reichard

<p>What a great thread! I don't even know what I earn anymore; My tax return is at least two inches thick, three businesses, one wife, six cats, two birds, one dog and two parents!<br>

I was able to afford a d300 with little adieu, but ah, no credit cards and no mortgage payments and both Harley's are paid off :^)<br>

I justified the price of the d300 as follows: I wanted a Nikon F5 and a digital camera. My brother has a dozen Nikon bodies, lots of glass, and, well, I bought the D300. Almost bought a Canon Rebel XSi for much less, but alas, I would have to buy all my own glass!<br>

The d300 fits well into my amateur shooting and is distinctly different from my Mamiya 7 and 645. But do heavily consider the price for glass and consider the body secondary.</p>

<p>nafta only applies to items that are manufactured here and shipped in north America. Will not apply to items of PANASIAN manufacture. If the lens is less than $1600 USD you can ask the shipper to complete a NAFTA preferrential duty form. If less than $200, dont worry.</p>

<p>eek that's one pricey lens -- I want one!!!!</p>

<p>Find a used MF scanner on fleabay to quench your thirst. Near lab/pro quality. If you need better quality, buy a new/better scanner or pay a pro.<br>

Meanwhile, a cheapo MF flatbed might satisfy you for your personal use. Not too meaningful to pay top $$$ for scans or a scanner if the camera is in poor shape or the IQ of the photo's are marginal.<br>

Relax, get a cheap scanner, take some pictures, scan, and enjoy.</p>

<p>I just bought a SS tank with two reels for $26 from the local pro shop (these people are the BEST). Reading this thread with interest as I'll have two rolls for the soup tomorrow.<br>

One plastic tank has cracked om me since last year, and, with the lower temps in my basement, I'm looking for the thermal benefits of SS for tempering!</p>

 

<p>Static electricity is quite prominent in the dry air from wintertime. I lost a stack of ADCOM audio gear from a near imperceptible static plink from my finger. <br>

Small static shock into a flash unit -- poof! You might have hit the hot shoe...</p>

<p>Get an inexpensive isolation transformer -- that'll fix your issue -- 73's de n3izc</p>

<p>17-35mm/2.8 AFDs, getting up close and personal. Capa: "If your photos arent good enough, then your not close enough."</p>

<p>Hehe yeah, I totally agree.</p>

<p>I (still?) use my darkroom. I bought a Nikon D300 a bit ago and don't use it so much. Prefer to use my Mamiya 645 for just about everything. Lately have only been developing 120 B&W, but I also devleop my brother's 35mm B&W from his Zorki collection and 120 from his Speed Graphic. I have done 20+ rolls of C41 color medium-format this summer but didn't buy new chemistry yet :^)</p>

 

Checkout Strobist's Flash Bootcamp, a must read here:</p>

<p>http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/06/lighting-boot-camp-archive-page.html</p>

A co-op is routinely drafted as a 501©3 non-profit corporation. Non-profit doesn't mean that you don't earn money/salary, but establishing such an entity is typically expensive. My family and friends are starting one and our attorney's letter of engagement requested $10,000 in order for the lengthy filings.

 

Unless you just mean a bunch of people sharing space, sure, that works too! Come on over, I have 5000+ sqft of "extra" space!

Windows 7 is built with the same kernel as Vista and Server 2008.

 

Not much sense putting off a PC purchase to avoid Vista as Windows 7 is going to have the same kernel and the same basic architecture as Vista. Lots of links on the net with Microsoft's official statement on this--here is one of them:

 

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211800486

 

If you want to avoid Vista, get a Mac. And yes, you need a better geek.

I just tried my setup -- Camera Control Pro 2 and D300 must be in MTP mode -- mass storage definitely doesn't work.

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I'm hoping Santa has a Sinar for me :^)

bitshifting is purely done on the binary representation of a number. ISO performance is largely sensor performance coupled with the gain figures of the analog signal amplification thence A/D conversion. No bitshfiting here as each shift loses one complete order of magnitude in base-2.

 

One bitshift (base-2) will either divide or multiply the binary number by two, and considering a fixed word, doubling will lose the hi-bit and insert a 0 bit in the LSB. So either way an entire magnitude is lost.

going one stop from f2.8 to f4 halves the amount of light. FX cameras favor wide angle lenses; DX cameras, zooms. If wide angle shots are your "thing", FX is the way to go, but of course, FX bodies do come at much higher price,

 

You stated that your target medium is the web; why not just stick with your D300 and a fast prime lens? You can always crop/zoom during PP anyway.

 

Best to put your $$ into glass instead of buying a new D700 and sticking a cheap kit lens on it.

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Happened on my Mamiya. Try wrapping the polarizer in 2-3 layers of masking (painters) tape. That'll give you more grip area -- and twist.

Two files are required to flash a firmware upgrade on the D300 -- perhaps only one file was flash'd. Nikon documentation states clearly that both files must be flash'd for proper operation.

 

I've had my D300 for 2-3 months now and flashed it about two weeks ago...zero problems...

The MacBooks have a 13.3" display and that's way too small for me and any even mundane Photoshop work. The MacBook Pro's have a 17" display but cost $1999 as well.

 

I find OSX 10.5 plenty fast at 2.4GHz with 2gb. I run Aperture, Photoshop and a bunch of apps and I never have the "swap of death" from the hard drive

 

I'd steer towards a Pro or the iMac 2.66Ghz.

The price of the glass for the Mamiya 7ii is the only reason I have not bought one (yet).

Verneille, just as Michael had stated, grants are scarce and most of these are matching grants.

 

Small business startup financing is exceptionally challenging even when the economy is good. I can give you "real" recommendations that will help/

 

1. Join your local Chamber if Commerce. In most cities, this will cost $250 for a basic membership. The point of joining the Chamber is network marketing and rubbing elbows with some "movers and shakers" in your local area.

 

2. Go to score.org and make an appointment with a business counselor. score.org is a free, non-profit mentoring group that works with your local SBA. IF there is any financing to be had, they will be the ones to help steer you straight

 

3. Dont quit your day job -- dont get discouraged

 

4. From #3, see if there is a business incubator where you can start your studio.

 

5. Network market as much as humanly possible.

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I fussed for two months with Live Search / eBay / PayPal cashback. Finally gave up and bought my D300 and a few lenses at Adorama and a Nikon Extended warranty ($59). Had everything the next day.