I have been using this lens for many years, recently with the 800E in various projects but mostly in maintaining a running account of orchids I see in shows. I have by now a very large collection of different orchids and thousands of images. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to use a tripod or monopod and avoid flash so as not to alter the colors or introduce any harshness. I photograph instead using natural light during sunny days. The sharpness of this lens is truly amazing. I attach a couple of recent images of a rare orchid (called Zygolum/Louisendorf)

Why doesn't Nikon offer a great camera with several filters? It is so ridiculous to have to purchase an entire camera for a single purpose. In the film days, some prime lenses came with various filters that we could have rotated into position.

Depending on size, paintings lose in detail and color accuracy when photographed. In the old days photographers used large format cameras with great results. You may achieve great results by taking several close-ups and stitching them together in Photoshop/photomerge.

peripheral or periscopic might fit.

Sorry fellows, Ebay hasn't had one of these in a long time. I have the 180-600 and I can tell you it's a handful to handle even at 1/4 the weight of this monster!

What an amazing news, only in France!

I have three: the new Canon Pro9000MarkII, the old Canon S9000 and the HP Envy4500 (copier/printer for menial jobs). When doing fine prints, the Pro9000MArkII is the default PS 6 and I always check to make sure it still is. You are right, though, I may have to delete the old Canon S9000 just in case it confuses the system. At this point though, it looks as though the problem came up as a result of upgrading to the OS 10 latest system. I need to delete and reinstall PS 6. When you do this, the computer automatically upgrades PS 6 to the OS 10 specs. At least, I think so.Thank you for your suggestion,
Sarantis

Thank you all for a really great discussion and meaningful advice. I will follow up on your suggestions and let you know what happens. For what's worth, I will also try the Adobe site for PS6 troubleshooting. More soon.

I restarted the computer. I am also able to print from Preview and iphoto. I believe photoshop is not communicating with the printer properly.

It's an interesting suggestion but as I was reinstalling it the computer automatically upgraded the printer driver to match OS 10!

I suspect it too but a mental block has prevented me from remembering where to find and check the ONLINE/OFFLINE setting!

My Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II printer has not been used all summer long and now that I need it refuses to obey any commands from PS 6 coming from the latest Mac OS 10. I tried the connections (unplugged and plugged again in different places), reinstalled printer driver software from the original CD and from the internet. I even managed to print two different test prints that show correct levels (replaced four nearly depleted ones) and made a few prints through Preview. Still, when I command it to print from PS 6, it receives the order but doesn't respond or say what's wrong. Not sure what to do next!

In case you have missed it, Popular Photography has been testing two lenses a month for many years. The sharpest lenses they have seen are made right now in the new line of lenses called Otus by Zeiss. The 85mm./1.4 is reviewed this month. These lenses cost $4000 and up. There are, however, less expensive lenses like the new line prime Nikons with 1.8 aperture that are as sharp. There is also a strange lens made by Sigma that keeps showing up as the sharpest of all these lenses: the 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM that sells $350-400 right now!

Just wondering: how many pieces are covered by this amount?

Dear Sharp-Shoooter,

I have always found your comments to be sensible and objective. I am sorry to read abusive comments about you or anyone on UHH. It is a pity that there are still people full of hate, even for harmless objects like cameras. It's a sorry state to be in.

You should read the review of Nikon D4s in the June issue of Popular Photography. The camera is called Night Stalker in the title and it delivers a record ISO of 409,600! As for noise, the test results are the best they have seen: noise level remains moderate to 51,200 and becomes slightly unacceptable at 102.400.the author Philip Ryan concludes "the Canon [EOS 1D X] just can't match the cleanliness of the Nikon's images at very high ISO's". As a Nikon user, I am happy to see the Nikon come-back after Canon had challenged it in the early days of digital technology. Still there is no question that these two companies offer the best choices to photographers. True, Sony and a few others are coming up with great challenges but at this moment Nikon offers the best noise in the D4s and the best resolution in the D800. It remains to be seen who will manage to combine the two for the best camera ever :)