Saturn

Its a pity really, but they have customers willing to pay astronomical amounts so they can charge what they want. Sadly, for ordinary people like us who live in third world countries.. what to do except grin and pay. Re: teleconverters: this looks promising: http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-Autofocus-Tel...s/dp/B000068ODT Also http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-1000mm-Mirro...s/dp/B000NNUHWK Seems to work with most canon lenses.. Whats the longest you can handhold IS @55 and at 250? I'm really curious to know. I find that in my 18-55, 55 I can get about 30% clear photos at 1/4.. so by that math, reaching 250 I should probably have no hope Speaking of mirror lenses.. I stumbled on this: http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/mirror.html quite interesting!

Ripper: If you don't mind me asking - how is the 50D? (I think you mentioned you got one?) I'm curious because it costs quite a bit more than, say the 1000d. What specific advantages does it have, and how does your photography benefit from it?

I'm not refering to the blob shape, but rather the quality and nature of the bokeh. The 1.8 gives harsh 'condom shaped' bokeh for lights, whereas the 1.4 gives a softer 'center-glow' type bokeh. It's a very subtle effect. (Also as you pointed out, the 8 blade aperture gives more rounder bokeh. Still, I guess I am going to get the 1.8 and see how it goes, then switch to the 1.4 wow that is good value for money! An ultra zoom is on my to-do list too - I just need more $$ That's the spirit. In your defense you are a good photographer so you can get away with it. Me, I just get laughed at I think people prefer the 1.4 due to IQ.. supposedly the 2.0 degrades visual quality too much.. Also have you considered other compatible teleconverters? I hear the other brands allow you to use most lenses (vs the Canons which only work with a few primes!/l zooms) Tell me about the 55-250 is? whats the longest handheld time you can get with IS? how sharp are the pics? With the 18-55 I can handhold a max 1 second at 18 and about 1/4 at 55, this generally matches with what I've read.

Lens wise, with the 18-55 and 55-250 IS, your collection is perfect! Though a nice low light prime would be awesome indeed: consider the 50 1.4 - it's a bit more expensive (37k @metro), but has almost a stop more light gathering and better optics/bokeh, which should be awesome for evening gatherings, etc (imagine, all that low light performance!). That lens is so solid.. and gives beautiful photos. Metro don't have the 50 1.8 right now but should have it in a week or two.. or so they say. Fun fact: if you ask for the 1.8 they will say oh no, because I've been phoning them weekly for a month about this At F4, the 1.8 and 1.4 should match (so I read) BUT the 1.8 has very violent choppy bokeh: particularly if theres any light in the background photos look crazy. See this photo fromthe 1.8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/makelessnoise/191473607/ no light in BG, so looks nice. whereas this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjapepunkt/162528289/ light in background gives nasty blobs Some people, even pro's, LIKE this look, but personally I prefer the soft smooth backgrounds from the f1.4. If you don't really care about the background then 1.8 will be fine. Here are some examples of the 1.4's bokeh http://www.flickr.com/groups/bokeh_/discus...search=50mm+1.4 vs the 1.8 http://www.flickr.com/groups/bokeh_/discus...=canon+50mm+1.8 Obviously you could use your 55-250 and get better stuff bokeh wise, but that wouldnt have the low light ability of the 50 Personally I'm hoping to buy the 50mm 1.8 from Metro, but I also want to save up for the 1.4 and hopefully buy it in a few months.. so if you or anyone wants a cheap 50mm 1.8 with warranty, give me 2 months Mirror lenses are fascinating. I've never used one but I've seen the photos and they are definitely good, especially considering the huge cost and size difference! I'm curious.. why did you decide on Opteka/Kenko? Also any idea what a 1.4 or 2x converter costs here? I didn't ask metropolitan as their prices would be astronomical I'm sure Speaking of Opteka.. wow this is a bargain! http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-500mm-Preset-...4560&sr=1-4

The problem: - You find a really nice download: e.g. a youtube video, or a magazine, which probably won't stay for long. Alternatively, you find a google/youtube video which is nice but choppy as hell and you don't want to watch 50% and get stuck - You are stuck with a crummy ADSL connection with no speed. Worse yet the server doesnt support resume, so you can't auto resume what you are downloading. What you need: any web hosting account which supports ssh if it's a video, use keepvid to find the flv/video file link Howto: log in to your hosting account (in linux, something like the following) sudo ssh site.com -l username (enter password) (windows users can download a client like putty - google for putty, download and install and follow instructions) chdir to your public web directory cd /users/cheaphosted/crummyactthatsupportsssl/myname make a folder for your downloads mkdir filevault open folder cd filevault (if directories are not enabled, make an htaccess with nano .htaccess, then add "Options +Indexes") Next, just wget your file: wget www.server.com/filename.ext if you are lucky your hosting server can download at mb's or gb's per second you will see a lovely progress bar like this: 100%[====================================>] 21,435,065 41.23M/s yum, 40mb's! and you can download it later on to your PC, using a file resumer like getright or something just go to the folder you made (probably yourdomain.com/filevault (if you want to be safe you can password protect it with htaccess FYI you can flv format files with vlc player or flv player That ends my unsolicited longwinded tip of the day

Thanks for your suggestions and advice! Please also let me know if there are any car shows coming up.. want to test my lenses Yes, considering the 70-200f4 or the 200 f2. Or both. Not too sure, I may go for the F4 and an 85f1.8 for low light. So many options, so much choice but so expensive I considered the f2.8 but that thing is really heavy not to mention costing nearly 2 grand! @ripper - congrats on the 50d. If you don't mind me asking, what lenses did you get? btw.. check this out: it's an archive of JPG magazine, in PDF format: http://jpgmag.com/downloads/archives.html Some nice stuff there ps: pericles, ripper, and everyone else here who uses DSLR's.. if you don't mind me asking, which lenses do you personally use? which are your favorites? I'm looking for tips to build a glass collection btw for anyone who is looking for gear, metropolitan has got some new shipments (and are getting more) so hopefully they should have revised pricing. I visited their office at Magazine road, had stacks of boxes of cameras. best of they had a room full of lenses. Main guy there gave me decent prices and was very helpful and intelligent - also his prices were realistic not crazy like the shop prices. Some of the prices he offered me were not too bad, just a little above US street prices, worth it for the warranty. It's only for higher end stuff (e.g. L lenses) that the prices were crazy, so I'd probably import those.

