Ripley

Well I have some pics to fix this afternoon, will have to rely on my dodgey uncalibrated monitor. It's one of those Camera House chains and they aren't answering the phone today (do stores open at 1pm Perth time like they do in Sydney I wonder?). I'll try after 3pm EST. I want a refund though.

So p*ssed off. I ordered a Spyder monitor calibration thing from a camera store in WA and not only did it take a week to arrive once they had my money into their account , it is missing the installation software plus the connection cable! They aren't there today, Monday is a public holiday in WA and I'm pretty mad. I've insisted on a refund. From now on I'll just buy things where I can physically pick them up and check them. GRRR!

Just stick your name in small type on the bottom and send a smaller file. I've recently sent out a few larger than web sized files, but not huge and stuck my name in small type in the corner.

Here's Dustangel's 'Flute' taken with the Canon 1.8 on Saturday.

I'm jealous as hell about that camera you have, ruger, I can't believe how sharp it is, plus no sky blow out, even on P mode. Wow.

Yup. :p Good grief. I wonder what whistle bang features it will have. I wish Canon would make a camera with an ISO of 50 instead of thinking everyone needs to shoot at ISO 25,000 or whatever. Would be handy for night time shots to have a lower ISO, I hate using the in camera noise reduction, takes forever.

Yes I was going to risk a bite (and possible rabies) for my pack. This wasn't that one in Bali that you went to, this was a very quiet place in Singapore, jungle like and large, just a gorgeous spot). I'm quite scared of monkeys On that weekend I mentioned above, I saw what I thought was a lizard, got up close to it to find it was a juvenile brown snake. Cute little bugga. I grabbed a few shots of this one before he went for my pack after I spotted a monitor lizard creature. OH has a charming one of him scratching his privates on his computer - men!

I bought a 30D because my 70-200 felt like it was going to snap off my 350D. I love the 30D because of its wider screen and it feels solid. I know some people think it's heavy but I don't find it heavy at all.

God, mine was nothing compared to some of these. I almost went over a ledge taking a shot the same day to try and fit a shrub in for foreground interest. I looked behind me and there was just a drop, over the canopy below. I got the shot though. ETA: I almost had my backpack containing a few lenses stolen by a wild monkey in a Nat Park last year. He bared his teeth at me when I shouted at him and snatched my pack away. They are quite frightening up close!

I've given high res files on a provided memory stick. But this was a friend, it was my first time photographing dogs and I was very new to photography. Agree with chezzyr re the home printer thing though, I saw what one of mine looked like off a home printer compared to what it looked like when I had it printed at a lab - nice green colour cast and not sharp. Argh.

Thought this might be a light hearted subject before we break for a few days and possibly take the cameras out of their pack. Has anyone done dumb things when using their camera that have resulted in a bad shot, no shot or just plain slap yourself on the forehead moments? I did something like this 2 weeks ago. Packed my backpack (have a Lowerpro nature trekker which is fantastic for walking) for a hike up the Blue Mountains. Did the hike, sat on this beautiful gorge ledge taking in the scenery and then back down the hill again for lunch. OH went to light the bbq at the picnic spot and I went off to stalk some birdies. I had myself in a good position, crouched down low and ever so still, the birds got used to me so the 70-200 was close enough for a shot. Clicked away and no CF card! I had left it stuck in the computer at home. I was so annoyed at myself. Then I whinged to OH who said, oh well I'll just have to enjoy the hiking without taking a single photo. I thought he was mad, what about the sunset shots I wanted? :p Then as if to taunt me, 3 gang gangs flew right near us (mum, dad and junior), close enough for my 70-200 and just hung around as we ate our lunch, serenaded by the clack clacking noise they make. I'm sure that, had the CF card been in my camera, they would never have shown up so close to us as that is always the way, right? So, I insisted on driving the 15km into Lithgow, went into Harvey Norman, he had ONE flash card left but it was the 16g one and they are pricey. As if I will ever need that much space. He saw I was disappointed so he made me an offer on it, I offered a bit lower and I got it for a good discount (he must have felt sorry for me). I was happy after that and we drove to Hassells Wall and then to Blackheath and I got to try out my lens. Spent Earth Hour looking at the 3 sisters by floodlight. Now the spare flash card stays permanently in my backpack - I'm so hopeless with forgetting things like that. I also left the ISO on at 400 when photographing a scene with the camera on the tripod before I noticed it and the same day too.

The 70-200 L without IS is great so long as you keep the shutter speed high enough. I have shot at 1/160 @ 200mm handholding it and still got sharp shots without bumping up the ISO (but I leaned against a wall to do this). As I mentioned previously, I cannot hand hold this lens with the 1.4 teleconverter attached though, the added weight is too much for sharp enough shots and if you want to do that, you will need to buy a tripod collar for it and whack it on a tripod.

