absent

<p>I would call it "straightforward" rather than "easy". You need to load the film into the canister by feel in total darkness. You need to fill the canister with a sequence of chemical baths, which must be within temperature tolerances, for fairly precise periods of time. Make any mistakes and you've ruined your film.<br>

I would suggest finding an experienced mentor who can give you hands-on help rather than trying to teach yourself. Does your local high school or community college have a camera club? Would they be interested in starting one? This is a good way to spread costs around, meet new friends and share tips and techniques. At least it used to be 40 years ago; maybe it's all gone digital today...</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>"It's just mindless trolling and profiteering."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>The last time I visited his site, it was free. I did leave a donation after reading his online user's guide after buying a D5100. It was much more readable (and entertaining) than the owner's manual, and helped me get started using the camera. I thought the time he put into constructing it was well worth a small contribution.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>"the problem with KR is a lot of amateurs read his site and have no background knowledge to put it in "context."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Even amateurs (like me) know that 3 and 6 MP cameras aren't sold (new) anymore. I bought the D5100 the day after the D3200 was announced. One reason was the knowledge that "more" (MP) wasn't necessarily "better", and the articulated screen and ability to auto-bracket (among other things) were more important than having the "latest and greatest".</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em> "He is courting controversy."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>He's a New Yorker. I like his irreverent, practical style. </p>

<p>Well, I've heard from the seller. He's very apologetic, and offered me a full refund including shipping. He suggests I send the unit to UnitedCamera.com for a main board replacement. Has anyone here dealt with them for repairs? Good recommendations or bad? (I'm new here so if this violates any forum rules help me stay out of trouble...)<br>

Thanks,<br>

Jim R.</p>

<p>Thanks Michael. None of the buttons appear stuck, and the test button moves freely under finger pressure. So if there's a "jam" it must be electrical.<br>

I mounted the flash on my D5100, turned on the camera and then the flash. It flashed by itself, then recharged while the display read "STDBY". When fully charged it flashed by itself again, and began charging before I powered it off. These seem like full-power manual flashes.<br>

The seller said he'd used it with a Pocket Wizard, is it possible he fried some circuitry?<br>

Is there any other reset mode besides holding the Mode and Power buttons down together that I could try?<br>

Thanks,<br>

Jim</p>

<p>Bought an SB-600 from an online auction. Arrived today with no visible damage. It was shipped with batteries installed, in the original box with minimal padding (styrofoam peanuts) outside the box.<br>

When I turned it on, it charged up and flashed all by itself, then continued to cycle and charge until powered off. I skimmed through the manual, performed the reset procedure and it made no difference. This particular malfunction isn't covered in the Troubleshooting section.<br>

I tried removing and replacing the batteries - no joy. <br>

It's as if the test button is stuck on. Could it have been jammed in shipping? Is there a safe way to un-jam it?<br>

Is there anything else I can try short of claiming "significantly not as described" since the item description included "works wonderfully"?<br>

Thanks for any help,<br>

Jim Ruley</p>

<p>+1<br>

I haven't shot film in the last 10 years, but I remember going broke for film and processing back when I was your age. Add up the cost of 10 rolls of film and processing, and ask yourself how much shooting you want to do each month. Would you be better off saving for a couple of months and then buying a digital camera instead?<br>

Hope this is helpful,<br>

Jim</p>

<p>Hello to all. I started shooting 35mm film as a teenager in the mid-70's. Kept using my Canon FD equipment until 2003 when my wife surprised me with a Nikon Coolpix something-or-other. I was surprised by the quality (and the ease of use), so moved up to a Panasonic FZ30 a couple of years later. I thought DSLRs were too expensive and didn't want to end up with another box full of lenses, but always missed the flexibility. This spring I finally got a Nikon D5100 and am having a ball learning to use it. I hope to take advantage of the expertise available here, and maybe contribute something useful from time to time.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Jim Ruley</p>

<p>From a quick forum search this issue seems to keep coming up every couple of years. Having just received one of those inexpensive Canon FD to Nikon "infinity focus adapters" via e-bay, I thought folks might be interested in seeing some results.<br>

The first image was taken fully zoomed in with a 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 AF-S G ED IF VR on my Nikon D5100. The subject is some agricultural buildings about half a mile away:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/15929958<br>

The second image used an old RMS Tokina 500 mirror lens with the adapter. The adapter acts as a teleconverter (1.4x?) so the effective focal length is about 700mm (or 1050, allowing for the crop factor of the sensor).<br>

This was the best of 18 attempts, playing with various combos of shutter speed and ISO. I only have a shaky Promaster tripod so focussing was quite difficult. I used an electronic cable release, and the 1 sec delay feature didn't eliminate the softness, so I put it down to low quality glass in the adapter.<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/15929961<br>

The next image is a 100% crop from the mirror lens image:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/15929959<br>

The final image is a 100% crop from the Nikon lens image, re-dimensioned by a factor of 2.4. I think it has comparable detail to the mirror lens image but better contrast:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/15929957<br>

Hope this may be of interest,<br>

Jim Ruley</p>