walter_sudetic

I have one for sale - if interested contact me wsudetic@hotmail.com

For what it's worth, I've spent 4 weeks in Croatia (July & August) with the D70, and 2 512MB CF cards. I also took the kit 18-70 DX, and AF28-105 f3.5-4.5D lenses, the SB600 flash, and a laptop. Every evening I'd dump the CF card(s) to the laptop. Most (~98%) of my images were taken with the 18-70DX kit lens, and of those, most (>75%) were at or near the 18mm end. I only wish, I had a 12-24DX lens. I'll never again carry a film + film camera on a vacation/travel. The digital kit is not only smaller/lighter, but also the gives the ability to change the ISO and WB between shots; which is just light years ahead of having to change film mid-roll. Now, if the laptop is a burden, (for me it was not), there are other portable digital storage media out there (Nikon has that new overpriced? 30GB "Coolwalker" thinggy).

Picture Project only lets you view, organize, & print D70 images (JPEG and/or RAW). In order to edit Nikon RAW (NEF) file (which you then save as a TIFF or JPEG, or pass to PS7) you need to buy a program like Adobe RAW plugin for PS7, or Nikon Capture 4.1.x, or if you can, upgrade PS7 to PS-CS.

I've bought my D70 kit from "Photo Creative" as well as Nikon Scanner and a Canon printer. In the Toronto area, I've found that they seem to have better prices then either Henry's, or Vistek, and for me, the store location is better. If going to the store, a thing to note is that they're only open Monday-Friday, 9-5. All info can be had on their website http://www.photocreative.com

2/3 of an f-stop more light transmission. Use when f/1.8 is just not fast enough.

Not knowing the exact setup and taking aperture & shutter speed, here are my guesses/suggestions (assuming that no negative flash exposure was used):

- higher flash synch (e.g. 1/250th) if used in this particular case would only have made the underexposure worse.

 

- check your negative (on a light table & under a loupe) to see if there is some detail in the subjects face area, if so, just have it reprinted.

 

- was the SB28 pointing straight on, or was it tilted up/side? - bouncing flash outdoors is not a good idea but coming from inside, it's an easy to overlook.

 

- did the display blink after exposure (indicating that flash fired at max. power, which in turn could mean underexposure)?

 

- Anything preventing flash from lighting the face/eyes properly? e.g. was the flash head too high relative to subjects face? or Was your subject(s) wearing a hat(s)?

 

- If you were standing in direct sunlight, did you put your eyeball close to the viewfinder eyepiece, thereby preventing sunlight from entering messing up the camera's meter during exposure?

 

- Was the background very bright and of so did it make up 2/3 of your frame? and also Was your subject in the centre of the frame? The large & bright background (e.g. direct sun lit field) relative to the size of the subject will receive alot of attention from the matrix meter, thus underexposing your subject, especially if off centre.

In TTL mode, setting on camera flash compensation to -1.3 will result in the overall exposure getting 1.3 stops less flash light (from both units combined).

 

I'm not familiar with the SB50, but the problem with multiple TTL flashes (hard wired or wireless) is that there is no way to balance the light output of the main v.s. fill (i.e. your fill/remote unit will fire at full power no matter what the compensation setting on the camera. The camera's TTL meter, once it detects enough light, shuts off the main, which in turn, also shuts off the remote TTL flash, but the remote fires at full power.

 

The only way to have full control over the fill and the main flash units is to set all flashes to manual mode, and then use an external flash meter to help you adjust power of each flash unit (you'll need to set-up well ahead of time, and if you don't have remote flash triggers, it helps to have someone push the flash test buttons while you take the readings with a hand held meter.

re: "Looks pretty soft Walter...is the slide/neg sharp? Looks like the focus is to the front of the flower."

 

No, it's not the sharpest photo I have, but one that I had readily available to upload. The original poster was asking about noise in the dark areas of the slide. So, yes, the slide is soft, picture is a ~70-80% crop of the original; which was taken hand-held at distance of a few inches using Nikkor AF f3.3-4.5 35-70mm zoom on a F601 body. It's also scaned at a fairly low (~96 dpi) resolution with only ICE^3 (i.e. no other scan software processing). I'm new to this scaning and am still pretty much in the early learning stage.

