pjahans

<p>I have a Kirk L bracket for my D300 and it fits perfectly both with and without the battery holder attached to the body, except of course that the side opening for cables is shifted down. I would enquire about the D90 at <a href="http://www.kirkphoto.com/contact-us.php">http://www.kirkphoto.com/contact-us.php</a> as they don't actually mention on their website that the brackets fit the battery holders.</p>

<p>Geez Allan, I struggled all year to drop 25 pounds so I can ride the Maratona dles Dolomites race in July - I sure wouldn't want to be carrying a D3 and lenses up & down those passes.<br>

When riding, I'll be taking only my S95 P&S along in my jersey pocket (the most I want to carry on me while doing 13,000+ feet of climbing). For walking around and shooting other events in the area I'll be carrying my D300, 70-200-f2.8 and 2 or 3 other lenses.<br>

You might consider separating the days (or route portions) you want to ride with the group and carry light, and other days (or route portions) you might be able to drive in the support vehicle and bring the heavy equipment. Since you've been there many times before, you might be able to pick the spots beforehand that you really want to use the D3.<br>

Good luck with your plans and enjoy the trip.</p>

 

<p>I have similar interests and equipment, shooting cycling and triathlon events, except that I recently bought a used D300 and now use it much more than the D90. It is a great sports camera, very fast and with excellent focusing options. My next big purchase will be probably a used or refurbished 70-200 VR I and an SB-900 flash to replace my SB-600. The claimed edge softness of the older version telephoto has less effect on the DX format. Don't underestimate the importance of good fill flash in daylight shooting - the SB-900 is powerful and can work with an optional battery pack for fast recycling.</p>

<p>I gave my wife <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00166EUI0/ref=oss_product">this one</a> from Opteka for her D40 and she loves it, carried her camera around for 2 weeks in Europe using this. The base is plastic and needs to be loosened to replace the battery. But it's definitely not expensive ($8.50) so not much of a loss if you don't like it.</p>

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<p>DxO has a tutorial available on their website that describes 3 separate workflow options for using their product with LR - <a href="http://www.dxo.com/us/photo/dxo_optics_pro/workflow/working_with_adobe_lightroom2">click here</a>.<br>

Like Francisco suggests, I start with LR, create a collection or export a DNG, import into DxO as the first round processor (particularly their lens distortion feature), then back to LR for second round processing and final output.</p>

<p>Check out TeleNav - they support the T-Mobile G1.<br>

http://www.telenav.com/</p>

 

<p>Why do you want to carry a 15" laptop around all day? I don't think there is one bag that can do it all, unfortunately that's why I have six (so far), none of which holds a laptop...</p>

<p>Night trains are an acquired taste, but some people get used to it (earplugs worth double their weight in gold!) and save on hotels by traveling in a sleeper car from place to place. We traveled by train overnight from Lake Como to Rome during a summer heat wave and managed reasonably well -- but don't expect to awaken as fresh as sleeping in a hotel.<br /> Nice shot of the boats - I'm going to Barcelona in June, please post some more pics once you've got them developed.</p>

<p>Thanks for the update Allan, and the link to Scott's website. I'm an avid cyclist but haven't had much success in sports photography though I really admire the work of the pros, including Graham Watson. I will be trying out the technique you related above later this year as I hope to ride (and shoot on alternate days) in several events local and in Europe. Another thing Graham does is use fill flash a lot. I wonder if you saw Scott using a flash as well?<br>

I hope to get the improvement you observed in your results -- sure wish I had that 70-200/2.8. Let's see, new bike or new lens next year...</p>

<p>Good locations? I can't think of a bad location. Seriously, you will not be disappointed, but it's still ski season in April. However, you should still be able to see some great vistas along or just off the main highway: Mt. Rundle, Cascade Mtn, Moraine Lakes, Lake Louise, Castle Mtn, Lake Minnewanka -- just google these for a start. Lots of good day trails guides are available to help you plan but the snow might be too deep to go very far from the starting points. You might be able to take a gondola ride up Sulphur Mtn (not sure if open at that time of year).<br>

Check out the town of Banff and the Banff Springs Hotel...<br>

Yeah, it's all been done before, but the area is so photogenic all year round. You're going to be one busy photographer.</p>

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<p>Some people must see Alcatraz and others shrug at the thought, so to each his own. I've only been a couple times myself (taking visiting relatives), but there are many good photographic possibilities especially in morning and late afternoon light. There is a terrific headphone audio tour included now, and I found myself getting engrossed in the history of the island as told by former inmates, sometimes forgetting my camera. I found it hard to concentrate on both, but I think you will enjoy the challenge and have fun. Wander a bit outside the prison too. Count on 3-4 hours including ferry time and book well ahead.<br>

I think the best (but much copied) shots of the city are from the Marin headlands with the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground. Plenty of angles to choose and hiking trails to view the Bay, the City, and the ocean.<br>

Santa Cruz has a great beach boardwalk, especially late in the day. Really interesting local people. You can skip Capitola if you run out of time (though it is a pleasant little beach town). There are some spectacular coastal scenes from Carmel south to Big Sur.</p>

<p>You might also consider a used D300 body (more rugged, more weather proof, better autofocus) as they are getting close to the price what I paid for my D90 new last year, though D90s are getting cheaper now too.</p>

