terri_m

<p>I looked for a D3s. The only ones I can find are on ebay and for that kind of cash I think it's extremely risky. <br>

I will certainly give your suggestion a try. I do like my lens. It's fine for my application. Yet, I am aiming for better results. I'm not satisfied with mediocre images. Right now I'm aiming for sharp images even if they aren't the most interesting.<br>

I wish Nikon would provide a crop sensor camera that has ISO performance of the better cameras. I wonder if discounting the D7100 is wise on my part? I've read about focus issues and small buffer. I'm sure it's a great DSLR but perhaps not the best for fast action.<br>

Thanks again for the helpful information. I can at least relax a bit knowing I need to achieve focus first and it's not unusual for the AF system to not catch the first shot.</p>

<p>Hi Robert:<br>

I have tried to figure out what it is. It has been my experience that it doesn't start focusing the first shot. When I start shooting the first shot is never in focus. I select AF-C then move the focus point because for some reason it is always focusing on the wrong player. <br>

In a burst of shots (about 5) the camera really struggles. I use a monopod.<br>

Not sure if that makes any sense.<br>

I must be doing something wrong because the D90 works great for stills. If anything moves I have very few sharp images.<br>

I used the 50mm 1.8 for portraits a week ago. If anyone moved I lost focus. I wish I didn't have to think about it so much. I rather focus on the subject and exposure.<br>

Thanks for your input.<br>

Terri</p>

<p>Hi Steve: I came to the conclusion that in Nikon brand the D3s was the best for right now. It is only 12mp and from what I hear very heavy. I will go to the store and hold the D4 and see if it bothers me but I was at a wedding recently and the female photographer had a D4 and she showed no sign of fatigue. Of course she was younger than me:)<br>

It is really hard to find a D3s! I'm looking on ebay but hate buying expensive camera equipment from them. I tried KEH already. They have a really beat up one.<br>

Do you think I will regret the 12mp? We do have very rare occasion to make poster size prints for the team. I will most likely not be able to upgrade once I drop this much cash on the D3s which I found to be in the $3500-$5800 range depending on the actuations. I read that this camera has 300,000 actuations. If that's true I will have many years with the camera. <br>

I need to look into the D300/s. I crossed if off my list but can't remember why. <br>

Thanks for the help! </p>

<p>I can relate to your story. I shoot with a mom who gets paid for her work. She has a 40Dx (?) and borrowed one of my broken lenses and she gets sharper images even after cropping. "Go figure" is right! <br>

Thanks for the help. I think I'll visit a camera store and try out the various choice bodies and see if I can make progress that way.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies.<br>

I must say I am surprised at Rick's technique. I'll have to try that but I'm shooting lacrosse at college level. I've been slammed by them at least once and let me tell you I need to watch myself on the sidelines. They are fast and strong. But, I am going to try it, you never know. It seems to be quite an accomplishment to speedily manual focus while these kids are running toward you. Amazing that you can do this.</p>

<div></div>

<p>I have the opportunity to shoot field D1 mens athletics for no pay. I've been ready for a camera upgrade for awhile. I currently own a D90 and it has never been a pleasure to use. I have managed with acceptable images but I don't get the critical shot due to the frustrating focus on the D90. I use the 70-300 lens.<br>

Knowing this will be a temporary requirement I'm trying to get the best equipment for the job. It doesn't hurt that I love shooting sports. My other photo goals are social events, portraits, stills-macro. <br>

It makes sense to stay with APS-C sensors for the crop factor but I want the best focus system I can find with high ISO capabilities. I'm really nervous about Nikon and thinking about switching to Canon. I don't have a lot invested in lenses and plan to purchase better glass so it is the right time to consider Canon over Nikon.<br>

Sports photography for me will certainly be a compromise in equipment. Can someone help me figure out the best compromise? <br>

I'm willing to wait for a camera body and just purchase glass but then I will be tied to Nikon. <br>

Nikon choices are DX - D7100, <br>

FX - D610, D800, D4 being way too pro for someone not getting paid for their work.<br>

