With all the discussion about crop vs. FF it is very simple for me anyway. The major reason I only use a FF sensor is for one reason only. The FF gives me MUCH MUCH better dynamic range than any crop sensor can. I shoot in a lot of low light situations and it is very critical to me in PP. For most people where they may not shoot in low light that often, I am sure a smaller sensor may not be an issue.

My experience: My wife and I travel to Germany most every year and stay for a month. We travel to Munich and from there to Switzerland, Austria, Italy and end up in Berlin where my wife is from. So this year I decide to make my life a little easier by not carrying by big DSLR around. I went to Sams and bought a Canon PowerShot SX720 HS. Small, 20 meg, super zoom, and relatively inexpensive. I was excited to use this camera and avoid the pain of lugging that big DSLR. Bottom line...NEVER AGAIN. Although the SX 720 can deliver beautiful shots and the zoom was great, it was the consistency that was the issue. When using my DSLR and depending what I am shooting, I use aperture / shutter priority or manual. When using the SX720, making on the fly changes to include ISO settings were ridiculous, and let's not forget the impossible shutter delay. My DSLR always produces while the SX720 in the end gave me about a 60% keeper rate. The rest of the images were sent to the trash can and many of which were shots I really wanted to have. I should also say I am 68 yo and even though the DSLR is a pain to carry around I will never abandon it again. I went to Sam's the day after coming home and returned the SX720.

With all this said please let me clarify what I am saying. If you have always used a DSLR and familiar with the camera and its controls, no P&S will ever compare. At least with current P&S technology. I you use to a P&S all the time and feel comfortable with it, by all means continue to use it. Certainly a P&S can be a nice camera for occasional shooting where a general image is needed but if you don't want to miss a shot because of setting's, shutter delay, and playing around with the silly little menu's the P&S will always disappoint a DSLR shooter. I won't even get into the dynamic range issues or sensor discussion. That would not be a fair comparison because of the price difference.

Just MHO...........

Checked out your website and just wanted to compliment you on your vacation images. Always a pleasure to see well framed and thought out shot that actually tells a story and or raises your imagination. Also wanted to say how damned "jealous" I am of your travel resume!. I have traveled but not in your league.

AMEN!

I am sure B&H Adorama, and other reputable companies have decided to abandon their reputation now and charge an additional $1000.00 to their customers. Spend 5 minutes of your time, do some due diligence and I am sure you will make the correct decision. "If it sounds to good to be true it probably is"

After years of reading the Hedgehog, I still cannot believe people question reputable dealers and consider the ridiculous claims made by scam artist.

Here is my recommendation>>> Send the company your $2000.00 and let US know how it worked out!

#2 for me. For all the reasons listed above. Just has more depth.

I guess that is good news but I would always prefer Nikon work on my Nikon equipment and not a third party. I gladly pay the small difference in price for a US version.

Congratulations..... WF2B I do do have a question. I really like the idea of donating some of the price to charity. I checked out the website and have this question. After the cost of printing, framing, matting, and then sending to them, does that not end up as a loss. I see many of these selling for $125.00. Am I missing something??

Thanks

Thanks Bill...That s good info to know

With all do respect for the difference of $20.00 I will go all day for the Nikon backed US warranty. I agree there is no difference between the US vs Non US. However if it ever fails after 1,10, or even 20 years, the assurance that Nikon will service it is certainly worth the minor cost difference. I have thought about buying grey market but it would be my luck I got the one that failed a year or two down the line. The difference in price between grey and US is not that much. Your buying a pro quality lens that will probably last you a lifetime and spending a little more to ensure it can always be repaired by Nikon is worth that extra cost.. I also highly recommend B&H or Adorama when buying your Nikon gear as they are an authorized dealer of Nikon where Abes of Maine is not. Just saying......

As a professional myself I cannot understand why anyone here would say it is standard to pay $90.00 for for a couple 5X7 and some wallets which have watermarks. When my customers PURCHASE their images they certainly do not get them with my watermark. I upload their images to my site where the client can look at the images. It prevents right click and downloading as well as shown in a lower ( dpi ) resolution for their review. Sounds like a ripoff to me and I would certainly contact that photographer and demand your (purchased) images without a watermark! Why would anyone pay for pictures that are watermarked? Sorry, as a Pro and other Pro's I work and compete with, none I know of would ever ask the buyer to pay a few more dollars for non watermarked printed images. Does not sound like a pro to me and nickel and diming a client does not provide a very satisfactory future reference.

Should be very simple in LR. Just go and adjust shadows. Even if not in RAW it should improve the dark area.

I would highly recommend having one built. 16G of ram, 512 Meg SSD
( Main Drive), 3 or 4 Terabyte of hard drive used for second drive, video card w/ 2 gig of memory, 700 Watt or more power supply, pref an i7 or maybe even an i5 if there are budget constraints, Windows 7.1. People don't realize the importance of a good case as well. Mine has 2 fans in it and with additional fans for the CPU and the graphics card. Everything runs cool and quietly. I just had my new system built similar to this and I can tell you Lr, Photoshop and video processing using Pro Show Gold just fly using these components. I had mine built buy a company called CPU Solutions. I did extensive research and checked out Dell, HP, and many others and for what I had built they can't come close to the quality of components and I paid less. The company is excellent to work with. I believe in the old saying "Pay me now Pay me later) www.cpusolutions.com
Good Luck.

I have shot many Hockey games as a freelance photographer. 70-200 2.8 is an excellent lens! If you are friendly with the coach see if you can stand in the box with the players. Best spot is stand on the bench with the players. you won't take any room up and you eliminate most of the Plexiglas. As far as white balance it is pretty simple. Learn how to do a custom white balance on your Nikon and shoot the ice to set the white balance. This will take care of whatever lighting is being used in the arena.

Good Luck

If your looking for a new computer to handle your Image Processing forget Best Buy, Dell, HP, and so on. Best choice is to have one built for your specific needs. After much research I ended up choosing a company called CPU Solutions. I called on a Monday and had my new machine the following Monday. I can't say enough about their professionalism and products they offer. Check them out here:

http://www.cpusolutions.com/store/pc/home.asp You can also check them out on Resellerratings.com

Good Luck