Re: Photography Thread
 

I am always someone who likes a silhouette shot, they just force you into another brain place where I think
you appreciate the capture more. Every shot has it's place, but silhouettes are SO strong to me. I was even
wondering why you did not attempt one of THESE SHOTS, but the water quality is not anywhere near the same,
I now realize. But when I saw that camera, and heard where you were taking it, this is what I thought of.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I also want to make sure people realize, when I say I stole the D200, I realize that it is no longer a great
camera in comparison to the cameras that are current, or even the used cameras one or two generations
behind. But remember that my first DSLR was a D70 and my second was a D100. Having not been too deep into
menus yet, and understanding that it is not a D700 F.F. camera, I am still tickled by the sheer weight, the improved
image quality, and not surprisingly for an old fart, the bigger LCD. I CAN SEE what I am screwing up now, whereas
before I just screwed up blindly. If I act like I just won the lottery, I kinda did. I love the price I paid for my D70,
and I can take a great photo with it. If I concentrate REALLY hard, lol. This new used D200 looks like a 67 Corvette
Stingray to me.

Re: Photography Thread
 

OK, NOW I done stoled-ed it.

I did not want to mention this since I have already bored you all to tears with my used
camera stories. But now it must be told. I bought a D90 used at Ado the other day.
It was $200, and according to them, 'it would not autofocus'. Now they are one of the
two largest camera retailers operating today. They should KNOW well enough if the
auto-focus is not working. But for the large-a55 screen on the back, which as discussed,
I need, cause I am old, and for the likely increased image quality due in part to the better
Megapixel rating and auto dynamic range enhancements and even chromatic aberration
correction in-built, I figured it was a fine place to stop this crazy buying, as I already
had a likely useless D200 in-bound with a command dial that "is very hard to turn". We know
how that went if you have been following along. But in the end, I am trying to justify the
large expenditure, since it is getting a little over the top now with all these bodies on hand.

So I get the D90 in, an item that is generally $400 for a beater, and a $5-600 dollars for
a clean one. I paid $200 for it. So half price either way, but 66 percent off since when
it arrives today, it is super clean. Now I told you how I felt about that, they are the first
or second-largest online camera retailer in the world, they have professional evaluators
to judge what's what when they get used gear in. So I set the camera up how I want it
and go over to the nursery to shoot. So I shoot a ton of pics, focusing the lens
and having no trouble seeing the shot. I mean, when you are old like me,
things are out of focus, sure. But when they come into focus, you can see the difference,
in that its LESS blurry than it was. And with the diopter, it's crisp enough
for me. Is it a hassle? Yes it is, but for the quality of the camera, it's well worth it.
So after I shoot and am ready to go, I think, OK, let me cycle through the autofocus
modes to test and see if ANY of em work. But I am hunting over the body to find the
mode switch, and I can't find one. But what I DO find is that the selector switch that
takes you from manual to autofocus is in manual. Now I don't want to get too excited,
because I am focusing manually, and there is no way to do otherwise with the switch
in that setting, it locks the lens out.

So I flip it to AF, point it at a rosebud, and it pops right into focus.
Now after reading ALL THAT, you probably knew what was coming
anyway. But I could have dropped a No.2 in my shorts right there
on the spot. Here is a camera I gladly paid $200 for, KNOWING it had
a critical flaw, and having no idea how it would look abuse-wise
when it came in to boot. But instead of all that being one way,
it was all completely the other way, but the price is still $200.
I end up getting a pristine camera in all ways for the cost of a
'dump it cam'.

I don't know whether to STOP LOGGING IN to Ado immediately
for fear that is the extent of the luck I have in me, or whether to
buy every item I see that I am willing to chance. Obviously the
answer is the first one, I have everything I need now. And I DID
buy two eyepiece rubbers to replace the ones on my incoming
cameras since it is ALWAYS the first thing that gets lost on these
cameras. And they both have their original rubbers. So sure, I am
out 8 bucks. :) Oh no.

And that's that. I am sending my sister the D50, keeping the D70 for it's
1/500th flash sync speed, and giving my D100 to my friend in NO. I now
have the perfect bag, 5hit lenses or not.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Nikon D90 out the window shot, and cropped from the larger image....didn't realize til much later
I was in manual mode, so the shot is just a lucky exposure. I later produced the flower once I checked
the exposure mode and ramping up the shutter speed to correct the exposure. Derh. This is the worst
lens I own. So I imagine the camera is great with a 50mm 1.8 on it.

This is the kind of neighborhood I work in.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2e6722c9.jpg

Luckily when you need to test out a new camera, we also have a nursery.
Damn camera seems to have nice dynamic range. It isn't even set up yet. I have no idea of where it is set
for now. This one was just finally figuring out it was in manual and adjusting the shutter speed to bring the
exposure down.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7ac46673.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

D90 is what I had. GREAT camera. Yes u stole it

Re: Photography Thread
 

For a long time I've been of the mind that bodies just don't have the same staying power that they did when we used film. Digital gets obsolete so quickly. The Nikon F2 was a workhorse in the 70s and the F3 followed suit through the 80s and into the 90s. But I gotta say, the D90 has changed my mind. It has legs. That's a great score!

