kavan_murphy2

Yeah, the D600 is attractive and being able to record video would be cool. The one thing holding me back on the D600 is

the massive file size of each RAW image and how it might slow down processing 1,000+ images from a wedding.

A wedding pro in the area is selling his D3 with 236k shutter count for $1700 and his D700 with 98k shutter count for $1400. Both

cameras come with 2 batteries and the D700 has the battery grip. I know the D3 is tested to 300k shutter count and the D700 to 150k. I'll

also be buying his 24-70 FX lens for $1500.

 

I mostly shoot weddings and portraits, and with the rate I shoot I would probably reach either camera's tested shutter count in 2-3 years.

I'm currently rocking a D300 and D200 when I shoot weddings, and I've been wanting to upgrade to full frame for a while. I like the idea

oh having one FX and one DX camera when shooting, so I'd be selling the D200 and keeping the D300. I know it's about $300-$400 to

get a shutter replaced, and that it could fail at 240k or 500k (the 300k rating obviously isn't definitive).

 

High ISO performance is my main concern, and dual card slots would be awesome. So, the question is, which of the two is the better

deal? I really like the dual slots in the D3 to backup cards while shooting weddings. But, are the shutter counts too high on either camera

to make them worth it? Would I be better off with a new D600?

 

Thanks all

<p>Thanks for the quick response! The bulk of the heavy work done on the laptop screen would be culling images from a shoot. I have an external monitor (calibrated via Spyder 3) I'll be plugging into when it comes time for tweaking individual images. <br>

I didn't think the GPU had a ton to do with photo editing performance, but I wasn't sure. </p>

<p>Hi all. I'm thinking about purchasing an Alienware M17x R3 and have the budget for two of the following three upgrades:<br /><br /> 1. From an i7 2670QM 2.2GHz to i7 2760QM 2.4GHz for an additional $150 (both 2nd gen -Sandy Bridge- chips)<br /><br /> 2. From a 1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6870M to a 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M for an additional $100<br /><br /> 3. From a 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 to a 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 for an additional $150<br /> <br />*note: the system comes with only 4GB of DDR3 1600 RAM, but I'm upgrading to 8GB via Crucial's site<br /> <br />I'm planning on using this as my primary editing/work machine with some occasional gaming. I do very heavy Lightroom work with occasional CS3 work as well. My plan is to use the laptop's screen as the main monitor and then using a dual monitor set-up (the laptop screen and an external) when doing detailed photo editing in LR or CS3. <br /> <br />My understanding is that LR is very memory intensive, so hopefully 8GB of RAM should do the trick. After that, though, I'm wondering which of those upgrades may help and which two of the three you all would recommend.<br /> <br />And for those of you wondering, I want a laptop so I can have the option of culling images after a shoot somewhere other than my home office, be it on location, in a coffee house or even in my living room. I understand a dedicated desktop can be more powerful, and I currently have quite a powerful desktop, so my focus is on a laptop this time around.<br /> <br />Thanks!</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions so far, guys. Jim, I wish the bride had a suggestion; it'd make my life easier for this shot :) But she specifically asked me to come up with something and have something in mind for when we do the shot. Of course, I've never met the parents, so I don't know if they're tall, short, heavy, thin, etc. and that can play a part in positioning as well. I just want to go into it with some idea, though I know I'll have a better sense of how it will work when I see them all together. Just trying to game plan a bit first.</p>

<p>Hi guys. Quick question...</p>

<p>I have a wedding coming up where the parents of the bride and groom situation is a little unique (at least as far as my experience goes). The bride's parents are divorced and both have remarried. While that's not unusual, the groom only has his mom on his side and they want a picture with all five parents in there with the bride and groom. I thought about doing ladies on one side and guys on the other, but then there isn't a buffer between the bride's dad and her step dad. Maybe the groom's mother in the middle? I think that might look a little odd, though...</p>

<p>Anyhoo, don't know if some of you out there have encountered similar situations or have some ideas. The client specifically asked for a picture with all the parents, but doesn't want "the traditional bride's parents on one side groom's parents on the other" (obviously). Any suggestions?</p>

