This is a disturbing development. I have been aware of Nikon's policies for a long time, but this is the first time I've heard of any of the other manufacturers refusing to repair grey market items. I understand their reluctance to make warranty repairs to grey market equipment, but they are being unreasonable by refusing to make out of warranty (paid) repairs! And refusing to sell parts to independent shops so that they could make such repairs is unconscionable! (Much like the Hedge Fund guy who bought the small drug company so he could raise the price of a single pill to $750!)

15 or 20 years ago, I read (in the PPA magazine, I think) that Nikon had lost a case in court regarding this practice, though they continued to do it. As I remember, the article claimed that if you brought this court case to their attention, Nikon's Repair Department would reluctantly make the requested repairs at their standard rates. I have never tried this, know of no one who has, and have lost all reference to the magazine article and, more importantly, the referenced court case. If anyone has access to this information, or in any way can confirm or deny its existence, I'm sure we would all be grateful.

Yes, many photographers, particularly here on UH, seem to treat manual control (and prime lenses) as religious tenets! When I bought my first SLR, back before auto anything was widely available on cameras, it was all manual. And over the years, I occasionally had the OP's problem: taking pictures without adjusting the settings to match the ambient conditions!

By and by, I upgraded and bought a camera that had auto exposure. Then I found myself occasionally forgetting to change the camera's ASA (ISO) setting to match the new film I had loaded. Next upgrade solved this problem by reading the bar code on the film canister, as well as giving me auto-focus. But by then I was doing event photography with a totally manual Mamiya RB, and I had to remember everything! Fortunately, shooting color print film most exposure errors could be corrected in post processing (the darkroom - ah the joy of using a good pro lab).

But I also learned to use the capabilities built into my cameras to my advantage. Shooting an indoor event with flash doesn't require constant exposure setting adjustments, but shooting a fast moving sporting event in changing lighting conditions does. My photography is better because I use many of the automatic features I paid to have in my cameras.

Today, I use auto-focus, but I control the point of focus and the depth of field through aperture selection; I use aperture priority auto exposure, but I control exposure and shutter speed through aperture and sensitivity (ISO) selection; and I control the entire photograph through choice of subject, framing, all of the above and more!

Manual control may be a religious practice to some, but it is not a viable religion.

How to display/share my photography is a question I have pondered. We, of course, have a number displayed on our walls, mostly of family. Most have not been changed in years. I also have a SmugMug accoumt (which I should be updating even as I write this), to share images with family scattered across the country. But that requires them to log in, enter a password (family stuff is private stuff), and spend time specifically reviewing them.

I am intrigued at the "electronic picture frames", and maybe running endless slide shows on our big screen TV as another option, particularly when having company. But I have a problem with these options in that I shoot a lot in portrait orientation. These electronic picture frames, monitors, and TV screens all are costructed in landscape orientation, so images in the portrait orientation are at a distinct disadvantage. They display much smaller, utilizing only the shorter (9/16ths in the case of my TV) dimension of the display device, with large blank areas on each side. (I noticed years ago, editing images for submission to customers, that even I who had shot the images and have a bias towards verticals, tended to prefer the horizontal images on my editing screen, because of their advantage in displayed size.)

Anyone know of any electronic devices that will give equal display spaces to both orientations?

Adjusting monopod height between shots while shooting action just isn't an option. I have only (previously) seen a monopod swivel mount used to adjust tilt, not to switch between portrait and landscape camera orientations. Sorry, but this won't work for me.

cjc2 is absolutely correct, if you are using a lens with a tripod collar! However, not all monopod use is with a camera/lens combo where the lens has a tripod collar. For instance imagemeister’s example. But, imagemeister, I would never use a swivel mount in that orientation on a monopod! (Need to focus on something closer/lower, up on your tippy toes; further away, squat. May work well on your body pod, but not on a monopod!)

But in truth, cjc2 has shown me the way. For 95% of my shooting a swivel mount and long lenses with tripod collars would work very well, and I’m thinking about giving it a try. But as to his comments regarding the quality of ball head, “what difference does it make” (to quote a political figure about to testify before congress), it is merely a “placeholder”. Your left hand is in control, maintaining position and adjusting for tilt as you move your point of focus. This ball head is not responsible for holding position, avoiding creep, or eliminating vibration as it would on a tripod. The ballhead I use is an old cheap Manfroto adjusted loosely and in control of my hand. And it works exceedingly well. (And, yes, it has to be orientated to use the single point where you switch from landscape to portrait orientation, you start out with that lined up.)

