John Di Leo

Ah, thank you, Bill and Shun. That is exactly the info I need. I am willing to sacrifice a bit of write speed for economy. I do not shoot wildlife or sports, so I am often only shooting 3 or 4 shots of the same subject. When I am shooting street, it is even less. When I am on my busiest shoots it is less than 400 images. I was thinking of one the 128gb cards. Many are on discount now for about $120. That will be plenty enough real estate. I will look at the suggested cards though I see good reports on the sanDisk ExtremePro. Thanks again.

As stated elsewhere, I will (soon???) be the happy owner of a new Z8. I am coming from the d810. 1) I am considering which CFExpress B card to buy and how big it should be. My shooting is almost only stills, rare video. I shoot in RAW. On my d810 such files are about 42-44mb each. Since the guts of the z8 is the same as the z9, shooting RAW, how big are the files from the z9? For my needs on the d810 a 32gb card has been sufficient, but I will be in uncharted territory with the Z8. Any advice appreciated and to include brand of card. I have been lucky with SanDisk and Lexar over the years. 2) the one thing I will miss from the d810 is the pop up flash. I use it only when necessary for fill in and it has always been sufficient. Would a SB-300 be a suitable fill in for the pop up flash? Thanks

True dat! I have always bought weather sealed cameras over the years, now this! It was the icing on the cake.

I ordered mine on day 0. It will replace my aging d810. It aged more when my wife dropped it into the chocolate cake and now the FORMAT button no longer works. Don't ask. I have been putting off birthday and Christmas presents for 2 years waiting for this.

Reframing my original question in a different way, but, yeah, right, I don't disagree with the question being asked. That's why I asked it. If the mods or the members say no, that's ok with me, though I would prefer there to be a section for AI images. AI images are here, and will be much more so in a rapidly changing future. They will be in bed with Photography in the public's eye, if not many photographers' eyes. Do they warrant a place on Photo.net?

I took care to NOT call an image produced or augmented by AI, to not call it a photograph. For sake of discussion there is a line between an image and a photograph in the sense of "all photographs are images, but not all images are photographs." Having played with some sites that produce text to images, I note that they all have the site's watermark on them, suggesting that there is some conflicting opinions who the image belongs to, the author or the generating site. Clearly the jury is out on the whole issue, but notwithstanding the nomenclature issue of "photo.net," I would like to see what the members here could produce just to look at them, perhaps to be inspired. I bet it would be popular. I would want to know the originating site, and the keywords—though I suspect the author might want to keep that info in secret for professional purposes. Attached is Marie Antoinette in a Jaguar convertible done is seconds on freeimage.ai

Hi, Alan, I am curious how it came out?

1)Should there be a section for images created by AI on Photo.net? I am actually surprised that it does not yet exist. 2)Have you played with AI images and what do you believe is the best AI software for same?

Smugmug user here also, though I do not use it commercially. One advantage I think would be the ability to create a "gallery" for a specific wedding/event and send a secure link to that gallery to your client. This can be done in a way that limits the viewer solely to that gallery, and prevents any download of image unless you allow it.

Big Lushous of The Pussyfooters marching group in the Thoth parade the Sunday before Mardi Gras

@ OP my exact situation. I went from a D200->D700->D810, and liked them all. For me, each was a noticeable improvement. I will hop on the Z8 when released. I often shoot at night, especially night parades at Mardi Gras, dimply lit clubs, and street night in NYC. I often have to go to iso 2000 and 3200. Yes, noisy, but Topaz Denoise usually can handle that. I need that speed to have a manageable shutter speed. Setting exposure in an EV is the lure, and much improved low light is icing on the cake. The Z9 is too big for me and screams "steal me," while the Z7 just didn't feel right in my hand. I will use all my compatible old F glass on the Z—when it FINALLY comes.

I'll check that out And thanks to all for the discussion.