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<p>I just returned my Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC this week for even worse performance then you describe. I tested my lens over several days and a couple hundred exposures, indoors low light and with flash, outdoors in daylight and I don't think any could be called sharp, certainly nothing like what others have raved about this lens. Indeed, corners and out of focus areas exhibited double imaging and flare. I think it must have been a bad copy (quality control issues at Tamron?). I'm willing to try again with a replacement if Adorama sends me one, otherwise I'm gonna have to shell out the bucks for the Nikon.<br>

It's a pity because I really like the feel and balance of the lens as it suits the D90 particularly well.</p>

<p>I'm seriously bummed -- Santa brought me a new Tamron 17-50 f2.8 VC and I really wanted to like it, but it was way too soft. I couldn't get it to focus properly most of the time and couldn't get any images sharper than my 18-55 kit lens could without trying. After a few hundred test shots indoors and outdoors, in low light and with flash, I sent it back.<br /> <br /> I guess you really need to test more than one copy to find a good one. Seems Tamron has issues with quality control as David W. implies.</p>

<p>Per-Christian -- I wish you had mentioned that last month. As I told my wife, after 30 days I had no option! :)</p>

<p>I still like to use Picasa for managing jpg albums and uploading to the web, primarily for friends and family. Picasa can read and display raw files, but I never found it reproduced them the same as the camera's jpg output. I hate ViewNX for it's clumsy UI and very slow performance -- but it does seem to closely reproduce the in-camera jpg processing. Editing raw files in Picasa then saving them resulted in jpgs. I used to do a lot of basic image post processing in Picasa (it's not bad for simple fast edits), however more recently I've come to appreciate the power and smarts built into Lightroom, particularly for handling raw format. All image editing is saved into the database or as xml files. You can create DNG, TIFF or JPG output formats if you wish.<br>

I now shoot only raw, import into Lightroom, organize/catalog, and select images into collections for further post processing. Even on my modest setup, Lightroom is pretty responsive, like Picasa but much, much more powerful. But of course, it's not free.<br>

Lightroom lets you control a little or or a lot, you can import your camera profile, you can target your final images for screen, web, or print (including support for printer color profiles) -- in short, it handles 95% of my needs. Rarely do I ever go to Photoshop and only for complex edits requiring layers or other advanced features. To upload pics online, I export jpgs from Lightroom then use Picasa to sync albums online.</p>

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<p>John, the Speed Demon is not too big for climbing or bending over with the bag in front -- I use it most while hiking over rocks or on trails. If you wear the belt high on your hips, it's actually quite comfortable, just looks a bit dorky with the bag in front.<br>

Sliding the bag back and forth is doable, but if you get it fitting really good with the locking buckle, it's not that easy to loosen to slide it. I actually removed the clips that keep it firmly locked so I can loosen and tighten the belt easier.</p>

<p>I really like the Speed Demon and it stays put without sagging, at least with my equipment. It will hold a body with 2-3 small to medium lenses, flash and various other small accessories. It is very comfortable and the belt stays locked tight around your waist. I think it is actually meant to be worn with the bag in front so you can get at your stuff while shooting.<br>

Think Tank makes very high quality bags and it shows. I use this bag for "shoots", i.e. when I am at an event or continually shooting somewhere. Because it fits so well, it does not slide around from back to front very easily.<br>

For more casual streetwalking, I prefer the Urban Disguise 30 shoulder bag.</p>

<p>A few years ago, I was shooting the last day of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong's final race before retirement (er, until he came back out of retirement last year) with a lower priced, lesser known brand of CF memory that I had purchased with the camera as part of a "special deal" -- never should have fallen for that. I had a malfunction at the end of the race and lost half my shots forever including awards presentations. Never figured out why, the camera started giving memory errors so I pulled out the card and left it alone until I returned home later to salvage at least some of the frames.<br>

But as I had to fly to Florence early next morning, my earliest opportunity to buy a new card was in the center of town in a shop primarily servicing tourists -- bought a Sandisk 512Mb CF card at nearly $100, can you believe it? That was 2005. But I never had any problems with that card or the camera for years after (still using both today).<br>

I've only purchased Sandisk since then, taking care to format the card in the camera it's used in and never had other problems. Understandably, since then my main concern is reliability, speed is second priority. I would probably be comfortable with some other established brands now, but the Sandisk Ultra IIs and Extreme IIIs can be had fairly cheaply these days -- check out Adorama and Amazon.</p>

<p>I spent 2 weeks in China in August with a D90, the 12-24/f4 Tokina and the 18-200 VR Nikon zooms. Even this was a bit of a burden walking up the steep parts of the Great Wall in the stifling heat, but was an ideal combination for me wherever I went (Beijing, Xi'An, Shanghai, Suzhou). I think only the 35/1.8 would have made it perfect for low light streetwalking (I couldn't get one at the time -- still waiting).<br>

I've heard one should not check expensive gear when there is a chance unlocked bags are x-rayed -- the equipment may grow legs and walk. I took my gear as carryon in a backpack under the seat with no issues on Chinese domestic flights.<br>

I was struck by the number of Chinese tourists sporting expensive DSLRs as well as all kinds of other gear, so I never felt like I stood out. Going to lesser traveled areas you may feel more conspicuous. I carried my gear in a thinktank shoulder bag which I bought just before the trip and it was perfect. In fact you will see men commonly carrying should bags like women do in the west.<br>

Take the D300, you favorite couple of lenses, moisture wicking underwear (no joke), travel light and have a great trip!</p>

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