leon_knight

<p>Lester, here is my take on this...This really depends on your business model. Are you doing this as your main source of income, or secondary? Something on the side to supplement income? If you are currently employed, and just looking for secondary income, then the BEST way to earn secondary income, (in my opinion) is to offer on site printing at events if you are considering doing this. Online sales are just not profitable, I don't care what anybody tells you, or how much marketing you put into it. You see, to me, it's flabbergasting. You got photographers who will tell you that you need this and you need that in order to make any serious income, They will tell you that you need to consider hiring assistants, and you'll need more than one photographer, and printer, and the whole process is just a nightmare. Take it from me, I've been doing this for a while, and was curious, just like you when I started. YOU CAN DO THIS BY YOUR DAM SELF, TRUST ME! Here's my equipment. Nikon D3000, (yes, an entry level dslr) you don't need an 5-7K camera just to take some snapshots at events. A nikon external Flash, A backdrop kit, to hold your backdrops on, and of course, the printer. Now, me personally, I choose Hiti P510si wireless printer because, for the most part, I work alone. This printer allows me to print from my camera via pictbridge thru the wireless transmitter. The printer automatically prints every pic I send over to it. This allows me to focus on shooting and printing, and makes it easy for me to collect the $$$. As far as a viewstation, I purchased a small LCD Led HDTV monitor, "22 and I mount it on a tripod and place the tripod next to me as i'm shooting. I have a special nikon cord tethered from my camera to the tv, and as soon as I take the pic, bam, it pops up on the tv. The customer sees the image right as I take it, say yey or ney, and once I got the approval, bam! print it from the camera and if no one else is in line, mount the pic right quick and give it to them. People will tell you that you need assistants, they have to be paid, you need this, you need that, you need that, you need this in order to do this. Let me encourage you in this season. THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF EVENTS. BIG EVENTS, SMALL EVENTS, MEDIUM SIZE EVENTS. There is a market for a one man show, beside you can always have a buddy or a family member come along with you to help. Depending on the events you choose to photograph, will determine what kind of backdrops you should purchase. For me, I do alot of club events. Events catered to my culture. So I buy backdrops for those purposes. That will be your only other expense. Outside of overhead costs (photo folders/mounts, and consumbles for the printer) The printers I recommend is Hiti p510si, Hiti P510k, (mini Kiosk) Sony Snaplab 10upcl and Sony new Snaplab 15upcl. Them the only printers I would look at, the rest of them cost too much, or you would need a laptop to connect it too in order for them to work. So, your investment. (Camera - stick with a entry level dslr) External Flash, for low light situation, Lenses (make sure you get some wide-lenses), backdrop kit, printer, and whatever you niche is, the actually backdrops to compliment it. That's it. Any business will have overhead cost, and your overhead cost will be the consumables. Any of the above printers can handle events up to 800 people. Trust me I knowwww, i've seen it. Me and my wife usually take on events together, but with the birth of our son, I've been operating by myself for sometime now, until the baby gets alittle older. Be encourage, stay away from online sales, you'll be waisting your time and money building a website. I would tackle impulse buyers. Focus on on site printing. Look at the printers mention, research it yourself. But from a business stand point, depending on online sales only is a quick way to lose motivation about running the business, as sales are just not consistent enough. <br>