Re: Photography Thread
 

It's true though. Good glass trumps body upgrade.

Done shooting for the night. Ill try to get some pix up before the cruise

Re: Photography Thread
 

Here's the pictures I shot tonight/this morning fellas. Well the digital ones. I shot some 35mm too though.

Fire Spinners!

1st guy.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8263/8...a50168ab_b.jpg
IMG_4342 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8243/8...09c83d3a_b.jpg
IMG_4344 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8...bb5b90fd_b.jpg
IMG_4343 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8...1ac2b763_b.jpg
IMG_4350 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8259/8...dccbbc3c_b.jpg
IMG_4349 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

2nd guy. Set 1. His name's David

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8...fa917364_b.jpg
IMG_4363 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8...81fa4fb9_b.jpg
IMG_4361 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8239/8...8b4b0654_b.jpg
IMG_4362 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8260/8...6d31b4ea_b.jpg
IMG_4360 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8249/8...82accba7_b.jpg
IMG_4359 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

More of David

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8263/8...8ff83676_b.jpg
IMG_4358 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/8...f5dbf12e_b.jpg
IMG_4357 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8253/8...df6836a3_b.jpg
IMG_4356 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8264/8...bc06dbac_b.jpg
IMG_4355 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8243/8...6baedec8_b.jpg
IMG_4354 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Last group of David

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8...1ded47a1_b.jpg
IMG_4353 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8249/8...d590c0f3_b.jpg
IMG_4348 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8260/8...e50ba052_b.jpg
IMG_4347 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8258/8...bb41ab2e_b.jpg
IMG_4346 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8...f3040d82_b.jpg
IMG_4345 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Main Street Bridge

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8...b042d944_b.jpg
IMG_4336 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8...a6794cc2_b.jpg
IMG_4335 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Police working traffic duty for the 1 Spark event
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8...c333d5e6_b.jpg
IMG_4319 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

1 Spark Lounge
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8260/8...f00928d1_b.jpg
IMG_4311 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

The Jail AKA "Work"
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8245/8...3f3cbe10_b.jpg
IMG_4379 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

I went and did it! ODO strikes again....A Nikon D90 for something like 380 bucks..... :noon I'll still hang on to my D100 though, I'll probably do side by side comparisons of their performance. I still love my little Panasonic though. That one's a keeper until it croaks.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Brad, did u see the pix? No? look up

P.S. Keh is very very conservative in there ratings.

Re: Photography Thread
 

OH GOD NO!! Don't be like ME!.....Ron, it NEVER STOPS! I had such hopes for you.

I know you like em pristine, and $389-399 is about the going rate for top notch level D90s,
so you certainly didn't get RIPPED off or anything. I give Ado all the credit in the world for
conservative and fair estimations of condition. Not sure where you go yours, but man, are you
gonna love THAT camera.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Oh yeah, Justin, I saw the pics, I just saw the bigger news at the end and gulped hard and
thought, 'That poor BASTARD!" Man is he on a slope now. I hope he survives.

As to the pics, I am intrigued by the concept, but you gave me too many. By the time
I got to the last one, my brain had numbed to the point where it was not able to see
them as "WOW, cool", and more of a deal where it's like the pizza slices...Two are great
and then when I have that 3rd and 4th or even 5th, it doesn't taste as good, lol.
I think they are great pics, though. I think my favorite is on this page, the first or last
one in #2361. The bridge I like a lot, too. I like it any time someone goes out and makes
an effort to take pics and share them. That's why I like Flickr so much. I am a consumer,
I like to see stuff, feel the excitement of going out and trying to make the best pics you can
and sharing them. My saddest thing about it though is having to drop out of two groups this
week, the canon S5 IS group and the Nikon D50 group. I hate it, I just hate it. But maybe my
sister will join the D50 group. I told my sister that I flat out refuse to be a camera HOARDER.
I might be a purchasing glutton, but I have whittled that kit down severely to where I was
looking in my Canon bag and thinking, "that's all the lenses I have?" lol

Re: Photography Thread
 

The bridges pics.... I went back and looked at them, and the longer you stare at them
the better they get. This is about my favorite use of a camera. To be somewhere when
someone else is paying for the electricity, and giving you this great look at something, and
you can take your camera and set it up for a long exposure and make something so
beautiful. It makes you want to go out every night and find something else to shoot.

Re: Photography Thread
 

It's funny, the only thing about KEH that I noticed in the 3 times I have visited is that they don't
seem to discount to the level I was looking for at the time. I want to STEAL stuff, now, haha.
But it is good to know that they are also very fair, since when you pay ANY money for a thing
you want to be happy with the purchase, even if you were slumming for the cheapest price
possible. And I think I have said this before, but I have to thank you for Adorama.
When you and I first started talking about cameras here, you told me they were better than B&H,
but my mind was comparing one thing and not what ended up being the most important thing TO ME.