 

Here is another image of my son, taken with the same camera/lens also cropped at ~50~60% of the original.

no, no, comparisons with any output from digital cameras. I don't think that noise is a problem with this scanner hope the attachment JPG makes it.

I got this scanner just after Christmas (cost me ~$980 CDN) and I'm very happy with it. I have not used/owned a film scanner before, so I can't compare it to anything else. I've scanned slides (incl. Kodachrome), C41 colour negatives, C-41 B&W negatives, and traditional B&W (Delta 100) negative, all seem to come out fine.

 

note: with traditional B&W, the digital ICE should be turned off.

As mentioned in prior replies it's very difficult/impossible to get predictable/consistent results with multiple flashes (especially when different make & model) via TTL. I have SB20 and SB28 and the only way I've been able to get them to balance was to forgo TTL. I bounce both flashes into umbrellas and balance the light ratio using a hand held meter (Seiconic L358).

I threw the flash shoe that came with the bracket away, and instead

got one of them little (approx. 2" high) ball heads. I've attached the ball head to the "quickflip" with anther 1/4" bolt and it stays on the bracket permanently. It helps if you have a little rubber washer to keep the ball head on tight. The SC-17 can thus be easily attached & removed from the ball head easily in approx. 15-20 seconds. Once I allign the flash the way I like, I lock the ball head tight, and it stays put until I loosen it to remove the SC17/flash combo.

I had mine since 1991 - I love and use it regularly.

Have you tried the same, but with a Nikkor AF lens?

 

Regards.

Walter Sudetic

I'll suggest Nikkor AF 50 f1.8D prime, very inexpensive, but very good. However, since zooms are your thing, Nikkor 28-105 f3.5-4.5 (I got it last summer, and find it a very handy/useful zoom).

 

Regards.

Walter Sudetic

Andrea, sorry to hear that you had power problems with F100 in Greenland, but to be fair, the problems are not do to any F100 faults. The F100 needs about 4.5 volts of power. It's a big camera with powerful AF motor, wery rapid mirror return and a power hungry shutter that goes to 1/8000s and sysncs at 1/250, not to mention a very power demanding light meter and if you use it, the DoF preview.

 

Your problem was caused by your choice of batteries. Alkaline batteries simply do not deliver to F100, the power it needs at temeratures close to freezing. Lithium batteries are your best choice for temeratures down to about -20/-25 Celsius. Even then you'll need a spare set kept warm near your body to swap, just in case because lower the temerature, less use you get out of a set of batteries. Swap the cold set out of the camera with a warm set and F100 will keep working. The NiCAD and NiMH cells are Ok to about -10 C.

 

So next time you're in shooting in cold weather, just load your F100 with 4 AA lithiums and you'll be fine - your experience with F/N80 and it's lithium battery confirms this. In fact F100 will take the CR123 lithium cell if you have the optional MS-13 adapter.

 

Regards,

Walter Sudetic

AF assist works with any Nikon speedlight that's equiped with one.

With cameras with multiple AF sensors (F5,F100,F80, & D-series), it only works when the centre AF sensor is selected. I just tried it on my F100 with my old SB20 and it works (as it does with my SB28), so in this respect, it's fully compatible with the SB24. The F100 with SB24 and earlier speedlights looses: 3D muti-sensor balanced fill flash, FP high speed sync, and red eye reduction.

 

There is no way to make speedlight AF assist work for the outside 4 AF sensors. You can focus using the centre AF point, lock AF, recompose and shoot. If you keep AF-L/AE-L button pressed (= locking focus), you can release the shutter repeatedly. Alternatively, use centre AF to focus with speedlight AF assist, then switch the camera to manual focus and as long as your subject is in the same distance (use DoF preview to confirm focus) shoot.

 

Regards,

Walter Sudetic

Make sure the battery contacts are clean (those inside/on top of the battery compartment).

