[Jaymes]

FaustianBargain, on Aug 14 2006, 01:57 PM, said:

why i love canon

why i love Alaska

[Robert Schonfeld]

Nikon user since the early sixties. We are very brand-loyal.

I do love the German and Swiss optics, thought, which is why I have kept my Hasselblad gear. Someone told me that Zeiss will release lenses for the high end Nikon digitals. Now that's a heavenly marriage.

[FaustianBargain]

Robert Schonfeld, on Aug 19 2006, 05:09 PM, said:

Nikon user since the early sixties. We are very brand-loyal.

I do love the German and Swiss optics, thought, which is why I have kept my Hasselblad gear. Someone told me that Zeiss will release lenses for the high end Nikon digitals. Now that's a heavenly marriage.

if i were to pick another name, it would be leica for their rangefinders. some of the older contax rangefinders arent bad either...

*envy*... re your hasselblad.

eta: jaymes, aleyska, "god's own land"?

[Melonious Thunk]

For Japanese optics, I think Olympus' Zuiko are the best. I reluctantly gave up my Nikon F2S because it weighed too much to schlep around all day. But I kept all the lenses. I've decided to buy the Nikon DSLR. I also sold my Rollie and the Linhof Technica with all the Schneder lenses. My "Ansel Adams" large format days are over. I did keep the classic twin lens Roliflex, but never use it. It's beome a desk ornament.

[Robert Schonfeld]

Melonious Thunk, on Aug 19 2006, 01:36 PM, said:

For Japanese optics, I think Olympus' Zuiko are the best. I reluctantly gave up my Nikon F2S because it weighed too much to schlep around all day. But I kept all the lenses. I've decided to buy the Nikon DSLR. I also sold my Rollie and the Linhof Technica with all the Schneder lenses. My "Ansel Adams" large format days are over. I did keep the classic twin lens Roliflex, but never use it. It's beome a desk ornament.

Did you make your own Zone System prints from the large format negatives?

Which dslr? I am following the d80 right now.

[Melonious Thunk]

Robert Schonfeld, on Aug 19 2006, 03:10 PM, said:

Melonious Thunk, on Aug 19 2006, 01:36 PM, said:

For Japanese optics, I think Olympus' Zuiko are the best. I reluctantly gave up my Nikon F2S because it weighed too much to schlep around all day. But I kept all the lenses. I've decided to buy the Nikon DSLR. I also sold my Rollie and the Linhof Technica with all the Schneder lenses. My "Ansel Adams" large format days are over. I did keep the classic twin lens Roliflex, but never use it. It's beome a desk ornament.

Did you make your own Zone System prints from the large format negatives?

Which dslr? I am following the d80 right now.

My late father inlaw was my tutor/mentor for printing and using the large format camera. He had a complete development set up/darkroom for color prints. In the last years he got into microphotograpy. He had a super microscope and took incredible pictures using polarized lenses. Abrahms published a book of his photographs called Micro-Art: Art Images in a Hidden World. I never became as skilled as he was, but it was fun.
The D80 is my preference. But I haven't yet gotten the hand feel for it. I think it is due in September. The DPReview is quite detailed. D80 review

There is a new 35-300 MM lens they are introducing in October for this camera.

[tanabutler]

FaustianBargain, on Aug 17 2006, 10:53 PM, said:

tana..just curious. where did you buy your lemon canon? and did you buy service along with it? why did you have to go to canon corp directly? i ask because i'd like to avoid those folks in the future.

i only buy from bhphotovideo, sometimes directly from nyc..sometimes through their website. they have a reputation to protect and cannot afford to piss off customers.

It wasn't the company, whose return policy was "10 days." It might have even been B & H: I don't shop with strangers. I use well-known companies like BuyDig, etc.

The problem was that I didn't detect the camera's lack of ability to focus until outside that 10-day window. Then I had to start dealing directly with the unhelpful people at Canon, who knew I had a lemon, but who stringed me along for months.

I agree: people with reputations to protect should treat their customers right*. Canon apparently doesn't know how to do business the good way, the win-win way. Their refusal to replace my $1000 lemon is, I hope, costing them multi-thousand dollars in loss of sales.

Signed,
Ashley Axgrinder

* That's why I went for my Nikon on eBay: J&K Camera has a 100% customer approval rating. There were a couple of minor gaffs in service, but they bent over backwards to work with me to make me happy. I recommend them to anyone. I experienced their customer service in action. I think Canon's idea of "service" is the same as when a stallion "services" a mare.

