prism in the D300 to a Katzeye?

 

Awaiting your reply.

 

Asher

Hello All,

 

This is an update as you Matt, requested.

I have deactivated the standby node on my SB800's and it seems that it has rectified my flash failure problems.

Also, your comments regarding weak batteries was spot on.

I have been THOROUGHLY enjoying using my flashes creating pretty, colourful and well lighted images.

Last week, I photographed a sound studio in action and it was very crowded.

I left my monolights outside the studio door and took my SB800's and 900 out of my LLowepro bag and got to work.

My flashes gave me blazing rich images as I moved them around and put the light exactly where I needed it.

Oh, Nikon is so pleasant to use!!!

 

Have a nice day

 

Asher

It did, thank you. On the SB800, I am syill not cetain

Curious...did you try to reset your D300 to "reset to factory settings". If this is not helpful, then try Nikon in Montreal.

 

They helped me a number of years ago and were very professional.

 

3300 Boulevard de la Côte-Vertu

Montréal, Quebec

H4R 2B7

Telephone: (514) 332-5681

Fax: (514) 332-3305

 

Do not be concerned about communicating in English within Quebec's French environment as they really are

professional. To put everyone at ease (Canadians are really uptight about their language issues), simply start your

converation with bonjour.

 

Let us know how it turns out.

I am printing (up to now) not from CS3 but from Lightroom. I am in the process of moving from PC to Mac but let's

leave that aside for now ad focus on PC pritning with my 3800 which is my current reality..

To set up my printer in my studeio, I did as follows: I used my i1 LT and calibrated my screen, then printed a test

sheet and used the i1 to rea the colour test sheet report. Good so far?

I am using Photoblack and printing mostly on HP gloss paper.

The settings in my print setup are as follows:

ICM Host

Intent: Perceptual

Printer profile: Epson standard

Quality 1440 dpi

The settings defaults to Pro38 PGPP in the "Printer Profile Description"

 

Admittedly, I have not measured the thickness of the paper etc.

 

I am not sure where to go to get the information about the printer's drivers to check whether or not I have double

commanded the profiles. Perhaps you could walk me through this.

 

Now then-when printin in CS3, I find SO MANY choices, it is very complicated. Perhaps you could break that down

for me too i.e. simplest technique of printing in CS3 to achive maximal results

 

Many thanks to you all.

 

Asher

It is always a good idea t restore to factory settings, especially when a reliable NIKON begins to give wonky exposure

values. The comments here have all been good but I must add something.

 

If you follow the advice in this forum but still get wonky results, you may have a central processor that is no longer working. I

know of two cases in the D200 where this occurred. Though pretty rare because NIKON makes simply great products,

remember that at the end of the day, we are holding computers with magnificents lenses attached.

 

John, let me know what the outcome is with your D200.

 

Good Luck

 

Asher Fine

asher@immajin.com

I am using an EPSON Stylus Pro 3800 for printing in my studio.

It is driven by a windows based computer (dual core processor) with a hugely strong graphics card and 3 gig RAM

etc etc.

For the life of me, I do not get consistent results with my printer and it is driving me crazy.

I calibrated my whole system using an i1 colorimeter and it the NEC Multisync 2490WUXi screen is matched to the

printer.

I generally prefer to set my control panel to ICM perceptual but I am now getting washed out blacks and my low

tones are bathed in over-dark, giving me dead looking colour.

 

Any suggestions?

Now let me put in my two cents.

 

I have 2 - SB800's and one SB900 and when I am shooting in commander mode with my D300, I cannot figure out

how to manually adjust the zoom control on the flashes.

Your (collective) answers did not get me any closer to adjusting the zoom controls on my flashes.

Can we try again please?

 

Take into consideration that my flashes do not have any diffuser on them, no gel attached, and the wide angle

diffuser, built in to the flash, is not deployed.

 

Anybody can help?

Constructive criticism accepted. Frank you are absolutely right. I saw a great lighting piece on You Tube last night and

one of the key messages the photographer was imparting is that it is extremely necessary to take the time and think

before and during the set up of lighting and to make any changes if necessary once the shoot goes ito real time. He

emphasized the need to slow down and not fire and splash, meaning fire away, splash light and hope that a good or even

great image comes out of it.

You comments Frank underscored last night's You Tube, because I should have read the SB800 manual more carefully

to begin with. I have already read the SB900 manual once and will do so again until I really get the subtle nuances of the

device. Then it is off to real time testing and then use of this lovely device.

 

Have a nice weekend.

 

Asher

I am looking for a reflector for a Bowens 800 WS monolight.

My monolight is about 20 years old. I acquired it from a retired photographer that had it in storage for about 15 years.

The unit works perfectly but lacks its reflector.

Any ideas where I can get one?

