Thanks Gene, this is some of the kind of info I was looking for. I fully understand the the difference between weight capacity and stability.

I have a Manfrotto ball head and plate on my Velbon tripod that I will be using. I don't remember the number on it and it is out in the van and I'm too lazy to go out and look :D But is works well on my Velbon so I know it will work well on the Manfrotto. I was mostly concerned about the sturdiness of the legs on the Manfrotto. I've never used a tripod that doesn't have the legs tied to the center post. The Velbon is sturdy but often too short for me. The reviews on the 055XPROB show it to be plenty tall. All of the reviews on this one have been great but it is sometimes hard to trust paid commercials. I'd rather trust the folks on UHH :)

I think I'm sold. Thanks :)

Thanks for the info. I have a Manfrotto ball head that I like a lot that I would put on it. If I go very far with it I would be in a car or on my bike so that should not be an issue. I use the monopod for light work and hiking. I have a good old Velbon tripod but it is short, I have often wanted a taller one that is stable but don't want to spend what the carbon fiber systems cost as I just don't use it that often.

I'm looking real hard at the Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod to use as a main tripod. I don't use a tripod much but I know the photographic value of a good one when needed. I have a Manfrotto monopod and Manfrotto head and plate on my old tripod so I tend to trust Manfrotto products. My primary camera and lens is Canon 50D (kind of heavy) with 18-200. Does anyone have experience with the 055XPROB; if so what do you think?

Ditto what everyone else said plus in my case I wear reading glasses and I find it a lot more comfortable to look at the live view with my glasses on than looking through the viewfinder. I don't have to take my glasses off to take the shot then put them back on to check it. I really appreciate the live view that way. ;)

I tried it about 30 years ago and as I remember the slides were ok but the negatives were only good for rather rough black and white. When I say rough I was comparing 35mm to 120 roll film black and white. Of course different cameras and all that were in play as well. I only tried it once, seems like it was more trouble than it was worth. I was doing my own chemicals and darkroom stuff in those days.

My Canon 430ex II says Made in China on it. ;)

I have one f 1.4 just cleaned and serviced I'll sell to you cheap. It won't be 50mm on your Rebel crop sensor, it will come out more like 80mm. It is a Canon EF USM. I'd trade if for a nice tripod.

You really don't need to use a lab. You can scan your film negatives yourself with a flatbed scanner. Several models of flatbed scanners and multi-function scanner printer devices have built in film scanner attachments and if you do an Internet search for film scanning you should see lots of DIY options. I have a HP G3010 flatbed with the film thing in the lid and it came with lots of software to play with negatives and prints.

Excellent point and thanks for the reference to Ansel Adams. When I had a darkroom at my disposal and I was shooting medium format I could (actually have) stayed in the darkroom all day tweaking and experimenting.

That is my point actually. When you sent your film out, there was a lot of post processing involved. Depending on the type of film there were various chemicals selected to process the film and then various papers were selected somewhat based on your selection of matt or glossy and other decisions were made in the lab based on how your film turned out. The commercial processing machines pretty much automatically adjust for negatives that are too light or too dark but the lab techs can watch over and tweak that too. So again, my point is there was quite a bit involved in the post processing for the film shots but as others have already mentioned you don't have to get crazy with PP but I would suspect too that the more you let yourself get involved with digital PP eventually you will learn why your photos are turning out a the way they are and you will learn to correct that in the camera settings before you snap the shutter and eventually take better photos and do less PP. I hope this helps.

I just upgraded to Paintshop Pro Ultimate x7 from x3. I still have a lot to learn but I have a lot of fun with it in fixing portraits, stuff that was done with dodging and burning in the darkroom, and taking power lines and other unwnted stuff out of landscapes. :)

Hmmm who did your darkroom work when you shot film? I did film mode most of my life and spent most of the time in PP (darkroom). PP is PP whether it is darkroom or computer. I'm only doing digital now because I don't have an adequate place to set up my darkroom equipment and I don't want to give up photography as a hobby. I still prefer film and darkroom over digital but I'm enjoying learning digital too. But still, PP is PP it is just a matter of mindset.

Thanks! That made me feel special. :)