Yesterday I received a box from B&H that surprised me. I had recently ordered some software, but wasn't expecting it until Monday next week. Then I thought, it was shipping to my office and not my home, but here it was.

So I picked it up and it was heavier than expected for a box with a single software package inside.

Upon opening it, I found a B&H catalog! Now I receive B&H catalogs all the time, but never in a box. Then I notice that the catalog is attached with gift cards... Why am I getting gift cards? I look again and there are 2 $150.00 cards!

I look at the packing slip and there is a page with a note from 2 close friends thanking me for my help with their problem.

Last year on vacation, they accidentally erased the photos from their P&S of the whole vacation plus everything prior to that (as some people treat the sd card as a storage system) They called me in a panic and I told them to get another card to use, keep the erased card safe and untouched for now. I would send them the Recuva info to their email with instructions on what to do when they got home.

So I did and thought all was good. Instead they never used the software and took the card around to any store they thought could help, including Best Buy. The Best Buy people told her that the card was too small to retrieve any information from... not like a hard drive! At that point, she just resigned herself to having lost all her photos.

Last week, we had dinner at their house about an hour away, and I asked if they had ever retrieved the photos. Luckily, she still had the card tucked away, so I took it home and ran the Recuva and lo and behold, there are their photos. They were very thankful and I told them I was happy to do it. If you have used this software, you know it is fast, simple and pretty cheap.

Now what do I do? this is certainly not a $300 job and it isn't cash that I can just return. I doubt they would accept cash anyway.

I also wondered how they knew of B&H, then remembered at dinner I was kidding about going with them on their planned NY trip so I could spend the time at B&H like a kid in a candy store!

My wife says offer to do some PP and printing of their favorite photos, which is probably the best way to accept their generosity we can think of yet.

Thanks to all who have recommended Recuva for retrieving reformatted cards.

I got my D3200 with a couple of Transcend class10 cards. It seems that I heard something about SanDisk and/or Lexar, either in extreme or professional versions being the only cards really worth using.

Is this a matter of opinion or general knowledge based on experience? I always thought Transcend was a decent brand.

Since I've just became serious about photography, not just taking pictures and barely know which end of the camera is which, I likely wouldn't notice any difference anyway. :? :).

I just want the odds in my favor of getting a great photograph.

I just returned from two weeks on the Oregon coast where it rained at some point most every day. This put a real "damper" on my photography plans as I really didn't want to risk getting my camera rained on. And I didn't want to lug my large gadget bag on hikes in the woods. Long story short, I found a one gallon size zip lock Baggie in the cabin. It folded neatly in my pocket, when the rains started I could quickly put my camera in it lens first, point the open end of Baggie down and voila, no problem. Also kept it over the camera as we walked the beach to protect against the ocean mist. I do a lot of hiking in Arizona and plan to use the Baggie to help protect against the dust on hikes there. Cheap, lightweight, easy on and easy off and effective. Probably not the first to do this but I haven't seen this idea posted on UHH in the 2 yrs I've been following it. Oh yeah, most importantly, I captured some great shots right after the rain would stop and sun would poke through.

I previously posted that my wife and I were in a bad car accident and lost important things to our well being like coordination and memory to name a couple. We both both gained somethings to, most are unwelcomed. I have developed what I call a twitch or jerk. My arms well just jerk about five or six inches without any indication that it is going to happen. If I have something in my hands that isn't secured it goes flying.
I used to take some pretty descent photos with an old point and shot that I had and I thought I would like to get back into it. I couldn't decide what I should get. Many on the forum talked about a Canon Powershot SX50. I went to a photographer that has just opened up a camera store in the same place. He sold me a SX50 and threw in a field quide book for just under $300.00. I didn't think I should pass it up.
This morning my friend who happens to be my nieghbor and I were out early to practice. I was standing on the driveway setting it up on A, when one of those cursed jerks hit and it went flying. It hit the cement drive and I saw lens pieces coming out of the barrel. I picked it up and looked down into the barrel and I could see all the way to the back. My friend put his arm around my shoulder and said go get your other camera and lets go shoot. I really didn't feel like it. I just felt sick. I threw the mess away.
When I was first looking for a camera, I had $2000 that I had put together over some time for doing this. I decided my grandson who is studying to be a mechanical engineer needed a computer more then I needed a camera. So no budget for a camera.

This evening my friend came over and had a sack with him, He said that he had needed an excuse to upgrade and I had given him one and he handed me the sack, in it was his Nikon Coolpix P510, battries and the whole nine yards. He said he had bought a Nikon D5100 and would like to our early tomorrow morning and do some shooting. He asked if I would like to come along.
I stood there with my mouth hanging open and tears running down my face.
I have never hugged another man before like I hugged my friend,
Not many people are lucky enough to have a friend like I have. We're going shooting in the morning!