Want to upgrade your camera and can afford it, then do it, time waits for no one! Ultimately it's the person behind the camera that makes the image, but what you use to make an image does matter. Buying used or refurbished can be a way to acquire equipment at substantially reduced prices, but does entail risk. Even buying refurbished is no guarantee the camera works as it should. Get what makes you happy, as in the end it's your life and not be concerned what others may think. I upgraded from a D3200 to D800E and what a difference, not only in the quality of the image, but the things I can do with it. Now I'm shooting with a D810 and it's even better! Remember, you can always make money but only spend time so enjoy things while you can!

My first car was a Austin Healey 100-6. It amazed me that a car made in the British Isles would stall if going through a puddle. Took lots of maintenance to keep it running, but I had so much fun in that car!

My first car was a Austin Healey 100-6. It amazed me that a car made in the British Isles would stall if going through a puddle. Took lots of maintenance to keep it running, but I had so much fun in that car!

I use Blackmagic Disk Speed test and AJA System Test to measure SSD and hard drive performance.

Not always cheaper and also need to consider time spent! I have the whole Creative Suite and that would cost $50 per month for subscription, so I'm staying with CS6 until something changes. When I was involved in advertising I had to keep up or perish! Now I don't upgrade constantly because it takes so much time, not only for programs, but operating systems to get things ironed out. Each upgrade involves learning curves and at times it seems I'm screwing around with computers more than creating images! In fact I don't upgrade until I absolutely forced to do so, and try to use the time for other things I enjoy, like making images. You may call me irrational, but I'm not the only one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww

Black studio is the best for controlling light, but it's hard to find things!

I'd guess many people were saying that about digital photography when film was king of the heap!

Splash 35. Exploring possibilities higher flash duration with a Broncolor Pulso power pack back in the early 90's in my advertising days. I call it Splash 35 because I used 35 sheets of 4x5 Ektachrome 100 film and this image was in the last batch of film processed. White background paper with blue filter on 2 strobe heads is the illumination. A tray was attached to a bar that was suspended and in a darkened studio with shutter open the water interrupted an inf-red beam that triggered the strobes. Most of the images caught the event too late and finally determined to catch it sooner by changing the delay on the beam. The flash at 1/6000 of a second resulted in using the 300mm Symmar wide open at f5.6 yielded an extremely narrow depth of field. I can only imagine what Doc Edgerton went through making his images of bullets entering objects. I got to meet him at Strobe Alley at MIT and he was like a kid showing people around the Electrical Engineering labs. He liked my work and invited me along to Scotland in his effort to document Nessy, but my kids were young and I had business to run and passed on the offer.

I recently bought a Surui W-2204 tripod and Desmond Demon DB-46 ballhead, best walk around tripod I've ever had and I have 4 Gitzo's. The whole rig for carbon fiber tripod and headcost $350 shipped and it is very easy to set up and pack up and includes a very nice case. Said tripod is waterproof and my hope is it won't get jammed up like the Gitzo's do. No creep and no movement when locking things down and is the right height so no center column needed. Has all the features I want, level bubble on tripod, spike or rubber feet option, and case strap can be used with tripod alone. Legs don't spin so clamps are easy to use and don't slip.

Watershed dry bags are superior to anything else on the market. Not inexpensive but properly sealed will keep your gear dry! I would have one drybag that allows working camera bag to fit in it, and if you have more camera gear, bring another dry bag/bags. The idea is to have the gear easily accessible. Watershed dry bags ave many different sizes from small to large. I have been using then for river trips over the years, including one bought in 1998 that still seals tight. I used to have to replace other brands every couple of years.

The choices for MacOS are limited. Calendar Maker had lots of control features, but as mentioned no longer available. I've been using the Printshop 2, while not as flexible as Calendar Maker, but gets the job done and can import events from Calandar, Mac's built in app. Have fun making calendars!

I scan transparencies at 3200dpi resulting in just less than 150MB file. Different with film long time exposures. I've done up to 8 hour exposures and it's simple, open the shutter and close it, no noise or batteries to deal with.

I have used Hassleblad's since 1996 and you can't find a more rugged, versatile camera system. You can find some excellent deals on eBay as there are less people shooting medium format these days. Some of the 200 series can be pricey such as 203 and 205's, but I have bought nice 500CM bodies for less than $300. Also is the 201F bodies that have a focal plane shutter with speeds to 1/2000 that mirror pops back up after exposure and usually is under priced because not many are aware of the features. H series is a whole different scene and very expensive depending the model. Ziess lens are wicked sharp.

No excuse, look at who runs for office, mostly a bunch of professional politicians that don't represent the will of the people!

Question is are converted DNG files exactly the same as the original RAW files? When I had a version of Photoshop that couldn't read files from Nikon D3200 I used the converter, but it was an extra step and I did keep the original RAW files so took more storage. Eventually I acquired CS6 and it was a moot point and I trashed all the DNG files. When I acquired an Olympus TG-4 I couldn't see any icons of the RAW files until I upgraded to Sierra. I'm not going to upgrade until I have to, it always causes hassles and I want to make images, not screw around with computers!