ken_kuzenski1

<p>Adam, you're right that frequency blocks are allocated differently in different countries. For something this important, you should probably talk directly to technical support at the radio-mic's manufacturer. They will know better than anybody else, I think.</p>

<p>Not entirely on topic, but my first medium-format camera came by either UPS or FedEx. I had it shipped to my work address, and when it arrived, the box was crushed in the center, very visibly crushed, and there was a big honkin' FOOTPRINT on the box where it was crushed in.<br>

Luckily, the nice folks at Midwest Photo Exchange had packed the camera very thoroughly in one box, then packed THAT box inside another, and the inner shipping box was undamaged--it was just the outer box that was damaged. :-)</p>

 

Belle of Louisville, just north of town, 2007; my friend Rodney

watching it head south.<div></div>

<p>One vote for "Freezing Fog #3"--just lovely. I use a dSLR 95% of the time, but like you, I really enjoy using a classic all-manual camera now and then. (Mine's also a 500cm; I've had it a half-dozen years or so and still get a little thrill of enjoyment every time I take it up.)</p>

 

<p>Bill, "GIMP" (a graphics editor originally released for linux, but now available for windows as well) is fast, easy to use (once you're used to the interface, which is rather different from Photosohp), and completely free. It is my preferred photo editor now, after many years of Photoshop. It doesn't support batch resizing, as far as I know, but it does advanced editing. And it can also replace Photoshop and the expensive upgrades, which is very very nice IMO.</p>

 

<p>Ida, nobody else is going to say this to you, but I'm a grouchy old man and I have some favorite lenses, and I think ANYBODY with a D90 or any digital Nikon--or a FILM Nikon, too--should have a 50mm f/1.8 lens. The darned thing costs less brand new than dinner for two at a semi-nice restaurant, it is razor-sharp, it's fast, and on your D90 (and mine, and my D70 that is still my backup body), it acts like a 75mm f/1.8, which is a very nice focal length for portraits, landscapes, and some other things. Spend the lousy C-note and buy a 50mm f/1.8 if you don't already have one. And if you DO have one, try using it--people aren't legally required to use slow zooms, despite what you read here. :-)</p>

 

<p>You'll find a lot written on this, Gael. Short version, MHO: If conditions are perfect and you're not planning much processing afterward, shooting a JPG is usually fine. If the lighting or other conditions are bad, and you are going to need to do a lot of editing to get a photo out of your shot, then you'll be better off shooting raw and editing the NEF file. Good luck!</p>

 

<div></div>

<p>Stan--you might also look at "GIMP"--this is a photo editor that is absolutely free, and is available for linux and windows. The interface is rather different from Photoshop, and it took me a year to be comfortable with GIMP, but now I prefer it to Photoshop. GIMP opens my Nikon .NEF files perfectly well. And again, you can download and install GIMP at no cost--very nice!</p>

<p>I shoot in raw format when I think I might want a big enlargement, or when conditions are very difficult (wide contrast, etc.)--because working with the raw NEF files gives me much more ability to get a good photo out of what I've shot. If I'm just taking snapshots under ordinary conditions, I often just shoot JPGs.</p>

<p>As far as I know, any standard tripod head (1/4x20) will work on any standard tripod or monopod. But you will want to make sure the ballhead you want to use fits your own monopod's threads. </p>

<p>Dave, a lot depends on what you want to do, how you prefer to work, etc. I've had a D70 for five years, just got a D90, just this morning ordered a new P&S. :-) If I had to live with EITHER a D70 or a P&S there would be no contest--the D70, hands down. No shutter lag, great photos, ability to use all my old Nikon lenses, great metering. In my area, used D70s are going for $250, though getting one with a guarantee from a reputable dealer might be a good idea--my own D70 has a problem with the CF card seat, and occasionally stops working until I reseat the card. A really good P&S is a nice thing to have, and that may be all you need .... but if I were picking one or the other, it would definitely be the dSLR, not a P&S.<br>

My own eyes aren't nearly as good as they used to be, by the way, and I have found I can let the Nikon AF do the focusing for me. :-) </p>

 

<p>For portraits, the 50mm f/1.8 is great--on the D90 sensor, it's the equivalent of a 75mm f/1.8, ideal for portrait work, and it's a great all-around lens to have anyway--and a heck of a bargain also! </p>

<p>I think it's a bit like shortwave radio communications, these days: There are still some amateur radio operators ("hams") who communicate around the world using Morse code and homebrewed shortwave equipment using vacuum tubes (I know because I'm one of them.) But you won't find that in any professional communications setups, or very very few--they're using digital streams via microwave and satellite.</p>

<p>Photography is the same way; there will always be people working in darkrooms for the sheer pleasure of it, but that is NOT going to be part of a working professional's life, except perhaps in a very very few individual cases. Many of us will regret the passing of the darkroom from the photographic mainstream, but it's happening, whether we regret it or not.</p>

<p>I still shoot medium format in B&W and develop my own film. But these days when I want a print, I scan the neg, edit it on my computer, and send it to a printer. I've got to say, the control I have in my photo editor is GREAT compared to the old days. :-) </p>

 

<p>Travis, that's perfectly normal. The f-stop depends on the diameter of the opening AND the focal length, so a shorter focal-length lens will have a smaller opening at the same f-stop as a longer lens. Give it a try and you'll almost certainly find it is fine. Those old Minoltas were great cameras in their day, and they can still make beautiful images--hope you have fun with yours!</p>