Canon choices: CMOS - 7D, 70D<br>

FF - 6D, 5D MKIII<br>

Then the compromise on lenses.<br>

The obvious choice for crop sensor body is the 70-200 f2.8 for either brand with an extender but I've heard mixed opinions on using an extender. <br>

Some lens parameters for consideration:<br>

Sigma 120-300, Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6, Sigma 100-300 f4<br>

This is not easy to resolve. Anyone have a hobbyist set up that has worked for outdoor big field sports?<br>

Hope to hear some success stories.<br>

Thanks! </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Garrison: I'm showing that to my local builder. Thanks!</p>

<p>In the meantime I tried configuring an HP450t. I was thinking I just about had it right and at a decent price point when I checked the power supply and found it to be only 300w. I don't know how this effects the system performance but it is very low compared to most systems I've looked at.<br>

The Gateway was interesting too with 750w of power but no customization allowed and only one hard drive. The system looked great but the website left a lot to be desired as far as help available IMHO.</p>

<p>The HP has the following:<br>

17-870;GPU-HD4850,8GB RAM 4DIMM-DDR3,1333; HD1-1TB7200rpm;HD2-1TB 7200rpm; no blu-ray; 300w power supply. Memory card reader, wireless keyboard, Windows 7 premium and MS Home and Student.<br>

No Monitor or Adobe Software<br>

Cost:$1420 without any warranty.<br>

It seems the affordable way to go accept for my concern with the power. Should this be an issue?</p>

<p>Hi Jack:<br>

It has come up numerous times in my research that memory and hard drive space is vital as well as a fast processor. When I go to Dell and HP and configure 8GB RAM, 2 hard drives, and an i7 I'm still in the $2k plus range without a monitor. The HP490t is very expensive and about the same as the custom builders. This makes me think that I'm better off using the components from a custom builder because they tell you every item being used and don't skimp on power either.</p>

<p>I don't want to cut back on RAM. The only place to cut is the hard drive storage and video card. Right now I configured a Dell and HP with hard drive storage as primary- 1..0TB and secondary as 750GB. </p>

<p>With that said, the only custom builder I might consider is well known and local so I think support and service issues are a bit more convenient. Dell and HP...well we all know about them. I've had some real issues with Dell in the past but I think they're improving.</p>

<p>I really appreciate your input. Let me know if I really need all that storage.<br>

Thanks, all the comment have been helpful but I'm still struggling with making the purchase.</p>

<p>I'm going to do a search on this but thought I'd ask here.<br>

Can I get a laptop and hook up an external monitor? What considerations are needed for this type of set up?<br>

Thanks.</p>

<p>Kelly: I appreciate blunt. <br>

I really must say in my defense that I do have goals. The goal is to learn digital photography. The digital workroom is part of that education. </p>

<p>It's true, I don't know what size files I'm working on because I'm just starting out. It's also true that I'm shooting "dinky" dslr images. Unfortunately my computer crashed and so I thought I should make an educated purchase on a system that would make working with files a lot faster. <br>

I like the idea of spending less on the pc. I'd rather get more photo equipment. </p>

<p>Since I'm learning and technology changes rapidly I think it makes sense to consider scaling down while I learn.<br>

Thanks for adding your interesting perspective. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have some things to think about thanks to these helpful suggestions.</p>

<p>I'm going to put together a list of components from newegg and compare the cost of having it built by someone locally. </p>

<p>I think it sensible to delete the SSD as suggested. So many of the reps insist this is far better than regular hard drives so I felt it was the way to go. But I would really like to cut costs and this is one way to do it.</p>

<p>Edward: I'm not sure I follow the full function of the optical drives. When you refer to BD drive I think you mean a Blu-Ray. Due to my limited computer knowledge, the optical drive is used for burning files onto a DVD, loading programs, and viewing movies. I don't use them for back up since I have an external HD. I think I need more education on this component.</p>

<p>Does anyone care to enlighten me on the optical drive and it's job for digital imaging?<br>

As suggested, I was thinking of skipping the Blu-ray to save money. I realize I won't watch blu-ray movies at my computer desk. </p>