[tanabutler]

pim, on Aug 12 2006, 09:24 PM, said:

Itching to get a new pocket camera. Thinking about a new Panasonic (Panasonic DMC-LX2S).

It's 10 mp, but what I *really* like about it is that it has ISO settings all the way up to 1,200, which theoretically means that it could do very well in low light situation (i.e. dark restaurants.) The previous incarnation of this camera also had a twin re-skinned and sold by Leica, who also makes the lens.

I've never had any experience with Panasonic cameras before. Has anyone? What's your impression?

Hey, Pim, I thought of you when I was reading this review of the Fuji Finepix F30 in Popular Photography magazine. The print magazine specifically highlights its high performance in low lighting, especially in restaurants. (I don't know why that isn't highlighted online, but I'll try to get the quote from the magazine today, when I go back to the gym.) The ISO range goes up to 3200:

Quote

The Fujifilm Finepix posted impressive numbers in the lab, keeping noise at bay all the way up to ISO 3200, which scored a 2.45 (Moderate) in our noise test, with just about a 20% drop in resolution (1310-Very High) over the resolution results for ISO 100 (1655-Extremely High.) Fujifilm is doing a lot of things right with their in-camera processing and noise suppression algorithms to post results such as these. Color accuracy is excellent (Average Delta E: 7.94 ISO 100 Auto White Balance.) The 3x zoom shows slight barrel distortion at 38mm (17%), imperceptible barrel at 78mm (.07%) and imperceptible pincushioning at 108mm (.02%.)

[mongo_jones]

mrs. jones' new nikon l4 just arrived. it won't be checked out till she returns (she is in texas with my camera) but this is a very cute little point and shoot, about half the size of my hand. and it was packaged with a carrying case, an av cord, a usb cable, and batteries. an incredible deal for a little over $100.

[beachfan]

Ran out of time, bought something more expensive than I had planned, but got a 1gig card thrown in. Canon sd700, for $475 plus tax, at Woodland Hills Camera.

Going through all the reviews on dpreview was informative but ultimately well overkill as none of hte prior models in that series (the elph one) or any the S series were available. The Canons seem to have a 6 months shelf life and then they are gone.

The Nikon pocket cameras didn't get top recommendatons from dp review, this one did, so I went with it.

I'm hoping the pictures will look better on the computer than on the lcd as the colors look a little muted.

[rancho_gordo]

beachfan, on Aug 26 2006, 11:45 AM, said:

Ran out of time, bought something more expensive than I had planned, but got a 1gig card thrown in. Canon sd700, for $475 plus tax, at Woodland Hills Camera.

Going through all the reviews on dpreview was informative but ultimately well overkill as none of hte prior models in that series (the elph one) or any the S series were available. The Canons seem to have a 6 months shelf life and then they are gone.

The Nikon pocket cameras didn't get top recommendatons from dp review, this one did, so I went with it.

I'm hoping the pictures will look better on the computer than on the lcd as the colors look a little muted.

Will you post some samples after you've played around a bit? Thanks.

[pim]

Just bought a new Leica D-Lux3. It's been out of stock in the US since not long after launch and only came back in after I left for europe. So I bought mine at RG Lewis, the most darling little old fashioned camera shop in London.

It's the only compact camera that lets me set things like aperture or shutter speed and also shoot in RAW. Having shots in uncompressed format will come in handy later, I'm sure.

A little pricey, it's a Leica after all, but great lens and great features.



and a lot handsomer in person.

I'm going to take it around shooting a bunch of stuff today, but just from a few shots I've tried around the flat I like it already.

[Blondie]

pim, on Feb 2 2007, 06:41 AM, said:

Just bought a new Leica D-Lux3.

I'm looking forward to your impressions, Pim. I got myself the nearly-identical-but-cheaper Lumix version of the Leica (which, as you said, was completely unavailabale in the States) a few weeks ago, but haven't had much chance to play with it. Love what it's done so far, especially the 16:9 mode.

[bushey]

Blondie, which model of the Lumix is equivalent? I was looking at some the other day and was very tempted to buy.

[Blondie]

bushey, on Feb 2 2007, 08:18 AM, said:

Blondie, which model of the Lumix is equivalent? I was looking at some the other day and was very tempted to buy.

The LX2