<p>Pasha, one more suggestion: Dial your flash (pop-up or hotshoe) down to -1 stop, set the Nikon to "slow" (so the camera shoots at the normal exposure, and the flash provides a moderate level of fill, which will correct color a bit, stop motion some, and still look moderately natural), and then shoot with a f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens. Give it a try!</p>

 

<p>Tommy, congratulations! You'll have a great time!<br>

I do my developing in a back bathroom now. The chemicals live in a closet in the bathroom. I load my film into reels in an interior closet that can be made very light-proof very easily. I scan my negs and send them off when I want prints, as you're planning, and it works fine. (I DO miss printing, a bit, but not enough to justify the bother and time and expense, compared to sending files to Adorama for prints.)<br>

I've never had any problem with chemicals staining anything. Fixer CAN stain cloth but I've never noticed any stains on tile or sinks or anything like that. Tim's reply about fixer is probably good advice, but I've never worried about it or done anything with old fixer other than pouring it down the drain--when I learned darkroom work at a local college's craft center, the instructor said it was no problem, and I've never given it a thought since then. (Tim's answer is certainly better advice than my 'don't worry about it,' now that I think about it.)<br>

Good luck and HAVE FUN!</p>

 

<p>Roseanna, you'll also want to switch to manual focus mode, focus out close to infinity, and then point the camera where you expect the next burst to be. Use a tripod and manual exposure mode. Good luck!</p>

 

<p>I second Mr. Ingold's advice; at work I often had CDs and DVDs with medical data on them. I would feed those into a simple paper shredder that cost perhaps $40 from an office-supply place. It didn't have a dedicated CD slot but never had any problem turning them into tiny unreadable chunks. Cutting them into a few sections with shears is also very secure, I think, but takes a little longer.</p>

 

<p>Mary, I gave away my enlargers several years ago--printing is a joy but it's too much work and bother for me, these days.<br>

I still shoot B&W and develop my own film, though. I scan anything I want to print, and send the scans out to be printed. I've been using Adorama for that, mostly. Previously my B&W negs were printed on color paper, which was OK but not great--you know how beautiful a good print on fiber paper looks? The last series I sent to Adorama, though, were printed on a new option, "real B&W paper." I'm not sure what the process is, and the prints are a little warm-toned for my tastes, but they're really good-looking. Prices seem very reasonable to me, though I don't know much about it, and probably don't get more than 3 dozen prints a year, all told.<br>

Oh, Adorama has produced very nice 16x20 prints for me, from medium-format negs; I like that, too. I never tried to print that big at home. (Despite the old joke: "If you can't make a GOOD print, make a BIG print.) ;-)<br>

Anyway, a decent scanner can be had for the cost of a dinner for two; sending the scans to Adorama for prints is less than you'd wind up spending on paper and chemicals at home, and the results are quite good IMO.<br>

One other comment: I used Photoshop for years, but that got fairly expensive. Now I use a free graphics editor, "GIMP," which you can download for nothing. The interface is rather different from PS, so there's a bit of a learning curve, getting used to GIMP, but I like GIMP a lot, it's perfectly free to use, and I can use it on my linux and my windows computers--very convenient. <br>

Good luck! --Ken</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Barak, I used a D70 (non-S) for 5 years, and I never noticed the skin tone problem you mention. But--and this miight be related--I did find that my D70 would, at "normal" settings, easily overexpose shots slightly. I often had the very brightest areas burned out. My response to this was to set my D70 to underexpose 1/3d or 2/3d stop, all the time. This gave me much better photos overall. Perhaps you might try setting your D70 to underexpose a bit, and see if that gives you tones you like better. Good luck!</p>

 

<p>Your ideas are good; one to add: membership in the local art museum (if you have one) so you can see all the photography ! </p>

<p>Billy, I don't know for sure about Pentax lenses--I switched from K-mount manual focus to Nikon 14 years ago. But the reason I suggested the D70 over the D40 is that there are so many used Nikon AF (and MF) lenses available. Two of the three lenses I use the most with my Nikon dSLR are the 50mm and 85mm f/1.8 lenses, both of which I bought for my film Nikons years ago. I've even used manual-focus Nikon lenses with the D70, though they don't meter. I've been seeing used D70 bodies for sale here for $250-$300, which seems like a good price to me. Though you might be better off getting one from B&H or KEH or Adorama, so it is guaranteed to be in good working order. Back to the original question, I don't know if there are more for Pentax or Nikon, but there are LOTS of lenses available for the D70, used and new. Good luck with your decision! </p>

<p>Billy, the camera you pick won't be as important as what you bring to it, IMO. Any of those cameras will probably be fine and you'll get great images. I just moved my D70 to backup status, but I've got 5 years and 16K frames on it with total satisfaction. The advantage of the 70 over the 40 is using older (non-G) lenses--widely available used. They're both 6mp, I think. My vote would be the D70, because of the lens issue--but ANY camera you pick will probably give you great images, as long as you put in a little time and energy in learning! :-) </p>

<p>Great news, Les, and good work! I've got one of those Adaptec SCSI cards in a big box full of junque myself. :-) I wanted to second the "thumbs up" for Vuescan. I didn't use it for several years, and had replaced computers a few times. I found my original purchase let me get a new modern version of Vuescan at no charge to load on my newest PC--and Vuescan appears to come in Windows and Linux versions too! I use my scanner's supplied software if I'm grabbing quick scans for the web or casual use--and Vuescan when I want a scan I can get a big print from. :-)</p>

 

<div></div>