 

Make sure that the electrical contacts at back are clean and free of dirt/debris (those gold circles at the bottom or bellow the shutter area, once you open the back).

 

Make sure that there is no condensation moisture in the camera (i.e. make sure it's dry - if in doubt leave it open in a worm dry place for a few hours)

 

Regards

Walter Sudetic

You should be fine with your 28-70, and an 85 1.8 prime. The 70/80-200 zoom would also good to have on hand.

 

In my experience, zooms are more versatile when you don't have room to move about. Fast primes are useful in low/available light, and when you don't have the room to "zoom with your feet".

 

I have the 135-400 Sigma, but I don't use it for portrait work (it's too big/intimidating). I do use primes Nikkor AF 50 f1.4 D, and Nikkor AF 105 f2 D DC; and zooms AF 28-105 D, and Nikkor AF 35-70 f3.3-4.5 (non-D). All of which I swap among F100 and F601 (N6006) bodies. In the end, the poor "non-D" F601 does just as well, as the 3D, multi-balanced fill flash on the F100. Indoors, when I have time to setup/pose, I turn off all flash automation, and use hand-held flash meter = way better results.

 

Therefore, in my opinion, getting the flash off camera (SC17 cord and a flash bracket) is far more important then "D" technology or even which lens is used. Whichever lens you do choose, make sure you fit it with a proper hood.

 

Regards,

Walter Sudetic

I use a lens shade on all my lenses, so I'll say all of them.

With ambient reading at 1/500 at f2.8, unless you have acess to a F5/F100 body and a SB-26/28/80 flash (the body/flash combinations that can do FP flash) your only "practical" solution is to use some kind of a reflector.

 

Walter Sudetic

Toronto, Canada

In "P" mode the camera selects both shutter and aperture value, irrespective of the type of metering mode in use, be it matrix/center/spot.

 

When matrix metering is selected, irrespective of exposure mode (program, aperture priority, or shutter priority, or manual), the camera's computer gets the reading from each segment of the 'matrix' meter and then compares the 'metered value' against it's 'database of stored shooting data'. It then makes some minor adjustments based on film ISO and the subject distance (which, if mounted, it gets from the "D", or "G" series lens) and picks a shutter speed and aperture that it feels is the 'best match' for the subject that it thinks it's in front of it.

 

see also http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/matrix.htm

two of the 'cheaper' (<$100) solutions are to:

 

1) get an SC17 TTL flash cord and a flash bracket Stroboframe/Newton, or similar). Mount the camera and the flash on the bracket and shoot as before. The bracket lifts the flash high(er) above the lens axis, thereby forcing the shadow low and behind the subject. To this you can add a Lumniquest or similar diffuser/bouncer for softer overall flash look.

 

or

 

2) Get the Nikon wireless TTL flash trigger unit SU-4. Put your Sunpak flash into SU-4 (and place it anywhere within ~8 meters of the camera) and trigger the SU4/Sunpak via the built in flash unit. The SU-4 comes with a little plastic diffuser which mounts into the camera's hotshoe and screens the built-in flash when it's lifted into position thereby limitting the red-eye you'd normally get with on-camera flash.

It's defaulting to 1/60th because the ambient light reading is below 1/60th. If you force a higher shutter speed, depending on distance you may/may not get the subject properly exposed by the flash but the parts that flash does not reach (e.g. background) will be pretty much dark. Since you're not familiar with the camera, I'd reccomend to use the program mode. Indoors, I frequently use shutter speeds below 1/60th (even with 400 speed film). If you need higher (>1/60th)shutter speed, you'll need, higer speed film (or push NPH400), or more light, or both.

If the flash goes off late, it's possible that the camera is in slow synch/rear curtain mode ("slow" & "rear" are displayed the top right corner of the top LCD display)? - in this case the flash would fire just as shutter closes. Turn it off by pressing the shift (orange square) button on top right together with "rear" and/or "slow" buttons on the top left side.

 

If the flash don't go off at all - and since you probably mounted and reseated the flash many times, try connecting the 2 via PC cord.