Nikon Freaks UNITE!

For a site that is pretty much over the top in support of NIKON and everything NIKON, it's hard to beat the NIKONIANS from planet NIKO.

I found the illusive eye cups through a vendors ad there as well as the spectacular KATZ EYE split screen for my D200 there.

Orphaned Works

Orphan works: This is a new definition of the current (on-hold) legislation. It would give people some limited fair use rights
extension (not commercial) if they are not able to locate the copyright owner. This is NOT current law and is hanging on Capitol
Hill. Join the ASMP, PPA and others to fight this legislation.

Photographic Works in Public Domain

Public domain is for really old expired works and government creations (paid by tax dollars ergo owned by the public: i.e. NASA), but definitely not for any recent images. So companies reselling your work claiming public domain are in blatant violation of copyright law.

Defining Fair Use

Fair Use: Really only applies to rare informational, educational or personal use. Commercial use or reselling (worst case) is never fair use, period.

Copyright Snippet from Yahoo! Group

-Public Domain: This will never apply to us in our lifetime, especially not for images created after January 1, 1978. According to
US/International copyright law your image "...is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death...".
Please check for yourself at
COPYRIGHT.GOV

New Photography Contest

How about a digital imaging contest open only to UNT and TWU undergraduate students? It would be a monthly contest - with money to winner who presents most inspired, original and creative use of digital photography. It would be difficult to pull off without the help of prominent local educators Dornith Doherty, M.A. and Dr. Susan Grant respectively. This should be easy to get everyone on board. Sounds like a good idea.

First - What should the rules be?
Second - Who should the judge(s) be?

Generally, it seems the people with the money make the rules, but in the interest of interest, perhaps dpii could get some input from our distinguished locals.

Seems to dpii, if there is enough higher education interest, it would be fairly easy to generate more money from local professionals to sweeten the monthly contest prize / award / grant -- whatever it is to be called.

Nikon D200 Corrupt Files

If you have had the experience of corrupt files using the Flagship Nikon D200 camera, join the crowd. After some discussion with another D200 owner, the only thing we can pinpoint is the battery power to the camera (at the time of the corrupt files) was down and out.

Typically one battery may be dead and the other at 35-percent or less when this happens.

Talk about frustrating - you can see the images, they are there, and they have all the taste and feel of real image files. Alas, when you try to do anything to actually open them, nothing doing. You can try a can opener on your flies and it's a big NO GO.

These files are, for all intents and puropses, lost to the nether world of 1's and 0's never to return.

Coming soon: a 20-thousand exposure update on the D200 !

Video Card Resolved

Well the relentless pursuit of resolution is at an end - I HOPE! Finally found a video card on eBay and just crossing my fingers and hoping it is real. What a nightmare. The card, a Radeon 9600 Pro for MAC/PC, may be arriving at retailers as I write, but don't hold your breath. Telephone conversations with vendors revealed that ATI and NVIDIA are both having problems getting merchandise to retailers. One could assume they base production output on the cost of the chips that go on the boards which, after all, are a fluid commodity.

Whatever the reason, let us all hope the search is over and that the "Billboard" monitor will soon be up and running.

Save Epson Printer Presets

Can anyone solve the mystery of how to save printer settings for Epson printers? Epson does the famous "it's not us, it's them" routine when confronted with this problem.
Printers are R2400 and 4000 using Mac OS 10.4.8.

TRL Store, Inc. at Amazon.com - ALERT

Looking for video cards from Amazon.com? Don't trust what you see there. TRL Store, Inc., a local business operating in the Dallas Fort Worth area has shown the bad side of the internet and online ordering from what should be highly trusted representative amazon.com.

Amazon, when contacted, said they are "investigating" TRL Store.
Let's be clear: I have not been charged for anything I have not received, but I also have not been contacted by TRL Store and they have not done business in a good faith way. Essentially, they carried out their contact, extended, delayed and did not respond to e mails. Finally, after phoning and leaving a message - no response whatsoever.

It all began innocently enough with ordering a Radeon 9600 Pro video card for Mac. It was necessary to order this card after being told my stock video card in my G5 D2.5 would handle my new monitor. Wrong.

I was given a couple of places to look for the card by my Mac Guru and chose to order from Amazon - TRL Store. It was showing as "in stock". Wrong.