Thank you both. You provided me with additional insight.

Bill Burkholder's comments bring many memories. I had a brief stint as a school photographer for a LifeTouch franchise shortly before they switched to digital. Because I had a background in photography (I new what an f/ stop was, could read a flash meter, and focus a camera), my job was the group portraits with a Mamiya 6 x 7. The employees without a photographic background (almost everyone) became "Portrait Photographers".

The"Portrait Photographers" shot with a long roll film camera with a fixed focus lens! They "focused with a string: they used a pre-measured string to establish the distance from the camera to the subject. Each subject was then supposed to have exactly the same tilt of the head and smile on their face. (Try that sometime with a couple hundred fifth graders.)

I had much more freedom: line the kids up by height, put the tallest at the center, & distribute by height from center out, back row to front, one monolight directly above the camera, & photograph at f/11. 25 to 30 kids per class, get them all looking at the camera together (look out for gang signs, et al).

One year was more than enough! But it was definitely a learning experience.

I have opted for a ball head so that I can quickly change to the portrait orientation which I use a lot shooting sports. If only shooting in landscape mode, the swivel head would work fine - you just rotate the monopod to turn the camera side to side. (I will listen eagerly if someone wants to tell me how one of those swivel mounts can quickly change between landscape and portrait orientation.)

I used a Bogen 3 section monopod (model number is worn off) for several decades, both as a walking stick backpacking, et al, and for shooting extensive sporting events. Finally broke the adjusting levers and replaced it with a 4 section (for ease of travel) Aluminum Bogen Model 680B. Very happy with both. (By the way, I can't conceive of those little foot thingys being anything but a disaster waiting to happen.)

Point taken.

WOW! I shot a lot of night time football a few years back with earlier digital cameras (D100, D70, D200). I used ISO 1600 on occasion, maybe even forced to ISO 3200 once, but could not imagine trying anything higher. Shot halftime with flash at ISO400.

The Steelworkers have represented many warehouse workers for years. I worked at an electrical parts warehouse in 1962 where I was represented by the Steelworkers.

And, why not?

Alive, well, and excellent!

The key words are "utilizing the most efficient shape"! No, not all lenses in the longer focal lengths have "tulip shaped" hoods. But the most efficient design is a tulip shape. Older lenses, of any focal length had circular hoods; the tulip shape is a relatively recent innovation. (Probably occurring after the manufacturers went to computer designing lenses when it became relatively easy to lay out the tulip shape.)

None-the-less, the tulip shape is more effective at all focal lengths. That said, the efficiency gain at longer focal lengths is pretty moderate.

Half right! The vignetting is an issue at all focal lengths, whether the lens is a zoom or not. A hood designed for a particular lens, utilizing the most efficient shape, will always have a "tulip" shape. This includes telephoto as well as wide angle, though the effect will be more dramatic for wide angle lenses. Being a zoom lens only means the "tulip" shape will be made to accommodate the widest focal length of that lens.

By definition, anything bought in Hong Kong (or any foreign place) is GREY MARKET because it is not imported by the official US importer (Nikon USA, Canon USA, etc.). And that company is the place you return items for warranty and/or out of warranty repairs. In the case of Nikon (the most onerous in this matter), they will not even make fully paid repairs on grey market items! The others may have similar rules. (Nikon, I understand, even refuses to sell parts for repair to independent shops who do not rigorously enforce their no grey market rules.)

And I have returned several cameras, a couple of lenses and a flash to Nikon for repairs. (Heavy. hard usage) None were grey market so everything went great (but not cheaply).

Your Hong Kong purchased items are covered by an International Warranty that requires you to return any items requiring warranty repair to their Japanese location for repair. Once out of warranty you have to find someone else to do your repairs. I would be very reluctant to purchase any cameras or lenses out of the country!

Got that right! I have no idea why Kodak went to the 3:2 ratio for 35mm (but Kodak was always playing around with formats and image sizes).