Post by cyberwizard on Aug 25, 2006 22:55:34 GMT -5
Hi,
I live in the extreme northwestern corner of North Carolina where the TN/NC/VA borders intersect at an elevation of 3,500 feet in a county of about 26,000 souls.
I'm now a Nikon fan and user though I began with a Pentax Spotmatic II system with their Takumar Super Multicoated lens (50mm f1.4, 35mm f2.8 and a 135mm f2.8) and I still think these were some of the best quality lens anyone, including Zeiss, ever made. I also bought a couple of used Fuji cameras with their f1.8 lens as they use the same screw mount lens as the Spotmatic II. I still use these cameras today and their lens are superior to any current Nikon lens I have used. The light meters in the Spotmatic II stopped working years ago so I bought and use a Gossen Luna-Pro Spot Light Meter, but mostly to check my settings as I'm usually never more than an f-stop off when I set the Spotmatic II manually.
But I did make the switch to Nikon with an N70. I now own an N70 with a Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens, the Nikon 2.8 28mm-70mm zoom and a Sigma 70-300mm f3.2 zoom.
I also really liked the Pronea S and bought one and loved it. So I then bought 4 more for $50 each when Wolf Camera did a closeout on them and I have the standard lens that comes with them and one Pronea S telephoto zoom telephoto.
And I do underwater photography, too: I have a Nikkonos system with the 35mm 2.8 lens and multiple flashes and an inexpensive Sea 'n Ski underwater camera that uses box cameras.
You'll note I haven't mentioned digital yet. That's because I prefer film.
I do some professional work but mostly shoot work for myself that I exhibit locally. My professional work, strangely enough, is album covers (I write music and equipment reviews for both an American and an UK audio and music magazine) that I shoot with a really cheap 2.3 MP H/P camera, but it's all closeup work and this really cheap digital camera is more than sufficient for the photos to be reprinted in the two magazines I write for.
I prefer analog and still do all my personal work on film and only do my commercial work in digital because I can download the .jpg files and send them to my publishers.
I don't get hung up on the equipment - To me, what's really important in getting a great shot is patience, framing, waiting for the right moment and good natural lighting (for outdoor work). I take photographs, most people take snapshots. But I must admit if I could afford it, I'd probably purchase a Leica M-6 and 2 or 3 Zeiss lens for it because my very first camera was a 35mm Yashica range-finder camera (can't remember the model) with a fixed lens of reasonable, but not great quality.
I may eventually try a D50 or a D70 but I'm in no hurry as I really prefer the film medium, and I'm guessing most of you have never shot with a Nikon Pronea S.
Don't turn your nose up at the APS format - IMHO, Nikon's Pronea S was the best of the APS camera's made and I love the fact I can mount any of my Nikon lens on the Pronea S body should I need to.
I hope to use this group to pick up tips on getting better use of my N70 and to keep up with any major equipment changes, and to star current with the constantly evolving world of digital photography.
My interest in digital will probably grow as the medium improves for underwater use. For those of you who shoot underwater, you all know "backscatter" is always a problem and every digital camera I've tried underwater shows the "backscatter" more than my Nikkonos system, so I'm limited to shooting just a single roll of film on a dive unless I decided to buy another Nikkonos body and invest in the U/W flashes it would need. And that's a lot of stuff to haul around underwater, so U/W photography may the factor that pushes me into digital in a serious way.
I live in the extreme northwestern corner of North Carolina where the TN/NC/VA borders intersect at an elevation of 3,500 feet in a county of about 26,000 souls.
I'm now a Nikon fan and user though I began with a Pentax Spotmatic II system with their Takumar Super Multicoated lens (50mm f1.4, 35mm f2.8 and a 135mm f2.8) and I still think these were some of the best quality lens anyone, including Zeiss, ever made. I also bought a couple of used Fuji cameras with their f1.8 lens as they use the same screw mount lens as the Spotmatic II. I still use these cameras today and their lens are superior to any current Nikon lens I have used. The light meters in the Spotmatic II stopped working years ago so I bought and use a Gossen Luna-Pro Spot Light Meter, but mostly to check my settings as I'm usually never more than an f-stop off when I set the Spotmatic II manually.
But I did make the switch to Nikon with an N70. I now own an N70 with a Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens, the Nikon 2.8 28mm-70mm zoom and a Sigma 70-300mm f3.2 zoom.
I also really liked the Pronea S and bought one and loved it. So I then bought 4 more for $50 each when Wolf Camera did a closeout on them and I have the standard lens that comes with them and one Pronea S telephoto zoom telephoto.
And I do underwater photography, too: I have a Nikkonos system with the 35mm 2.8 lens and multiple flashes and an inexpensive Sea 'n Ski underwater camera that uses box cameras.
You'll note I haven't mentioned digital yet. That's because I prefer film.
I do some professional work but mostly shoot work for myself that I exhibit locally. My professional work, strangely enough, is album covers (I write music and equipment reviews for both an American and an UK audio and music magazine) that I shoot with a really cheap 2.3 MP H/P camera, but it's all closeup work and this really cheap digital camera is more than sufficient for the photos to be reprinted in the two magazines I write for.
I prefer analog and still do all my personal work on film and only do my commercial work in digital because I can download the .jpg files and send them to my publishers.
I don't get hung up on the equipment - To me, what's really important in getting a great shot is patience, framing, waiting for the right moment and good natural lighting (for outdoor work). I take photographs, most people take snapshots. But I must admit if I could afford it, I'd probably purchase a Leica M-6 and 2 or 3 Zeiss lens for it because my very first camera was a 35mm Yashica range-finder camera (can't remember the model) with a fixed lens of reasonable, but not great quality.
I may eventually try a D50 or a D70 but I'm in no hurry as I really prefer the film medium, and I'm guessing most of you have never shot with a Nikon Pronea S.
Don't turn your nose up at the APS format - IMHO, Nikon's Pronea S was the best of the APS camera's made and I love the fact I can mount any of my Nikon lens on the Pronea S body should I need to.
I hope to use this group to pick up tips on getting better use of my N70 and to keep up with any major equipment changes, and to star current with the constantly evolving world of digital photography.
My interest in digital will probably grow as the medium improves for underwater use. For those of you who shoot underwater, you all know "backscatter" is always a problem and every digital camera I've tried underwater shows the "backscatter" more than my Nikkonos system, so I'm limited to shooting just a single roll of film on a dive unless I decided to buy another Nikkonos body and invest in the U/W flashes it would need. And that's a lot of stuff to haul around underwater, so U/W photography may the factor that pushes me into digital in a serious way.