Ordered. Confirmed. Then a long, long silence. Since my work depends on this, I contacted them after a few days. However, since it was within the "shipping time window", basically they could skate along with neither confirming nor denying anything.
Finally on December 7:
"Thank you for your inquiry. We would like to apologize for the delay in the
shipping of your item. Due to the high demands of the Christmas holiday,
there have been some setbacks, but please know that we are working hard to
make sure your item arrives as quickly as possible.

After doing some research into your account, I have found that your item
will ship out on December 8, and will take approximately 3-5 days to arrive.
Once it ships out, you should receive an email with your tracking number.

As a courtesy, we would like to offer you a 15% discount on your next order.
Please email us with the subject line 15% Discount. We will immediately
credit your invoice.
Thank you very much for your patience,

Raymond P. Conklin
TRL Store, Inc.
3210 Beltline Road
Suite #124
972-620-6200 "

On December 11:The following Amazon.com order, placed on 30-Nov-2006 with TRL Store, has not been ship-confirmed within the amount of time agreed to by the merchant. This notice was sent by Amazon. Very helpful - not.

Then, as information and questions began to flow from both me and Amazon, they responded with silence.

From Amazon: silence. Does the investigation continue?

OK, here's the kicker. Apparently you cannot comment on vendors at Amazon unless you have actually received something from that vendor - for better-or-worse. How do you think that works in this instance? Looks like the fix is in.

So the saga continues. Essentially, folks who don't need these video cards, or were smart or lucky enough to purchase these cards are now scalping the innocents who may have purchased a new monitor under the false information that they could just "plug it in and go".

Have a look at ebay.com, and you will instantly see these cards going for 20-40 percent premiums over new cards.These are used cards! More power to these capitalists!

Now, sellers such as B&H Photo and others are "accepting orders" for same cards saying they are expecting a shipment in "3-7 days" (in the case of B&H). This is the next scam you have to look out for: B&H Photo will accept your order for one of these cards, and even warn you that you will be charged when you order the card. That's all good. WHAT THEY DON'T SAY IS:
"You will receive a video card." "You are first in line." They take your money with no real promise to deliver. What does that sound like?

As always, let the buyer beware. If you are on the cutting edge, and need cutting edge technology that is obviously in limited supply - BE EXTREMELY AWARE. And do not go to these vendors (for the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro for Mac) - TRL Store, Inc. , Amazon.com or BH PhotoVideo.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 - BETA

It had to happen, not because Mac users wanted it to happen, but it just HAD TO HAPPEN.

Adobe, known for its superior imaging software, and not known to rush anything out to the public (unlike the creators of Apple Aperture), will be posting the beta - apparently today - on their site. If you have an intel based MAC then you are reportedly about to be blasted way ahead of the old Power PC Macs on the performance curve. Good news for the dentonista and his new MacBook Pro Core2Duo!

Of course there's a catch - you have to have a current version CS2 serial number to download the new beta version. Roll out of the full non-beta is scheduled for the spring. Is there a better time to switch to a MAC?

Let us not forget that there also sits an extremely valuable and FREE download of Adobe Lightroom Beta 4.1 - a software that really rocks for those of us shooting in the RAW - at that same said download site. GET IT!

One announced feature in CS3 is of special interest and that is the ability in the new "Device Central" to preview images as "Mobile Content". Not much seem to have been published on this in the world of photography, but you can bet this is going to be BIG very, very, very BIG. Mobile browsing, portfolio viewing and sending is the next wave in professional photographic marketing. You heard it here first. I currently carry multiple portfolios with me at all times - in the form of slideshows on my iPod. How can you top that? Content on the go is the next natural phase - imagine beaming a presentation to the PDA of a potential client you've just met! Get the picture?

NIKON WT-3A Wireless Transmitter for D200

Have any of the Nikonistas noticed the total lack of availibility of the Nikon WT-3A wireless transmitter made by Nikon for the Nikon D200? Word out is the unit has problems.