<p>A friend of mine has purchased from <a href="http://www.skaeser.com">www.skaeser.com</a> and another friend has bought from <a href="http://www.videolighting.com">www.videolighting.com</a>, though the latter seems to mostly have continuous lighting options for video. The first link does have studio strobes, though. Prices at both places are really good and I've seen the products from both and they seem to work great from what I've seen. Just wanted to throw those out there.</p>

<p>@David: You make a good point about others reading this thread and it being able to help them, too, since they may be looking at it a from a different angle than I am. And I totally understand the importance of buying according to a business plan instead of just going on a random spending spree; hence my asking for guidance here from people with more experience :) Just because I have a plan doesn't mean it's a <em>good</em> plan. Also, I certainly wasn't planning for this sudden windfall, so the order in which I planned on buying things can, potentially, change a bit. For example, I thought I would be waiting a while for a FX camera, but now it's (D700) suddenly within my budget. But in trying to look before I leapt I posted here (among other research I'm conducting).</p>

<p>@Mark: Great point about buying refurbished. I bought my D200 refurbished from Adorama two years ago and haven't had any problems. Thanks for that other link, too. I hadn't seen that article before. I did the exercise at the end and while going back through some of my other weddings and have noticed that while I wish I could have gotten better images at ISO 800 or higher on my D200, I wasn't shooting at a long focal length nearly as much as I thought I was. Definitely an eye opener.</p>

<p>@William: I searched through your long (and impressive :) list of posts, but couldn't find anything where you were mentioning specifics on why you prefer the dual format kit (though I did find a few where you mentioned advocating it). But to be honest, I didn't go through all 5,000+ of your posts and when I typed in a search for the topic nothing terribly useful came up. As a side note, thank you so much for responding as much as you do. Before I posted my question here I had read several of your posts in previous threads and always learned from them. It's a great help to us "newbs".<br /> <br /> <br /> Now, the question of the dual format kit becomes a very interesting one as the wife signed off on the purchase of a D700. Since I've only been shooting on DX bodies, get ready for a completely "newbie" question: how do I know if my current lenses will work on an FX body and not just be auto-cropped to DX on the D700? I want to be able to take full advantage of my 24mm-70mm f/2.8 Sigma lens (I believe it's the discontinued D EX for what it's worth). So I'm wondering if I'll get more bang for my buck by having the FX D700 to go along with my DX D200. This way I can use the D700 for the real low-light stuff and as my main body and use the D200 for when I need that extra 1.5x crop factor.<br>

Thoughts?</p>

That's interesting. I didn't realize I wouldn't be taken seriously because I hadn't paid $25 to become a full member of

photo.net. Also, I don't really want to wait too long because I do have a few things booked this year and would like some

time to practice with a new body, lights, lens, etc. before I need to shoot a paying gig with it.

<p>@David: Great suggestions. I forgot to mention that I was thinking about putting some of the money towards education/learning. In fact, I just bought the 2009 Photovision series of DVDs. They just arrived today, so I haven't watched any yet, but I've heard good things about them. I was also going to get a WPPI & PPA membership as well. <br>

@RT: I've always heard it's good practice to have at least a UV filter on the lens for protection if nothing else. I can personally vouch for the importance of a filter for protection as my wife accidentally knocked my camera out of my hand and it landed on concrete square on the front of my 18-200mm. It looked smashed beyond repair, but once I got it home and took off the circular polarizer I had on it, the lens itself was peachy keen.<br>

@Mark: Thanks for the link. I actually read that article a while back and it helped me plan out the equipment I was going to buy back then (most of which I currently have). But now that I have some money to use for further upgrades I was just wondering how other, more experienced people (if in a similar situation with the same equipment I currently have) would use it. For me it's not as simple as picking from a list. I need to prioritize based on my budget, current equipment and needs. This is what I was hoping for some help with.</p>

@Howard: Haha... Upgrade the dog? No way! She's the reason I get to buy new toys now. I need to see if she can do this

once a year :)

 

@Kevin: Thanks for the great insight. I totally forgot to mention that I was eyeing a 10-24mm 3.5 (I think those were the

specs) for $650. Would it be too much of a drag switching lenses? Or could I keep the 10-24 and 28-70mm on the two

bodies and pull out the 70-200mm as needed? Also forgot to mention that I have a Nikon 50mm 1.8, too.

