jessica_miller7

I want a D700, not the D800....but I'm curious if anyone knows how much the price will drop on the D700 and when

the best time to buy one will be. Thanks.

<p>I bought it brand new, body only from Best Buy.</p>

<p>I have a mint Nikon D300s that has approx. 10,000 actuations. I've used it for about 3 weddings. I have a grip, but it's not Nikon brand. It's in excellent condition and I'm only selling to upgrade to the D700. So what kind of $$$ can I get for it?</p>

<p>Whenever I get on my local internet ads there are always a mass amount of D90's for sale. Why? Just curious.</p>

<p>Shun: I think my camera married the right Joe :)...private sale was $1,200. Still feels as though I gave the beautiful thing away :(, We checked shutter actuations right there and cash only. Thanks for all the advice!</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for sharing your "purchasing a used D300" story! It's all really helpful.<br>

<strong>James Kennedy:</strong> Thanks for your thoughts--in many ways I agree. And Oregon doesn't have sales tax. But they get us other ways :).<br>

<strong>Shun:</strong> I figured the new D300s is what's capping the price, it sure sucks just giving it away to some joe! And no worries...This post was definitely never intended to make a sale. I'll only deal locally anyway.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Thanks Ray for letting me know...great to know!</p>

<p><em>Nikon D300 update:</em> I was totally off on my number of actuations which is 30,000 according to the Exif data. Thanks again for the info on how to check that because I definitely would not want to be dishonest to my buyer on actuations. Obviously, the camera still has a long life ahead and looks nearly mint.<br>

<strong>Steven:</strong> Thanks for the ebay info, I'll check it out.<br>

<strong>Shun: </strong> Wow, I wasn't thinking of the "I could be the lucky guy" comment as anything other than wanting to purchase a camera, but I guess I did get a laugh out of it. Thanks for the link!</p>

<p><strong>John:</strong> I live in Oregon.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice guys.<br>

<strong>John: </strong>funny conversation going on here :), I live in the U.S on the west coast and I will only do sales in my state...sorry!<br>

<strong>Dieter:</strong> Thanks for the info, I had no idea I can check the actuations. I definitely want to do so. <br>

<strong>Steven:</strong> I am not selling it with the grip. This camera is a beast and yes I would totally love to keep it. I just wish I had the kind of money to upgrade and keep it. Unfortunately that isn't the case. I am still not 100% sure if I am going to sell it, I just wanted to get an idea of what I could get for it. It is in mint condition.</p>

<p>I'm upgrading from my Nikon D300 to the D700 but I don't know how low I should go on my D300.<br>

I bought my D300 18 months ago brand new for 2,000. I have shot 4 weddings with it and took it on a two week trip to Brazil and the rest of the time it's sat in my camera bag doing nothing. I have estimated 10,000 actuations. It looks nearly brand new--it is in excellent condition. The only tiny blemishes are on the bottom of the camera body where my battery grip attaches.<br>

I have all of the original boxes and packaging. It comes with the Nikkor 18-135mm lens. No warranty.<br>

Any thoughts? </p>

<p>I have a D300 and I don't do much landscape photography, but want to do more. I use my 17-55mm DX Nikkor on my D300 for all my landscape wide angle stuff. I would like to rent a different wide landscape lens before I decide what to buy, but what do you recommend I try? </p><div></div>

<p>Thank you everyone for your responses. It was helpful. Let me add though that I charge about $1200 per wedding and I have no print fees. No, my photography does not suck otherwise I wouldn't be shooting weddings. I simply charge less than most pros...when I should be charging more, but I get some great business this way.<br>

For those of you who do not charge additional fees to "remove a pimple" I would imagine that you charge a heck of a lot more than $1200 dollars per wedding, if that was the case for me, I wouldn't charge to remove a pimple or two on a few shots. However, the wedding that I was specifically referring to above was a $50,000 dollar Persian wedding and they decided they wanted to spend $1,200 on their photographer. So when the groom approaches me asking that each picture of him be edited "as to remove my acne scars on my face" of course I will be charging them for that kind of work since it's not included in the package of $1200.</p>

<p>Woah, I clearly didn't explain the question well enough....my apologies. <br>

The groom has acne scars...that's what he's saying he doesn't like. I have 1500 images to give the couple and my package does not include a 30 second photoshop fix on his face on every image that he's in. Sorry no way-I process and edit everything on my own. <br>

I do not offer prints, yes, I lose a lot of money by giving the couple the images on a disc, but I also only shoot about 8 weddings per year because I'm a full time pre-dental student. <br>

If you were in my shoes, the poor photographer who doesn't offer prints, but needs to make a little money from image-retouching (a problem that isn't my fault), what would you recommend?</p>

<p>Recently at the wedding reception of a wedding I was shooting, the groom came up to me and said "So I don't like my complexion in any photos, you're going to photoshop all of that out right when you edit our wedding photos??" <br>

It took everything within me not to laugh out loud. I told him after they receive their wedding images from me, they can choose a few of their favorite images they want to enlarge and (for a fee per image), we can try to work some magic in photoshop.<br>

