kenfretz

<p>First remember that Macintosh is the name Apple uses for their PCs. Their PCs are built with the same hardware as everyone else, an Intel processor. The Macintosh OS was discontinued in 2001 and replaced with UNIX which Apple calls OS-X. The advantage of an Apple PC is that it can run OS-X as well as many other UNIXs and of course Windows. As to viruses, OS-X has started to get a lot more lately as it has gotten a larger market share. I guess the<em><strong> Bad Guys </strong></em>have decided that there are enough of them to be worth attacking them.</p>

<p>As to software remember that Adobe builds their applications on Windows and then ports them to UNIX. This means that often an upgrade will be available on Windows before other OSs. You didn’t mention what camera brand you use but if like me you have Nikon equipment, there is the advantage that Nikon only supplies their codecs for Windows. They often have a new one available long before Adobe gets theirs ready. Also using Nikon’s codec allows just about any application to read their NEF RAW files.</p>

<p>Over the years I have used many brands of machines including Apple’s. I have adapted myself to many different OSs. The major question is what applications do you need to run and what OSs do they run in. </p>

<p>By the way I always keep my trash can in the lower right corner of my desktop even on a machine running Windows.</p>

 

<p>The question of whether a lens passed through New York on its way to you is only of concern with a new lens. In the case of most used lens, Nikon repair stations (except for New York and the West Coast) are independent business that will repair your equipment, for a charge, without questioning the source of the item.</p><p><br></p>

<p>Gary that link is an even better choice. With over 50 years of lenses to choose from, with a little shopping around, you can almost always find what you need from Nikon. It’s the main reason I’ve stayed with them for over 40 years. My oldest lenses work great on my newest digital bodies. There isn’t much in this world that can make that claim.</p>

 

<p>Actually Nikon does have this lens. Take a look at http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/AFNikkor/AF70210mm/index2.htm. There is one on eBay right now see item 120731080181.<br>

Ken</p>

 

<p>I would escalate your complaint to a higher level. As a person who has purchased and sold thousands of software packages over the years, your request is not unreasonable and should be honored. However the first level of support is rarely allowed to authorize this kind of swap.<br>

Ken</p>

<p>Whenever discussions like this start all sorts of solutions get thrown around except for the most important one and it isn’t even made by Nikon. Go to a professional sports event and check what the professional image makers are using to hold their equipment. Even in this age of high ISO digital cameras with exotic image stabilization lenses, there is a heavy duty tripod in use, usually with a fluid damped head. Granted the proper tripod will cost almost as much as a camera body or lens but it will provide more image quality improvement that either of the former can. This will allow controlled camera movement and allow you to follow the action much better because you are only operating the camera not trying to hold it too. </p>

<p>Ken</p>

 

<p>Al -</p>

<p>You have a great little play thing. No I wouldn't use it on a paying assignment but for youself have a good time with it. I have found a lot of lenses that I enjoy but some people wouldn't touch.</p>

<p>As to mounting it on you camera, it appears to be a "T-mount" lens that will take a adapter to fit many different cameras. If it has a Nikon F mount (usually with some marking like "NK") you can use it right a way. You will hear people talk about Nikkor lenses being AI or non-AI, with the less expensive Nikons the sense level pushes out of the way so you can mount both on your camera. I keep a D40x around just for that reason.</p>

<p>If the mount is for some other camera (M for Minolta, P for Pentax, etc) you will need to get a Nikon T-mount. Just do a search on eBay for "T-mount adapter" and buy it. It should cost less than $10 including the shipping. You just unscrew the current mount and put the new one on. There will be set screws to allow you to turn the lens so you can read the f-stops, etc easly.</p>

<p>Ken</p>

 

<p>Dan –</p>

<p>One of the major advantages of Nikon is that you have over 50 years of lenses available to use. No one else can make that claim. Some of the most exotic lenses are thirty, forty or even fifty years old, specifically when it comes to very long or very short lenses. Some of my favorite lenses where originating used on my early 1960’s Nikon F. </p>

<p>Some of the pre-1977 NAI lenses are so good that they are worth having them converted. On the other hand I keep a non-internal focus motor D40x around just because for some reason the marketing people at Nikon allow them to handle NAI lenses.</p>