Let me give you a little sample of an event I recently went to.<br>

Name: Blazers, Jeans, and Boots Cabaret. Mostly African American Event.<br>

Dress code; Casual affair, blazers, jeans, with nice boots. <br>

This event had about 800-900 guest in attendance. <br>

Photographer on board was a husband and wife team. Printer was a Sony Snaplab. I know this because I purchase a picture, because I was interested in testing the quality of a snaplab print. The husband snapped the photos (he had an entry level Canon) with no external flash, and hands the card to his wife, who printed from the snaplab and collects the money beforehand. $10 for 4x6 is all they were offering, and they used TAP 4x6 black tango frames. She stapled a flyer inside the card, and stapled the picture inside the frame. They did this all night. Line stayed busy. I'm positive with the amount of people in attendance, and how long the lines were, and how fast and sufficient the snaplab was able to keep the line moving, they probably clocked in about a good $5000-$7000 that one night alone. Now imagine you already have a 9-5 job, and you doing this on weekends only, for secondary income. Your take home check every week is about $1100-$1200 from your job, and you book a gig of this caliber. I'm sure anybody in their right minds would love to see an additional 5-7k on top of there take home money from they 9-5. I say all of this to try to encourage you because most of these photographers wouldn't. One last thing, THE BEST WAY TO MARKET YOURSELF AS A PHOTOGRAPHER, IS WORD OF MOUTH. I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYBODY SAY. GET YOURSELF SOME UV COATING PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS CARDS, and pass them out as you book gigs. Talk to people, mingle, express yourself as you go from gig to gig. These will be your potential future customers, and have your business cards in hands to pass out, so they can contact you. This business is very lucrative, but you have to know what to invest in, and what not to invest in. I thought about buying a nikon D700, good for low light situation, because I mainly target night clubs, but with an external flash on my D3000, I discovered that that's enough. On site printer; yes, online website; no. Printers above; yes! Any other printer, inkjet; no. </p>

Thanks for keepin' it real Valdez. You're working it the "old school" way. I do the same. I've been doing it with a Nikon D2X and a D200 for backup and a couple of Canon ip100s. I cover everything from weddings at city hall to private parties and Halloween parades. I live in NYC so there's always something to do, especially on weekends. My business cards are everywhere! Thanks for the info and keep doin' what you doin'.

Also, if you decide to upgrade to digital you can attach a digital back to an RZ67 but not an RB67.

The digital back can attach to the RZ67 Pro II but not the RZ67 Pro.

For certain, it does not work on either the D90 or D7000 cameras. Fortunately for me, I'll be using it on my F3 and F5.

M 2 came with the lenses originally. K series will work as will the BR. Not personally familiar with the PK 13, but it sounds as if it would work, and is apparently "automatic" with AIS cameras and lenses. There are a variety of digital cameras it will not function with. Someone probably has personal experience with it and can comment further.

Now all you need is an M 2 ring to go with the pair.

How about the PK-13?

There's an authorized repair station on 360 West 36th Street (Photo-Tech). Or you could deliver it to the Nikon Headquarters in Melville, NY (1300 Walt Whitman Road). If neither of these options suits you (and you should call ahead to make sure they accept walk-ins), then yes, you will have to mail (fedex, UPS) the lens.

Cleaning the mirror of a reflex camera is a very risky proposition. The mirror is on the front surface, easily scratched or damaged. That said, the condition of the mirror has little effect on viewing, other than reduced contrast, because it is way out of focus. It has absolutely no effect on the final image, since it is out of the way at the time of exposure. I would use nothing more aggressive than a brush designed for cleaning lenses, or ultra fine brushes for cleaning sensors.

 

The only dust you see in the viewfinder is on or near the ground glass of the screen, or the bottom surface of the prism, with no effect on the final image. The screen can be removed on most cameras and (carefully) cleaned. Some have layers, and must not be exposed to liquids. The lower part of the prism is exposed for cleaning at the same time. In an SLR, this surface may have the various graphics for focus indicators. In the Nikon F5, these were in the focus screen itself.

 

Spots on film are usually due to processing. Poorly dissolved chemicals or dust from dried spills are typically at fault.

 

The only dust which affects the image is on the sensor (or film) itself. It's easy to clean the sensor with the proper tools and due diligence. You can see dust most clearly if you stop down the lens completely and shoot a plain surface (e.g., clear or hazy sky). The shutter speed and state of focus has no effect on this test, which is very sensitive.

Alright Shun! You're the upgrader. I use the same thing until it breaks. I don't care how much better the new stuff is. Thanks for the offer I took home from my work a bunch of 1 and 2 GB CF card. We use them on our HMI touchscreen.

I'm a lot like you. I keep my old cameras, even film cameras, if they continue to give great results. I still use my Nikon D1X for street photography on the weekends and shoot with my F, F3 and F5 film cameras on a regular basis. There's something special about using film cameras and knowing that you have to exploit all of your creativity to produce great shots the first time around, not knowing if you got anything at all. No delete buttons on film cameras.

<p>The 28-105 is a "sleeper" lens. And if (lack of) distortion is important to you, well worth checking out.<br>

The lens hood is the worst feature - it looks like Fidos food bowl..</p>

I use the 28-105 also on my D800. It's a nifty lens that I keep on the camera for weekend excursions. You're right about the hood. I replaced mine with the HN-23 which came with my 85mm f1.8D. It works fine with no vignetting.