 

Many thanks.

 

Asher Fine

I now know that I was confusing two NIKON tools, one a wireless data transmitter, the WT-4 and the second, a radio

transmitter to trigger studio lights. Sorry for the confusion. I am using Chinese made radio transmitters on my D300's and

the colour my camera was giving me was really punched out. Today, I took myself down to my local NIKON distributor, went to the lab

and the tech simply restored my camera to factory settings. I am going to run a couple of dry runs in the coming days to

see if that resolved my problem and will return here with my results.

 

Thanks to everyone for replying.

Matt, thanks for your comprehensive answers and I think you have really nailed it. I am using GP 2700 rechargeable batteries and though

the charging specs recommend charging for 14 hours, I usually give my GP 2700's 24 hours. There is no danger of overcharging with

them. On ocassion, I have had a weak battery in a group and this could be when I have these flash failures. Today, I spent about 4 hours

on several websites reading EVERYTHING I could about my SB800's and I decided to disable the automatic power saver. I then ran many

many test shots with them and they are working perfectly. ALSO, I have learned that if there is any backflash into the sensor of the

master (in my case, my D300) the SB800 gives a loud and long shrill warning tone as the flashes become all confused in TTL

mode while working as slaves. I believe that this also contributed to my problem. Thanks for your input, and to everyone else who took

the time to reply to me.

 

NOW THEN-

On another track...tonight....! tonight....! I bought my first SB900 and I am so amazed by this flash. I took it to my window, in the pitch

black of night, together with my 70-200 VR mounted to my lovely D300 and from several floors above the street began shooting across the

street, into a dark tree and on and on and the results were so good!!! I am sure the neighbors were not too pleased but I believe they are

getting used to me alreadywith my NIKONS firmly strapped to me day and night.

 

Have a good day to all.

I was referring to the NIKON WT-4a Wireless Transmitter.

I have been using a non OEM transmitter and my D300 is giving me funky colour values when operating my mono lights. My local Nikon shop told me that the warranty would be voided if I have used transmitters other than the proprietary WT-4a

Matt, you expressed it better than I did. My D300 was set in commander mode and my flash was set as a slave. But you bring up auto-save mode and this is something I will look at right now If the SB800 is set to go into auto standby mode, will it prevent the flash from working as a slave?

I have been told that if one uses anything but the NIKON radio transmitter to trigger studio lights, it voids the NIKON

warranrty. Is this true?

 

Is there any harm that can come to my D300 by using a non-NIKON radio transmitter?

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

Asher

I find that sometimes my SB800 does not flash when set up in commander mode.

To be more specific, my D300 and SB800 are both properly set in commander mode. I can go a few frames with my

SB800 flashing as it should and then suddenly it begins not to flash. Has anyone encountered this problem? If so,

what is causing it and what do I need to do to prevent or fix it?

Lastly, All of this occurs when my GP 2700 rechargeable batteries are fully charged.

Thanks in advance

Asher

Sarah, you are very bunny. Anyone ever tell you that?

Great idea to make event specific card, but are you really sure you will want to do more bunny conventions, except

perhaps if it is at the Hefner mansion?

I vote for the...bunny (I can't believe I said that).

Now go on...get your bunny out of here...:-)

Phillip, your site is the opposite extreme compared to Nathan's.

There is not enough text and I am not sure where you are taking me with your images,

What are you trying to do?

Simply show your stuff?

Attract new customers and models?

Happy photo'ing in any case

Asher

 

Nathan, your site shows your age.

It is innocent, cute and an honest attempt to display your stuff and attract attention.

I particularly liked the icky texture of the black, green pepper.

However, as Phillip so wisely said, Whew...tooooo much text, toooo hard to read it all and no pps (paragraphs).

Shame on you.

Go to college and keep shooting, you have a keen eye and an honest dedication to your work.

Asher

Hello Gerald,

Thank you for replying.

I shooting my weddings in fully manual mode set both on my D300 and my SB800.

I am aware of the refresh time for my studio lights and I take this into account when shooting. (I am very

pedant).There is a difference between an underexposed image and a nearly non-exposed image and the black

images are the latter. When you state that "something is not right", can you offer any suggestions what that may

be?

Thank you. Asher

Thank you for your repllies.

Bill, your reply seems plausible because I am also experiencing (and only thought about it after I posted my orig dark images problem) that when I use two SB800 in commander mode with the camera and both flashes pogrammed as they should be, one o f the SB800's does not flash at every press of the D300's shutter.

I have gone so far as to label both SB800's as group 2A and 2B so I am careful to avoid confusion when programming the flash intensity within my D300.

For everyone, is this related to my dark image problem when using my radio remote to trigger my studio lights at weddings?

 

Thanks. Asher