I have had a Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 lens for a couple of years and recently had a problem with the lens. Tamron has excellent customer service, and because the lens issue had happened before, they were nice enough to send me a brand new copy of the lens. Having recently bought a D850, I decided that this is an opportune time to upgrade to the Nikon 24-70. The Tamron is brand new in the box and currently sells for $899 on B&H until April 30. I am willing to accept $799 and will provide free shipping for the lens. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Phil

I had been a Canon user since the 70's and in 2013 decided to get a digital SLR and went with a Canon T4i. What really impressed me with Canon customer service was the technical expertise of the folks answering the phone. During one conversation I mentioned that to the rep and he told me that Canon employees actual photographers to answer the phones which is why he was so knowledgeable. A couple of years later I decided it was time to move up to a full frame camera, and since my current lenses wouldn't work on a Canon full frame body, I had the opportunity to start fresh. I spent many months evaluating both Canon and Nikon and in the end, the D750 seemed like an excellent camera for the price, and I have been very well pleased with its performance.

However, the first time I called customer service when the camera had a focus issue I was amazed at how little the person knew about their cameras. It reminded me of tech support in India where you can tell someone is reading a script off of their screen and have no idea what it means. I was up in Yosemite at the time (and no, I wasn't carrying the owners manual with me) and hoped it was a simple fix. While the rep tried to figure out what was going on I realized that I had inadvertently moved a switch on the back of the camera, and moving it back resolved the issue. At the time I had just bought the camera and was unfamiliar with the Nikon, but one would think that a Nikon rep would have enough knowledge to resolve what ended up being a simple issue. And this was not an isolated issue. I have yet to speak to a customer service rep at Nikon who seems to have much basic knowledge about their products.

Other than that I have been quite pleased with Nikon cameras and lenses. The 14-24 F/2.8 lens is amazing and I love my new D850. Boy, is it sharp! I just wish that Nikon would employee support staff with a better knowledge of their camera equipment.

Beautiful shots. I am interested to know where this is located.

I did call Adobe this morning and was pleasantly surprised that it only took 5-10 minutes to reach tech support. Got my login issue resolved and was able to download the latest Photoshop CC updates and now my D850 NEF files are readable. Now I'm just looking forward to learning the camera. My first test shots on an eye chart show it is extremely sharp. My D750 is great but this is even better.

I downloaded and installed the latest dng converter twice and still can't open the files. I guess I will be on the phone with them today as well.

Unfortunately, I have tried both of those and I keep getting a message saying that they cannot authenticate my Adobe ID. I tried twice to change my password and both times it worked fine and I received an email from Adobe confirming the change. Yet I still get the same message. I'm afraid that I will just have to wait on hold tomorrow until I can reach tech support. Thanks.

Thanks for the quick responses. For some reason my login is not working on Creative Cloud today, so I will call tomorrow to get that fixed and update the program. I thought that might all there was to it and am glad to know that is indeed the case. By the way, I am very pleased already with the sharpness of the 850. Looking forward to getting it out in the field.

I just got my new D850 yesterday and took some test shots to compare it to my D750. To my surprise neither Adobe Bridge or Photoshop CC will open the raw files. In addition, if I just open the picture folder on my PC (Win 8.1), the photo viewer also can't open the raw images. Both work fine with the D750 raw files. I just renewed my Photoshop CC membership in January, but perhaps Adobe has only recently updated their software to work with D850 raw files. Of course this happened on a Sunday and for some reason I can't get the updater on creative cloud to work, so I will be calling Adobe tomorrow. In the interim, I thought I would check with those of you who have the 850 to see if you have had similar issues. I am particularly surprised that the Windows photo viewer won't open the pictures either.

I did search for this issue but didn't see any earlier threads, so my apologies if it has been discussed and I just missed it. Thanks.

Phil

You mean it's not actually more fun than the Honda?

I ordered mine from B&H on 1/9 and just found out that it will be here tomorrow, so about 5 weeks from them.

Thanks. I'll check those out.

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I shoot mostly landscapes, waterfalls, etc and mostly use my 14-24 F/2.8 and 24-70 F/2.8, currently on the D750 and soon on my new D850 (if Nikon ever gets caught up with demand). I also have the 70-200 F/4 lens. For night photography I normally use my high end Gitzo, as long as I don't have to carry that beast too far. The U-212 seems to be stable enough for 30 sec exposures as well, but I like to err on the side of caution. The Slik is light enough, around 5 lbs, that I can strap it to my camera pack and carry on a day hike of 5-10 miles. The old one served me well for several decades, which is why I am thinking of just getting another one now. The main purpose of my question was to see if anyone knew of a comparable tripod that they happened to like better. I did like the suggestion of visiting a camera store and there is a Mike's Camera nearby, so I plan to see what they have.

Phil

I did look up Gene51 and found 19 topics under his username, but none had to do with tripods. Do you have a specific post in mind?

My trusty Slik U-212 finally bought the farm recently so I am looking for a replacement. I already have a lightweight Dolica Traveler for hiking and a monster Gitzo when I am not going very far from my car, but the Slik is a nice in-between tripod. Light enough that I can strap it on my camera pack and hike for 10 miles, but also sturdy enough for 30 sec night shots.

I would be happy with a new U-212, but wondered if there are others in the same price range (around $150) that might be even better. I do want a pan-tilt head and would be interested in any suggestions of others that you use and are happy with. Thanks.

Phil

I don't see why that wouldn't work. I have combined bracketing and stitching with no problems. The attached picture was originally four sets of three bracketed images taken vertically and then stitched to make one panorama. Each set of bracketed images was merged in Photomatix and then stitched in photoshop. One would think focus stacking and stitching would be similar. It does produce files of enormous size however.

Phil

(Download)