members.....

not sure if anything has been posted about this lady.

amazing: http://www.cristinamittermeier.com/

thank you.

mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org

my friend gustav verdeber of sojournsinnature.com told me to use: Pec-12. B&H photo has it.

works great.

thank you. mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org

Panama....same snakes as Costa Rica. It could be a better option....far less touristic than Costa Rica, and w/a greater diversity in Indigenous Communities.

Thanks.

Mike Nolan/mnolan@rainforestandreef.org

have done the trip 26 times now. one thing people do is bring too much gear. bringing a long telephoto lens is not really a necessity. wildlife is quite tame and your best shots can be taken with shorter lenses. also consider that you will be with a group of 10-15 others and you won't have all day to sit and compose each shot. you can lug a tripod along, in most cases you just won't have time to use it. a monopod, that would be better. also, do your reading before and after your trip. enjoy the galapagos while you're there, not with your face in a book. i would not worry about the elements. you could get rained, especially in the highlands of santa cruz. i think too many people worry about hurting their gear, it's made to be used! thanks. feel free to contact me with questions. mnolan@rainforestandreef.org

hi....

have guided many groups to costa rica and have sent many more. should you want to see a packing list for costa rica....please feel free to e-mail me at: mnolan@rainforestandreef.org.

can you send me your itinerary, i will be able to make some more accurate comments from that.

about snakes in costa rica....~50 people/yr die from snake bites. most from Bothrops asper. usually people that are bushwacking, too far away from any help or alone. i've seen some very large ones in different countries in latin america. younger ones are the most dangerous.

you can also call me....see below.

thank you.

mike nolan

"Outstanding-Affordable Field Courses in Rainforest & Marine Ecology"

References/Comments from past Group Leaders and Individual Participants can be found at:
http://rainforestandreef.org/past-participantgroup-leader-comments.html.

U.S.:
Rainforest and Reef
417 Watson St.
Coopersville, MI 49404

Phone: 616.604.1234
Toll free: dial: 1.616.604.0472---->don't dial the country code when prompted to do so---->dial: 616.604.1234#
Cell Phone: 1.616.312.5744
Phone calls from outside the U.S. or Canada: 011.616.604.1234
Skype: rainforestandreef
E-mail: mnolan@rainforestandreef.org or travelwithrandr@gmail.com
Web: http://rainforestandreef.org (presently under revision)

Europe:
Rainforest and Reef
Haguenau, France
Att: Marion Stephan
Local/International Phone: 49.0.177.1747485
Skype: walli044
E-mail: mstephan@rainforestandreef.org or europe@rainforestandreef.org

keep in mind, depending on how many images you have, can be quite time consuming.

what are you going to use the scanned images for?

i agree w/all of posts here about epson scanners, even their least expensive one. i have the v600, excellent quality. a friend, pro photographer: sojournsinnature.com has the nikon coolscan, he told me my scanned slides were as good as his. that's saying a great deal for epson.

one nice thing about having your own scanner, if you have something you want to scan on the spot, you can obviously just do it. thanks. mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org

this will be a bit of a different take on this. one of my 5 sisters took many, many printed images from our family over many, many decades. she laid them out on a single piece of paper or something a bit thicker. she used scotch tape? to secure them in place. there was no real order to things, done in a very random fashion. she had black and white prints made from this, not sure what co. or what type of co. she used to have it done? you can easily find some printing shop to do it, i'm sure. the resut was INCREDIBLE. for my parents she had the print framed. i could not believe how well it turned out. my parents and all of us were very, very pleased. well all still have the print hanging on our walls. not your typical family picture, much better than that! this may not even be close to what you're looking for, just a thought.

thanks. mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org/mnolan@rainforestandreef.org

My apologies....am guessing that this topic has been covered before?

I see a great deal of interest in Photoshop and other programs that allow images to be tweeked after shooting.

With all of these options to alter images, how are we able to tell how much of what we see is actually what the image taker actually saw?

It is scary to me, I share images with people all of the time, never for money....usually in the name of science. Find myself telling people to take their chances w/authenticity.

I have some folks that have made some money by selling their images. One would be Gustav Verderber at sojournsinnature.com. He has had a cover on Natural History, some Nat Geo images, etc. on his resume. Have no clue where he stands in the photography world. Am not trying to sell his images.

He tells me that there is talk in the pro dslr world that in the near future....images will be marked as original or altered by your camera? He also says that IF you are found cheating, while working with any kind of respected magazine, you will have trouble finding work in the business.

I'm just concerned about a lousy picture, all of a sudden looking great because of a photographers computer skills.

My late uncle told me years ago that Kodak was surely altering the color on his 35mm images and that they looked far better than he saw them in real life.

Thanks, no offense to anyone using Photoshop or similar. I just want to know that what I'm looking at is the real deal.

Mike Nolan

if this topic has been covered before....my apologies.

have brought this issue up with a friend. he's telling me that the glass of today's af lenses is better than some of the older nikkor manual focus lenses. unless i hear otherwise, am just not buying it. i have several nikkor lenses on both sides of this question. am not trying to argue you functions, like auto-focus, sheer quality of the optics. thanks for your experience and expertise.

mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org

my apologies.....

posted an inquiry about sigma 18-200 and sigma 18-250. hope those focal lengths are correct. some great comments re: that post. have found this tamron at just about the same price. have read some reviews....image quality seems to be great, does not focus as fast as some of the competition. not an issue with me. thank you. mike nolan/rainforestandreef.org

Thanks to all who commented on my question about a new lens. Did find a used Sigma 18-250 Macro OS HSM for 299.00. Ad from B and H says mint condition. Have seen this Tamron lens out there. Have a Nikkor 300 mm lens, that would be the only reason to not get it. Thank you and happy holidays.

Mike Nolan

Hello Folks....

My cheapo Nikon kit lens just broke...Nikon 18-105. Am considering Sigma 18-200 and newer 18-250 as a replacement for my Nikon D7100. Have read some on-line reviews, both seem to get fairly good ratings. I know there are some limitations for both, but outside of my skill level at this time. Thanks for your time. Mike Nolan/rainforestandreef.org

Keep on digging idaholover, your hole is getting deeper.

What in the world does the subject line of your post have to do with your story? I hate in when people use hyped subject lines to get what they've posted read.

Really....cut their hands off?

What in the world does the subject line of your post have to do with your story? I hate in when people use hyped subject lines to get what they've posted read.

Really....cut their hands off?