***DSLR/Photography MegaThread***

[VF]

A trip to the New York State Capitol Building.

I am currently sitting in New Hampshire on a really, really slow dial-up (SWA from Burbank to Manchester with stops here and there, great service as always, thanks to you and your coworkers) so a lot of the images are not loading (or not loading in under 2 hours) but the one that did was the B+W picture of the volute, that is beautiful! Nice capture.

So this is a quote from this thread on Dec 16th. Things have come so far, so fast since this time. I became one of the top Derby Dolls photogs very quickly. (Oh yeah, I found out that they are going to paint murals of a few of my Derby Dolls pics at their rink, that should be incredible.) I started shooting for LAist.com then became a regular contributor. I hit up a local bar and took pictures there, used them to get into the Warped tour and then sent those to Nine Inch Nails and just got accepted for a photo pass next Sunday. I feel that NIN is pretty much top tier so if I can shoot them I can shoot anyone.

This is where the fun really begins.

Oh yeah, I also got permission for the first time since the Kings moved to Staples Center to photograph live Kings games. This should be great for me, LGK and ultimately the Kings fans. At the end of one of those December posts of my wishes and goals I stated, \\"In a perfect world I should shoot Kings hockey\\". Looks like some dreams do come true.

Mike, all of this is fantastic, congrats! That surely is living the dream. I will be very interested in hearing how the Staples shooting goes.

On August 14th, I got some great shots at the Dodger game vs the Phillies. I sent them all off to the guys on 8/21 for signatures and I already got one response from Jayson Werth. What a nice surprise in the mailbox...

That is very cool.

OK, I have to cut this short, dial-up is killing me. Great work everybody! My news here is I booked my first wedding, I have shot numerous weddings before as a friend or a second, but this is going to be my first, a little nervous.

 

[FBJ]

VOLUTE!!!

I couldn't remember what that was called in architectural terms. It had been bugging the **** out of me for like five days!!!

 

[FBJ]

Well my AF Nikkor 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED lens just crapped itself. Won't zoom without a wicked grinding noise and a lot of force. Won't focus at all. Makes all kinds of rattly sounds when I shake it.

At least this was an inexpensive lens when I bought it. I think I paid less than $150 for it on eBay when I bought my D100 like five years ago. It's a shame this thing tanked, because it is a REALLY light and compact lens. The problem now is that I don't have anything to put on the D200 for my wife to use, and I'm not keen on going out and buying a DX lens just to put it on the backup camera body.

I wonder how much it would cost to repair it? Probably more than its worth. Might be fun just to yank it all apart, too. I could do a photoblog about it!

I just got my answer, and it's $255 including shipping. They're calling it a "C Service Repair Rank C" and are saying that they think it is sand damage. That's strange, because it's never been anywhere near the beach.

****.

They're not made anymore, and that sucks because this is one of the smallest 200mm zooms made. It's a good do-everything lens and they were pretty popular...and still are according to two eBay auctions where they are going for $300+. I'd intended to repair it and keep using it on the D200, but I imagine there are more versatile lenses for that DX format body (like the 18-200 VR).

I'm gonna have to sleep on this one.

 

[FBJ]

 

[DeaderFan]

I just got my answer, and it's $255 including shipping. They're calling it a \"C Service Repair Rank C\" and are saying that they think it is sand damage. That's strange, because it's never been anywhere near the beach.

****.

They're not made anymore, and that sucks because this is one of the smallest 200mm zooms made. It's a good do-everything lens and they were pretty popular...and still are according to two eBay auctions where they are going for $300+. I'd intended to repair it and keep using it on the D200, but I imagine there are more versatile lenses for that DX format body (like the 18-200 VR).

I'm gonna have to sleep on this one.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I had a 105 Micro which I really loved, (smaller than the current model) and is also not made anymore. I sent it in to repair a cracked aperture ring. First they charged me for it, then sent it back still broken with a note saying parts no longer available. They refunded the charges of course but I was disappointed. I have thought about sending it to a non-factory repair shop that might have old parts, but need some leads first.

Does anyone know any good independent repair shops that might have parts for older lenses on hand?

 

[PuckMonkey]

Whoa. It's gonna take me a while to catch up here. Really nice stuff all over here.

Greets!!

 

[FBJ]

OH!! THE CHOSEN ONE HAS RETURNETH!!!

/bows down





Welcome back, Ed!

 

[rinkrat]

 

[FBJ]

I quite.

 

[santiclaws]

That's truly an awesome shot. The only nit I can pick is that perhaps I would make the silhouette completely black, with just that splash of yellow on the right side.

 

[Blurker]

Looks like there's going to be a new player on the block.

Red: Red Confirms DSLR, Says It's Bigger "Revolution" Than Red One

I've got a buddy who's a cinematographer and has orgasms whenever he looks at his pre-order paperwork for the Red One camera he's waiting on.

He played with the Crimson at NAB, and was impressed.

This should be a pretty sweet rig.

 

[VF]

Looks like there's going to be a new player on the block.

Red: Red Confirms DSLR, Says It's Bigger \"Revolution\" Than Red One

Wow, they really need to hire an industrial designer, that is not pretty It will be interesting to see how it does, and if it will be able to mount multiple types of lenses like the red does.

 

[DeaderFan]

Looks like the Nikon D90 will just be the first of the DSLRs that also shoot HD video. I'm sure the Red camera will take that to a whole 'nother level.

I'm not sure about handling a DSLR as a video camera though. Seem like it might be awkward.

 

[VF]

A few shots from NH:

 

[FBJ]

More to come, little girl is throwing a fuss.

How's she doin', anyhow?

 

[VF]

A few more added.

How's she doin', anyhow?

She is doing great (aside from the fuss she just threw ) The ear is doing well, seeing more doctors, but most importantly she is hearing and learning. Also, I have to say, I :heart2: my health insurance, they have been fantastic though this, so that is certainly making a bit easier when you aren't fighting people left and right to get treatment.

 

[rinkrat]

Nice nature shots, Valley.

 

[rinkrat]

Stage lighting rules. Tons of changes in a few minutes. No need for pocket wizards, recycling times etc, just blast away.

Whitney Petty of Deerhunter

 

[BleedingPurple]

Very Nice shots, Valley. My favorite is the plank walkway.

What type of post-processing did you do on the fallen tree, if any?

____________________________________________


I got two more photo's back from my autograph experiement.

So Far:
Jayson Werth
Casey Blake
Matt Kemp

Still waiting on:
Jeff Kent
Nomar
Manny
Andre Ethier
Russell Martin
Chase Utley

My fingers are crossed on the rest. Of course they are now on a road-trip again...

 

[VF]

Very Nice shots, Valley. My favorite is the plank walkway.

What type of post-processing did you do on the fallen tree, if any?

____________________________________________


I got two more photo's back from my autograph experiement.

Not much post on the tree, let's see, looking at the Lightroom history: use the camera raw landscape beta 1 profile, increase the tone curve to bring out a little contrast, sharpening, and I brought down the color temp a bit to help the late in the afternoon feeling.

It definitely looks better small. I was using the 24-70 the whole time, and while it is convenient, I have gotten used to the IQ of some of my primes, and I have to say I was a little let down when pixel peeping the images from this lens.

That is cool that you are getting Auto-ed photos back. That is an interesting experiment.