Don't overlook the Acer Aspire One with the 11 inch screen and the 320 Gb hard drive. Very nice, very slim, very usable. It's one of the best values in NetBook format, primarily because of that extra inch of screen...NICE! Also has one of the fasted CPU's in NetBook territory at 1.8 Gh, and upgradeable to 4 Gb. The CPU Speed and RAM capability are sore points on NetBook. Many top out at 2Gb RAM. The extra length because of the 11 inch screen also pays off in the keyboard not being a bit cramped as most NetBook computers can be. The Acer Aspire One w 11 inch screen is the closest $240-260 deal that you can buy short of an ultra notebook for a lot more.

I am not a fan of Windows 8. It's Microsofts "cop out" to the tablet market, I am giving it a go because I feel we are stuck with it. However, I have my Acer loaded up with Windows 7 (I got one of the last ones out) and I separated a Partition off and loaded Windows 8 on a "dual boot", so I can use either one. However, the "productivity" of Windows 7 makes Windows 8 SUCK!!!

Windows 8 is for play and social media. I am literally convinced that those who say they like Windows 8, secretly lie in bed at night with the covers over their heads and whimper silently for the return of Windows 7.

I also hear the the solutions for making Windows 8 look like Windows 7 are crashing Windows 8 and it often must be reloaded. All this information is verifiable on the internet.

I am "died in the wool" anti-social. No Facebook, I don't Twitter, Tweet or Twat. None of that stuff. HashTag in the Corned Beef variety is something I have for breakfast with two eggs, home fries and wheat toast.

Also, there is no CD/DVD support in Windows 8, but then the NetBooks don't have CD/DVD drives. It will probably be only about a year before no computers have CD/DVD drives. They are going away.. no more optical. Don't even concern yourself with it. Get your data off optical disks and onto conventional memory drives.

Wow...!!!

That's a ton of money for a monitor that your laptop may not drive to it's full capacity. Do you know what graphics chip your laptop uses (Non upgradable by the way on laptops) and how much RAM is assigned to the graphics card.

Even on a high grade video card (in a conventional or custom built desk top computer) with a lot more RAM than often assigned to the video chip in any laptop, a budget of $400 would buy a very high quality monitor. Unless you are going for a HUGE monitor.

I wouldn't walk into any computer or big box store that has a large computer department and "shout out" that kind of budget.

Surely, someone will find something that will cost that much, but unless you're in your laptop about $2500 to $3000, I'd bet your graphics chip would not use such a monitor to it's full capability.

On the other hand... come to think of it, I do have.............

IF YOUR REAL GOAL is to shoot tethered, be aware that some cameras (Nikon) do not normally come with FREE software to shoot tethered.

Info on tethered shooting.. Nikon.

http://thephotogeek.com/choosing-nikon-dslr-camera-tethered-shooting-software/

With Nikon, you need Camera Control software which can be an added expense of $150 -$200.

You should not presume that all cameras can be shot tethered. With your budget of $500, you should definitely first confront the "Tethered" issue. The Nikon 3200, and the Nikon 90 both appear to need this extra software, and I think it is safe to assume that if Nikon gets $160 for the control software, shooting "tethered" is not likely to be free with any camera.

OTOH, I have heard that if you are using a MAC, Aperture (MAC editing) has the ability to shoot tethered, but don't quote me as confirming that.

If there are any professionals on the forum who shoot tethered, perhaps they can tell you.

If the purchase of the software is the key element, then it may be that it won't make much difference about camera selection. But that's just a WAG on my part.

I find it interesting how many camera's are listed in your thread that it will not be possible to buy a Camera Body and Lens at your posted budget.

I do know that Adorama was selling refurbed Nikon D5100 with kit lens for $439. Also, heavy recommendations on the D90, while for $100 less you can find the very capable D80. The only real reason for the the issue of the D90 was video, although it was also 2 more Mp.

Yes.. surely... Define Pro...

There are some standard definitions for Pro... , and around the fringe of that designation are all kinds of people whose "Profession" allow them plenty of time to do a lot of things the conventional pro may never "have time" to do.

I wouldn't say that without an example, shown in the work of a friend, who's "Profession" for a couple of decades has been in the Fine Art field - Mostly Landscapes in Large Format.

www.brucejackson.com

If you click on his Limited Editions link and then open one of his images, look at his pricing.

Bruce has pretty much been packing around the same Tachihara 4x5, the same three lenses, same accessories and shooting the same film for a couple of decades. And, oh yes, he did buy a Canon 60D a couple of years ago to try out the "new kid" on the block. Doesn't seem to use it much however.

Bruce is doing well, and I am constantly amazed at how much time he seems to find to do pretty much anything he chooses.

Just another example of Professional. All the wedding, portrait and event photographers in town pretty much envy Bruce's interpretation of Professional.

Now, of course that last statement may be a bit presumptuous on my part, but...........

How restricted are you to Tigard. It seems odd to ask about photo ops in Tigard, since Tigard just a smaller community adjacent to Portland Oregon...

