Chippy

I thought I'd have a go at a couple of star trails last night with the new 5DII. Took an age to process and stack all the pics. Each image was a stack of 100 or so 30" exposures.

Awe inspiring photojornalism from 2008. Some quite amazing shots. 2008 in Photos

As steve said, also pretty ,uch depends on what camera you're going to use. large MP SLR for sports and wildlife - forget it, but they'd be fine for single shot SLR or a compact

If I remember rightly, you can actually just use the camera on the AA's and forget the CR2's. I believe the CR2's just provided power for the metering and when they are missing it draws the power from the AA's. When you get it, you could take a jpeg and open it in a program (freeware) called Opanda EXIF. It'll bring vast amounts of EXIF data up, but somewhere (near the bottom of the list) it'll also give you the exact shutter count. This cant be reset by a devious owner as it takes the data out of the cameras internal counter.

Yep, the S2 is a great camera. I used it for all of my underwater photography. The only down side was the stupid two battery arrangement (which the got shot of with the next model) but apart from that it was great! For £235...... what a deal.......

Very very sad. I cant really think of anything else to add that hasn't already been said. What a genuinely great bloke, that will be very much missed.

Well I sold my 1d MkIII......and "bought" a 5D MkII.....more suitable for my kind of photography. I say bought as I'm on the preorder list, but seriously thinking about knocking it on the head and ordering off one of the respected HK dealers on Ebay, as I only pre-ordered a few weeks ago and in all probability I'll be near, if not at, the bottom of the list, and being cameraless is horrible! Also thought I'd splash out on some new ND Grads - So I went for a set of ND2, ND4 and ND8 grads in the bigger Cokin Z pro size, as I had vignetting problems with the P sized holder on a 1Ds.

Is this some Nikonian thing? Sorry Wiggers........I wont mention my other purchases just yet then

I'l be honest didn;t look for long but these guys are loads cheaper. Actually ended up getting mine off Fleabay. Bristol Cameras

Just bought one of these, which is going to be ideal for my low light photography. Had a little play with it and it seems very accurate. It's actually pretty small - easily small enough to sit permanently in the hot shoe (although I might be afraid of accidentally knocking it off), and priced only a little more that a normal hotshoe bubble level. Also works in portrait mode. Warehouse Express aren't the cheapest place I've found it, so the following link is just for info! Seculine Electronic level

Nikon D2X (actually a good mate of mine is selling it but willing to inspect it on anyone's behalf), details are as follows - he's after £700 which seems to be about the asking price on Ebay. I have a photo of the camera, and it really is very good condition:- Body only. Comes with original box and all items that were included at time of purchase: D2X Camera BM-3 LCD monitor cover BF-1A Body Cap L-1 Battery Chamber cover Quick Start Guide D2X Instruction booklet Warranty papers Type B BriteView III Focusing Screen - Unused EN-EL4 Rechargeable Li-ion battery MH-21 Quick Charger AN-D2X Strap EG-D2 Audio/Video Cable UC-E4 USB Cable PictureProject CD-ROM PictureProject Reference Manual CD-ROM I have owned this camera from new from early 2006, at which time it was Nikons top Pro spec camera. It has served me well and never let me down. With a 12 mega pixel sensor it has more resolution than most people will ever need. I have taken images with this camera for use in glossy magazines and image quality has never been a problem. The body is in good condition. All of the rubber grips are still firmly attached and all controls work as they should. The only obvious signs of use are scratches on the base of the body. This has come from normal wear and tear. The neck strap has lost the grippy part that rests on your shoulder due to wear and tear. The fabric of the strap is still in good condition and it does its job as a strap just fine. ---------------------------------------- Good review here ... http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond2x/ Wiggly.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade here, but it's a bit like saying "why are all cars the same, after all they do is get us for A to B". There are enormous differences between cameras with, lets say, the same MP count. The best camera in the world is the one that suits YOUR needs. Do you need to shoot 10 frames a second? Do you need to be able to stand out in pouring rain for hours on end without worrying whether your gear is going to get wrecked? etc etc It is true that a basic camera in the hands of someone that knows what they are doing, will (excluding the odd lucky shot) produce a better pic than a top of the range camera in the hands of someone that hasn't got a clue.

the short answer is it doesnt synthetically alter an image to make it sharper, it simply counteracts any movement.