Nikon has figured out how to avoid having its comsumer (Consumer Reports) drop off the chart by - quietly dealing with problems by; stopping production when there's a problem, and by taking units defective or problematic back with little or no paperwork. They may not be doing a great job with R-and-D, but they accomplish three things with this approach:
1 - They keep bad PR off the internet
2 - They do not alienate customers
3 - Statistically, these problems never show up

Feel Free To Think

Gift Time - Get out the Checkbook

This is the time of year when I get the most questions about "what camera to buy", and that makes sense as gift cards and money are looking to be spent.

The advice I have been giving for years is that there are generally two dominant brands in the DSLR business just as there were in the 35mm film camera business - CANON and NIKON.

In the early days, things were more wide open. Those two companies did not have converging pricepoints and their products were in thir primitive years. Now, they go head-to-head in pricing, features and value. This simplifies recommendations for me.

First, ask yourself if you want a camera to "grow into", or one you could potentially "grow out of".

Second, find the pricepoint you have for your purchase. This automatically narrows the field of brand models as there are generally hundreds of dollars separating the models in each brand.

Third, consider your sources and resources. If you have a personal friendship, or are related to a photographer, see what they use and what they think. THis photographer offers two very significant things to his friends and family:
1 - knowledge of the camera system he uses
2 - a recycling of well maintained equipment -- flashes, lenses etc.. to his closest family/friends before it goes on EBay

Last, consider the absolute fact that this is just the beginning. Whether turning pro, or just wanting to have a good camera for whatever purpose - rest assured your spending does not end with your camera purchase - it just begins.

Here's what else you will soon discover you need/want:
1 - More memory cards
2 - A very well padded camera bag with room to grow the number of lenses, flashes etc... you will soon purchase
3 - A more comfortable camera strap
4 - More camera batteries and charger for those batteries -- FORGET AA batteries - they are worthless for powering today's digital cameras
5 - More lenses - the more they cost the better they are - it's that simple.
6 - A real flash - the popup flashes found on DSLR's are a virtually worthless sales gimmick - as you will immediately find out
7 - Software and computer that runs and works when you turn it on (TRANSLATION buy a MAC)
8 - Storage - whether or not you print your pictures, you have to either store them on CD's / DVD's or on hard drives
9 - Printer - to have real control and once you have rounded the learning curve, you will get used to making your own prints and start actually saving money int he long run
10 - Let's say you have gotten this far. Now your old CRT monitor is on its last legs. Now you need a good monitor.

That should provide plenty of fodder for the gift buyers. If you seek details on any of these categories, please ask and I can go into detail - HERE - on each.

Nikon 22 Megapixel Full Frame - March 2007

As is typical the rumor mill has new grist with six months to go to the March roll outs. This one is HOT! Word on the street has it there is a 22 megapixel full frame sensor in the NIKON lineup for 2007. If you didn't here it here first, then where did yoiu hear about it?

Students Everywhere

A special thanks goes to Susan Grant at Texas Woman's University for opening the door for her students to speak with and gain knowledge from a small fish local professional.

Simply put, I immeiately try to explain to students that I offer no jobs per se', and there are not many photographers left standing that do offer positions resembling gainful full-time employment. Therefore, what I try to do for students is get them into the "freelance assistant" network based in Dallas, Texas.

The Dallas organization goes by the name Darkslide, and has been in existence for several years. It is under the umbrella of ASMP which certainly lends clout and legitimacy to Darkslide.

My experience with Darkslide tells me that the "100. one-time-lifetime sign up" fee is money well spent, and is a drop in the bucket compared to tuition, books and living expenses (beer) that parents are now accustomed to paying every year. Parents - it's up to your students, but there's no reason why you will not see a complete return on this investment.

So TWU photography students and UNT photography students; this is your chance to get your foot in the door. Sure, there may be internships, but this is a chance to learn not from one, but from many different photographers. I would guess the trend is that internships are more difficult to find (at least those that pay), while the Darkslide list is something photographers go to again and again over the years.

FEEL FREE TO THINK

Lens Babies BABY

I don't have one of these yet, but the new third generation Lens Baby looks almost professional. Take a look.

Wilhelm Speaks

Henry Wilhelm, considered to be THE authority on archival permanence gives a video interview on current state of archival affairs.