I'm looking to get a Canon L series lens. I can either get it via the agent or import it - the agent has a markup of $300 approx. What I want to know is, has anyone here imported lenses? what are the customs costs/duty/tax/vat etc? I'd be getting it thru fedex or UPS probably. I DID try to ask them but they seemed clueless FYI the lens I want is about $600 outside (and $900 at the agent here)

Guess I should learn to quit while I'm ahead! In my defense, my rant was mainly because 99% of the talk about DSLR's is always about upgrading the camera and seems like people are forgetting about lenses... if someone has $1500 - $2000 to spend, they should at least consider getting good lenses, as, $1500 worth of lenses with an old camera may result in better photos than a newer camera Anyway, its really nice to see this sort of stuff being discussed and I hope it inspires other P&S users to go DSLR.

True.. my comment was mostly aimed at amateurs I just think its a pity that they spend so much upgrading their camera's instead of getting better lenses..

When it comes to DSLR's (and to an extent P&S's) The camera you use is mostly insignificant.. except for a few features like live view and bigger lcd's, (and more pixels), a 3 or 4 year old DSLR can get just as good a pic as a new one, when used correctly, by a skilled photographer. If you really want to get better photos, learn more, and BUY GOOD LENSES (Fast primes for example) Just my two cents.. I see people around me blowing money trying to get the latest whatchamacalit DSLR with 15 megapixels and they'd get better results with a 6mp camera and a good prime lens.. ah well On the subject of lenses, I'm on the lookout for Canon lenses.. if anyone has good ones, new or used, or knows where to find them, please let me know Have tried metropolitan but their prices are crazy, 100% markup or more.. only decent lens they had was a 50mm which was... out of stock. edited: oops sorry, this wasn't aimed at Ripper, just a general rant

this is probably obvious but you should first ask the owner of the car before you try experiments like this personally it pisses me off a bit when people try stunts when trying to buy a car from me.

Get a good prime lens like the 50mm f 1.4 or 1.8 or even the 85mm f/1.8 See if you can get a cheap 70-300 lens but remember these tend to be rather slow

The D40 is an excellent camera, with good low light (ISO200) native sensor. Consider getting it and saving your money for a nice VR lens and/or a few prime lenses

Dude. that house is incredible.. 1 M.. I just couldn't believe that! Well done to you and your dad

Today, Gas dropped below $2 to $1.99 a gallon, in some places in US.. Yet we have to pay nearly that much per liter.. how long before people here get tired of being screwed I'm not trying to troll.. I just don't get it.. we are paying waaaaaay more than we should, yet everyone here is like.. meh,.. whatever.. I guess this country is full of rich people Oh wait.. we had a whopping $0.15 reduction right

Thats OK I have a newegg account and I can ask my family to send it.. problem is over here (customs)?

Both quoted kit lens.. 18-55VR for the nikon, and 18-55is for the canon I think. Photo technica 'generously' offered a 1gb card also I think Ah well, now all I gotta do is find 100K ps: thanks for answering my many questions! Has anyone here imported a DSLR thru customs? e.g. DHL, UPS.. whatever? I checked pricing on newegg, I can easily get an entry level canon/nikon for $500 or less.. add 100 for DHL and thats around $600. If customs duty isnt much then it may be better that way? I did import a P&S once, was charged around 1000 or so...

spoke to metropolitan who have EOS1000d for 100k.. and EOS450d for 115k I think.. photo technica say they have the D60 for 89,500 (and that's all they have) Must check out nastars and the other shop.. anyone know their phone nos? @pericles.. in your opinion.. is an agent warranty any good? The US/street price of the D60 seems around $250 less than here how good is a warrany from the shops at MC? add $100 for dhl and $100 est for tax and (it seems) that the agent price isn't too bad.. what are your thoughts? The EOS1000d is a nice camera too.. they requested 100K, if I remember right, that's also worth considering

So.. what do you think?

Today's an awesome day.. what with Obama's epic win.. Hopefully there will be positive results for the whole world, not just US

wow.. I knew you were into photography but I had no idea you were quite good at it

O/T didn't they come to SL on a holiday or something? and shop at ODEL or whatnot.. back to topic.. can anyone confirm the taxes for importing a camera via DHL? My personal experience for cheap P&S's is they charge a small amount, say $10 -$20, like 10% have no idea with a DSLR, will they consider it a luxury device and charge me extra??

thanks for your replies everyone! Gonna phone nastars and that other place in MC, also Metropolitan and see if I can get pricing for cameras well, wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!!

Our friendly neighborhood ralahami's decided to stop me for a soberity test... somewhere near union place thankfully I was on the way from hospital with a sick pet (which I showed to them) so they agreed that I'm probably not drunk after all, everyone knows you dont take a cat if you are going to get smashed.. cats make crappy drinking companions and all I'm curious to know - what IS a soberity test in SL? walking a line? Brethalyzer? Singing the national anthem??

I'm not too sure I agree (p&s=hit and miss)... A p&s, in the right hands, can achieve miracles.. personally some of my fave photos were from camera phones! See: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm