I still have my K1000...my first real camera. I remember when I went digital...I wanted a digital version of that camera. What was I thinking? That would be like driving a old Model A in today's Houston traffic.

I recently ordered a lens cap and some Canon ink from B&H...both items shipped the same day but separately. The ink came in a day later. Both packages contained identical packing slips listing both lens cap and ink. I too was concerned when opening the first package with only a lens cap and no ink...but showing both items shipped. Looking closer...I think both packages contained a copy of the order and not really packing slips.

Anyway...all is well and B&H service is great.

When I do PPing...First step is take a card or anything with square edges, align top edge of card to center of monitor and line it up with my eyes. Even do this with my Dell IPS monitor...thus eyes perpendicular to the screen.

Now...wait a few weeks and there will be the Tammy 18-400. I'm not expecting too much...but it sure would nice if it performed well.

When I still had my old 50-500 Bigma...w/o OS...I wanted to try a gimbal head. Not wanting to spend $500+ for a Wimberly...I went for one of the cheap Beike BK-45 spin offs for about $50. Knowing about it's quality pitfalls...using U-Tube...reworked it...cleaning out all the heavy grease, smoothing some of the rough surfaces, a little gun oil and Loctite...now have a very usable gimbal for 1/10 the price of a Wimberly.

Can think of only two reasons not to use a lens hood: Macro...where you need subject close to lens, Built in flash causing shadows on some lenses.

I even modify some of my hoods with small slots on the bottom so I can adjust the CPL.

IMHO...lenses without hoods looks naked, cheap, unprotected and unprofessional...just my personal opinion.

Another thing to keep in mind is the surface in which your tripod sitting on. For years I cussed my tripod/ballhead setup...I would set up the tripod/camera, lock it all down...when I took my hands off the camera...the image would drop about 1/4 inch. Finally came to realize it was because the tripod was sitting on carpet or grass or some other not too solid surface. Especially noticeable with long lenses without a tripod collar...such as the 70-300 variety.

I have never read by a reliable source that it was recommended to NOT FORMAT a memory card in the camera...but nearly always recommend TO FORMAT your memory cards in camera on a regular basis. As far as I know...there is no other way to Defrag the files. It is much easier and quicker to format than to erase images. My 2 cents.

I recently purchased the Induro CLT403...and have a Sirui K40X ballhead on it. I know it's way over kill for my D7100 and 200-500 combo...but I was determined to eliminate the tripod as the weak link in my setup. Haven't done a real photo shoot yet...but initial tests using live view at 500mm and tapping on legs etc. look real promising...much better than my old Manfrotto 3021BPRO. Doing a camping trip with the photo club this weekend...will see how it does in real life shooting.

Forgot to mention...some reviews stated the very nice carrying case wasn't long enough to have the ballhead attached...Induro must have been paying attention...mine has room to spare with ballhead attached to the legs...a very nice surprise.

My Induro CLT403 arrived a couple of days ago...I have it paired with a Sirui K40X ballhead. That combination is probably a way over-kill for my D7100 with Nikon 200-500...but I was determined not to have my tripod/ballhead be the weak part of my setup. My initial test was using live-view magnified at 500mm focused on various items over a block away on a fairly windy day...image was rock solid...only a split second movement when tapping on the legs or camera. Much better performance than doing the same test on my Manfrotto 3021BPRO.

I think I found the right combination for my style of shooting which varies from birds, fireworks, moons, landscapes, etc. without breaking the bank.

Found out about 15 years ago...that hiring a pro doesn't guarantee great results. My daughter hired one of the best known professional photographers in this town of about 50,000 for her second wedding. She cried when she seen the photos...they were horrible. I was shooting with a cheap Fuji S5000 at the time and my photos looked much better than the ones she paid big bucks for.

Welcome...I'm new here and this will be my first post. The d90 is one tough camera. Mine fell off a boat with me in about 3 feet of sandy water...it was about a minute before I realized my d90 was in the water. I found it by sliding my feet around in the sandy bottom. I then took the lens (a brand new Tamron 70-300) off and poured the water and sand out, pulled the battery...then let the camera sit in the hot Texas sun for a couple of days. Not expecting anything...put in the battery and turned on power...the led lit up. Totally amazed...I proceeded to clean the inside with canned air and a small brush...did a wet clean on the sensor. Once again...not expecting anything...put on a different lens and tried taking a picture...It worked!!! Only thing that doesn't work properly is the internal focusing motor...works fine with afs lenses. That was over 5 years ago...that d90 has been my kayaking camera since then. Other than a tiny fuzzy spot looking through the view finder...you'd never know the camera was in the water. The Tamron 70-300 lens was toast. The photos are great...even winning a few local contests.