If you want to see the potential in digiscoping check out Robert Wilson on Instagram and Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/robertgwilson1215/ and https://www.facebook.com/RobertWilsonPhotography

I've used PayPal for over 20 years now and my last few deals have made me leery of them. They have some young folks making decisions about complaints who don't have a clue about traditional fair business practices and they offer you no recourse or appeal for a bad decision, once made. I don't trust them anymore. My cases are different to yours but in my situations they have become unreliable to "do the right thing."

I've had to turn complaints over to my bank for redress and they've revoked payments and taken money away from PayPal that has been paid for goods purchased. PayPal is not properly vetting merchants and are aiding and abetting Chinese scam artists who are selling through Facebook Marketplace and Instagram and deciding complaints in seller's favor even when it is clear that customers have been defrauded. "Not the same thing," you say, but yow, it's a matter of their guiding philosophy and I think I see a shift. If they're becoming unreliable in some aspects, which they have in my experiences, intentional or not, nothing will be sacred. I have been able to get several decisions reversed by persevering, which you are not supposed to be able to do. The sign says, "all decisions are final." It has become like haggling at a flea market, not something I expect to do with a financial representative that guarantees that my interests are being protected by them.

The main takeaway from my post is that nothing is final and nothing is sacred when dealing with PayPal. His bank can always take his money back no matter what stage a deal is in if he claims fraud, even after it's in your bank or if you have withdrawn it from your account and have it under your mattress. Safe is merely a state of mind when dealing with PayPal.

I'll second this, sharp Leica lens and with the sz100 model, and others, you get to set the focus
after the picture is shot, a real nice recovery feature for newbie photographers with new equipment - you might say "fool proof" or "idiot proof."

Delivery has become pretty shabby by everyone here lately, especially UPS. I get USPS notices by email and three times I've had a notice that a package was delivered to a locked box and I didnt get them. I think my postman is a thief and getting away with it. I complain, get refunds, and nothing happens. Just last week I had a package coming UPS and tracking showed it took four days to get from the airport to the UPS terminal and then delivery notices were postponed four times. I bought the item from Amazon, a partner merchant, and the day before it was finally delivered I got a notice from Amazon that the item was lost in shipping and I should file for a refund. I waited and it came the next day. It's not just the drivers. I live in a townhouse on a cul de sac where I can see who comes into our parking area and some days I see up to five and six each UPS, FedEx, and Amazon trucks pull in, stop at one or two of the ten houses a lot of days. It appears to me that all of them are suffering from mass disorganization and confusion. I dont see how any of them are turning a profit that aren't also selling the merchandise being delivered and charging an average monthly delivery charge. I look to hear any minute that none of them are. My nextdoor neighbors are professional consumers. I've seen three Amazon trucks stopped in front of their place at once and each one delivering only a small package or envelope. That can't consistantly be profitable. Something's gonna crash or "Prime" is going up. Say what you like, there's no way we're not going to pay for that lack of organization and incompetence. You buy a $10.00 item rom Amazon and even with a 100% markup there's little chance that it's profitable after being put on a plane and in a truck to get it to you the next day when you don't live close to a regional warehouse. It may be that it all balances out at present but it's certainly questionable for the long run. Right now Amazon has no competition but that'll change - always does, and Amazon will be locked into an inflexible paradigm and unable to respond and there'll be a new top dog. Amazon is in the process now of trying to get everyone to pick a delivery day each week to combat the helter skelter process they have going now but I dont see much change in my neighborhood.

You're off to a good start. Most bird shooters end up with hummingbirds so you're being pretty gutsy and doing a pretty good job of it. I only have one recommendation - plant some flowers, even in pots maybe, if land is an issue, plants like salvia that attracts the hummers. Sit the pots where you have a good compatible distant background that will blur and that avoids being so light that it will blow out the exposure and not so dark that the hummers will disappear in it. Otherwise keep the feeders out of sight catching the hummers when they hover to look around before moving in on the feeders which will make your shots appear more natural as "in the wild" and less contrived. Welcome to the forum and Happy Father's Day!

First things first - fortunately for everyone, I don't do any of this for a living but I prefer the originals as I admit that I often lean toward a minimalist view, especially with a weak subject that can't withstand competition, and while I have no problem with occasionally putting a little lipstick on a pig, I find that there is no drama like Mother Nature's drama and if I have to artificially build drama into a picture, I don't really have much of a picture to start with. Being a bit impatient, I fully understand the concept of "well, I couldn't wait around for Mother Nature to kick in," but to me it is what it is and if I have to do a head swap and put a tiger's head on my pig to add drama to my picture, then I probably should've been in Africa instead of Arkansas or just not pick my camera up. Put some "$kin" on it and you might get a different answer.


Let's face it, the world knows what the Eiffel Tower looks like in all kinds of weather and if I show you a picture of it that I took, it is not to say how dramatic it was or wasn't - it is to say, "look where I've been." To expect every travel picture to have outlandish drama is to lose sight of the purpose of the trip. I mean, it'd be nice if all our pictures had absolutely exceptional visual impact but it's outrageous to think they should. I happen to like a clear blue sky because it symbolizes an exceptionally beautiful day and fortunately I happen to be where that happens a lot and where I have an expansive view of over 100 miles. What were the lyrics to that old song from the '60s, "It's your thing, do what you want to do..."