Now Portland.. that's another situation altogether, with less than a days drive to:

1) The Columbia Gorge
2) The Oregon North Coast
3) The Columbia River West to Astoria
4) Astoria
5) Tillamook
6) The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum McMinville Oregon
Primarily housing Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" among a TON of other aviation history. A few hours from Portland.:
http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/
7) Mt Hood and Hood River Valley
8) Wind surfing the Columbia Gorge (centered out of Hood River,
east 1.5 hours from Portland, some of the best windsurfing in the country, but a little early in the year...kinda cool.)
9) Various waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge, Bridal Veil Falls, etc. 1.5-2 hours east on the Columbia River out of Portland, many waysides with some spectacular waterfalls falling out of lush green almost jungle like growths of Pine, Fir and other vegetation)

Tigard.. not spectacular in any significant way....Portland and many points within a 2-3 hour drive...

Far more than a few days will allow.

Not to mention the Portland Rose Gardens
The Waterfront of the Columbia and Willamette rivers downtown Portland.
A Vibrant City in many regions of Portland....

Why Tigard, and how far can you range from Tigard? Friends don't let friends visit them in Tigard!!!They meet them in downtown Portland or one of those other sites listed above.

All those other sites...

As Robin Williams said to a Heckler he had just crushed....

"Sir, we are not laughing at you, we are laughing NEAR you!!!'

And your wife has no obsessions? HMMM?

I go with JR`... Only Pictures I have personally shot.

I will add to that, Only pictures of me. Shot with remote.

Is this for inclusion in a Yearbook.

Presuming that the people doing the yearbook allow Senior Pictures to be presented by outside photographers, do you know the file formats and file sizes or requirements for presenting you images to them for processing into the yearbook.

I would think that if they do allow this, then there would be a handout given to those who plan to use outside photographers with this information listed.

Now add to the list....

IBM punch card
Cassette tape for Cassette disk (Media for Texas Instruments TI99A computer)
Micro Cassette Tape for hand recorder.
8 inch floppy disk
5 1/4 inch floppy disk
DAT tape cassette
Zip Drive Disk
Jazz Drive Disk
Flash Media memory card (camera)
Compact Flash Card?? still in use somewhat

There is more, your post is a good start.

I encourage you, of all postings on this thread, to google or yahoo the terms:

CD Rot
DVD Rot

Particularly with reference to specialty long term archival products. You may be partially right, but it's still and interesting exercise.

I am in your camp on this.

The simple and most expedient answer to the OP question is a Resounding and Qualified NO!!!!!!!!

I have been a computer consultant for 25 years. I have seen in that amount of time, even though digital photography was not in vogue over that time, how many migrations of data to new media would have been needed to get a digital image file from a camera from 25 years ago onto media that is still relatively available today.

Regarding your post on no CD/DVD burners in many computers, how about this one. I am told (have yet to verify) that there is now longer support for Optical devices (CD/DVD) in Windows 8. If you want to burn CD/DVD's you now have to buy third party software. I will be checking this out.

In addition as the OP mentioned that a friend warned her on CD usage, you can scare yourself right out of using optical disks by doing a search on the terms:

CD Rot
DVD Rot

I haven't used optical media for other than temporary data to transfer to other computers for over a year.

So, without belaboring this post, Anyone anticipating the storage of any photographic image is INSANE to think it is possible in everyday use, and likely for business archival.

Film and Print. Won't it be interesting when we all discover the only way we can really save digital image files is to output them to film (positive or negative) or Print.

Now where did I put that film camera(s). Oh Yeah, I am still shooting mostly medium and large format, and I know exactly where all my negatives, transparencies and print are located.

For those fully converted, Happy Temporary Photography.

Great, and thank you for that.

So, it looks like there is a photo discussion page, which looks like a critique.

And, I do see the photo gallery section. It does still look to me like it is individual posts of images.

Is there no specific way to see all of a specific members shots in an album/folder, etc?

In any event, thanks for your response in such a timely manner, and helpful at that.

kuzano

It appears there is no photo gallery as such. I see no way to post to a gallery a number of photos, such as I have done at other forums, for gallery review when people may want to see my work.

It looks to me like what passes for a Photo Gallery on this forum is a series of disconnected photo posts. If I want to look at the images posted by a particular member or number of members, for instance, how do I go about doing that?

No real photo gallery section on UHH?

Could this be one of the reasons that the member list shows 28,000 members, but I have never seen more than 300 members logged in at any given time. Seems people may be looking for sites where they can post numbers of photos in a real gallery.

Also, I am not finding a real dedicated Critique section, where one can post an image for specific critiques, and suggestion to stay on topic.

Looks like one must post an image and ask for a critique. Most of this type of unspecified posting seems to degrade into much off topic "monkeys throwing poop" at one another. Pretty sad.

Would be nice to see continuous galleries for some people's hard work, and real Critique's where the only subject is a critique of a particular image and posts involving "slander" of other poster's opinions is removed from the forum.

Are there moderators? Any control at all? Please? Assistance?

And a lot of people are taking that upgrade and running with it. My film camera sales are steady, and prices are steady for good rangefinders and SLR 35mm and rising for Medium Format and Large Format.

Some disenchantment out there with digital, if you pay attention to market trends.