I lived in NYC for over 50 years. I had a lot in-your-face experience dealing with both companies. I'm glad your exchanges were favorable.

B & H is a much larger operation, with more qualified people working there to answer whatever the consumer is asking about products they are interested in. They don't need to be pushy and curt. They thrive on customers that come back to them repeatedly.

I can't say the same about Adorama...

It's your choice to shop where you want. It's a free country, right?

Adorama changed years ago. They used to be customer friendly but that policy changed to sell what you can to the customer. It's about money...

Since then, which is a pretty long time now, I switched over to B & H. They have never changed their style which has always made me, the discerning customer, happy, happy. They also have a bullet proof return policy, no questions asked.

They kick butt with the best quality printing I've seen in 40 years of taking pictures. :P

I have an Epson 1800 that I never use because I found a print source through a professional photographer friend that cannot be beat for quality or price, Adoramapix.com.

He told me that he doesn't have the time to print and the paper and ink is too costly. And after I saw a 20X30 print I was convinced. Since then I have used this service myself and my printer has been sitting idle ever since.

The print quality is exceptional and very inexpensive, a lot cheaper that doing it yourself. If they make a mistake or if something is off they correct it immediately with no charge.

What you have to do is make sure that before you send work in you need first to make sure that your monitor is calibrated properly. But you need to do that if you use your own printer as well. If you want to refine the end result even more you can download color correct profiles (ICC Profiles) from them for the paper that they actually use to get accurate results.

I've been Adoramapix.com for years and have never looked back. For equipment I buy from B & H. That's it...

Try them and see for yourself. You won't be sorry! :D

Go for the gusto and get Carbon Fiber. I had what I thought was a good lightweight aluminum tripod and then discovered that I was picking up vibration on a windy day. I later learned that carbon fiber actually absorbs a lot of vibration and is even lighter. Lighter and less vibration... no brainer!!!

Thanks for the tip. Anything Jobu makes is awesome quality...

I have a nice Manfrotto ballhead 498 RC2 $104 that I matched for my Manfrotto 055 CXPRO3 carbon fiber tripod. It's a great combination, but a little cumbersome for a big lens, especially if you like to switch to portrait mode sometimes.

That aside... I just recently bought the Jobu Jr. 3 Gimbal Head Kit. If you're going to use the 300mm a lot that's the tripod head to get. It keeps the camera and lens nicely balanced for panning and wildlife photography. You can also lock it down for other application. This is one of the best things I have ever bought for my gear bag. It's made in Canada. Real quality, and it will last a lifetime...

After 40 years behind the lens I don't consider myself an average shooter, but I try to stay humble so I can continue to learn from more experienced photogs...

Trying to find your pictures later, in order to edit them using other software, is very tedious. I'm sure you know this to be true...

Sometimes you don't have time to get a good picture and you just have to wing it. No?

I've been on a MAC since 1989 and never, ever looked back.
I use Lightroom and Photoshop. iPhoto is crap and holds your photos hostage...
Lightroom is great to manage your photos. It takes a while to learn but it's well worth the effort getting into it.
Photoshop is the holy grail of digital photography...
You can find tutorials for both on youtube.com

Yes, that's true. Thank you! But, then again, we weren't talking about pano. We are talking about HDR...

My pleasure!!! :D

Take a look at Micha Boland's stuff. You might change your opinion just a little... :D

The entire point point in HDR is to fill in the gaps in high contrasting areas of an image so that the image is still acceptable by any standard. The camera just can't do that on its own.

For me it happens to be clarity enhancement. I love to see clear, clear images loaded with natural color...

And then there's the artistic dynamic. Adding pop, dash, color, and drama. Isn't that part of the freedom of our vision.

I really don't want to be part of the Photo Police. Do you?

This is the recommendation from the Photomatix website, the software most people use for doing HDR:

"High contrast scenes can be grouped into roughly two types depending on their dynamic range:

Medium dynamic range scene: Most landscapes and other types of outdoor scenes fall into this category. Three exposures taken in two-EV steps (i.e. -2, 0 +2 EV), or five exposures taken in one-EV steps, are usually sufficient for this type of scene.

High dynamic range scene: A typical example is the interior of a room with a view outside the window on a sunny day. You need to take at least five exposures in two-EV steps (or nine exposures in one-EV steps) to capture this type of scene, but you may need more. Taking the exposures manually is recommended in these cases."

You should definitely be using a tripod and set your camera for Aperture Priority. If the Aperture changes your images will not be clear.

I hope this helps answer your question.

To get the full range I think it would seem logical to shoot 5 images at +/- 1EV. With this range you can choose the three images that fall in the +/- 2EV range or you can use all 5.

Most shooters say +/- 2EV using 3 images...

You have to experiment.

This is a link to the Photomatix gallery:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/gallery/index.php

Some of the artists share their exposure info with their images.

Seeing what I like and copying their methods works for me...
:thumbup:

I bought the Canon 5d Mark III specifically so that I could buy some Zeiss lenses. I rented a Zeiss lens first and had no problems.
I then bought the 21mm and after about 30 shots my camera gave me an Error Communication Problem.
I returned the lens and got the 100mm.
After a few shots I had the same problem.
I contacted Canon and they told me that they don't support third party lenses, talk to Zeiss.
Then I contacted Zeiss. They wanted me to send the lens to them, in return they would send me an immediate replacement. They thought that both lenses having a problem was weird.
They also told me that they would deal with B&H if I had an issue returning the replacement lens, if and when I chose to do so.
Then Zeiss told me that their service department just said that the Canon 5D Mark III had a compatibility issue.
This fiddle-dicking was just too much time wasted for me. I was starting to feel like a test subject...
A few weeks later I went to their website and they had taken the Mark III off their list of compatible cameras. Go figure!
I was really incensed because they advertise Canon mounts.
Tired of all this I invested instead in a Canon 50mm 1.2 and just recently I bought a Canon 16-35mm 2.8. I'm happy with both lenses.
When I learn to shit money I'll buy a 6D that has no such issues, and when hell freezes over I'll add on the Zeiss lenses I always desired...
I hope this lengthy blah, blah, blah answered your question.

It is not an adapter issue!!! It has to do with the CPU in both the camera and the lens not communicating...