mike mcdermott

<p>The price of used Leica's in the UK is so high that it pays to buy from a dealer, L seal or not.</p>

<p>I bought a new/ unused M6 RPS with L seal from a Leica dealer with 12 months warranty for the price of a used M6 on eBay.<br>

Sent it for a CLA when it wouldnt take up the 28mm framlines and the shop picked up the costs.</p>

<p>My advice is to shop aroound.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The price of used Leica's in the UK is so high that it pays to buy from a dealer, L seal or not.</p>

<p>I bought a new/ unused M6 RPS with L seal from a Leica dealer with 12 months warranty for the price of a used M6 on eBay.<br>

Sent it for a CLA when it wouldnt take up the 28mm framlines and the shop picked up the costs.</p>

<p>My advice is to shop aroound.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I picked up a Zenit ES two years ago and upgraded to a Nikon FM six months later. Six months after that a bought an F5.<br>

Sold alll of that after a couple of months to buy a D700 and have just upgraded to an F100 and some ektar 100.</p>

<p>My D700 is a great backup to my F100.</p>

<p>I'd stop using my D700 if nikon made a full frame manual digital camera.</p>

<p>Maybe a DM4....?</p>

<p>split focusing screen and back to my AIS glass. Mmmmm happy days!</p>

<p>I wouldnt be bothered about a large LCD screen wither, just something to view the histogram on.</p>

<p>Forgot to post this yesterday - Ooops!</p>

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

<p>Your main interest is portraits and you are using a D90. A 50mm f1.4 will work out with the crop factor to be 75mm (ish)<br /> To get a similar focal length with FX format in a lens thats f1.4 is going to cost around £900.00 GBP in the uk (New)<br /> I'd go for the f1.4. I've had many 50mm f1.4s and f1.8s - Non AI, AIS, AF, AFD and now the new AFS-G lens. All are good in their own way but I'd say that with a D700, the new AFS-G is stunning if you shoot at night and love shallow DoF. The new blade design really makes Bokeh stand out from the older AFD. Having said that, unless you shoot at f1.4 a lot - it's not worth upgrading from the older AFD.<br /> The key factor for you is that you like portrait shots. For that reason I'd go with the f1.4, be it older manual glass or newer AF/ AFD</p>

<p>I have a little Nikon EM that I use as my street camera. It has a tiny 50mm f1.8 pancake lens, is in mint condition and cost me £10.00 GBP off Ebay.</p>

<p>The EM is a seriously under reated SLR. I'ts tiny - smaller than a Leica M8, lightweight and well built. I often take mine out in the pouring rain and shoot street photography, I make no effort to protect it in any way from the elements and it just keeps on working.<br>

Sure it's not in the same league as F series SLR's when it comes to build quality but It's not in the same price range either.<br>

I sold all of my film kit when I bought my first digital slr. A D700. Out went the F5, FM, Nikkormat EL, FM2n and various lenses that I was never going to use again.<br>

The only film slr that I kept was the little Nikon EM and the 50mm pancake lens. I also have a motordrive for it but never use it.<br>

Funnily enough I'm now looking for a second film body that I can use my new AFS G glass on and was going to get an F100<br>

In the end I've settled on a F80 (N80 i think in the USA) as it smaller and lighter than the F100 and will probably only get about a roll of film a month put through it.<br>

Now I've jumped to digital, I view film slr's as little more than a light box that I can put good quality film through and mount pro glass on to. In a way I wish my EM could take AFS G glass but it cant.</p>

<p>I have the D700 and I'm a big fan of primes. The only zoom I own is the 14 24 f2.8.<br>

Although I dont have the 24-70 I'm thinking of getting one. It's one of the best lenses that money can buy.</p>

<p>Given that I'm covered form 14mm to 50mm with fast pro glass so It's a tough call with the 24-70 and I may get the 85mm f1.4 rather than the 24-70<br>

Dont worry about dust, it's never been an issue for me. I shoot mainly social documentary and street and would change my lenses two to three times on ant given shoot. Dust has never been a problem.<br>

My ultimate lens kit would be -</p>

<p>28mm f1.4<br>

50mm f1.4 (have)<br>

85mm f1.4</p>

<p>Luxury lenses that are nice to have and would be be<br>

14-24 f2.8<br>

24-70 f2.8 (have)<br>

105 macro VR</p>

<p>Dont discount older af-d lenses though. I have some really nice AF-D glass that works fantastic on FX. As do some of the older manual AIS lenses. The performance of AF-D and AIS glass on my D700 is the main reason that i've not purchased any new glass other than the 50mm AFS-S and the 14-24 AFS. My older lenses work fine so why upgrade if you dont really need to. If you go down the route of second hand AF-D glass you will bt able to get some really nice primes for the cost of a 24-70.</p>

<p>I should piont out the the lens list above is a list that suits my style of work and how I shoot. Depending on what you shoot, you may need different glass for different reasons.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>CS3 and Adobe ACR work great with the D700.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear you're having broblems. Try this link -</p>

<p>http://download.cnet.com/Adobe-DNG-Converter-and-Camera-Raw/3000-2192_4-568161.html</p>

