The dance

I recommend "Digital Snake Oil", by Clifford Stoll, for a sobering discussion of the longevity and viability of digital media.

Good point, I hadn't even thought about the clearance between camera and gimbal upright. I use a 5D3 and a 6D, both have L brackets.

I'm thinking I'll try the Nest and a Nodal slide, as a couple people have mentioned. That seems to offer a lot of flexibility. The slide is independently useful on a ball head for close-up work.
Thanks to all that responded, lots of food for thought.

I used to have seven fiddles. I'm down to (only) four. But I have three banjos. It is a struggle!

I'm trying to figure out if there is a gimbal head that will also allow me to use my camera with a non-collared lens. I don't have a camera store nearby anymore (the excellent Keeble & Schuchat in Palo Alto closed). Why would I want to do such a thing? Basically, so I only have to carry one tripod with one head in the field. Typically, I'd want to switch back and forth between a 150-600mm lens, and a wide-angle lens like 16-35mm. I'd like to be able to mount the camera on the tripod in normal landscape position for the latter. I think I've seen gimbal heads that allow side mounts, but I'm a little nervous that the plate would attach vertically, and fail, with the camera falling out. I have L brackets with Arca-style grooves on my camera bodies. I hope this post is specific enough and intelligent enough not to draw the ire of the resident grumps!

Your filing system will be as good as the effort you put into it. It's fine to organize by shot date, or event, or whatever, but when you start getting thousands upon thousands of photos, you just can't remember where something is a lot of the time. I use Lightroom now, because on import I can automatically have it store the file and its backup, but also because of the tagging, or keyword ability. But here's the thing: YOU have to enter relevant keywords, and this requires a fair amount of thought. The idea here is that it will help you search for things across dates and times, or across events, or whatever your main organizational structure is. So if I'm for instance shooting a sunset, I'll tag the photo with "sunset", as well as a location tag, and perhaps other things (ocean, season, ....). That way I have some chance of finding that sunset photo I really liked that I can't remember when I shot it, nor where ....

Well, you will miss Mono Lake, which is, I am told, and outstanding birding experience; my birder friends' eyes glaze over when discussing it.
I went there to photograph the Milky Way with a group, also a nice experience.
The drive down the eastern side of the Sierras in to the Mojave desert is pretty incredible.

And I don't even like California!!!

I would think any software would have to do some kind of interpolation to fill in missing pixels when there aren't enough for the target enlargement size.

OK, you are asking how to do it. If they are on the same network, the files can be copied from one to the other just by drag and drop. The only thing you need to do is make sure that one computer can "see" the other. That means there is a way to share a Mac drive over the network so that it will show up in Windows Explorer. I don't remember exact details, just Google for it.

You might consider going to one of the Pueblos for culture, but not photography; pretty strict rules against photographing dances. Meet some of the artisans in their element, San Ildefonso for pottery. My parents lived there for 12 years after retirement, and my dad was a real rockhound, he liked going to some of the old turquoise mines, I believe there is one near Cerillos, not too far from Santa Fe.

For something completely different, try the Pecos River Valley, about 20 miles east. I used to fish there all the time. Really interesting combination of a "real" old New Mexican town, a monastery, and a beautiful river.

Wish I could go. I hiked and fished all over the area when I was younger.

To each his own. I'll get up two hours earlier to save a few hundred dollars and have some choices in places to eat, be able to buy groceries and gas at less than stratospheric prices. Besides, that drive in is different every time you do it.

An interesting question here is a bidding site like Greentoe. I bought a lens from them recently, with full US warranty, for roughly $200 less than B&H or Adorama. Won't name the lens or the price, they asked me not to do that. I registered the lens with no problem, but that's not the same as having it repaired under warranty.

Competition does work. In the past, I have developed significant intellectual property for various employers. I wouldn't want to see it given away and have the company fail because of lack of sales. So I am fully supportive of Nikon/Canon's efforts at price control. However, I am also fully in support of competition. We all benefit from that as consumers; we have to become better producers to stay in business. I'm all for it. It works.

Sorry, it's not collusion (I bet AABC would love to compete with each other). It is policy set and enforced by Nikon (or Canon, or Apple, or ...). It is also market economics. If demand is too soft, they will eventually lower the prices. Apple, in particular, is notorious, and very successful, at enforcing prices. That's because they have products that lots of people want. And they also have top-notch, incredible marketing.

I really like driving up from the south from Trona. Trona Pinnacles is worth a visit in and of itself. But the drive from Trona north goes over an incredible pass, then drops down into the Panamint Valley, joining the main road (CA 190) near Panamint Springs.

Another nice route, Emigrant Canyon road, goes up a ridge for quite some distance towards the Charcoal Kilns. Completely different landscape and flora from the valley floor. If you have 4wd and the road hasn't been further washed out, I recommend a trip down Wild Rose canyon from there. The road was closed last year because of flooding, but I managed to make it down in my Highlander.

Last year was fantastic for wildflowers, this year may be nice also. I have an album on Flickr, PM me if you want a link. We're getting a lot of rain this January, some of it is even making its way into the southeast California deserts. But it's really a crapshoot. Consult both the NP website and http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html, which has firsthand reports from avid flower chasers from all over the desert.

There's a nice triangular loop starting from near the Scotty's Castle turnoff toward Beatty, NV, then back down to the Scotty's Castle Road. Last year, there were flowers all over the place. It was also one of the busiest tourist seasons in recent memory. You might want to avoid the standard places like the Artist Drive or Zabriskie Point, and go to more out-of-the way places like Ubehebe Crater or the Racetrack. Or rent a Jeep there and go down Titus canyon, or Greenwater Valley Road. Or, if you are really adventurous, there are some hot springs way up Saline Valley Road, which you reach off of CA 190 a few miles west of the west entrance to the park.

Bottom line: it's a fantastic place, ask the park service for local help, road conditions can vary wildly with the weather. Find someplace uncrowded, and just soak in the vast emptiness.

I usually stay in Lone Pine (spend an afternoon in the Alabama Hills for variety under the shadow of Mt Whitney). Pahrump, NV is a closer alternate. Lone Pine is a one-stoplight town with half a dozen classic motels, straight from the 50s, and a few decent places to eat, and a movie museum; lots of Westerns were shot in the Alabama Hills.

Take lots of water, long sleeves, a hat that protects your neck and face, and an extra gallon or two of gas isn't a bad idea.

I checked the websites, they are holding off on predicting a good wildflower bloom, saying the seed bank may have been depleted by last year's bloom. That doesn't mean there won't be any flowers. The bloom starts at lower elevations, and moves up the mountains and canyons as spring progresses, actually lasts quite a long time in total.

All that empty space means you can get some pretty good night skies with minimal light pollution. You might try photographing the Milky Way from, say, down Badwater Valley, won't be much traffic at all when the MW comes up.

HTH,
Wes

Oh, and have a Death Valley Pale Ale or a Mojave Red, from Indian Wells Brewing Company, located at the junction of US 395 and CA 14, while you are there.

Yeah, I've been on a few outings for the Bay Area Photography meetup group -- it's all outings, no meetings, guided by an experienced photographer. I've gone to Joshua Tree and Mono Lake with this group, it has been fun.