But then I realized I don't know what kind of fee I should charge per image....obviously it depends on the time it would take to edit each photo, but I just want to charge them a flat fee per each photo to edit. <br>

Any recommendations?</p>

 

<p>All of your responses were extremely helpful. Thanks so much for all of your input since I'm new to all of this "fine art" stuff :).</p>

<p>Hey folks....<br>

I travel. I take pictures. A coffee shop has requested 11 of my images to be enlarged to at least 16 by 20's to display in their shop. This will be a first for me since I mostly shoot weddings and don't display my work anywhere.<br>

So I was wondering, if you're displaying an enlarged matted print, should I have my watermark on the photo or do you take the watermark off? Do you put your initials in pen or pencil on the matte? <br>

Let me know what you pros recommend. Thanks,</p>

<p>-Jessica<br>

Portland, Oregon USA</p>

<p>I live in Portland, Oregon. I don't know any professionals who would shoot a wedding for $25/hr!</p>

<p>I'm shooting a wedding in October. I typically shoot weddings solo, but the bride and groom have requested a second shooter. He will only be paid $50.00/hr so I was limited on who I chose to help me out because of cost. I have asked him if he would allow me to edit the photos he takes (he would give me all RAW images) then that way the B & G are getting one editing style of images....my style in which they selected. <br>

I am curious on the photography agreement between me and the bride and groom, if I am responsible for the second shooter or if he is on his own. Worst case scenario, what if his camera dies during the ceremony and it's only me shooting? Am I responsible for him because I selected him as second shooter? What should I put on the contract? Should I mention a full-refund will be given for all monies paid to second shooter if complications arise?<br>

Thanks!</p>

<p>I shoot weddings. I use a 17-55mm 2.8f, a 70-200mm 2.8f, a 50mm 1.4f, Micro Nikkor, 16mm 2.8 fisheye....<br>

Any other must-haves you would recommend? Something fast and I love wide angles, any recommendations? </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm headed to South America on a boat down the Amazon, have a Nikon D300 with a battery grip so I need a sturdy tripod but need it to be small. I've been looking into those travel tripods but don't know which one to get. What would you recommend? Or not recommend?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>This sound nearly identical to my wedding situation coming up. Are you shooting alone? Then I would say hands down get a 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor. Since I've done a few weddings with only my Nikkor 17-55mm, I decided that renting is totally worth it to get the distance with the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Have you looked into renting? There is a local place in my town that is renting for one day @ $30.00. For a wedding, I feel it is entirely worth the 30 bucks. I also have an SB-600, but I'm going to rent the SB-900 @$18.00 for the day so I have two speedlights. I want a back-up with everything I'm using. Check out www.thelensdepot.com. You get their stuff for a minimum of a week and the prices include the shipping both ways.</p>

 

<p>Wow! Things are getting heated on this forum.<br>

My story:<br>

I have a D300. I'm an "amateur". I shoot weddings and landscapes. I love my 17-55mm f/2.8. I'm glad I didn't spend the extra money for a D700.<br>

The end.<br>

-Jessica</p>

<p>I'll have a backup body for sure, I'm flying solo this time. <strong>John,</strong> I forgot to mention I have a macro for detail and I use the 50mm f/1.4 for details indoors (wedding party getting ready, etc.) Just like you said, I plan on using the 17-55 and 70-200 during the ceremony primarily.<br>

<strong>David,</strong> thanks for mentioning speedlights, I have a SB-600 and I like the simplicity and lightness of it. Although, I've been tossing around the idea of renting the SB-800 or SB-900 (at least for reception dance floor shots.) Haven't had my SB-600 burn out on me before, but I'll for sure have two speedlights, just trying to decide which. The power of the SB-900 would be nice, but is it <em>totally</em> necessary? It seems this topic is an issue of preference. Also, I get my rented gear at least two days before and take those days to test them.<br>

Thanks for the advice guys. Always appreciated!</p>

<p>Wedding party of 10, guest count 100, outdoor August wedding:<br>

For my D300 I'll be using 70-200mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4, 17-55mm f2/8...I also have a 10.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye, would the 16mm f/2.8 be a better choice (to rent)? <br>

Any other Nikon lenses you would recommend as "must-haves"? I plan on renting them to give them a spin.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm a new wedding photographer looking for some great tips and advice for wedding portraits of the wedding party, family members, etc.<br /> Q 1) I'm curious as to what the best ways are to take portraits of bride & groom/family members/wedding party, etc. that are not any specific style except your generic portraits such as the image below (not my image, just an example): Would you recommend using a tripod to get the same shot every time while shuffling through different groups of people?<br /> http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2/jessicanmiller/_wsb_500x333_IMG_2227.jpg<br /> <br /> Q 2) For the basic wedding party portraits, is it best to get a tight crop of just their faces (i.e. bride with 4 bridesmaids, shoulders up) AND one full length body shot, not such a tight crop?<br>

<br /> Q 3) When coaching your wedding clients during portraits (especially a large group), what are some ways you find to be most successful in getting everyone to cooperate? (i.e. I heard once that a photographer had everyone close their eyes right before the shutter release and then open at the same time)</p>