joseph_martines

It is a wonderful lens and there are a lot of us who would love to have it be IS.

Rather then that I would prefer a couple of more f stops!

Tough lens in low light. Have to use with the high end bodies in low light.

If I may caution you. The 100 - 400 is a tricky lens to use.

There are controls for the focus range.

There are controls for the IS for panning.

There is a control to turn the stabilization on and off. and,

there is a control to turn the AF on and off.

The trickiest one to get use to is the focus range switch.

If decent light and at a fast shutter speed (minimum 400 equal to the 400MM focal length) you can hand hold the lens

and get excellent pictures.

It's a good lens but, takes some getting use to and hardly anyone points that out. Use it a day before you use it for your

event.

The cheapest state art school will be the state which you live in.

You have a real dilemna. There are some very good schools of art out there but, it is a rough rough road.

Best to talk to artist in your area or go to a city where there is an art colony and talk directly to artists.

Don't forget to ask the advice of art teacher teachers you have taken classes with.

Good luck.

William:

You went the extra mile in your response.

Quite good for all of us!

Photography can be very frustrating.

Do you recall the first bowl you ever turned?? Was it perfect then? Was it acceptable by your standards of today?

You cannot read several books on photography and expect to become an expert. It takes a lots of practice and then

some!

You have to learn about diffusers.

Would it not be cheaper to pay a professional to take your pictures and spend your free time crafting more saleable

objects?

How do you define expensive??

I once saw a picture of a very famous Russian photographer . He looked like a stumble bum and his camera looked

worse. He made his own lens and of course he did his own developing. This was before digital imaging. However, at

the time there were excellent pieces of equipment available.

Equipment is just that. It is equipment/tools. In the hands of a good craftsman the tools can dance.

A lot can be said for the craftsman's eye and how well he trains it to understand composition and how it perceives light.

I have been to seminars on light and the instructor sees highlights and shadows that I can't see even though he shows

them to me.

My experience is that the better lens performs better with less effort. If you want to buy expensive glass but, don't want to

spend retail then you have to shop hard and buy used.

There are great pictures I have gotten with a P & S but, I get more and better pictures with better equipment.

It is all in what standards you have set for yourself and what you can afford.

Either way, photography can be and should be personally rewarding.

In the long run, if you are going to do your processing of images on the computer, you will be happier with the Mac book

Pro. Go for the 17" if you can handle it. I know a lot of people who use it for the same and are very happy. Try the screen

first to see if it is bothersome to you. I think there is a choice on the 17" between glossy and/or matte screen.

Study pictures - images of fall colors.

Develop your own perspective.

Feltus doesn't like Picasa. I don't agree. It is a great place to park pictures that you want to share with other people at

their leisure - for free!

You can't access the Time Capsule unless it is attached to another computer on the internet some way / using a

network.

Feltus is right about drives being an argument. They all are only worth what their warranty is.

Drobo makes a great backup system ( www.drobo.com ). May be more then you want to spend. I'm happy with the way

it works.

David:

Dink around here and see if someone on a Mac forum can answer your question:

http://www.apple.com/support/

The short answer is forget chemical photography - go digital.

Face it - you don't have much money so just start an account and just save your money.

Go to the library and start reading anything that has to do with digital photography - try to get a real grasp of what it is about.

Technology moves lightening fast so by the time you are ready to buy some good equipmennt we will be in another phase of digital

photography.

Pick up a better digital camera used / cheap.

Practice - practice - practice.

If you want to see great color try West Virginia. Beats New England and New York hands down!

This year they will be ready in about two weeks. Try reaching their department of natural resources or someone at the

University of WV.

I have watched FleaBay since its inception.

I work very hard for my money and am in a business which could take advantage of FleaBays offerings every day.

I do not participate at all.

Though FleaBAy would like to provide the world with an open market they have too many problems trying to control the

FleaBags of the world.

I would have no compunction about turning in a bad report on a FleaBag seller.