Looking for the pluses ans minuses of converting to black and white in Lightroom. I plan on shooting in color through the camera, D810, but in Lightroom, would you first convert to B&W then process or process and then convert to B&W? I seen videos where I think I remember that is was recommended to do the latter for better tonal range. thoughts? TIA

I cannot disagree about Jared Polin, I get it. I can filter out the good info though. Yes, on the Northrups, mostly about gear and what's better than what. Sometimes useful, but mostly not. yes, on the Photographic Eye; I have learned some stuff there; and, if I am thinking of the right guy, he's motivating. Mark Denny seems like a nice guy, but his stuff is very basic and not motivational. I've also found there are some videos following arounf NYC street photogs that are pretty interesting.

On YouTube there are many video blogs about photography. I find some of them very entertaining, and many informative. Do you have any favorites? I like Peter Coulsen, because I like his style, and his subjects are easy on the eyes. His are always studio shoots, oftem he shows how to make an impromtu studio from a basic apartment or a garage. His work is in an almost always high fashion or glamor genre. I like how he walks us through his process, and explains why he shoots with one camera over another, one lens over another and how he works with his models. Anthony Morganti produces some very informative videos, mostly about Lightroom techniques. There are many blogs about Lightroom techniques by other bloggers, but theirs are usually very basic and just walking is through how they processed a certain photo. Morganti does way more, and will walk you through how and what Lightroom can do to produce a certain look. IOW, less pedantic and more didactic. Grainydays shoots minimalist and film, 35, 4x5, 8x10, 2.25 sq. He is a big fan of Edward Hopper and often shows in his shots his admiration for Hopper. In addition, he has a very dry (and funny) sense of humor, that I find entertaining, similar to Steven Wright. Jared Polin is also an interesting watch, especially when he is in the field and describing his techniques and problem. I can understand how his on-screen schtick may irritate some, but I can filter that out for the info he gives. I watch some of the others also, but the ones I avoid are the ones with the blogger sitting at a desk and droning on for sometimes 2+ hours about what he thinks Nikon is going to do with the Z8 or some other topic about which they are purely guessing. So, do you have favorites?

D810 20mm/2.8 nikkor (still awaiting the z8!) Zebra stripes crosswalk NYC

Nikon D810 20mm/2.8 Nikkor Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

First thanks for the "insight." It sounds like most chose to have correction for distance. That was the info I sought. Just a POI. I am a (now retired) anesthesiologist and have had exposure to thousands of cataract surgeries during my 50 year career. Yes, the surgery is almost "drive by," and about as stressful as a trip to Walmart—as long as everything is going well. In truth most of the time there are no issues whatsoever. Surgery times vary, depending on the surgeon, but usually from about 12 minutes to maybe 20-25 minutes. Anesthesia is topical, ie "drops." And the patient gets a smidge of sedation usually. What I have noticed is that patients are really eager to get their second eye done. I think this operation has more satisfied patients than any other I've been party to. They love it. So, I have little concern for the surgery itself. I have both a retinologist and an ophthalmologist because I have dry macular degeneration, worse in my non dominant (left) eye, so how new lenses play with my stable Mac degen is a bit of concern, though both docs say it should be fine.

Yes, Live View, I am still using my D810 awaiting the Z8 :). Are you saying that with correction for distance the VF is easily read without glasses, ie with only the diopter correction on the VF? That would be good news to me. And distance correction would play well with a full face helmet, Shoei Neotec 2.

It looks like I am going to have my cataracts removed and replaced with intra-ocular lenses. When this is done the lens for replacement can correct the patient for distance or for closeup work—there is a multifocal lens, but that is not in the equation—IOW one or the other. Correct for distance, correct for near, both have pluses and minuses. I am posting here to see what others have done and how it affects taking pictures. My preference, I think, is to correct for distance and wear reading glasses when necessary. The viewfinders on modern cameras have diopter corrections, so that should preclude needing glasses to shoot through the viewfinder. However, I use Live View more and more for critical sharpness and that would mean using glasses for that. Thoughts? and TIA

Rosedown Plantation St. Francisville, La

alright! Thanks for the info. That was my original thought also, it's just simpler, and effective. People are going to only view them online anyway until someone is going through our stuff when we're gone, then it's their problem what to do with them. ;)

Thank, Niels, that makes sense.