Here's one that I made recently that I'll bet no-one in the group has ever made. I attended a friend's 75th birthday party a couple of weeks ago and took quite a number of images. Was intending to make him a photo album. When I got home I went thru the normal saving of the images to my computer and supplementary external hard drives. I checked the computer to see that the images had been saved and having confirmed that, proceeded to reformat the card. The next day I decided to work on the file to do the customary deletion of near duplicates, some enhancements, etc. Then, about 1/2 way thru the exercise I realized that a significant portion of the images were missing! Horrors! Double horrors! What had happened to them? I had seen them in the camera. Where are they now? Going back thru every card I have produced nothing. So, I surmised that I had made the grievous error of highlighting only a portion of the images when I went to copy them from the card onto the computer. That portion was transferred successfully but I obviously left the others behind only to bite the dust when I reformatted the card. At the moment I am frantically trying to determine if the images can be retrieved using a special scanning software designed to restore lost photos, documents, e-mails, etc.. Nevertheless, what was the root cause of the error you ask? Remember I said I checked the computer to see if the images had been saved? Well, I apparently didn't scroll thru the entire file to assure that the entire group of images had been saved. I had the computer set on large icons and having seen that some images were there, proceeded to assume all were there, which they were not. The rest is history. So, I learned an important lesson the hard way. Always assure that ALL images are saved to multiple hard drives before reformatting your memory card. Sound perfectly simple and basic doesn't it? I've been into digital photography for over ten years and have never done something so #@$%& stupid. Well, yes - I did back in 1972 with film but that's another story.
I had the opportunity to get a Fuji mirrorless body and three lenses for a reasonable price. Have used it pretty much exclusively since in the place of my old Nikon D300. Have it a real workout on a trip to Norway several months ago. Left the 300 at home. The new, significantly smaller backpack and reduced weight certainly was noticeable and easier to travel with than my Nikon system. One thing i personally don't like about the smaller camera body is just that - the smaller size makes it more difficult for me to manipulate the controls, especially in rushed situations. I don't see myself disposing the Nikon but time will tell.
Don't forget about the MX, brother to the ME.
Will be interested in seeing your images from the MES. I have one also and, like you haven't used it in many years. I also still have my Asahi Pentax Spotmatic from '67 that still sounds like it always did. Should try it out sometime. The lens is the f1.4 Takumar and is sharp. I use it with a converter and extension tubes on my Nikon sometime. Works great for macro without having to spend $$ on new glass.
Does anyone on the Forum have any experience with the new NX-D? I upgraded to Windows 10 and was forced to get NX-D (for free). Not being a tekkie of sorts, so far I don't like it at all. I knew my way around NX2 and can't find out how to do certain things as simple as brighten specific areas of an image, like an underexposed face, or darken the sky, etc.. I have downloaded the instruction manual but find it overly complicated and hard to follow. Waiting on a book like Mike Hagen's "After the Shoot" for NX2. Any further suggestions as to good reference material would be appreciated. Thanks.
Going to photograph sunrises and sunsets at North Rim of Grand Canyon next month. Suggestions on specific locations for both times would be appreciated. Hope snow doesn't close the roads. Thanks.
As a Nikon user there are several excellent cameras that can fit your needs: D-300! D-300S (video capable), Or D-80. Then, you'll need a lens. Assuming you want a zoom that will provide a wide range of capability from wide angle to telephoto, I'd pair it up with an 18 - 200 mm Nikon or similar Tamron or Sigma. I can speak for the Tamron as I had that lens when I bought my D-300 new. It served me just fine. The folks at KEH in Atlanta are excellent to work with. Their grading system is also very fair and conservative. I can't speak to Canon but those folks can. Good luck.
Picassa is a great program. Free download at www.picassa.com . You will find this program is very simple to use and surprisingly powerful. Although I use Nikon Capture NX2 for detailed dodge and burn, Picassa is my "go to" for e-mailing and many other functions when fine, detailed work isn't required.
Precisely my thoughts, Pete. It's one thing to take photos and give copies of the kids to their parents as a gift either in action or as a group. It's another when one is getting paid for it. First of all, hopefully you value your friendship with the other parents. Assuming you do, the last thing you want to do is damage that friendship by charging them for photos. Assuming they want some action shots, assuring you get a pix of each kid in action is important and not overloading on any particular kid (except for your own, of course). Assuming all goes well from the technical advice you received from others who have rendered in this post, perhaps you WILL be asked to do it again and get an offer to be paid. Sorry, but I have to agree with the very first comment in that if you don't know the answers to those basic questions you are making a big mistake for accepting payment for this activity. I would advise that you get yourself validated by the level of satisfaction from the parents. If they give you positive feedback on the freebies, that is great. If you don't hear anything or hear negative rumblings about the quality of the photos, you'll be glad you didn't charge them for them. At least your friendships and reputation as a straight up guy will be preserved. As for getting experience as another has posted, I agree one needs to get experience, but not at the expense of ones friends.
OK. It sounds like a great thing to do. Been wanting to try it. I have a D-300. Can someone walk me thru the process i.e., 1,2,3, etc.? Thanks.
Sorry - my questions regarding profiling were for Jdubu and thanks, Pop for bringing up the subject. For me it is a valuable discussion.
This entire discussion is excellent. I am not professional but do care a lot about the appearance and correctness of my images. I need to learn about color profiles. I have calibrated my monitor but read somewhere that monitor calibration is of no value without the color profile. Given you are doing that, can you please:
1- elaborate on exactly what a color profile is and it's relationship to monitor calibration,
2- explain, in fairly simple terms how to obtain a profile or profiles,
3- explain if you have only one profile per camera or have to establish a profile each time you shoot,
4- explain whether profiles are used only by Photoshop in PP. I use Nikon's Capture NX2, and
5- can you refer us to an easy-to-understand article or other reference material or an Internet link that explains the subject of color profiling in simple terminology?
Again, thank you for broadening the subject question.
I saw a clip on TV a few days ago where some fools were bungee jumping off of and swinging from arches. I thought the same thing about damage to the structures. I caught it a bit late into the segment so I don't know if what they were doing was at Arches National Park or not. Would think not. ANP is on my bucket list, too. Good luck and send an image or two.
Your issue may be due to insufficient space on your computer had drive. Check your remaining memory and if you find you're almost full, you can do a cleanup or better yet, go thru the computer and see what can be deleted to free up more space. If that isn't an option, buy a bigger computer. If you can't do that, one other suggestion would be to simply transfer a lot of your existing files that are resident on your computer to 2 external hard drives (having one for backup) and that will free up your space on your computer. I have had this same issue and ended up doing this.