studio_eyeworks

<p>Or, the best, fastest and easiest way - obtain a old 35mm slide duplicator, (Nikon PB-4 or PB-6) along with the slide mount holder. Use lightbox as continuous light source. Nikon Camera Control 2 software allows for tethered control. A full frame camera is necessary BTW. You can shoot RAW, and even HDR under or overexposed negatives or slides. Color correction is easy. In 1/15 of a second you get 25mb files or larger. With Photoshop ACR and Nik software, you'll get astonishing results.<br>

No longer do you have to sit and listen to the weird noises coming from your scanner while you wait for one image to scan. In the time it takes to scan one image on my Minolta Dimage Multi Pro, I can do five slides or negatives with better quality.</p>

<p>I have the new Sigma 50-500mm HSM OS. I had read the reviews on the non-OS version and they made it clear that it was just short of being a great lens, but still good enough, which I wasn't able to settle for. I bought the OS 50-500mm sight unseen. It's a monster of a lens. I've heard of people getting bad copies, but I was lucky and got a good one. I'm blown away by the results I'm getting - considering what I've paid for it. Here's a very tight crop of a surfer. Image was shot on a D700 at max zoom. I've enhanced contrast and color in photoshop, as I was shooting virtually into the sun and the colors and contrast were washed away. But it cleaned up nicely with minimal sharpening. </p><div></div>

I too have the 70-200 VR and when I first used it, I took it on an assignment - along with

my 80-200 AFS. Boy, was I surprised. The 70-200 were virtually unusable. Fortunately, I

backed them up with 80-200 so shoot wasn't lost. Once at home, I test the lens and

confirmed my suspicions. The lens was defective. The lens was a two days old. B&H said

call Nikon. I call Nikon -I'm an NPS member -and they said send it in for repairs. I

RANTED that I didn't pay all this money to have a REPAIRED lens - I wanted a brand new

lens. They said too bad, call B&H. I call B&H and they listen to my story. And they said,

OK, we'll take it back and send you a new one. They did, and it was fine. So don't discount

the fact you may have a defective lens. And Nikon doesn't seem to give a sh?t about

maintaining professional relations with customers.

Rollei Prego 30 note: I purchased a Rollei Prego 30 based on the

excellent results and sharpness of the slides shot with the Rollei

Prego 90. The P-30 was smaller, with a fixed fast lens and I hoped

to have the quality of the P-90. Got results back. Disappointed in

that the exposures were off (underexposed), and the close focus

indicator didn't seem to function well. But, the pictures that came

out were sharp. So I thought it might be worth pursuing. I called

Rollei and spoke to a tech. He said send the camera in for

adjustment. Well, I got a call from Carmen, who runs Rollei USA. He

said, and I quote, the Rollei Prego 30 CANNOT handle the constrained

latitudes of slide film - it was primarily designed to be used with

the looser latitude of negative film. There is no way to compensate.

He offered me a QZ35W at the same cost as B & H, and really wanted to

make me a happy Rollei customer, but in the end, I have a Prego 30

past the 14 day return policy for B & H and hoping to make a deal with

B & H to buy the T3 if they will take the P-30 back. I was very

curious on anyone's comments on the T3 versus the Ricoh GR-1s

particularly anyone who has both and can compare. Accuracy of

metering, close focus, viewfinder. T3 viewfinder is astonishing for

such a sma