I purchased a Flashpoint D12 Professional Battery Grip for my Nikon D800 on August 23rd. It fits very well and so far no problems. I don't know if other brands (Nikon) are like this Flashpoint, but you leave one battery in the D800 body and the grip holds one EN-EL15 or an included accessory can accommodate 8 AA batteries. The D800 uses up the battery in the grip first and then uses the EN-EL15 battery in the camera body secondly. The order can actually be changed by going into the option in Group d of the camera Custom setting menu. the link for where I purchased my D800S Multi-Power Battery Pack for $79.95 with free shipping is:

http://www.adorama.com/INKMBD12A.html?utm_source=ET&utm_medium=TransactionalEmail&utm_campaign=2point0Product1.

Tom

Question - what brand ND filter is recommended and what number for general purpose use?

OK - thank you. My next question is possible suggestions for additional remote flash units (not as costly as the SB-800), but hopefully as good (or better) that will work with my Nikon D800 and my SB-800 Flash (which I bought years ago). Also, how many remotes can be used (will work) as slaves in a set-up in the commander/slave Nikon set-up? Any ideas? Thanks.

OK - I have my SB-800 flash set up as the remote and my pop-up flash as my master or commander. I succeeded in setting them up as follows:
1). Both commander & remote flash
2). Just the commander flashes but not the remote
3). But I can't get it so only the remote flashes, but NOT the commander (I have tried "shutting off" the commander using the "---" on the menu, but no luck. Any suggestions or something I'm failing to set-up correctly or designate properly? Please help anyone - thank you.

Thanks for this invaluable bit of information about returning the SB-800 Flash to a regular standalone TTL flash unit. All the information I get on this remote flash/commander/slave topic is extremely appreciated. I also value the Nikonian "setting up the flash" URL. There are some very decent people on this forum and I can't express how grateful I am for any and all assistance I receive! Thank you very much. Sincerely - Tom

I just looked in the manual. I will definitely have to sit down with everything and see if I can configure all the settings and then set-up a trial shot to test out my efforts. My time is limited right now since I have to leave and run an errand, in about 30 minutes, for a friend I work with on Saturday's. When I get a chance, I'll sit down and tackle that task starting on page 303! Thank you for looking that up and any welcomed additional help, advice, and recommendations you may offer in the future.

MT Shooter - I have so much to learn, and so much I want to learn for taking photographs in general, and with this new D800. It looks like the possibilities are endless and the learning process will be a long road! Heck, I'd like to get to the point where I take a shot and people I know would say that it's a nice "picture." I did capture a picture in Muir Woods that some friends said I should enter in a contest. I wish I could achieve good enough skills to feel confident enough that I wouldn't embarrass myself if I did enter a shot in a contest! I guess it all takes time. I used to take action shots for my 4 boys ice hockey games years ago and became the "team photographer" posting them on web sites for everyone to see and download if they wanted. I love taking landscape shots and played around with a very little macro. I also enjoy taking pictures at weddings and would love to become good at that, as well as taking portrait shots. I also dabbled in HDR photos a little - just enough to wet my feet, but have much to learn there as well. Heck, I just like photography! Years ago I should have pursued it as a career, but never did nor had sufficient equipment to do so.

Nikon D200 and just recently got a D800.

I have a Nikon SB800 flash unit and never took the time to set up the slave/commander feature on my Nikon cameras (both support this) using my built-in hot shoe flash and my SB800. Are there any places online I can learn how to set it all up? Any additional equipment I need to buy? Can anyone tell me how to do it here on HedgeHog? Help would be most definitely appreciated. Thanks.

Jon Boy - My camera is the Nikon D800 that recently started coming off the assembly line back in May (or so, I believe) of this year. I put in an order on March 5 and finally received it in the mail on August 2. It took almost 5 months, to the day, and I missed out on my youngest son's West Point Graduation in May and my oldest son's Doctoral Physical Chemistry Graduation in June.

I also didn't have that camera for a California trip my wife and I splurged on in Late June/Early July where I had taken numerous pictures of Yosemite National Park, The Napa/Sanoma Valley, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Pebble Beach, and along Highway 1 in which I used my older Nikon D200.

I must not have made myself very clear for which I apologize. I hadn't intended on taking multiple exposure shots at this wedding on Saturday, but now I think I'll try to get at least one or two. Do you have any suggestions for some special multiple exposure shots? Do you think getting more than 2 shots per frame would be too busy? Any suggestions, advice, mentoring, and coaching would be much appreciated. Thanks very much.

Best Regards,
Tom

Bob - I came across this site again, by chance, for Nikon's Digitutor. It has tutorials on various Nikon camera models including the D800. I found the one on Movies helpful, so maybe you might find it educational if you haven't already seen it. The first link is the general digitutor link where the camera of your choice can be chosen. The second link is the one specifically for the D800. I hope you find this helpful.

http://www.nikondigitutor.com/index_eng.html
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d800/index.html

Best Regards,
Tom

Bob - super advice and I'll try it out before the wedding tomorrow to see if I get everything in focus when I pan a room. Also, thanks for mentioning Blue Crane Digital's instructional video. I'll have to get online and see what that video is all about - hopefully a summary of what's on the video.

I do have my camera set to AF-F in Movie Live View and Wide Area Mode. I'm using FX Format, but only 1080/24 fps as was recommended in something I recently read. Any and all advice is always welcome - thanks very much.

Best Regards,
Tom

Jon Boy - My guess would be the camera you're using does not allow you to do multiple exposures, whereas, mine allows me to do up to 10 shot multiple exposures in a single frame. I believe you are quite capable. As they say, performing a job is much easier if you have the correct tools.

I often find myself saying, "If I only had . . . " when doing a hands-on project, whether it be carpentry, masonry work, painting, siding, plumbing, photography, or whatever.

Best Regards,
Tom

Hi Tracy - I'm a new member as well and saw your introduction. The advice people have given you (your photography friends and sinatraman) are all quite valid. Yes, the only way to learn is to get out and shoot, shoot, shoot and experiment. Try different settings using your different modes on your d-50. I've had 2 Nikons and they are fairly forgiving so you probably won't mess anything up. You should always be able to reset it back to the factory settings if need be.

Learn and understand all you can about iso, f-stops/aperture, shutter speed and how they affect one another and how they affect depth-of-field and available light for your shots. Study and learn what is called the "Exposure Triangle" inside and out. There are so many different combination of settings you can use to take the same picture depending upon the effect you want to achieve. Force yourself to put that Nikon D-50 into Manual Mode. Learn also about the histogram feature which I would imagine your camera has available. Trial and error is a great learning tool, and with digital, it costs you nothing.

The delete or trash can button is great when learning, but it makes you lazy to some extent. Don't get me wrong, I use it a lot, but always strive to do my best and use many different settings when taking the same shot. I still have a lot to learn and, remember, if you don't mess up and make mistakes then you aren't trying. They say you have to take 20 shots to get one good one, so click away! Don't get overwhelmed - learn at your own pace, and have fun!

Good Morning Bret - Hopefully I can capture a unique shot or two at the wedding Saturday and/or the reception or sometime during the day. My wife has already warned me to not get in the way of the hired photographer because the bride's Mom would never forgive me.

My intentions are anything but causing trouble or interfering with the structured procedures during the event. I honestly would like to move around during the ceremony and not just be stuck sitting in a church pew. My advantage is we are members of the church where the wedding will be held, so I know my way around fairly well. Wish me luck!