On new gear, none of the best ones are 'the best'. But on USED GEAR, Adorama SMOKES B&H.
Just beats the crap out of em. Not only do you get a better price, but you get a much more detailed
description of what is 'wrong' with the item at Ado. You can make an informed decision and
act or not. At B&H you get that vague number code, which is adequate from a fairness point of view,
but any number of things could be behind a low rating and you don't know what it is. I guess you
could CALL them, lol. I just like to order stuff impersonally...if I have to bit(h, I'll do THAT on the phone, haha.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Thanks. Next time ill set it to a lower ISO and longer shutter. I think those bridge shots were at 400iso because that's the film speed in my camera. This way I could find what works with the dslr and mirror that with te film. Metering a scene like that is hard, especially when the 35mms meter is not as good. I had to MF this scene with the 35mm cuz the AF isn't too good at night.

Re: Photography Thread
 

David came up to me and wanted to see the shots I got of him. Them he moved closer and spun just for me to get pictures. I got his email and I'm going to send them to him.

Re: Photography Thread
 

OH, that was the Film camera eh? The Elan. I am not sure you said that in the post.
That is interesting. In that case, the pics are even better. That shizzle is hard to pull off
without years and years of experience with film. Nice work on that. Not sure you will ever
find a working relationship between ISO and ISO, but if the experiment yields any kind of
baseline comparison and you take good notes, it will still be helpful to you.

Hell, I thought you just set up the old 60D and fired off a bunch of timed exposures til
you got something you liked. That makes it double nice work.

For the fire, you know what would be cool....lay down on the ground a lot closer and shoot
upwards. Sure, it's a little dangerous, haha.

Re: Photography Thread
 

No that was the dslr. I shot some with the film too though. Film roll is still in the élan. Haven't used it up yet
However I think those were the only two I attempted with the 60d so I nailed it. With the film I bracketed what I got with the dslr. Shot the same settings then up a lil and down a lol on the exposure

Re: Photography Thread
 

Good thinking.....an expensive light meter, though, lol. But it has a lens!

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Yeh haha.

Re: Photography Thread
 

You know, looking back at the pics, I never stopped to realize how good the cops on bikes pic was either.
That's a night shot more or less, and it looks really good.

Re: Photography Thread
 

The cop pic was taken handheld.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Excellent job on all of them! I wish I had everything set up when I watched the fire knife demos in Hawaii in 2010 at the Polynesian Cultural Center (harmless plug for them, lol!) I was just learning about my Panasonic cam at the time and wasn't able to pull off anything like what you posted here (no tripod, it was in an amphitheater type setting, so I probably couldn't have set up a tripod in the aisle anyways, kinda blown away by the whole live show, etc.)

Re: Photography Thread
 

Thanks Ron.
Well ill catch you guys in a week. Cruise tomorrow thru Thursday. Not gonna pay what they want on the ship for Internet haha.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Here are some more D100 shots:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...psc1e6e5cd.jpg

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Sitting on her nest. I have to keep an eye on this one, to see if I get lucky enough to see a few cygnets:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps478996f7.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

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The soon to be proud papa keeping an eye on me:


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps6e936010.jpg

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My neighbor's dog:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps51c66077.jpg

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I see what you mean all this time Ron.....those lake pics LOOK cold. I got a shiver just imagining what it was like
out there. I forgot to do what I told myself I would get to 'one of these days before I go to New Orleans", and that
was turn the LCD brightness up. My pics are still coming out hot, and I need some kind of feedback to help me dial it in.

But the D90 kicked EVER-LOVING A55! Man what a fine camera. i got the D200 stuck in a deep menu setting that had it
firing at about 1 second no matter what shutter speed I set. I worked around it, but it crippled my wide angle body
I had on a strap. I had the D90 in a holster, and I wore it OUT! Showed up in the French Quarter before the sun
came up and enjoyed perfect light for 3 hours before I ducked out to the oldest cemetery in the city, RIGHT
next to the notorious Iberville projects. Not many trouble makers up that early though, so I shot un-robbed. I DID
take the D100, though, I was not having the D-90 or D-200 stolen.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8381/8...4f69e0fa80.jpg
French quarter color by MemphisBrad, on Flickr


I was surprised that the D100 operated so perfectly at this location. I can't find a thing I don't like
about this shot other than the too-big watermark.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8386/8...331c5881c9.jpg
16 by MemphisBrad, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

It was probably about 8:00 in the morning, so maybe that had something to do with the overall feel of the photos. The lake WAS that blue, and it was maybe 29 degrees with a nice wind blowing. I was surprised that the swans built a nest so close to the walkway. They usually shy away from humans.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Let's go for a ride in an antique Ford Model T:


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps84c1d9b8.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

Or maybe a horse-drawn carriage?


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps775411bb.jpg

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Ohhh, I know! A coal fired train!!

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...psb8f461b4.jpg

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The Firestone family farmhouse;


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...psdcd5dd80.jpg

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Stoking a fire in the hearth:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps0eed2529.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

Wow, Greenfield Village, there's some memories of 48 years ago. In fact i have no conscious memory of it.
I just know where and what it is and that we had been as kids. I was an infant at the time.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Ron you are going to love that D90.....I took three cameras to New Orleans this past weekend and it SMOKED
the other two.