avery1

<p>I've found that a -2mm lens works the best (yes, another vote for widest possible).</p>

*sigh* If only I had $6650 lying around. I will assume that the changes to the mkiii body were significant enough to necessitate a new housing.

Tioga pass will be closed. Here's the opening dates in past years: http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

...and we've had a lot of snow this winter. You'll have no trouble keeping busy though and the ease of getting around will totally

depend on your elevation. You shouldn't have any trouble in the valley with snow and the waterfalls should be impressive.

<p>Shun- While close to the equator, they still have seasons (rainy, dry) and at least some of the animals will still have mating seasons. <br>

Bjorn- I haven't been, so I can't respond based on first hand knowledge although I'm sure there are lots of others on here that can and hopefully will do that. A quick google search, however, gave me <a href="http://www.frommers.com/destinations/galapagosislands/2836020006.html">this</a> which might be helpful even though it focuses on diving.<br>

In addition to all of the factors you mention above, the # of people there might be another factor. I know the islands have a cap in terms of people...not sure if they are always at this cap or if it might be less crowded during the off season (which seems to coincide with when kids are in school in the US/Europe).</p>

<p>Hi. I'm a 6th grade teacher who would like to videotape my classroom for research purposes this upcoming year. I'm planning on using my 5d mk2 to shoot video, and I am looking for the cheapest compatible wireless mic system that will make what I'm saying discernible. Ideally, it would also pick up what students are saying when I am working with them 1 on 1 at their table.<br>

Will a cheapo $15 version such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-M601-Wireless-Microphone/dp/B0002KR7EU/ref=pd_cp_e_1">this</a> work for my needs? If not, any suggestions? I'd be willing to spend more than $15 if it would get me something that I would find useful, but I can't be spending hundreds of dollars on this.<br>

I'd also be happy to just use the in camera mic or an attached mic if this would work. I'm most worried about the in camera mic picking up students who don't speak as loudly as I do, especially considering they'd be talking away from the camera.<br>

Thanks in advance!<br>

Avery</p>

<p>I'm waiting to sell my 20D until it becomes a vintage. Thinking of a price point around $5000. :)</p>

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<p>I don't have an answer for you, but my guess is that those who might will first ask the ubiquitous...<br>

What's your budget?</p>

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<p>I've been to a number of games with a 70-200 lens...never had a problem with security. No harm in officially asking, though.</p>

<p>I think one issue here is about the photographer being transparent and honest. I've seen pictures of birds that are at a feeder that are still amazing shots. And to be honest, the most exciting shot I've ever taken was of a tiger in the wild...but it wasn't like I was trekking through the jungle...I was in a jeep on a safari to see tigers. I think the second real issue is really committing to the "leave no trace" philosophy. I was pretty annoyed by a recent article in Popular Photography about wildlife shooting that included a number of recommendations that I would find unethical under the leave no trace philosophy (bringing bear spray for so protect yourself when you get too close to a bear and make him angry, releasing live bait to attract animals/birds, and photographing trained animals are three examples I remember).</p>

<p>24-70 & 70-200<br>

...but I'm not a wedding photographer and am also careful to not get in their way.<br>

...oh, and a 400mm is a nice lens to have if you're taking pictures of a wedding you weren't invited to.</p>

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<p>When I was a kid, the area surrounding the Brooklyn side of the bridge was fairly unsavory and not a place to go at night. How is the general safety of that area now?</p>

 

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<p>Brooklyn is safer than most big cities. DUMBO (the area surrounding the bridge which stands for "down under the manhattan bridge overpass") has transitioned from scary to artsy to trendy to $@!&'n expensive--for better or for worse, much like the rest of Brooklyn. If it's been as long as you allude, you will most likely not recognize it.</p>

<p>You can get another perspective by walking across the Manhattan Bridge. Both bridges are about a mile across when you include the approach.</p>

<p>Have you considered using dry bags instead of a case? If you're concerned about things getting bumped around, you could always put the dry bags inside a non-waterproof case.</p>

<p>It's just overexposed (and, like you said, in the midday sun). The reason your cheap p&s gave you something that looked a lot better is that it's probably programmed to output pics with greater contrast. I did minimal changes to the levels, brightness, and contrast and ended up with this. I'm no ps expert, so I'm sure it could be even better. Definitely not as hazy, yes?</p><div></div>

<p>And the 50mm f/1.4 will work on a full-frame if you upgrade your body sometime in the future.</p>

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<p>Overall, I think it looks pretty clean and the front page opened relatively quickly. I'd maybe think about making your name more prevalent/easier to read. I'd also remove the "all photographs" from the front page and put this in the gallery section.<br>

Hope this helps.</p>

<p>400 f/5.4 is another option you should look at. This is a relatively light and small lens, although you'll lose your autofocus if you throw on the extender. I'd stay away from the 50-500. Compared to your 70-200, I think you'll be sorely disappointed. </p>

<p>ISO1600 is pretty high. I think this looks surprisingly good (and the obvious noise is in the darker area and could probably be reduced in ps). In the future, shooting in RAW would also give you a little more flexibility in terms of eliminating the noise. More importantly, was there a reason you were shooting at 1/2000th? Why not 1/250th at 200 ISO or 1/500th at 400ISO? </p>

<p>I would definitely recommend doing a few dives before investing in an SLR housing, but that's just my 2 cents. I found that the first few times I went I was expending most of my mental energy on relaxed breathing, correct buoyancy, etc. I'm glad I didn't have ANY camera with me. Once you're comfortable, underwater shooting is not terribly different from above-water shooting in the sense that you can get great pics from a disposable camera in the right conditions, but the more money you're willing to spend (disposable -> p&s -> slr -> lighting), the more flexibility you'll have for conditions that are less ideal (the lack of light as you dive deeper being the biggest issue).<br>

Also may want to consider how frequently you plan on diving in the future. I go less than once a year, and I don't have the dough to spend more on an underwater housing than I did on the camera for something that will be used this infrequently.</p>

<p>Very cool. Thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>This is not a complete answer to your questions, but I have a toshiba netbook NB305 running windows 7 starter and a 5Dmkii. Storing images is no problem as long as you have the hd space. Viewing images is a little slow (in slideshow mode, i sometimes have to wait a second or two for the picture to render), but I've never heard of this just not working at all because of screen resolution issues (I'm running at 1024x600). I'm not familiar with photdirector, though, so my help might be useless. I would definitely recommend shooting in both RAW and JPEG and viewing the JPEGS and I would recommend not even thinking about editing. That pipe dream of mine was quickly squashed. :) If you want to edit, you're going to need to get a laptop.</p>

<p>I just got back from India (spent about a week in Rajasthan) with my 5d mkii and 20D. I would be really careful if you're planning on going to the Thar (I did not get this far west), but the rest of the state is no more dusty than the rest of the country and I didn't have any serious problems. I don't know how helpful I'll be regarding lenses, since they took up 1/2 my luggage (17-40, 24-105, 70-200, 400, 50), but I would take something as long as possible if you are interested in wildlife. If you're interested in architecture or vast landscapes, I'd bring the 17-40. I found that I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of things photo-worthy and, because of this, used my prime very infrequently...almost exclusively for low light shots inside mosques/temples/buildings where you aren't supposed to use flash.</p>

<p>Have fun! It's quite a place.</p>