Last summer I was waiting to get into a restaurant in Savannah and I was able to watch a wedding party shoot outside. The photographer not only had his flash pointed upward, it was also facing about 20 degrees backwards. I did not see any modifiers or anything and nothing but blue sky to bounce it off of. I was hoping they would take a break so I could ask what he was doing but we were seated before I could ask. The only thing I could think of was he was keeping the flash in a ready storage position but the flash went off each time he took a shot. Anybody have any ideas on this???

Great story but how did that flash get in your closet in the first place??

LOL, Lets get real now. A cat can only be photographed when it wants to be photographed. The time, place, how, why etc. will always be decided by the cat!! We are just food machines supplying the true masters of the universe!!

When I started this hobby, I bought the Nikon D3100. I have used it for 3 years now and I have taken the advice of other Hogs and fellow Nikonites. I purchased better glass and fully learned that D3100 first even though I wanted to upgrade to a better body a couple months after I started. It has turned out to be good advise and I have gotten more reliable good photos instead of just the occasional lucky one.

Over the last year, however, there have been numerous occasions where I wish I had more features than the D3100 offers. Now I feel I am ready to move up to the D7100 (I actually purchased it yesterday but will not open the box until Christmas!!!!). No matter what camera or glass you have, I think it is good advise to learn how to get good pictures with the equipment you have before purchasing the higher end stuff thinking that would make you a better photographer (which it will if you are ready for it!!)

Problem solved, I cleared both caches and increased to cache size to 20. Just imported 50 photos in about 2 min or less. Thanks everyone!!!

I believe I optimize the catalog automatically when I back-up the catalog.

Ever since I downloaded the newest upgrade for Lightroom (now 5.6) my import speed is very slow. For example, yesterday I imported 60 Raw photos and it took over 4 hours. Prior to the 5.6 version is was much much quicker than this.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this issue???

Here is some info on the hardware and settings:

I do keep my photos on an external hard drive which is a USB-3 type. The hard drive is only 10% full.
My catalog is also on the same external hard drive
The computer is a Dell less than one year old. I can't remember all the parameters but it was a high end computer for Dell ($1400)
I import RAW photos from a Nikon D3100 and convert them to DNG format (no copies made)
I do create 1:1 previews but that is not the step that takes a long time (The 60 photos took about 10 mins to do 1:1 previews)
I do not create XMP sidecar files, all other metadata boxes are checked in the Catalog settings.
My cache size is 3 gigs, the catalog size is 17 gigs
Everything else is set as default Lightroom settings.

Thanks for any help

Read more: http://nikonites.com/computers-and-software/26863-slow-import-speed-lightroom-5-6-a.html#ixzz3J8OTLTg4

I looked at both the 60 mm and 90 mm Non-VC versions a few years ago. I ended up purchasing and 60 mm because of the internal focusing of the 60mm which avoids extension of the lens when focusing. I used them both for a couple of days and compared photos. They both were 1:1 and pretty much produced identical photos. The 90 mm, however, did not give me more working room as expected because when the tube extended, it was pretty much the same distance away from a bug, flower, etc as the 60 mm. In addition, the 90 scared the insects away far more than the 60mm.

Now I see the 90 has all internal focusing plus VC. It should be a nice lens!!! I see it lists for almost twice what I paid for the 60 mm, so I don't feel so bad. The only problem I had with the Non VC versions of the 60 and 90 was that auto-focus was sometimes very slow. Manual is not a problem though. I usually use auto to get me close, then tweak with manual as I move in or out. It also is a great portrait lens. I'm sure you would be happy with the newer VC 90 mm lens.

I have had a 3100 for 3 years and it has been very good to me. I am upgrading to the 7100 soon but to be honest, the 3100 takes great pictures. I have never had a problem focusing with any lens I have used with it but all the lens have motors in them. I did switch to back button focus a half a year ago, you might try that (assign the AE/AF button to the 5th or last option in the button function in the menu). I do seem to over-exposure everything with the 3100 in any mode but manual. Someone on here said they had better luck with center weighted vs. matrix metering. That helped me also. Set your focus mode on single servo so that it will beep when it locks. Then try focusing on things near and far away to make sure your lens is trying to focus (you should be able to hear and see it). You could also do this in the continuous servo mode but it will not beep when it locks. I am not an expert but if your lens isn't doing this, I would think it is a lens problem. If your lens is searching but can't find a focus, I would think it would be the 3100. Also, if your ambient light is low, the 3100 does struggle to find the correct focus at times.

I just purchased that exact filter last week from B&H. I did read reviews prior to purchasing it and they basically said it is an excellent filter but you do need to post-process in Lightroom (or other) to remove the red cast it will produce. Very easy to do in Lightroom.

I was in your shoes a little over a year ago. I got on Digital Photography Schools mailing list and started purchasing the E-books they have to offer. They are excellent for the beginner and up and are pretty cheap (especially when they have deals, which is quite often). You can go to the website and just order them. They also have a weekly newsletter which is very helpful to the beginner. Happy Shooting

I had this identical problem a year ago with Lightroom 5. I tried all sorts of things and nothing worked. It was a while ago but as I remember, it was a connection speed problem which was fixed by having ATT install a new modem. I also had to reinstall Windows at about the same time which might have been the fix but I am pretty sure it was the new modem that did the trick. Good Luck!!

Thanks, that is a good description of the two and when you would want to use one or the other. I wish you could pick which one you want and not have it dedicated by whether you use spot vs. center weighted or matrix.

I used to say exactly that because when printing or putting a photo on the web uses a jpeg in most cases, so why shoot in RAW. When I started getting more into Lightroom, I switched to RAW only very quickly. Working with jpeg vs. Raw files in Lightroom is a no-brainer with RAW files getting the nod everytime.

I have found this technique very useful on my nikon D3100 with an SB-700 flash. For all you nikon people out there, can someone help with the TTL mode vs TTL-Balanced mode. I understand how to move between the two (spot focus for TTL, Center weighted or matrix for TTL-BL) but how does this apply to lets say fill flash in an outdoor setting. I have seen some posts before that some people use TTL-BL for outdoors and TTL for indoors. Does it need to be this complicated (I would rather use just one because I tend to forget to make the change) ?? Any advice on the Nikon system would be great. Sorry to sneak in on this post but it is very related to us Nikon users.