Need Opinions on used dSLR (1 Viewer)

[Jon_Are]

Tony,

Random thoughts:

Save up for the SB600 – it’s well worth it. Stay away from the 400 – it’s weak(er), and you can’t bounce it in a vertical-format shot (it tilts, but does not swivel).

You don’t need a flash bracket; you’ll find it bulky and impractical. Instead, look into a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce. It’s only $20 or so and, coupled with the SB600’s tilt/swivel capabilities, with give you nice, shadow-free lighting. STO-FEN Products

An outstanding lighting source: http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

As for Ken Rockwell…he seems to rank just below Hitler on many photographers’ popularity chart. A good part of this, I believe, is envy. There is much good information to be found on his site, if you can accept that he does seem to be full of himself. I don’t agree with everything he says – he loves the SB400, for example – but I have learned stuff from him.

Couple of book recommendations: Nikon D70 Digital Field Guide by David Busch and Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

I’ll post more when I have time.

Have fun!

Jon

 

[Jon_Are]

A few more things:

I keep a UV filter and a lens hood on virtually all the time. I know it's a belt-and-suspenders approach, but I'd rather put a scratch on, or bump, my filter than my lens.

Working with RAW images need not be scary; it's actually easier in many ways. The only drawback is the huge file sizes. I would advise you to shoot in RAW for the simple intent to get some practice processing it. I shoot JPEG when I'm shooting snap-shotty pictures (family gatherings, etc.); otherwise, always RAW.

One more tip I've learned the hard way: Don't try to crop during the actual shooting. Rather, shoot a bit 'wider' than you need, then crop in post-processing.

Jon

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Actually, I think a virtually straight-on bump is not a real big problem for the front lens element. It's usually the sideways/slanted kind that would cause serious scratching, etc. (and damage to the lens coating) that's the problem. And if you get a particularly strong straight-on bump/crash, I suspect your filter is much more likely to crack than your front lens element (w/out the filter). And if the filter cracks badly, it'll still cause damage to your front lens element (and/or maybe the filter ring, etc).

I heard one anecdote over on dpreview where someone accidentally dismounted his 70-200 f/2.8 VR from the body, and the lens fell headfirst maybe 3ft onto concrete. He had a "protective" filter on it, but had already reversed the hood. The filter cracked and scratched up the front element big time (and messing up the coating, etc). The lens was otherwise still fully functional.

I'm not saying never use a filter for added protection (like at the beach for instance), but it might not be as protective as you think in most regular situations (particularly if the extra comfort leads you to be less careful).

_Man_

 

[Sam Posten]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Tutorials by Michael Tapes

It's for a couple of gens old LR but should give you an idea.

More in depth here:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/ligh...tutorials.html
http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/
http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html

I import to LR adding a set of appropriate labels, each import becoming it's own event/folder, use a standard 'profile' on import to give all of my pics a good starting point, then adjust Color Balance, mid tone brightness, and contrast to taste. It's really that easy.

 

[Sam Posten]

The 14-24 makes that decision easy, no filters allowed! =)

 

[Tony Whalen]

Once again, thanks to all for the input.

Jon, thanks for the tip about the Omni-Bounce. Looks like it's certainly worth 20 bucks.

I plan on getting the 600 flash... the 400 wasn't an option for the very reasons you mentioned.

Man, thanks again for your Nikon-specific advice. Do you use your camera's built-in "copyright" coding? I forget what the feature is called, but I read about it in the manual? Know what I mean?

Sam, I'll look into Lightroom for sure!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... Haven't tried anything like that. Took a quick look in my D200's menus, and only see that I can add a brief comment (upto 36-characters long). Not sure exactly where that goes -- maybe in the EXIF I guess.

Anyway, even if you use something like that, it's probably better to also do it as part of the final batch processing. Stuff stored as plain text in EXIF or similar can be easily removed anyway -- and sometimes, do get accidentally removed or ommitted from the results. Your RAW processor of choice (or subsequent editing app) might not be good about passing all such info onto the resulting image file.

I think such comments work mainly as notices, not as actual proof of authenticity or ownership anyway. If one is particularly concerned about proving copyright ownership, I'd suggest never giving out (a copy of) the original image file.

BTW, IIRC, Nikon bodies (at least as early as the D2 series) also stored their serial numbers into the RAW files. But w/out encryption, that could probably be removed easily enough also.

_Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'll second the recommendation for the Omni-bounce. I use one on my Canon flash, and it works well when needed. I do not do much flash photography, so this solution is enough for my needs.

 

[Sam Posten]

It's really easy to put a basic shooter info into the menus of a modern nikon, and it's important that you do so if you want that information 'baked in' to the initial raw files or jpegs. I find it's easier for me to have full IPTC information added on import of the files to Lightroom but this does not alter the raw file, it keeps the information in the library only but it DOES bake it in on export to jpegs, which is all I really care about anyway. Since 98%+ of my imagery is released as Creative Commons By, ShareAlike, NoCommercial anyway I'm not particularly concerned about where my babies travel the world too, but it's easy and free to have it put in there from the start so maybe if they find new interesting homes whoever grabs em could find the contact info if needed. If you intend to fully reserve all of your copyrights you probably want to research this more at:
Photo Attorney

She did a good post on this just the other day:
Photo Attorney: Q&A - Where Do I Put My Copyright Notice?

Scott Kelby's recent interview with Ed Greenberg is also a good place to start:
Photoshop Insider Blog By Scott Kelby Blog Archive Catch My Exclusive Interview with Attorney Ed Greenberg for the Straight Scoop on Copyright, Model Releases, and Shooting in Public