However, I don't have to worry because I will not participate.

In the event that you don't know about it already : Nigeria = Scam !

Caveat emptor!

The one small flaw in the Nikon automatic feed is that you cannot have any slides with the slightest wrinkle, flaw,

problem. You cannot mix rounded corners and square corners, plastic and paper. The feed can and does jam.

Knowing that it does a fine job.

The flat bed feed of 16 pictures at a time does not scan all pictures for whatever reason. I would try to have the same

contrast so that when the scan is done you end up with more keepers.

There is no easy way.

I think I would look at an iMac 20" or 24" if they fit into my budget.

I would certainly try my images out by taking them to the vendor on a thumb/USB drive and see what the results would be

before I made the purchase.

iMac 24" - hands down!

You can run your Windoze stuff and you will love the monitor.

Go to your local dealer and at least look at one. Bring a USB drive with some pictures and play around.

I would be surprised if you wouldn't be tempted.

You always should spend the high dollars on the glass first.

Technology moves fast and bodies continually change.

The glass technology doesn't move that rapidly. Improvements on the sensor increase the ability of the lens.

Better lenses DO provide you with sharper pictures.

In today's world you probably will be changing bodies every 3 - 4 years.

Aurel:

Remember this saying: When you buy cheap - you get cheap!

It crosses all phases of life. When you deal with reputable people they will give you good advice.

In photography - good tripods - good lenses - good cameras - all hold a good value and they cost more!

I don't know if I can answer your question as completely as I should.

Macro photography is a skill in itself.

The first thing you have to learn, especially when using dedicated macro lenses, is that the "plane of focus" is very fine.

It is the reason that hand held macro is almost impossible.

You have to learn to use a tripod and a shutter release. If you have good eye sight you also have to learn to use

focusing rails.

The best preparation to learning how to shoot macro is read the excellent articles available on this site and get a couple

of books on shooting macro. Then - practice.

I don't know what controls you have on that lens but, you will have to learn how to use it.

Are there not two modes for the IS control?

Are there not two selections for the distance?

There is an on and off for the IS.

All factors come into play with all the Canon telephoto lenses. I had to learn the hard way.

I'm very interested in that Canon lens you have. There don't seem to be many around.

Obviously someone has taken you to task for being a bottom liner. One can do so either in a poor manner where one

cuts the shreds out of another individuals work or actions or they can be critical is a supportive way.

The parent who smacks his child for spilling a glass of water is the type of person who is super critical and will not win

friends and influence people. The parent that says "whoops!. let's wipe it up." and does not embaress the child will get

much greater mileage out of the child in the future.

How are you treated at work? Do you appreciate open criticism by your boss in front of the whole work crew?

There is an old saying: you get more ants with honey then you get with vinegar.

Constructive criticism is where one firsts finds the positive aspects of something and then says "I might have done so

and so."

None of us is perfect. Being kind is better then being nasty. The old saw "do unto to others as you would have done

unto yourself" comes into play.

I have a 320 GB - WD - USB external HD which I copy my images to after I have gone through them using Preview.

I then import them into iPhoto which places the images on the internal hard drive of the iMac computer.

Drobo, using TimeMachine to co-ordinate the copying to Drobo now places the images on the Drobo drives.

Yes, I then have three copies.

I love it. It is silent and does what it is supposed to do. I have a 2 T Drobo. I bought it when they were changing to the

Firewire supported system (which I would rather have had).

I have gone to the mat for this one but, most geeks stay away from it because they are into some deep mystery about

Raid systems and seem to understand what is beyond most mere mortals about backing up systems.

Here's what I do with my images. After a shoot I use Preview to look at the images and get rid of the obviously bad

ones. I then copy the remaining images to an external drive which I keep images only on. I then import them into

Aperture and organize them. When I have the time I burn a disc from the external drive and meanwhile Drobo has my

stuff using Time Machine.