<p>So grin all the way to the camera store, flea market or eBay and enjoy the selection and fun of Nikkor lenses.</p>

<p>Ken</p>

 

<p>Wasn’t it wonderful when you got your upgrades automatically? Kodak released the new film and you got it when you picked up your next brick of film. Best of all, the upgrade was<em><strong> free</strong></em>.<br>

Ken Fretz</p>

<p>Mark –</p>

<p> I believe that you have misunderstood me. Early in my career I was the victim of some unscrupulous people who took advantage of me on work I did for them. I quickly learned to establish the relationship in writing from the very beginning. </p>

<p> In his original question Paul stated “I have always sold my work charging an hourly rate”. This left me with the feeling that the organization he was working with did not view him as a licensor of images but as an operator of a camera. This opens the very murky area of just what is an employee. It sounds to me that Paul is doing this on a routine enough schedule, e.g., “I am the regular photographer for a conference event.” for this to be a problem.</p>

<p> The Copyright Office’s attempt to define this is <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf">Circular 9, Work-Made-For-Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act</a>. I would also recommend Chapter 6 of Bert Krages’ <a href="http://www.krages.com/lhp.htm">Legal Handbook for Photographers</a>.</p>

<p> Ken</p>

 

<p>It doesn’t matter if you are paid by the hour, month or project, when you are selling a service the output of the service belongs to the person or company paying for the service. With over forty years of both selling and buying media services, I have always been careful to have a contract spelling out these questions. If you have not formally received rights to the photographs from the organization paying for the images, you don’t own the photographs.</p>

 

<p>Your question is a mute point if I understand your relationship with the customer correctly. If you have contracted (even verbally) to shoot the photographs and be paid an hourly rate, you are making photographs for hire. When you are “hired” to produce the images, the customer owns the rights to the photographs. If this is the case you don’t have any right to use the images yourself. I would strongly suggest you hire a good media lawyer to sort this out for you and develop a good contract for you to use in the future.<br>

Ken Fretz</p>

 

<p>Yes! <br /><br />Remember, from the manufacture’s point of view, the goal is to move as much product as possible as fast as possible. The base price to the retailer covers their cost for small quantities. If the retailer can move more product for the manufacture, they will rebate some of their margin to encourage the retailer to sell their items over another manufacture.<br>

Ken Fretz</p>

 

<p>Yes there is a small loss but as it is a simple one element lens, the loss would be like putting a teleconverter in the optical path to increase the focal length of a lens. Given that it's the only way you are going to be able to use the Minolta lenses you own, it's a small price to pay.<br /><br />Ken Fretz<br /><br /></p>

<p>Because the mount for Nikon is farther from the film than Minolta (Sony), you will need an adapter with a lens to make allowance for this. Check out http://tinyurl.com/2dxukpp. I have made purchases from this seller before and receive a quality product with reasonable shipping times.<br>

Ken Fretz</p>

 

<p>Stanley -<br>

The discussion about applications is beside the point. If you download and install Nikon’s codec for reading and writing their RAW (.NEF) files, any application can open and save RAW files. Nikon keeps the codec up to date so it works with all Nikon camera files. The download is at http://nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/. The current version is 1.10.0 and supports up to the D3100 and D7000. After the codec is installed just about any program can read and write files, Photoshop, ViewNX 2, even Microsoft Word. If you have any questions contact me at kenfretz@gmail.com. <br /><br />Ken Fretz<br /><br /></p>

<p>jodie –<br>

<br />First a comment: There is no such thing as a “digital” lens. All lenses exist here in the analog world. Nikon does make lenses that only have good coverage of DX (half frame) sensors. Except for one kit lens I don’t own any. I want to be able to use my lenses on FX (full frame) bodies also.<br>

<br />My suggestion: I use the Series E 35mm f2.5 and 50mm f1.9 lens on my F3, F5, D1 and D70 bodies. I’m an old-timer who still likes to control the focus and exposure myself. I have found both of these great performers, compact and if necessary, based on their replacement cost on eBay, expendable.<br>

