Oh, goodness, I almost forgot to warn you: bring your own Shiner Bock. It's near impossible to find in New England.

As usual, there have been excellent responses quickly delivered, but I'd add at least one more spot to visit, Coastal Botanic Garden in Boothbay, Maine. Selected last year as the best public garden in the country, Coastal is a stunner.

I don't know if you're B&B people, but during the last couple of weeks we toured Maine and stayed at the Inn at Bath in Bath, and The Spouter Inn in Lincolnville Beach. The two put us in reach of the heart of the region.

Have a great trip.

Good luck. I had no warning.

This is the same lens that finally came apart in my hands, just up and separated! And, yes, it was soft before that happened.

Exactly! When I moved between a Speed Graphic Crown and a Nikormat, I had to vary my approach. It's no different now when I move from my D800E to my Canon G12 to my Smartphone. What is it the mounties say, "Adopt, adapt, and improve"?

I'm a bit mystified when I read about "down-Rez" suggestions. If you want to down-Rez, why buy a camera with a higher Rez than your previous camera? I moved from a D300S to a D800E and love the boost I get from the higher resolution. Sure, it's a pain that I had to increase my computer's RAM and my Epson media player and storage device is now useless, but those are minor in comparison to my satisfaction derived from seeing a speck on my monitor and discovering that that speck is a family that was a quarter mile away when I took the shot.

Agree! I shoot 85% of my work with a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom and it's wonderful. The point I was trying to make is that lenses from the 1950-1960s era are a bad bet for the cameras we have today, and zoom lenses are particularly weak. I mostly use my D800e, but when I use my trusty Nikormat, I shoot with a 50 mm, a. 105 mm, or a 200 mm. Note that no zooms are in that list.

I downloaded the trial CS6, but didn't use it because I couldn't get my Nik filters to run. Has anyone successfully used the cloud version with previously downloaded Nik filters?

I'm inclined to agree with the "why bother" group. In 1968 I bought a Nikkor 43-86 mm zoom, thinking zoom lenses were the way to go. It was awful! Zooms at the time were notoriously soft and a waste of money. That meter coupling lug can be easily removed to prevent damage to your camera; nothing can be done to protect your captures if you use bad glass. Fill it with lead and make an anchor out of it.

Mostly, pray for an absence of fog. I was there yesterday, and visibility on Cadillac Mountain was about 30 feet. You have the right gear, so don't hesitate to stop for a shot at lower altitudes. Loop Road is the best bet, because you can park in the right lane at any point. Good shooting!

I've encountered the same thing, but I'm fairly sure that it's largely a function of the computer having to deal with so much resolution. With my D300S, sharpness was always instantaneous; with my D800E it takes a few seconds. If that's what you're experiencing, I'd not worry. If the sharpness never comes, that's when the worrying settles in.

I'm also a former long time film guy, so trust me when I say that it won't be long before you wonder how you ever put up with the finicky nature of film.

I opted for the D800e, and out of nearly 2000 images, I've seen moire in 2. It's a non-issue for me, and when I see the incredible resolution that the camera delivers, I know I'd take a MUCH higher moire rate and still feel I'd spent my $300 wisely.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Yes, Nik's programs are all plug-ins whereas Photomatix isn't. Functionally, however, I don't see much of a difference. One opens on its own; the other opens through Photoshop. Yep, that's the difference that I see.

My workflow--Bridge > CS5 > Nik Plug-ins > HDR Efex Pro 2 > CS5 > Lightroom > Printer--lends itself to using Nik.

I'm not saying, "This must be your workflow!" All I'm saying is that this works for me quite nicely. Here's an image that was developed using that workflow.

For a long time I stayed away from Nik's HDR software and used Photomatix exclusively. Then I bought the full Nik suite and decided to try the HDR. I'm now a confirmed Nik HDR user. I was always fighting to keep my images from going to grunge with Photomatix; with Nik that's not a problem. Truth be told, increasingly I'm not using multiple exposure HDR and am using single image tone mapping. I find that the quality is better and I get far fewer "Oh, did you process this as an HDR image?"

One sidebar, however, since Google purchased Nik, I see that the amazing series of webinars, a major draw for Nik, has disappeared. That's a shame.