would to take $400?

Jim Colton

I am interested in buying your lens. Let me know if it is still available.

It depends on your objective. I can get into the latest gear, even without buying it, and it's a lot of fun. But if you want to produce great artistic photos, by far the most important element is your artistic vision. Artistic vision can be learned by studying a lot of good photos and reading some good books on the subject, e.g. "Photography and the Art of Seeing" by Freeman Patterson and "The Fundamentals of Creative Photography" by David Prakel.

It's a normal scene for Yu Gardens on a weekend. It's not typical of Shanghai in general.

Crowded Shangai

Anyone who cares about the quality of the image and the versatility in post processing it, SHOULD be shooting in raw.

Raincoat? I need a raincoat??!!

I'm going to the national parks in Alaska. Taking my Canon 6D and my Canon 70-200 F4 zoom (and shorter lenses). I think I need a longer lens for some of the wildlife. First question: Do you agree? Second question: If so, should I rent a canon 400 mm lens or a Sony RX10 III camera? Which would be better?

Thanks for your comments.

Out favorite stops in this area were Custer State Park and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in ND.

Before I retired, I made a list of 12 things I was going to do when I retired to insure that I wouldn't get bored. My first 4 on the list were travel, golf, volunteering and photography. After I started photography, I threw the list away because I didn't have time for anything else! I bought a Canon 6D FF DSLR and eventually three L lenses and a 50 mm Zeiss prime. I joined the Palo Alto camera club and picked the brains of the best photographers. I combine photography with travel and I do volunteer photography for several nonprofit organizations, e.g I photograph for Canopy, a tree planting organization. I exhibit at our local library, at a cafe and at our local senior center. For me, getting positive feedback from these experiences is very motivating to keep improving my photography.

Before I retired, I made a list of 12 things I was going to do when I retired to insure that I wouldn't get bored. My first 4 on the list were travel, golf, volunteering and photography. After started photography, I three the list away because I didn't have time for anything else. I bought a Canon 6D FF DSLR and eventually three L lenses and a 50 mm Zeiss prime. I joined the Palo Alto camera club and picked the brains of the best photographers. I combine photography with travel and I do volunteer photography for several nonprofit organizations, e.g I photograph for Canopy, a tree planting organization. I exhibit at our local library, at a cafe and at our local senior center. For me, getting positive feedback from these experiences is very motivating to keep improving my photography.

If I copy the first day's shoot using Filehub then shoot the second day on the same SD card, will it copy only the second day's shooting?

I shoot jpeg except for those photos that are going to turn out really well. In other words, I shoot RAW all the time!

I have a Sony RX100 II. It's a great camera--shoots in raw 20MP. I use it a lot for street photography. I can print 12 x 18 and it looks great. The manual is practically worthless. I learned by playing with it and find a youtube video when I had a problem. I also have "Photographer's guide to the Sony RX100 II" which is a good reference. Don't try to read it cover to cover unless you have a problem with insomnia.

You almost never want to change the proportions of the subject you are presenting (except for an unusual effect). For example you can shoot a person in landscape mode of size, say 18 inches by 12 inches, and crop both sides so the subject is a portrait of size 9 by 12 inches. Yes, you have dropped half the pixels but with today's cameras you can still print a good photograph.

Of course you would like to be able to compose so that you don't do any cropping but I find that I crop most of my photos. With today's cameras you can use cropping as an additional tool in composition in post. See my previous post about using a variety of crop ratios so that the print will work in a pre-cut window mat.