Bellows can give you an advantage because it lets you adjust the focal length in smooth and small increments with a set screw as opposed to big increments in mm chunks with tubes and without having to move the whole camera in and out and ultimately gives you vastly more total control over your adjustment in smooth variable increments as opposed to with tubes and 10, 15, or 25mm increments, very good for taking multiple images in steps so you can later stack for greater depth of field ESPECIALLY if you are using a tripod which can often be a good idea.

I didn't notice anyone mentioning a very versatile solution, this <$50 solution that can be found at https://www.ebay.com/itm/223429016181?hash=item3405683a75:g:4NIAAOxyV85RzovV but perhaps because it might necessitate using another lens with an aperture ring. This option might be usable with both cameras universally. It's been a while since I worked with Nikon gear.

Right, growing up in northwest Arkansas where my hometown has been wiped clean a couple of times, Colorado tornadoes pale in comparison but are still nothing to sneeze at because they will rearrange your barn shingles. Some of us here in Colorado call them tornoodles but the lady did stand tough and got some excellent shots.

Excellent pano, Tom!

You are HIGHLY LIKELY to change your mind about that the first bright sunny day the camera is used. Fortunately, you can send it back within the specified period after purchase.

It sounds to me like you need to be talking to the Park Department, instead of the cops, to see what the arrangement is with the soccer league that plays there and what the stipulations are between those two entities. Here in Colorado, this might fall under the protocol of "Event Photography" and there is a certain anticipated etiquette involved where crowds of potential customers gather in direct reaction to the efforts of the event organizers such as a 5K race where the participants often register and pay an entrance fee, or not, etc. Due to the fact that it is their chosen means of earning a living, the event promoters or managers, who put in a lot of hours and hard work, not to mention that there is a certain level of "investment risk," usually retain control over who can do photography for profit and they hire people to do the shooting, by the hour, and retain exclusive rights to all sales of photos, t-shirts, etc., of the events they organize.

Professional photographers generally honor the sanctity of the intent of that agreement, or so I'm told, and do not attempt to try to sneak in a few shots to sell. A photographer who wants to cash in on event work must seek out the event promoters and put their name in the hat for future events and be able to show a high quality of work for such events as they are applying to shoot. When it comes to who photographs kids leagues, unless you are a parent, there is a strict protocol for that and you must join a particular association and undergo a rigid background investigation to be allowed to be in contact with the kids. Never mind that the vast majority of child abuse occurs at the hands of a relative, friend of the family, neighbor, school worker, coach, or scout leader, etc.

Locally, south of Denver there is a large State Park surrounding a lake the Corps of Engineers built, for flood control and a reservoir for Denver's water supply. An annual 5k race is held there and the park is closed off for public use, as is that soccer field in question, and in effect, the control of which belongs to the event promoter who can have anyone with a "capable camera" who looks like they are there to compete for the potential photographic profits ejected from the grounds, notwithstanding the ever presence of the State Park Rangers. Being a hobbyist and unaware of these nuances, I wandered into one of the races one year with a "pro looking" camera with a big white lens and set up near the finish line to get some "action" shots and was approached within a few minutes. I like to shoot action, not sure why but it appeals to me. That's why I got into the hobby in the first place - I had three boys in about every kind of sports there was when they were young right on up to now shooting semi-pro football games for my oldest son who coaches a team.

After the introductions, we talked for a few minutes and I was able to appease the interviewers that I wasn't there to compete with them to sell photos. As there often is at events, they had a booth set up to print on the spot and take orders for t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. It turned out that they were a man short so they offered me a job which I declined. A couple of weeks later I got a call from the promoter. He wanted to see what I had. A couple of his hired photographers didn't do an adequate job and he tried to buy my shots which I declined to sell. I'll never know precisely what his motive was, whether he actually needed/wanted my shots or if he was just testing to see if they were for sale but, he did try to recruit me to work his upcoming events and ragged me for over a year. :)

I like this answer best - nothing to buy, nothing to learn, no wi-fi, no tension, no timing malfunctions when recording, which is the important part. Editing the head and tail off and using a fade in and out will give a much more professional results equal to and yet enhancing the quality of the recording and you can edit off ten minutes off both ends just as easily as you can ten seconds. It's like a haircut - it's not what you cut off, but about what you leave on. You can forget about precision start and stop and achieve that with the editing. It's quite simple to edit video and unless you do something to destroy your original footage, you can experiment 'til you're too tired on different presentations, with titling for yourself and the piece, if desired, credits for accompaniment, copyright notice. etc., and effects such as the "Ken Burns" effects. but keep it simple matching the cadence of the music whether ballad or "Broadway hootenanny." To really dress it up. a multiple camera setup is handy, two, maybe three, different distances, different angles. close up with one, pick your best angle and splice it together in segments with a "dissolve" effect where one segment fades into another with no picture loss. It may sound tricky but it really isn't and there are several free and inexpensive software programs out there that will do all that.

Hey Ron, you might want to read the following thread and following the included links might be the more important part... https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-3882-1.html

Be sure and look at the dates of the posts.

LOL!