Thanks for your concern, but I always ask before I shoot private or secure places, even did at the base.

Just to be clear though, I was merely pointing out that there are obviously exceptions to the statute cited in the post I responded to. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I shot a few thousand on the Niagara Air Base this last summer at the air show there. I lugged 2 bodies, 6 lenses, and flash around in my pack. Shot picks of pretty much every plane static and flying over two days. None of the MP's ever mentioned anything about not shooting there--and I was just one of hundreds using DSLRs there.

PNagy, my response was meant for the original poster of the thread. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Make sure that you ask the club manager for permission to shoot in the night club since it is private property. I find it's best to contact them before the day/evening you show up to shoot. There are quite a few these days who do not allow anything over point and shoots. Also, be aware that if you are shooting entertainment, most places and entertainers do not like flashes, in fact, many forbid them all together. Some even forbid their performance to be recorded in any manner, including photography.

The Magic Lantern book is fantastic! I haven't refered to the manual even once since getting the book.

Be very carefull attaching Teleconverters to lenses which are not listed as compatable, you can damage the lens and autofocus. It was a $500 education a friend of mine got last year. Both Sigma and Nikon have compatabiliy charts on their sites. I don't believe that Sigma lists as being compatable with any Nikon lens. Just my guess, but I would think thas Sigma TC's will only work on Nikon lenses in which Nikon TC's are compatable with. Generally they only work on fast glass such as f2.8 or better.

The first thing I do on sites like this is the find a physical address for the company. If it is hard to find on the site, there is usually a reason for that, and it usually isn't good. Real businesses wany potential customers to contact them, that's how they make sales, so they usually make it easy.

Second thing, plug the name of the business into BBB.com and see what they say.

Third, do exactly what you are doing now, ask around about the business.

Lastly, if you do decide to do business with a site you are unsure of, get a virtual card number from your credit card company and limit it to the total of your purchase.

This is Excellent!!!! Thank you.

I'd imagine that you will achieve the same results on a thumbnail no matter what methods you use to copy it and print it. ;)

You can still always PrtScn it no matter how it is coded.

On somewhat the same subject, I repair and customize all kinds of industrial equipment for a living and I often have to deal with distributors and sales/service reps instead of the actual manufacturer. About 50 % of these people provide excellent service. Around 25% of them provide subpar but acceptable service. The last 25% I dread dealing with because they are either incompetent to provide the service required.

Of this later group, my biggest problem is that either I can't get parts out of them in a timely manner, if at all, or they waste my time trying to sell me something "interchangable", which I'm quite sure they are making a better margin on. Typically, I can get them moving by threatening to purge them from our qualified vendor list. However, one of my favorite things to do with the especially hard cases is to directly call the owner/ President/ CEO of the manufacturer, tell them what I'm trying to buy, and ask them why my company is having so much trouble trying to purchase, or get service on, their product.

There are a few of them who now deal with us directly instead of forcing us to their distributor. LOL, Seriously, you should see some of the deals and service I received just by asking the senior management "why can't I buy your product"? Not to mention the swag and "valued customer perks".

The Gov has a fast track option for such material, and yes, it does cost more for the expedite.

Here's a great place to learn more:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/

Also, Scott Kelby has a pretty good video explaining the whole process:

http://kelbytraining.com

It's very simple to alter Meta data and you can easily mail yourself an open package or open it after the fact undetected. A Notary only witnesses signatures for the state, and the post office will only verify that a package was delivered, they won't verify anything past delivery and will not verify contents.

That's why these methods are not generally qualified as primary evidence in court. Your going to easily spend at least 100 times the registration cost just to argue those two easily disputed points in court, not to mention the additional costs involved to argue and prove your actual damages.

Now considering the fact that you can register an unlimited number of photos for $35, you could easily pay 10,000 or more times that cost just to bring your suit to court. With registration, many lawyers would take the case on contingency, so pretty much your only out of pocket expense will be the filing fee to enter the claim in court, and even that you can make the defendant pay. Again, most cases involving registered copyright don't even make it to trial as the defendant almost always settles.

I already had one which I bought around last Christmas & like you, I paid about $400 for. Your right too, I've enjoyed the heck out of it. I know the s100 is out, but $229 was an amazing deal for such a great little light catcher.

It was only a one day sale, I bought two for gifts and I know three others who bought them as well at $229. I posted a link to the sale in this very forum yesterday after I bought mine. The seller was Amazon.