From my understanding, if you buy a Nikon from Costco, you are buying a gray market camera.

I did find this bit of interesting information though.
"Costco is one example that sells grey market stuff, but their in house warranty is much better than that of Nikon 2 years vs 1 or 90 days anyways."

This is even more interesting,
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/19704340.

Follow the postings about Costco's return policy. I had no idea it was that good, sorry to sidetrack this thread.

I'm buying everything from Costco from here on out.

The year is 1947

Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico . This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:

Albert A. Gore, Jr..
Hillary Rodham
John F. Kerry
William J. Clinton
Howard Dean
Nancy Pelosi
Dianne Feinstein
Charles E. Schumer
Barbara Boxer

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep and jackasses? I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you. It did for me.

What? You got something against a Chinese Cowboy?

I learned a valuable lesson with Amazon recently. If you buy the unit that comes up, you're dealing with Amazon and that's been a good experience. If you go to one of the other merchants listed who sell that same item you may experience all kinds of trouble with shipping costs etc., and Amazon doesn't back the deal. The difference seems to be that when the item is the subject of the page although it comes from another merchant, Amazon stands behind it. If it's one of the alternative merchants but still on Amazon's site, you're on your own. Some of the alternative merchants sell the same item much cheaper than the Amazon direct but then whack you much more for shipping that pushes the end price much higher than Amazon direct. I've bought several items lately from from Cowboy Studio offered by Amazon and from Cowboy Studio directly with no problems. One needs to watch out when buying several different items from the alternative merchants because the stuff coming from different merchants can really run up the shipping costs in a hurry. If you buy from Amazon direct and buy over a certain amount, shipping can be free. If you buy from a listed merchant you need to look to see if shipping is free. I dozed through a deal recently where I bought $19 worth of stuff from four different alternate merchants unaware of what was about to happen to me, small accessory items, and I got hit for $44 shipping total. It's a little tricky. Don't buy from the alternate merchants unless it is clearly that shipping can be free. Buy only what is offered by Amazon direct.

The marathon bombing and its aftermath was a horrific event. The bombers needed to be caught. However, under the guise of public safety, did the various police/military units go too far?

Read this article and watch the private citizen's video and think about whether you want to be treated like this in your home. Should any ctizen be treated like this? I say "NO."

http://www.infowars.com/shocking-footage-americans-ordered-out-of-homes-at-gunpoint-by-swat-teams/

I wonder ... How many children were needlessly scared? How many adults were mistreated? How many dogs were shot? How many handicapped or ill people were inconvenienced? How many of their constitutional rights were violated?

What should be done for those who were violated? What should happen to those who were the perpetrators and participants of the searches? How can future episodes be prevented?

Any answers or thoughts?

Scanner. You're introducing an unnecessary element into a process by using a camera to photograph a photograph. The common all in one (printer/fax/copy/scan) will probably not have the quality you want. If you don't want to pay for a stand alone photo quality scanner have the photo scanned at a camera store or do it yourself at a kiosk at somewhere like Walgreen's or Walmart. I recently bought an Epson V500 photo scanner that has great reviews. I'm going to eventually use it to scan old slides and B/W negatives. I've only had it a month and only had time to plug it in to make sure it works. :roll: I found it on sale for $159.00 at Office Depot. Good luck! :thumbup: I should mention it will also scan photos if you don't have a negative or slide.

As my final post on this subject instead of asking what is your favorite "walk around lens" instead ask "what do you find the best lens to use when you go to take pictures of (fill in the blank)?" As far as I am concerned this kind of question would elicit a more informed and useful response. Of course the question might also be: "there are times when I leave the house to take photographs but don't really have any idea as to what I wil be taking photographs of. When this happens to you what kind of lens do you have on your camera?" Just a thought.

What and briefly why. Thanks
Okay here's why I asked. I don’t really hate the terminology but when someone asks me what I’d recommend or what I use for a walk around lens I never really know how to respond. It’s a little like someone walking up and asking you to recommend a new vehicle. You recommend a sports car only to find out they need a pick-up truck. I’ve started a thread asking the question “what’s YOUR favorite walk around lens”? I’m curious to see if there is some kind of commonality in what folks perceive as a “walk around lens”.

I am just being curious, but I have often wondered why there seems to be such a popular belief that landscape photos should be made using a wide-angle lens. I have read recommendations on this and other forums for using lenses as short as 10 mm.

Is this just some "newbie" fixation, or is there a substantive rationale for the belief?

I shoot many landscapes, from seashore to mountains, wetlands, etc., but I rarely, if ever, use anything on my D700 shorter than 50 mm and frequently at 100 mm or beyond. To me, a wide-angle lens would make it more difficult to define a clear center of interest, would likely turn mountains into molehills and generally increase the difficulty in producing an interesting and compelling image.

Maybe some of the Forum experts can educate me as to why wide-angle lenses are so popular for landscapes.