I've wondered if a signal disruptor (cell phone jammer) would work - yeah, I know they're not legal either.

I'd definitely get the D750 if that's an option you can afford. The D5600 is 'fine' for starting out, but if you get hooked on photography, the D750 has a much higher upside.

I can't say I don't fantasize about this.

I absolutely hate the sound of a drone - sure, the footage is pretty cool, but it sounds like a mosquito on steroids.

Sure, you don't notice it when you're flying the drone: since you're all wrapped up in the enjoyment of piloting your rather amazing piece of technology and capturing some images from a unique perspective, but for everyone else, it's an annoyance.

Perhaps my visceral response is at the extreme end, but when I'm chilling on a beach or enjoying a sunset in an exotic location with my wife, and someone fires up a drone, a feeling of anger starts creeping up my spine. I stifle the compulsion to throw rocks at it or berate its pilot; and console myself with the knowledge that in about 8-10 minutes the battery will run out and the nuisance will abate.

The way I experience it, one person's selfish motive to fly a drone affects everyone in the area, disturbing an otherwise tranquil moment with the irritating buzz of their airborne gadget. Not to mention that if it's in a place where other photographers are shooting, we now have to go back and PS your drone out of our images.

There are perhaps some safety issues involved as well, but drone pilots should consider that when others have paid to go on a relaxing vacation, your sound of your drone is a disruptive annoyance to many.

Drones are cool, no doubt, but before you launch one, consider the affect you're having on other people.

I've had good experience with e-infin.com out of Hong Kong. D850 is listed at $2200

Bought a Nikkor 105mm f1.4G and saved over $600. Works great.

I've been really happy with the Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 though shooting on a crop sensor, so I think that makes it a 15-30 equivalent for a FF.

It's reasonably sized and you can get it for $330 at B&H (about 50% less than I paid for it 3 years ago).

Certainly many shots of buildings that I appreciated having all that extra coverage.

I'm generally not a huge fan of Sigma's lenses - I have an 18-250 and 150-600 that are just ok, and I find their 'Art' series primes to be incredibly heavy, but I definitely love the 10-20 for wide angle shots.

Any hosting account that comes with CPanel will allow you to create an unlimited number of email addresses using @yourdomain.com, with an included webmail system.

... unless you want to create images that you can't capture with these lenses.

Such as images with fisheye distortion.
Or images with extremely shallow depth of field (f2.8 compared to f1.4 is pretty noticeable in portraiture).

And that 24mm is gonna be closer to a 35mm lens on a D500... so there's a good chance you might want something with a wider angle.

Light waves and audio waves,
impacting our senses,
it's all vibrations, baby.

I'd go with the Nikon 200-500 that others have recommended (I bought a Sigma 150-600, which is pretty good, but wish I'd bought the Nikon).

For landscapes, I am very happy with the Sigma 10-20.

Then get a few primes to fill in the gaps as you can afford them:
- 24mm f1.4
- 58mm f1.4
- 85mm f1.4
- 105mm f1.4

Work it out?

A few years ago, AbesofMaine tried to 'work it out' with me only after I exposed them to the BBB and registered my complaint on several consumer protection websites.

Giving an accurate description of what happened is not 'disrespectful' - it's honest and transparent, and if the OP subsequently explains how the company DID resolve the issue, then it's up to each individual reader of this thread to determine whether they feel it was an acceptable resolution to the problem, and in turn, whether they want to do business with this company in the future.

If the company resolves it in a fair way, then it's a benefit for them to be named.
If the company doesn't, then the members of this community benefit from knowing to avoid the company.
In either case, naming the company is beneficial: because it is honest and promotes transparency.

What?

'before sunrise' and 'after sunset'

There's no direct sunlight at that time: how can it be the 'golden hour'?

Shouldn't it be 'after sunrise' and 'before sunset'?

And of course, it will depend on the season and your latitude.

For example, during the middle of the summer in Iceland, during the 'midnight sun', the sun never fully sets. So you get several hours of 'golden' lighting. At the equator, you're going to get the same duration of sunrise/sunset everyday.

Won't name the company? What's your problem?
How do you think we, as an online community, have come to understand that shops like AbesofMaine are nothing but trouble?

You're protecting a company that screwed you over,
while setting up the rest of us to possibly get screwed over by the same company.

Their behavior is unethical and potentially criminal - your unwillingness to name them is pathetic and weak. Sorry if this offends you, but anyone who protects a criminal is responsible for any future damages they cause to others.

Weebly, SquareSpace, Wix... all are decent options for an easy-to-build site.

The only downsides, in my opinion, are that you do not actually 'own your website': in the sense that if you stop paying the monthly fees, your site gets taken down.

The other consideration is cost: when you start adding functionality, the subscription price goes up as well. If you get to the 'Pro' level, you're paying almost $500/year for a site that you don't own.

Sure, "Sign Up for Free" sounds like a great opportunity... but they have a method for upselling you incrementally until you realize you're paying a lot more than it would have cost to pay a little more up front for a hosting your own WordPress site. And at that point, they make it pretty painful to leave.

I'm always cautious of any service that is not up-front with their costs, and Weebly does NOT even show their pricing model until you've already registered your basic account info.

Just something to be aware of when making your decision.

[quote=Longshadow]Yes, I do use a [i]canned routine[i], but not for building websites, incorporated as a module to the site, for ease of maintaining the gallery. Same reason, Coppermine works, does what I need, why re-invent the wheel. Less maintenance for me. Slightly different though. But you are correct, it IS a canned program.

Writing my own site code is not really re-inventing the wheel. My pages don't have tons of verbose code in them like what the builders create. Simply to do what I require. Everyone has their own programming style.

Interesting, I've never had a problem with Bluehost. Never had any "hiccups" either. But maybe that has changed. I never had to use their "controls" (cPanel) (other than creating a mailbox or two). Never had a security problem. I simply wrote the code, FTP'd it up with the appropriate files, and walla, an active website. (I have no idea of what version of PHP they are currently supporting.)

Builders are convenient for people who have never coded. And yes, integration has changed much over the years.

Just like I'd NEVER recommend Network Solutions...[/quote]

Haha, yeah, let's not even get started with Network Solutions!

If you're just building sites with HTML/CSS files, and not building anything with a database or even a scripting language that interacts with a database (like PHP, Java, Ruby, ASP.NET, etc), then we're talking about very basic sites that could run on just about any hosting platform.

Still, in head-to-head tests I've done with the exact same site on BlueHost vs. CrocWeb vs LiquidWeb vs GoDaddy, the site loading time was noticeably slower for BlueHost according to GTMetrix.com and YSlow testing.
Site loading speed affects the visitors to your site and also impacts your ranking in Google.

"Canned Builders" are not just more convenient for people who have never coded, they are also more convenient for coders who want to maximize their clients' budgets and develop solutions that can easily incorporate more advanced functionality (online ordering, custom forms, user profiles, etc).

You said you have never and will never use a 'canned builder' - maybe you should give them a try before you categorically dismiss them. WordPress may not be the best, and certainly has its problems, but it is the most widely adopted, which has many benefits for clients and developers alike. I have built enough sites with HTML/CSS from scratch to recognize the clear benefits to using a CMS like WordPress for the vast majority of my clients. If you haven't learned to develop a website using WordPress or a comparable CMS platform, then I'm not sure you can offer a very complete appraisal of their value or utility.

Given that the OP does not sound like they are a coder themselves, I would not recommend building something from scratch, and would not recommend using BlueHost as a hosting provider.

Anyway, this has gotten off topic for a photography blog.
I have to get back to work building websites :-)