john_smyte

According to <a href=http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedetail/film.vs.digital.1.html>these folks</a>, for the

exception of the slow ultra fine grained films, digital has over taken 120 in terms of image detail.<p/>I have to

agree about the consumables becoming harder to get. I'm doing more and more mail order - my local stores are

stocking much less film (sometimes all they have is one roll of a particular film) and getting 120 color

processed is getting incredibly expensive.

Just sign up and learn something. <p/>For me, being a professional photographer is not my bag. No thanks! I'll

stay a hobbyist - thank you very much.

It's your depth of field. That's all. If you haven't already, put the camera in aperture priority and put in f/8 or higher. That should put the bird completely in focus. If not, mess around.

Hi, I've ordered from them and got the best Child pornography ever!<p/><p/>Here's my point...anyone can have a Photo.net ID and post great comments about anyone!<p/><p/>GO up to bbb.org<p/>Epinions.com<p/>Google 17th street photo or whatever and add "complaints" to the search string.<p/>Look around.<p/>I have personally been burned by "WORD OF MOUTH" advertising. Many folks have had a good experience. BUT, when things go bad, that's the true test of a retailer. In other words, if you get a pile of rubble and the retailer insists that you have to pay a 15% restocking fee (for example: NewEgg.com) plus shipping and handling (30$), then you have to go by your own experiences. <p/>Just saying.

<i>"John, have you seen this offered on eBay?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130230849248"

</i><p/><p/>Now I have. It's a "Zenko (??) f/8.3 @ 420mm ﾖ f/16 @ 800mm".

f/8/3?!?! I appreciate the tip, but it'll be a bit too slow for animals. Birds

are extremely skittish. And even when they're relaxed, they move fast and

"jerky". <p/>Nature photography - equipment matters!

OK, I have a Baccalaureate in Medicine (MBA - for some reason, I had to take all

these business classes for over two years!) <p/>To make this post brief (and of

course ethics are subjective): <br/><b>Unethical:</b> Call up your competitors

and act like you want their services. Ask them what they would charge.

<p/><b>Ethical</b>: (I learned this from a painting contractor -as in house

painter):<br/>Keep raising your prices until you're not getting enough work and

then lower them until you hit your own sweet spot. And if you're not making a

decent living, shut down.

And, I'd to add, I'm ALWAYS wary of folks who want money upfront for "guaranteeing" business. If they're so good, they'll take a commission or some other payment on the back end. <p/>Timeshare "brokers" are biggest offenders: "Give us $500 and we GUARANTEE that we'll sell your timeshare!" <p/>It NEVER happens.

Here's some ways of investigating a business:<p/><ol><li/> bbb.org<li/> Epinions.com<li/> Googling the company's name and adding "complaint" add the end of the search string<li/> ripoffreport.com<li/> FTC.gov has a list of scams on their site<li/> There's another one that I can't remember right now.</ol>

Then get a Nikon film body and that way you can use your existing lenses -

unless they're all DX lenses, then you might as well start from scratch.<p/>My

apologies if this has been said already but I was getting tired with some of the

film vs. digital comments. Especially, when we all know that glass plates are

better than both combined. :-P

I didn't see anyone mention this, but the rain forest is called that for a

reason. It gets wet. So will your equipment if you're not careful. A weather

sealed camera and lenses would be a plus. It also gets chilly in the forest.

Also, most of birds are in the canopy (i.e. 30ft+ of the ground).<p/> I took one

of those canopy trips and in between cables, there's a platform to take photos.

Some of those tours have baskets that you can sit in. Try to go with a small

quiet group - if you have to go with a group. The noisy groups hoot and holler

and scare anything you may want to photograph away - or it flushes them out.<p/>

The forest can be think and lots of green; with no appearance of wildlife. There

were times where my cynical inner voice said, "Ecological diversity! All I see

is trees!" I saw more birds (like a Toucan) right outside the door of the cabin

we were in. The animals know that the humans will feed them left over fruit. The

monkeys kept their distance, but they were visible.<p/>Boating. I went on a sail

cruise (I was on the Pacific coast) and the dolphins will come right up to the

boat, off of the bow, and just swam along coming up for air - awesome sight. I

kept looking down and got sea sick. I had to spend that leg of the trip staring

out at the horizon so that I wouldn't vomit.<p/>Most of all have fun!

As long as you're not covering the contacts: the answer is "no".

Nice photo interesting vignette. What's the problem?

Matthew;<p/>I've made some enlargements with UC 400, although, not as big as I

stated. I may switch to the Portra if the UC doesn't come out well. Kodak

revamped the Portra 400 a few months ago along with the TMAX 400. So far, I have

been really impressed by the TMAX 400 - 2TMY. I would assume the color films

would be just as good. I hope!<p/>BTW, nice Moon shot!<p/><p/>Thanks to the

rest of you guys for your tips and ideas. And to anyone else that posts later on.

Forget what I said. I found one in Japan. $9,000.00 being sold on a very large online auction site..

Tom;<p/>Great! Now, where I can I get one?<p/><a

href=http://www.amazon.com/Pentax-SMCP-FA-600mm-Lens-Trunk/dp/B00005ABCH>Amazon</a>

doesn't have it or at least none of the folks who sell through them.

I should add that I've seen the "ProOptic" and the "Phoenix" brand lenses, but I'm not so sure they're worth it - even as cheap as they are.

I've been trying to find a telephoto or zoom that's at least 500+mm for a Pentax

K-mount. It'll be used on a manual film camera. The best if seen is a Sigma that

maxes out at 500mm+ for autofocus and I'm not clear if it's for digital only -

meaning, I'm not sure if it's for a small sensor camera.<p/>I want to photograph

birds. I tried it with a 200mm and

a 2x converter but aside the fact that the 400mm was a bit lacking, the image

quality wasn't that good. I'm planning on 16x20 inch enlargements using Kodak UC

400.

Depending on how large, Wolf Camera/Ritz (Check with the individual store,

though.) does optical wet photography prints.<p/><p/>Up to 10"x15" is wet and

then after that, they scan the negative and then print it on their Epson.