Very nice. Should I assume you shoot in raw and pp after to adjust color?

I appreciate your offer but as mentioned, I'm only shooting jpeg. I have elements but haven't learned enough to use it much. I know I could do much more if shooting raw and then in PS but I'm not on that path right now. Just looking to dial in camera settings for better IR jpeg's.

Here's an attempt. A little background: I was given a D200 that was converted to IR, I shoot jpeg and use Picasa. I set custom WB to green grass one day and have just left it there. I usually have to pp with color & saturation a bit. Nikonshooter, do you know if I can switch the blue & red channels in the camera? Would I get better results if I did? I don't believe that option is in Picasa. Anyway, any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

I've had really good luck on Craigslist both buying and selling. If you know how to check out and evaluate the item you're buying and are comfortable with those face to face meets then I say win win. I've also bought used from National Camera (our local mini chain) as they throw in some seminar tickets and coupons for use which come in handy later.

Go to your Menu immediately! Go to f9 memory card setting and select the LOCK setting, then the camera will not take that shot if there's no card in place. Nikon default allows you to shoot without this lock on (demo mode they call it) but then you may end up in the situation you had (shooting without a card). I learned the hard way too with my D200. Hopefully it will only happen once!

Here's my budget set up. My "new" bodies are both D200's, short is a Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.0 OS and long is the Sigma 70-200 2.8 (couldn't spring for the OS). Dual harness is the $15 ebay special. Hey, it all works! I have some 1.8's but the above usually stays on most if not all of the time.

Being the second thread I've seen on this subject, I have not seen any comments about the stress between the lens and body connection. That is more my concern. Currently my "heavy" set up is the D200 w/ a Sigma 70-200. For it's connection, I trust the tripod socket more than the lens collar but again, any thoughts about the lens/body connection strain?

My personal choice would be to get the D5100 body, keep all your existing gear & glass, use the D3000 for a second body and add a Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS. I'm assuming you have a low range zoom with the D3000. Again, just my .02 (or rather $2k).

Hey, I say go for it. Go visit the beach a few times w/ your other photographer around that same time of day, bring a few friends and take a bunch of test shots of them. Play around with different settings and see what you get. Get back to your friend with the results and talk about expectations. If what you can do is what she will be happy with, you're good to go! Great way to grow and learn.

A good free software is Opanda. Go to opanda.com and download their IXIF 2.3 viewer software. It will give you all info for your pics, including total shutter actuations.

I'll second the Sigma 17-70 OS. Faster than kits (2.8-4.0), close focusing - 8.7", and has given me some really nice images. There's a non OS 2.8-4.5 discontinued version that could save you some pennies and still give you great results too.

A second body is certainly justifiable. It's the third one (and 4th and 5th) that the wife doesn't understand!

I have a small stable of D200's and always feed them Sandisk Extreme 4 GB, 40mb/s, 267x speed, udma 5 compliant (whatever that means). Probably faster than I need but have never had a problem. I know $'s per GB goes way down as card size goes up but I'd rather have a pocket of 4GB's than fewer larger capacity cards. You might want to make sure your firmware is updated to current versions (A: 2.01, B: 2.01) or download for free from Nikon. I would think maybe since these larger cards weren't around when the D200 came out there might have been compatability issues and corrections made with updates? Love those D200's!

More is always better! My D40 was lonely, I bought it a twin. Thought I was all set till my BIL gave me a D200 converted to IR. Fell in love with it, bought a standard D200. It got lonely, bought it a twin. So do I need 5 bodies? Absolutely! I can't afford to be current but staying one or two generations behind, boy you can have some fun for a fraction of the $. Glass is a story for another time.

Back to the OP, here's an idea. You should be able to get a D200 for around $450 on craiglslist or less. Not cheap at all, just inexpensive.