scott_norton

If you're only shooting 150-200 photos a day don't worry about it. I bought the extended grip and the second battery for my D100. Last Monday I shot 750 photos. Given how long it took to recharge that evening I'm guessing that they still had way more than 50% of a charge left. The D100 has incredible battery life - even if you use the LCD a lot.

Scott

Call before you go.... I was going to go up there for the week between Christmas and New Years to photograph the egales. A few days before I called the NWR headquarters there (I had heard due to our federal leader's draining of water they may not be there). I'm glad I called as they told me the day before they had only seen 9 eagles. I don't know if it's better now or not. I'd highly recommend calling first (if you do please update this thread so the rest of us know).

Good luck,

Scott

I've seen this once in awhile when using my D100 or F100 with the 600mm f/4 AFS and 2x TC. Haven't been able to figure out exactly what it is but I suspect it has something to do with the contacts. First thing, I now always turn off the camera before attaching the 2x TC. When it does happen I turn the camera off/on and it usually goes away. You might want to try cleaning all the contacts on the lens, TC, and camera.

This weekend I had to use a 12mm and 20mm set of extension tubes between the camera and 600+2x. This created a not too solid mount where you could easily flex. I noticed this happened once or twice while I had too much pressure on the camera causing flex. Just letting up on the camera caused it to return to normal. This is what makes me think it might have something to do with the contacts.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you track it down.

Scott

I have both the Lens Trekker and the Pro Trekker. The Pro Trekker is used for hauling all of my gear around. When loaded it's way to heavy to carry around all the time. Plus when out in the field I never need all the gear I have. I just take out what I think I'll need for that situation. If I'm taking the 600 and will be walking enough that I don't want the lens/tripod over my shoulder all the time I'll take the Lens Trekker (with waitbelt and shoulder harness). It works well but definitely is not as comfortable as the Pro Trekker (though significantly lighter). I have some S&F accessories mounted to the sides of the Lens Trekker so I can take some extra lenses, flash, etc.

Scott

Günter,

I had this same problem. Send the lens into Tamron and they will fix it. It turns out that some of the early 200-400 Tamron's had a faulty D chip in them. They worked fine with the N50/60/70/90 cameras that only had a single focus sensor. However, on all bodies with multiple sensors like the N80 and F100 (I have both) it would have focusing problems. I called them about it and they knew exactly what it was. Sent it in and 10 days later I had a working lens back. They didn't charge me, though I don't know if it was because ofthe warranty or because it was a real defect in the camera.

In any case, Tamron will replace the D chip and then it'll be fine on the D100.

Scott

I've found OptiCal not good at "setting the default monitor profile". I downloaded the latest version on the website (which said it fixed a bug for this), but it didn't seem to work properly.

It could be that the profile you created still isn't set as the default monitor profile. To check on the desktop right-click and select Properties. In the Display Properties pop-up, select the "Settings" tab at the top right. Now selected Advanced at the bottom right. In the new pop-up, select the Color Management tab. If your profile is not there, select Add to find your profile. Now that your profile is there, make sure it is highlighted and select Set As Default.

On W2K profiles are stired in C:\WINNT\system32\spool\drivers\color. The startup folder should only have the ColorVision program - no other color management program (like Adobe Gamma).

Hope that helps,

Scott

Yes... Don't use it... It's not that the card is bad - just incompatible as I found out (according to ATI and through experience). I've got a laptop with an ATI AGP integrated. I wanted to put a video card in my docking station which only takes PCI. I bought the Radeon 7000 and it wouldn't work. 30 minutes on the phone with ATI revealed that none of their current line of PCI cards will work in a system that has an AGP driver also. In order to make it work they said you'd need to physically disable the integrated AGP (which for me would mean I could never use the laptop display.

Further info I found out from ColorVision (I've got their Spyder calibration) revealed that nVIDIA cards havea problem with calibration software - they override it and use their own calibration. That doesn't leave many choices. I don't think Matrox makes PCI cards anymore.

If you find a workable solution let me know as I need one for my docking station.

Scott

Paul,

You might want to think about sending you're F100 in to Nikon if the left and right sensors won't focus. In this combo I could use, top, bottom, and middle sensors but the left and right wouldn't focus. After an e-mail discussion they said all 5 sensors should work correctyly and to send it in. 8 days later I had the F100 back and all 5 outer sensors worked as well as the middle sensor in all light (haven't tested below 1/15s @ f8 light levels). The only bummer is it was out of warranty and I had to pay for it.

Scott

The thickest closed cell foam made (according to the House of Foam) in Palo Alto is 1/2" thick. Given how stiff the foam is (hard to push it flat or squish it), it is thick enough. The only trick I had was finding all the point on the tripod and head that went on my shoulder. Once I covered all three points it was really comfortable.

Scott

Just last week I posted a little write-up called "Carrying the 600 f/4 and Wimberley (pain avoidance!)" on the Nikonians.org forums. You can find the exact article at:

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID15/224.html

I found a quick way to wrap 3 separate pieces of 1/2" closed cell foam around the Wimberley clamp, Wimberley panning lock, and the tripod base. It's done in a way that can be permanently left on and not interfere with the use of the rig while shooting. There are 3 different pictures (rig by itself, carrying the rig, and the foam pads by themselves) plus measurements of the pads.

It's amazing how long I can walk with this setup over my shoulder - not only does it stop the metal digging into the shoulder but it also feels a bit lighter.

Send me e-mail or reply to the Nikonian's post if you have questions after reading the write-up.

Scott