<p>A couple of weeks ago our little maltipoo puppy decided to chew through the water supply line in our upstairs guest bathroom and flooded our entire house! At first it was a complete disaster (we just had the house built three months ago and just moved in). But, the good news is that after all the dust settles and repair work is done we're actually going to be walking away from the ordeal with some cash from our insurance company. What a perfect excuse to upgrade some of my gear :)<br /> <br /> I'm a fairly new wedding & portrait photographer who last year decided to get serious about turning my passion into a business. The list below is what I currently have and now I have about $2,500 (give or take) to play with for upgrades. My question to everyone is, based on what you see below, as a wedding photographer where would you spend the money? New body? Lenses? Lights? Software? Something else? You get the idea...<br /> <br /> <strong>Bodies:</strong> Nikon D200 & D80<br /> <br /> <strong>Lenses:</strong> Nikon 18-200 3.5-5.6f VR, Sigma 28-70 2.8f, Sigma 70-200 2.8f<br /> <br /> <strong>Flashes/lighting:</strong> SB-800 & SB-600, 2 stands, soft box, umbrella (can't remember the sizes off the top of my head), sand bags<br /> <br /> <strong>Software:</strong> Lightroom 2.6, Photoshop CS3<br /> <br /> <strong>Capture/Storage:</strong> Three 4GB CF II cards, one 2GB CF II card, one 1GB CFII card, Three 4GB SDHC cards, Epson P-3000 40GB Multimedia Storage Drive<br /> <br /> <strong>Tripod:</strong> I'm happy with the one I have (solid legs and a good, smooth ball head). <br /> <br /> So, where does that leave me? I need some filters for the Sigma lenses as I just got them a week ago (got both from a friend of a friend used in great condition for $425 total) and only have one UV filter. I'm not particularly thrilled with the high ISO performance of either camera, so I was eyeing a D300 or D300s. I was also thinking about springing for a Noise Ninja license, too. <br /> <br /> Also, we just bought a new house with a garage which I was hoping to turn into a studio when needed, so I had my eye on this lighting kit for around $500: http://www.skaeser.com/servlet/the-691/900-WATT-EZ-SOFTBOX/Detail <br /> <br /> Can anyone tell me if that seems like a good deal? I know they won't be the brightest lights, but since it's in a controlled environment I'm hoping it will work. Also, on the software front, I thought about getting Nikon's Capture NX to capture straight into my laptop while doing this "studio" stuff.<br /> <br /> So, what do you all think? Get a D300? Get the lights? Blow the whole budget on a D700? Maybe a refurbished D2x? Stepping up to a FX camera probably isn't a good move until I can get two at the same time to keep things more consistent, but maybe I'm wrong? Thanks for any and all help you guys can provide.</p>

<p>I'm sort of in the same position as I just started my business and have been trying to find ways to come up with leads outside of referrals. I met Justin Kifer a few months ago (he's the guy who started Gigbooks, if anyone's familiar with them) and he told me that he's had some luck with his photography business with respond.com. <br>

They basically have potential clients who are interested in wedding photography (they have other industries on their site, too) fill out a brief form with details on the location, type of ceremony, budget, etc. and then the leads are sent to you at a cost of $5.00 per lead. They won't send them out to any more than five photographers in the area per lead, so if you live somewhere with a ton of photographers you won't have 20 people jumping at the same lead. I just started with them a few days ago and, while I haven't received any leads yet, I am hopeful. Right now my search radius is a little limited, so I may need to expand that to get more leads. But, it might be worth looking into.</p>