<p>Yes to the calibration software.</p>

<p>Can anyone suggest a monitor besides the one's mentioned. I'm not going to spend $1000 so I thought my choice a decent one. However, from my reading the NEC monitors are worth a look.</p>

<p>Thanks for the helpful information. </p>

<p>I posted in another thread but have not received a reply so I'll try a new post.<br>

I am an amateur photographer just starting out and my pc is finished and I'm on a borrowed system. After researching I came up with what I believed to be the best components for my price range. Actually I am over budget with the monitor. It leads me to think that I'm over doing it but I want a system that will allow me to grow into more technical photo editing. I'm not interested in video editing but might use the system for gaming.<br>

I've configured at least 5 different companies from mainstream to custom builders. I'm reluctant to buy from the boutique pc builders because I'm worried about customer support. Most custom builders I've looked at have good ratings at <a href="http://www.resellers.com">www.resellers.com</a>.<br>

I will be running Adobe Elements and Lightroom III but I'm still deciding on which editing software to use.<br>

The configured system is very expensive. Most quotes run from $2000 - $2800 without the monitor. I hope to purchase the HP LP2475W monitor which costs about $600.<br>

Can someone please review and adivise whether the following is typical or overkill for my needs.<br>

OS- Windows 7 Premium 64bit<br>

CPU - i7-950<br>

GPU - ATI Radeon HD5770<br>

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58a-UD5 or Intel DX58SO with X58 Chipset or EVGAX58/X58 Chipset<br>

CPU Cooler: Most Custom builds come with this feature.<br>

Power: 650 - 750W Power Supply (varies among suppliers)<br>

RAM: 12GB RAM DDR3 1333 Mhz<br>

Primary Hard Drive: 80GB Intel SDD<br>

Secondary Hard Drive: 1.0TB Western Digital Caviar Black<br>

Blu-ray CD/DVD R/W burner player<br>

Media Card Reader<br>

Microsoft 2010 Home and Student<br>

I can cut the SSD to save some money and perhaps reduce the RAM to 8GB with expansion capabilities. <br>

I have read about RAID but the concept escapes me so I don't specify it. I have a daily external back-up system. <br>

What I'd really like to spend is $2500 for the entire system with the monitor. Does anyone have a suggestion how I might reconfigure to accompish this?<br>

Thanks,TerriM</p>

<p>Rather than post a new thread I thought I could post here with the same issues.<br>

I've been configuring a desktop on various <strong>boutique sites. </strong>I am trying to get a desktop with a monitor for $2800.<br>

I am a non-tech, amateur student of photography. I want a system to last many years and allow me to grow into the more advanced photo editing techniques. <br>

I have no plans of building this myself but do have a local shop that might build it for me since I'm reluctant to buy from the online builders.</p>

<p>Operating System is Windows 7 Premium 64bit<br>

i7-950 Intel CPU Comment:Yes I've read up on higher priced processors such as the i7-970 but it's a lot more money.<br>

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X588A-UD5 with x58 chipset or Asus Sabertooth X58<br>

12BG RAM</p>

<p>Hard Drive: I haven't decided on best set up for hard drive. I know I want Dual hard drives and considering SSD for OS and software and up to 1.0 TB for Secondary storage. Or have two hard drives of 500GB each or should it be 1.0TB each? Here is what I've received quotes on:</p>

<p>Primary HD: 80GB Intel SSD X25-M Secondary HD: Western Digital 1.0TB Black Caviar</p>

<p>GPU(Video Card): Radeon HD5770<br>

RAID: None<br>

Cooling components are undecided at this point but most systems I've configured have some type of cooling.<br>

Monitor: HP LP2475W ($600) or HP ZR24W ($400)</p>

<p>Any thoughts on custom on-line builders vs. mainstream? Would I be better off with a local builder. I'm not convinced that boutique builders supply the best customer support.<br>

I also Configured a Dell Studio XPS-9100 with 12GB RAM, dual hard drives for $2500 excluding the monitor.<br>

Any help with my approach to this purchase is appreciated.<br>

TM</p>

<p> </p>