Thanks Wiggly

Nice to see the forum is still going strong. Been popping my nose in every now and then to see what's been happening! Unfortunately I've spent the past 4 months refurbishing my flat to sell, so haven't had any time for pics (except last night). Anyhow, thought I'd blow the dust off the gear and go a try out a shot I'd been planning for about a year. There was a little bit too much moonlight, but not a bad attempt. The shot is made up of 110 stacked images. The castle was lit with my car headlights (to get focus and then switched lens to manual) and then three blasts of flash on full power - 10 secs at F5.6. Once I was happy with how that looked I immediately set the camera running and took a further 109 shots, each of 30 secs @ F5.6 ISO200. (on reflection might have been better at ISO400 to bring some of the duller stars out):-

Yes they are good. I used one a few years ago with an Olympus E20p and full size flash in one. They are great for on the surface. Iactually took mine down to about 10m but found that the water pressure "sticks" the bag around the camera making it impossible to turn any dials so it was cr*p for diving. Worked great for snorkelling though! This is the type i used: EWA Marine

Dont forget that for the blurry water you'll need a full ND filter, as the grads are just used to balance the sky and the foreground exposures. As wiggers said, you can combine both a grad and a full ND if you want too (which i often do) I use Cokin P's at the mo.

Go for it!!!! After all it's a part of the creative picture taking process..... In all fairness I think "non-digital" i.e. the use photoshop filters should be discouraged, after all, anyone can can add a filter post production (except ND filters).

You wanna try lugging a Canon 1D series around all day

Another one from last night.......bit more of a shorter exposure this time. I dont really like having to use coloured grads, but had a crappy white, uninteresting sky to deal with:-

Cheers mate If and when this weather cheers up I'll hopefully be able to get out and get some more!!

Yeah I use Cokin Grads, but have a decent hoya screw in (all my lenses are 77mm) ND8. I suppose I could have compose then added it, but even then it was still pretty dark. Currently thinking off getting rid of all my cokins and investing in full ND and ND grad sets from Lee, as these tend to be the only filters (excluding my polariser) that i use.

The 1D III has a grid which comes up in liveview mode, but pretty useless when the scene is so dark that you can't see the horizon I used the TC-80 timer remote. Bought it primarily for doing startrails though. In the bulb mode the top screen has a timer, so a normal electronic release would still be fine.

Well you all know I really like my weird stuff, but I've been trying out some long (4-6 minute) exposures during this week (with a HDR thrown in)... I was quite surprised at how dark it really has to be, even with a ND8 filter, ISO50 and F16-F22 to be able to get that length of exposure. It made composing the shot really tricky and would have had no chance of getting the horizon straight without a bubble level. Juts need to find the right location for it now, but here's my first attempts And a HDR.........

I've been using refillable cartridges in mine for a few years now. These aren't ones that you take to be refilled, but actual empty spongeless cartridges that are refilled by using a syringe and a suction technique. I only use genuine Epson K3 Ink though (I dont see the point in buying a decent printer and then running it on inferior ink - bit like buying a ferrari and running it on chip fat!) I bought a set of the Epson 4800 220ml carts and sucked the ink out and then fill the carts from that - squirting the leftover ink back in the larger one when i'm done. Managed about 20 refills per colour. Initial outlay is fairly expensive though - 16 blanks (two per colour so I always have a spare), were £150 or so, then about £300 for the 220ml carts. however even with the initial outlay for the blanks, it still works out about £2.50 per refilled cart for the first 20 refills then about £1.66 after that. You can actually get 110ml carts to save on the initial outlay. If I had to buy again, i'd get the empty (no ink) Lyson kit and fill then reservoirs from the 4800 carts - the problem with the refill carts is that i'm still having to change them often and having to waste ink on the "new cart" cleaning cycles - although I've learnt to minimise the waste by replacing all the carts as soon as ONE has emptied and then just top them up.