<br />Ken Fretz<br /><br /></p>

<p>You didn't mention what operating system you are using, Apple OSX (Mac) or Microsoft Windows. If it Windows all you need to do is go to Nikon's website and download their "codec" and install it on your workstation. A codec is the software that allows the operation system to supply the image file to your image processing program. The Nikon codec actually allow just about any program running in Windows to use RAW files. You will find the latest version to download at http://nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/<br /><br />Think of the RAW files as what we use to call the camera original (negative) and the JPEG or TIFF file as the print. When you edit the RAW file the process it is just the same as the JPEG except for one difference. When you save a JPEG file the old file is over written, when you save a RAW file the codec knows to append the changes to old file. Enjoy your internship. I’ve been making images for over forty years and it never seems to get old.<br /><br />Ken<br /><br /></p>

<p>These are the prices for the lenses on eBay this last week:<br>

<br />Nikon AF Nikkor 28-70mm, 1:3.5 - 4.5 $52-$82<br />Nikon AF Nikkor 20mm, 1:2.8 $189-$405<br />Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm, 1:18 $81-$141<br />Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm, 1:4-5.6 $72-$232<br>

<br />If you mom still wants to give them to Goodwill, will you let me what store so I can be there when they go up for sale. :)<br>

<br />Ken<br /><br /></p>

<p>Even though Nikon bought Nikon USA from EPOI over thirty years ago the people at US operation continue to act like they exist in a separate world. Remember that if you own equipment shipped through Nikon USA and you are outside the US, your equipment is <em><strong>gray</strong></em> market equipment and you will need your receipts to get warranty repairs.<br /><br />Can you imagine what would happen if you drove you Chevy over the border into Canada or Mexico, had a problem and the local dealer wouldn’t honor the warranty because it wasn’t issued by GM Canada or GM Mexico?<br /><br />Ken<br /><br /></p>

<p>If you go to http://nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/, download Nikon's latest codec and install it on you computer, you will find that just about any program runing in Windows can open and use the RAW files. </p>

<p>There are Windows and Adobe codecs (coder-decoder) already running on you machine that provide the ability to read and write JPG, TIFF, DOC and XLS files. What this codec does is provide Windows with the information needed to read and write Nikon RAW files.</p>

<p>By the way, the reasion you get small images when you open the files as JPG is that the RAW files contain a JPG thumbnail for preview. I shoot RAW files for just about everything, then process and convert them to whatever type of file a project needs.</p>

<p>Ken</p>

 

<p>The three things you need to make photo macrographs are:</p>

<ul>

<li>A sturdy tripod—if the camera isn’t very steady, at this high magnification, the image motion will leave you with nothing but blur.</li>

<li>A manual focus, manual exposure micro-Nikkor lens—preferably the 105mm but the 55mm will also do a great job. Manual focus, because you will set the reproduction ratio you need and then move the camera to achieve sharp focus. Manual exposure, because you have a digital camera that will immediately display any exposure errors and allow you to correct them.</li>

</ul>

<p>Options:</p>

<ul>

<li>Focusing rail—preferably a two axis one as it will allow for focusing and horizontal positioning. You get the vertical movement from the tripod elevator.</li>

<li>Nikon SB-21 Speedlight—this will give you the ability to have a flat front light or a direction light from either the left or right.</li>

</ul>

<p>Assuming you have the tripod, you should be able to do the rest for $200 to $250. If you get really hooked on the process there are all sort of expensive add-ons you can purchase.<br /><br />Ken<br /><br /></p>

<p>When all else fails, just like any other computer, reboot the camera. Locate the reset (see attachment), press and hold for several seconds. The camera will be reset to the factory defaults. You will need to reset the calendar/clock.<br>

Ken</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>There is one version. See http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html#400<br>

Ken</p>

<p>I have the 35-70mm f2.8 which I originally used with my F5. It never seemed to be short enough or long enough. When I got my first DX body, I found that it is just perfect as a portrait lens. It runs from normal, for full length shots, to 2X normal for the head and shoulder perspective. With its f2.8 aperture I can control the depth of field almost as well as I can with a prime lens. I wish there was a 50-100mm for use with the FX format.<br /><br />Ken<br /><br /></p>