Totally understand your last paragraph. I have the 70-200 f/4 non IS Canon lens so it's lighter but not fast and doesn't have IS. I find it suits my needs fine and don't find it heavy. However, I also have a 1.4 teleconverter and have only attached it once and I couldn't keep my hands still enough with the added weight, so I could not hand hold it at that length and would have needed to affix the lens to a tripod (but it doesn't come with a tripod collar so that's another gripe, I need to buy one). Suggestions above sound great. It depends what you are into and you have said what you're interested in. I've used my 70-200 for wild bird photos when I've been able to get close enough and some town landscapes shots and dog shots. Perfect lens for all of those. I recently purchased a Sigma 10-20 and tried it out for the first time the other weekend. Very happy with it, although with a polariser attached it does give some vignetting at the corners when at its wider end. I bought it for landscapes though, although some people's head shots could look pretty amusing if taken with it.

That's what I was thinking, Luke. Use of a polariser made it even more obvious.

Silly question as it's probably personal taste but does anyone clone out vapour trails by jets in their photos? I did wait for a while the jet to pass but it took way too long, light was fading and I was in a valley perched on the edge of a cliff so didn't want to hang around there too long. I think one on my shot spoils the photo but OH likes it.

Does anyone use those disposable lens tissues? I had to clone out dust spots on some photos I took last weekend (they only showed up in the sky thankfully). Changing lenses in the great outdoors is a pain.

Thanks. It looks a lot better on my home monitor than at work, it's all muted and less sharp on my work one but my work monitor is a few years old.

Does anyone have those Spider monitor calibration things? Or should I just do what I normally do and email them to someone and say, "How does this appear on your screen?" I want to print a few photos and I've tried the Adobe calibration thing that PS has (which isn't very concise IMO) but for a print for my mother, I want to blow it up to just under A3 size and frame it. Maybe I'll do a smaller test print at Hardly Normal - I've heard their printing is ok. I hardly print anything, I've had a b/w A4 sized print done there and it appeared good quality, nice tonal range. Also a couple of dog shots looked good when printed out there. Maybe my monitor is ok after all, it's a Dell and only a year old. Or should I join redbubble (already bought off them so I have an account) and use them to print it out if people think their printing is ok? One more question, can they handle Adobe 1998 colourspace or should I whack it back to SRGB? Are 16 bits better than 8 bits? Sorry for thread highjack, I'm still talking printing I hope.

I read about this in the news, had a look and thought some might like have a squizz at Bob Browns' photography site. He has an exhibition on atm, in Canberra I think - Bodalla, no idea where that is. Click on thumbnails for larger version of photographs. http://www.greenart.com.au/introduction.html http://www.greenart.com.au/catalogue09.html

You should see all the Japanese tourists lined up at Mrs Macquarie's chair lookout with their tripods and Nikons. I've also see photography groups mulling about the one time I went there on dusk.

I subscribe to a UK photography magazine and they are very strict over there. Stories of police insisting they delete the photos there and then in front of them. Apparently that is against the law so people taking photos can refuse to do this. It is, however, illegal to photograph some buildings there. I admit I get a bit nervous taking photos at night alone here. I'd like OH to be with me as I could easily be mugged. I want to try out my new lens in the city when daylight saving ends but I don't want to go down to the foreshore alone at dusk. I'm a very confident person walking about by myself in the city, but not with a lens that stands out.

I got escorted out of the car park of a big industrial plant near my house recently Pity I didn't get a few shots first! I had a security guard come and ask what I was doing when I was photographing a shot for that January challenge on DOL (the sunset over the shopping centre carpark photo). I showed him and he was fine. He wanted to stay and chat which irritated me a bit as I was waiting for the twilight to arrive. He said I can come back and take photos there any time but just try and not include any logos of the centre. I was only interested in the streetlights anyway. ETA: I didn't have the big lens, just the sigma 17-70 but I did have a tripod and a grad filter attached and I was standing on a wide wall.

I know the one. I have it at home so I'll have a look and let you know what each slider does if you like. Just can't remember off the top of my head but I know it's still loaded onto the home computer.

I've pdf'd a RAW conversion help guide before to someone, I'm sure I still have it. I can send it to you, it guides you through the sliders and what they do. What version of Photoshop or Elements do you have as Adobe has updates on their website sometimes.

I have an old Tokina lens (a 70-300mm) that fit my Canon 350D and also fits the 30D. It was on an old Canon film camera OH had when I met him. However, now I know a little bit more about taking photos, the images taken with it are nothing short of sh*t with awful purple fringing on every shot. Hope your lens is better.