I would like to get a QR plate and clamp for an old Bogen 3030 tripod I inherited. The existing head has a large 3.5 inch x 3.5 inch (+/-) flat mounting plate with a 1/4 inch screw. The screw is off-center in one direction but is 1.5 inches from the nearest edge. Looking at the pictures on Amazon, it appears that most of the Manfrotto style clamps have a bump on the bottom that would prevent the clamp from sitting flat on the head plate. The Arca style clamps seem to be flat on the bottom, but the thumbscrew would be difficult to tighten on such a large head plate unless it had some sort of spacer. I will only be using this tripod for occasional long exposures with a Sony A600 so I don't really want to spend much (< $40) or think about changing heads.
Any suggestions?
Please excuse my ignorance if I got the terminology of the pieces wrong -see photos.

Gorgeous!!

I have been using Bridge because that is what they covered in the PS course I took. I would like to learn LR but when I tried to use it, I found it much less responsive than Bridge/Raw. I have 8 meg of RAM which I know is on the minimal side, but Bridge seems to run much smoother. Has anybody else experienced this? 8 meg is the max for my computer and an upgrade is not on the cards until this one dies.

So have you found any benefit to the upgrade. I'm still on v2 and now I'm afraid to upgrade.

Looking at the banner at the bottom of this page, my computer 'knows' I want to buy the Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS

The red light on the bottom is is the memory card access lamp. It is supposed to light up while the camera is writing to the card. Don't know how this might help, but maybe your card is part of the problem?

Not to change the subject, but does anybody know what the typical store mark-up on new equipment is? I don't begrudge it to them, I wish there were more real camera stores around - just curious.

This is an obvious but important point. You could easily go through 2 or 3 camera batteries in a day. If you are sharing a room with a friend or spouse and they have a camera and a phone you could end up trying to charge five or six devices at the same time and won't have enough electrical outlets to charge everything overnight. I always bring a multi port USB charger and adapter cable so I can plug everything into one outlet. Bring extra camera batteries so you can leave them on charge during the day unless you want to get up in the middle of the night to switch out the batteries. One of those lipstick style external batteries are very usefull too. I charged two cameras and a phone with one on my last trip.

Be sure to include a daytrip to Capri -crowds shoudn't be too bad in October. Also recommend Ravello - nice little town in the hills above Amalfi. If you are lucky enough to catch it, Sorrento lights up like a glowing bowl of gold for a just a couple of minutes at sunset. Amazing!!
May bump into you there.

True story. We asked farmer out on the back roads of Kerry for directions to the Dublin Road.
Reply :
' Well now, if I was going to Dublin, its not from here I'd be leaving.'

Maybe in a century or two, when we figure out warp drive, high power force field shielding, inertial dampening, and all those other Star Trek fantasy physics laws, we'll be able to move around a bit in our "local" galaxy. But that's hardly infinity, unless you're talking about the mark on a lens.[/quote]

The Rokinon 12mm F2.0 is often criticized for focusing beyond 'infinity'. I love the lens, but didn't realize it was ahead of its time!
Seriously though, I have noticed I have to pull back quite a bit from the infinity mark to get best focus on a star. So what is it focusing on after that - further away stars?

Came across this scene in the small hill town of San Querico d’Orcia, Siena. At first I figured the men were waiting to collect their pensions. Found all of the women sitting inside in the Church. A little later, the hearse pulled up and I figured it out. This is my first post to this forum. Please be gentle.

Waiting for the hearse

(Download)

For me, the main reason to choose a prime over a zoom is the ability to control depth of field. Decent prime lenses usually have wider apertures than zooms at the same focal length unless you are willing to pay a fortune. The wider apertures on a prime allow you to shrink the depth of field and put more emphasis on your subject. Controlling depth of field brings a whole new dimension to your photography. If you use (kit) zoom lenses exclusively, you may as well just go with the convenience of a high quality point and shoot.

Having said that, shallow depth of field is harder to achieve with wide angle lenses and probably less useful for general landscape photography, so I would agree that if you are happy with your current zoom you may as well stick with it for your trip to Alaska. If you don’t have them already, a couple of filters (circular polarizing, graduated ND) would be great investment. However, I imagine that the dark skies of Alaska will offer some great opportunities for fabulous starry skied night landscapes. If that interests you, I would strongly recommend the Rokinon 12mm F2.0 E-mount (manual everything). This economical lens is a great favorite of the astrophoto folks and is a great ultra-wide lens for daytime landscapes as well.
Irrespective of your trip to Alaska, I’m sure you take some photos of loved ones, kids, grandkids, pets etc. The A6000 and the prime Sony 50mm F1.8 SEL50F18 is a phenominal combination for those situations, especially once you have figured out how to use the ‘eye focus’ feature.

Thanks. If your camera has wifi, another alternative may be the remote control app from your phone or tablet. Some of these allow you to control focus and exposure as well as shutter release. Some are awkward to connect but they are getting better.

I believe Ansel said something to the effect of 'twelve good shots a year - that's a good crop'. If I ever get one as good as Ansel's in my lifetime, I'll die happy.