<p>CS3 usually apdates istelf with ACR...?</p>

<p>You should also consider a 14-24 f2.8 AF S zoom. It's the only zoom I own as I'm a big fan of primes. The reason that I bought this lens is because I like to shoot wide and it's the first zoom to out class all of the primes that you can buy within the same focal range.<br>

It really is that good, It's an astonishing engineering achievement, as a lens it needs to be experienced to be beleived.<br>

28mm AF D is a good cheap prime that is always in my bag, My 50mm f1.4 AFS G is on my camera 90% of the time but it's not much better than the 50mm f1.4 afd. If you have the AF D its not worth upgrading.<br>

The 105 f2.5 AIS is very good and great value.As is the 85mm f1.8.</p>

<p>Two really good primes that are rumored to be released soon in AFS G are the 28mm f1.4 and the 85mm f1.4</p>

<p>If Nikon release these on to the market they will be on my shopping list for 2010.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>We live in an age where people are happy to watch video on their phones or on the internet.</p>

<p>Are most people really interested in the quality of a video if they are prepared to watch it on their phone or on the internet...? How can they be.</p>

<p>Of course video capability in a DSLR wont match the quality that you get from a dedacated system. My point is that it doesn't need to match the quality. The way people view images is changing. 100 dpi images look fine on the internet. So will video from a DSLR.</p>

<p>In the UK a second hand F100 costs more than a second hand F5 - by a long way. I think that in years to come the D700 will go the same way and be more desirable than a D3. Sure, lots of pros buy D3's but when these cameras come on to the second hand market, the D700 will command more.</p>

<p>If the next generation have video capability - People who only want a stills camera will keep the price of second hand D700's high. Thats a good thing as it means when I want to sell up, I'll get a good price...!<br /> I picked up a camrea for the first time 18 months ago and shot with manual EM's and FM2's for 12 months and then jumped to a D700. I cant wait for video capability - Photojournalism and social documantary will jump on board straight away. You cant ignore short web based movies for promoting stills projects. Magnum in motion has given us insight into how stills and video will merge closer together over the next couple of years.<br /> News is switching from paper for web based media. Video is coming - like it or not.</p>

<p>I never got the point of DX so I never bought into the DX system. I was shooting with an F5 until February of this year and then made the jump to digital and went for the D700. The quality of images produced at high ISO's is very good but FX is about more than that.<br>

It's also about having control over depth of field that you can never have with cropped sensors. When I put a lens on a body I want the focal length to be what the lens is. I want 50mm to be 50mm.<br>

I find that shooting at f1.4 with a D700, I never go above ISO 1600. At ISO 1600 the D700 is simply stunning. All that I want now is for Nikon to release a 28mm f1.4 AFS G.<br>

Come on Nikon - Give the people what they want!</p>

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

<p>Nikon EM - 50mm Series E lens<br>

Kodak Ektachrome slide duplicating film ISO 12 - pushed to ISO 25</p>

<p>Taken in Vendieres - France.</p><div></div>

<p>I picked up a camera for the first time in Jan 08. For a year I shot only with manual film cameras and loved it. Now that I'm shooting with a D700, 99% of my shots are in full manual mode. I switch between spot/ matrix and C/W as required and use Aperture priority for around 50% of my street photography.</p>

<p>After shooting manual Nikon's for a year. Manual mode just seems like the natural way to use a camera.<br>

I assumed that most people shoot in manual mode...?</p>

<p>Most of the time I use auto white balance as I shoot in RAW. I find that if it was a sunny day. The correct WB will be right in the middle of Auto and Sunny when I open up the file in Adobe RAW, so I split the difference in the two kelvin values. I find it the same for all white balance settings. When the shot allows I'll custom set the white balance.</p>

<p>I've never used the P mode on my camera, just as I've never mounted a flash directly onto the hot shoe mount. Both give ghastly results.</p>

<p>Nikon D700<br /> 14-24 AFS G</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Spring/ Summer sunset near my house - Yorkshire UK.<br>

Two bracketed RAW exposures. One for the sky and the other for the foregroung. Landscape photography is not my thing at all. I prefer street and social documentary photography. Every now and then its nice to take pictures without any people in them.<br>

D700 with 14-24 at around f20 I think.</p>

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

<p>For me It's my 50mm AFS G. After that it's my 14-24.</p>

<p>I'm undecided as what to get next, either the 24-70 or an 85mm f1.4. I doupbt that I'd need anything longer on my D700 than an 85mm lens.</p>

<p>Mike</p>

<p>I recently switched from film to digital, I sold my F5 and my manual bodies and lenses to purchase a D700, 14-24 and a 50mm AFS G. I find the 14-24 superb. My main uses are for social documentary work, street photography and architectural interiors. I'm new to photo.net and dont know haw to post images in a discussion. I've only two images in my portfolio but both where taken at 14mm, one's a landscape shot and the other is part of a social documentary project the I have ongoing at the moment.</p>

<p>Bottom line is that the 14 24 is a great lens, maybe just not for everyone.</p>

<p>Some of my other shots taken with my 14 24 can be seen here -<br>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26256960@N08/</p>

<p>Love the community spirit of Photo.net and cant wait to get more involved!</p>