A useable alternative is the hp ENVY i7 17.3" Quad core Intel machine with 16GB RAM, dedicated graphics card and some decent software such as Photoshop CS virtually any version. I have grown to like Windows 8.1 Professional as compared to OSX but that is because, despite an attempt to use a MacBook Pro for awhile I always went back to Windows because of long time familiarity with the quirks of Microsoft software.

The hp I have was bought six months or so ago from COSTCO on sale and has done a splendid job for me thus far. I use Photoshop CS3 as well as the surprisingly good Microsoft Live Essential suite of free software that includes Photo Gallery. Much of my work is for organizations that cannot afford to pay me and so a lot of my photos are transmitted via e-mail so the MS Live suite makes that very easy on me.

Good luck with whatever you choose. That choice, for me anyway, actually turned out to be more a matter of how it felt in day to day usage.

Bill Waxman

A not unreasonable alternative, if you want to spend a bit less money is the hpENVYi7 with Intel i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.4 GHz, 16GB

A not unreasonable alternative, if you want to spend a bit less money is the hpENVYi7 with Intel i7-4700N

I have and use, every day at some point, the D7000 which of course is the model from which the D7100 was derived. For me, the change to a D7100 would not give me that much more.

The question to answer is always: "What do I want to do that my old camera cannot that the new can?" If you have no answer or don't even get the question then save your money or spend it on a really great new lens, like the pro level 70-200mm f2.8 zoom that is the standard sports optic that has been used for years in various iteration because it is the best combination of sharp plus light sensitivity available to professionals. Lens or camera? No real choice there. Additionally, should you ever "grow into" a professional level DSLR such as the D4s that lens will still work for you. Bodies come and go but lenses seem to last forever, if they are top quality to begin with.

Bill Waxman

Neither will I use a polarizing filter on a long lens even my 80-200 f2.8 Nikon for the very reason mentioned elsewhere, why have a fast lens or medium speed one and slow it down? Kind of misses the point other than for when water reflection is involved. In that case I usually go to a manual lens of earlier vintage and focus very carefully, especially if, given the smaller diameter objective lens I am using that polarizer. I agree that post processing can far more easily increase contrast and highlights and even the simple Microsoft Photo Gallery editor that comes free for the downloading does an excellent job at that aspect of "fixing" photos.

Bill Waxman

Oh well, thanks anyway for trying. I think you are right about these just being keepsakes rather than worth sending. If there is a high school or college near you that might accept them as donated spare parts for photo classes that might be the best bet for you. That or the nearest Salvation Army Thrift Store. I remember that, in California (Santa Ana to be specific) there was a refurbishing center primarily for computers and electronics but by now certainly they would do photo equipment too I would think. Why don't you try someplace like that rather than just letting them gather dust or be thrown out?

I take stuff of my own like that to the local Fire Department Thrift Store and donate it there as that's the only place like it on the island where I live.

Good luck and, again, thanks!

Bill Waxman

If you are giving them away, I have a couple of lenses that those would fit. Or ? Please let me know, if gratis, by private message or if you are selling, go ahead and let us all know your price. Thanks for bringing it up. I have cleverly left both my lens cap for one of my Nikon 1 lenses somewhere as well as misplaced my circular polaroid filter that fit on my 58mm lens. Beats me what happened to them. They are just offbeat enough nobody just had them stick to their fingers someplace I set them down so I was just being forgetful I imagine.

BillWaxman@gmail.com

Thanks, I'll give it a look and see how far I get.

Bill

I have to admit that the responses have been more than worth the price of admission. (Admitting a dumb mistake publicly). Honestly, there are some very specific and easy to follow directions out there somewhere and but for an incredibly damage producing loss of internet connectivity on our island awhile back that resulted in having to re-format and install the complete operating system of my new laptop (on which had resided the instructions) I would never have had to ask for help in the first place.

Eventually, someone will read this string of misery and will know what I am referring to and take pity on me enough to send me a link to what I have been searching diligently for.

Meanwhile I'll continue looking and will let you all know when and if I find it.

Bill Waxman

Thanks to all for your help, I know that it seemed a dumb thing to do but having done a fine job on my 50mm f1.4 (works perfectly and went without a hitch, proving that following directions and having examples to look at is the way to go). My problem was that I thought I knew where to find the ones for my particular lens and, poof, they were gone and I was then lost as to how to proceed.

In future, chastened, I will in future make sure I can find all the ducks let alone get them in a row before going forward.

Bill Waxman

p.s. I might even have somebody proof read my posts to avoid reduncancies. bw

I seem to recall having found instructions for cleaning oil from the diaphragm blades of the Nikon 85mm f1.4 AI-S manual lens which I followed to disassemble mine. I cleaned the blades and promptly lost the directions for re-assembling it. The directions I had included photos of the process showing step by step disassembly and thus in reverse how to re-assemble it. Does anyone out there have a link to those directions?

The lens is one of the best ever made by Nikon and it would be a shame not to have it in working order again.

To avoid confusion here's a link to the review by Ken Rockwell of the precise lens I am talking about:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/85mm-f14.htm

Thanks for your help in getting me back on track to put mine together again. Right now it is like "Humpty Dumpty" and I am not even one of the "King's men" in the old nursery rhyme.

Bill Waxman

Incidentally, what is this hiding thing? I'm right here in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island in the Salish Sea, in the State of Washington and don't care if that is known. How did the "hiding thing come about?

Bill

I have a brand new looking Vivital Series 1 manual zoom lens rated at 70-210mm with decreasing light transmission starting at f2.8 at 70mm and going downward (higher f number=less light) from there.

It is a "push-pull" zoom with normal rotating manual focus in a Nikon AI type mount. Originally intended for use on a pro's Nikon F3 but never put into service, ordered but left at the store. I got it from the Olympic Camera Exchange in L.A. many years ago and when I changed from the F3 to the N8008s and then N90s and then ultimately D1x, etc. etc. I stopped even bothering to use the lens since I had the then radically flexible Tamron 28-200mm zoom. So, not wishing to sell the Vivtar or anything like that I am curious as to whether anyone knows who made it and its ratings back then when new?

I am approaching 73 and for me the weight of the whole package is a real consideration. I have a D7000 (virtually the same weight, etc. as its replacement the D7100), it is close to a pro body in construction but lighter and a bit smaller than the D600/610. DX lenses are a generally a bit smaller and lighter as well. The D70007100 has the capability of using either DX or FX lenses as does the D600/610 but with a loss of some resolution in adapting the smaller effective coverage of the DX to the larger full frame.

In other words, a compromise albeit an okay one. I strongly urge a hands on test (if possible with a strap on each camera) to feel how it is to have one around your neck. Attach the largest lens you plan to buy on the camera. Then think of walking around on vacation all day with that hanging around your neck.

For photographic excellence you can't beat either choice, I'm just trying to be practical here. Price might also be a factor and the D600/610 is considerably more costly and so are the FX lenses.

Bill Waxman

I'll turn the question around as "Who has lost things from either a SD or CF card?" My answer is, I have! Both. I won't talk about brands because, after all, electronics pretty much is a theory that works or not, period. But I have had CF cards that simply refused to work in anything but my computer and be unrecognized and unformattable in my cameras. On the other hand, I have through either operator error (most likely) or some other dumb occurrence, lost photos form SD cards. Never had one quit altogether. So the $64.00 question, if that doesn't date me too terribly, is: How to retrieve them? Who can suggest a (preferably) free program for getting photos back that have not been overwritten on a flash card?

Thanks in advance for the information.

Bill Waxman