jim_ducey

<p>I had a couple of Canon cameras before I bought the 7D , I thought the focus on two lens I had was slow. After useing them on the 7D they suddenly got a lot faster. If I were to upgrade from here it would have to be a one series with the same AF system.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>There are a couple of the 1 series Canon cameras and a Hasselblad or two I would like to have just for the sake of having them and playing with them but I can not find any rational reason to go beyond my present Canon 7D. If you are going to do wall size photos then I could rationalize buying one of the 50 megapixel to myself, my wife would be a harder sell. When you are wishing might as well go for the big stuff.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>Sometimes a breakdown of charges help the couple understand and agree with the charges, travel time assistant photographer, etc. If they are completely hung up on cheap tell them to use a disposable camera and walmart, you don't want that wedding. Those people are the ones that are going to complain and fault find and try to beat down the price after the wedding and the work is completed.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>Has the bride a budget for the favors, that can make a big difference in what you suggest and do.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>I use a Qnap NAS box with 8 terabytes of storage and save all files of photos raw,jpeg etc. That much storage is under a thousad dollars now and well worth it to me<br>

Jim</p>

<p>I have used the transcend 32 and 64 GB cards the 400X with good results and so far no failures. They are considerably less expensive than comparable Scandisk or Hoodman<br>

Jim</p>

<p>Reputation and integrity are the heart and soul of any business, sit down with the client and explain your situation to her and talk to her about refunding over a period of time so it is not such a strain on your finances. Talk to her about trying improve the photos with processing and see if she will accept a partial refund if you can make some of the pictures satisfactory. Try to be good to her and give her the chance to be generous in return, put yourself in her place for this once in a lifetime event.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>For landscape and wildlife I carry in my bag a Sigma 10-MM, a Tamron 18-MM and a Sigma 150-MM for a Canon 7D. I have found that to cover about everything I need The Tamron and Sigma 150-500 and stabilized. Sometimes I carry a monopod. I usually don't make enlargements over a 8 X 10 and these lens have been excellent for what I do. I realize prime lens are better but it gets down to what I am able to carry. When I was 40 years younger I had a completly different attitude and would haul everything I could.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>If you are looking at the fast, long, and expensive lens: I would try renting one first and see how much you are going to use it. Sometime people will buy an expensive fish eye use it twice then it gathers dust. Good luck with your photography</p>

<p>Jim Ducey</p>

<p>If your second shooter does not have an external flash he probably does not have a bracket for it. He should have both, a powerful flash mounted on the camera can ruin some pictures.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>Starting any business usually requires some sacrifice and indebtedness. You need to ask yourself honestly how big will my final prints to the customer be, if not giant size then the aftermarket lens like the newer Tamron and Sigma may work very well at about half the price of Nikon and Canon. That said I find myself wanting the best lens too, just because it is there. As important as the camera and lens and as expensive is a good computer and calibrated monitor and printer, and lots of storage for the computer. Try to focus on the whole business plan not just the camera and lens.<br>

Good Luck in you endeavor in professional photography<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>By all means buy insurance on your gear, and make copies of your receipts and carry the receipts on you so you can prove ownership and where you purchased that gear. If you can not provide receipts to customs you may be charged taxes again that you have already paid.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>Today it would be my Tamron 18-270mm on Canon D7, but that can change by tomorrow when the subject I am shooting changes. My bad I did not read the part about wedding , I don`t shoot weddings.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>How about a full frame 7D , that would be a great camera if they would keep the same size pixels.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I should have mentioned that I have the Tamron 18mm to 270mm lens it is very versatile and works great with the Canon AF, there is a noticeable improvement with the 7D over the T1i in speed of focus and accuracy.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I upgraded from a T1i to a 7D and for me it was well worth it, increased resolution better by far AF and fast multiple shots. It works well doing hand held multiple shots for HDR, I wish I had done it sooner.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I have the 7D and I like the speed, IQ and the improved auto focus, If you can try the cameras side by side in a store. Do a hands on comparison of the features that you will use.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I think you are dealing with people`s personal beliefs or prejudices, and of course you need to respect them and go along with their wishes on photos. That said the great majority of people look better in clothes than out of them, unless you are young and very fit. Nudity in itself does not involve ethics, it is what you or they make of it. First know yourself and don`t do anything that does not feel "right" to you, we all have prejudices of one type or another. How we deal with them determines how well we sleep at the end of the day.<br>

Jim</p>

<p>If you are looking for a do it all lens the Tamron 18mm to 270mm zoom lens will cover a broad range for you. I think there is an 80 dollar rebate on them now. On snow you will want to have some filers too a polarizing filter is handy to have around. The Tamron zoom is similar to the Canon kit lens in quality and it does have a longer warranty.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I would tell them to watch this<br>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7RzcdDcMs&feature=player_embedded">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7RzcdDcMs&feature=player_embedded</a><br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>There is a program free from Microsoft that is still beta but it work well for this type of thing, the program name is live mesh. It is easy to use it to copy files (photos) on more than one computer or actually synchronize them so the files copy automatically to the identical folder on each computer<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I have had more failures with mechanical drives over the past 30 years than I have with solid state drives several on mechanical and 0 on solid state so far. I have used Intel and OZ drives and you are right they are very different, if you try to plug and play you will probably have problems that is why I recommend reading up on them on the OCZ solid state forum.<br>

Remember the Lisa, 10 megabytes of storage and ten thousand dollars and a green screen, things have changed a bit.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>The laptop above does have an Intel I7 process with quad cores , the slowest thing about most computers is the hard drive. Changing over to solid state disk makes a huge difference but you need to read up on them first to avoid some expensive mistakes. The OCZ forum has a lot of good information. I replaced four WD raptor drives in raid O on my desk top with solid state drives in raid O and the speed difference was very surprising to me. Video editing takes about half the time it used too.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>This works good for me <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220696">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220696</a><br>

Add 4 more GB of memory and a fast solid state disk in place of the mechanical one and it is very close to desktop speeds and you are still under 2K I was a little concerned about the screen resolution but on a screen of that size its not a problem. The added benefit of have USB 3 port for external drive connections is an attraction for me as I use some external drives for storage.<br>

Jim Ducey</p>

<p>I was there in late August and its a good time to visit. National Geographic runs some tours that are great for wildlife photos but they are expensive<br>

JimDucey</p>