New Jpeg Format Waiting in the Wings

Here's some good informaton on jpegs.JPEG2

NCTC Second Class Meeting

With a grand total of two students, it didn't take too long to review their photographs, review and deliver the next assignment.
LOOKING AT IMAGES - Some exposures were off - either under or over exposed. In negative language that translates to "thick" or "thin" negatives. If you look at a particular negative and it is easy to see through the entire field of that frame ... generally, that is considered a "thin" negative. Most labs make money on prints, so they will try and print thin negatives anyway. And many times a lab in this modern era can save a thin negative. On the opposite end of the exposure spectrum are "thick" negatives. Thick negatives are difficult to see through and very difficult to print as the exposure times have to go very long to "burn through" a thick negative. However, labs will still try to deliver a print from a thick negative no matter how bad it is. That's how they make money.

Both thick and thin (over and under exposure) apply to digital photography - less the negative! Learn to make a good exposure on film and that skill translates cleanly into the digital realm.

REVIEW - Rehashed meaning and function of F.Stops and Shutter Speeds -- their mechanical and stylistic functions.

ASSIGNMENT - Illustrate an understanding of shutter speeds and what their stylistic function is.

Overall, processing and prints from the Photo Place were satisfactory for educational purposes.

Those of you seeking class documents must e mail me and I will send them in response.

THE PHOTO PLACE ON TEASLEY LANE

Students from my class at NCTC: Go ahead and take your film to the Photo Place on Teasley in Denton, TX. Price is good and being matched by BWC in Dallas. Be sure to ask for "COLD TONE" black & white prints. Remember that BWC drop off is at Film Depot in Denton.

Nikon FOR SALE

Selling a Nikon 80-200 lens! Anyone interested?
Selling a NIKON D70 with no BGLOD! Anyone interested?
Also have 1-gig CF cards to go fast.
As always any local purchasers get a free lesson to go with their purchase(s). E mail the dentonista if interested.

NIKON FIRMWARE UPDATE

Nikon has released firmware updates for its topline cameras - the D2 series and D200. Apparently it enables functionality of new Nikon software capabilities.

APERTURE UPDATE

NEW update to Aperture is now online for download for previously registered users. Message boards are mixed as to what the update (1.5) does and the pain it seems to be causing. I am holding off for now unless someone can tell me why to do it.

Panasonic Lumix FX9

Is that a camera in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

This all started when I purchased a Canon D450 for the wife last Christmas. She was and is still having just too much fun with it. So, ME TOO! Of course, I could not stand the thought of actually owning a CANON (still camera) being the Nikon Bigot that I am. Enter the Panasonic Lumix FX9. Sure it was emotionally tempting to go for something bigger and better, but this camera has the most important feature of the Panasonic line and the one I wanted most - It fits in my shirt pocket!

Have you ever wished you had a camera with you because ________ fill in your own blank. Well, now there is no excuse. I am taking this thing everywhere and having tons of fun along the way.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell readers - this camera is no joke. Six megapixels and a Leica lens on the front!

I read what reviews I could find on the camera, and for the most part, complaints were along the lines of "... wish it had a viewfinder ...", missing the whole point of a camera like this. It is made for the masses who are aging and vision is going. How many of you have older compact point-and-shoot digitals with viewfinders AND ONLY USE THE SCREEN ON THE BACK? Most camera companies have gone to the finderless configuration because that is what "you" really want. Batteries are not a factor anymore, so the argument that the screen drains the battery is moot.

It has simple menu formats on back, and with a little bit of reading the manual, you will be using this camera in minutes with absolutely amazing results. IMAGES TO FOLLOW.

BHPHOTO meltdown

BH Photo Video apparently have a melt down on their hands. Their site is offline and the phone is a constant busy signal. E mails to them have gone unanswered as well. SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT MACS! What is going on with B&H Photo? Current phone number I am dialing for B&H Photo in New York is 800-413-5653

Ahead of the Curves

Well, it is even easier to see the handwriting on the wall - Kodak just posted another losing quarter - make that the seventh in a row. Goodbye to 2-thousand more jobs as well. I hope all those people at Kodak who defended the Kodak 14n are happy in the unemployment line.

Go ahead and keep shooting film - you can be like Kodak too! They forecast possible losses this year to perhaps reach the 1 Billion - yes that's Billion with a B.

Meanwhile, companies are gearing up for the next leap in resolution with Sandisk announcing the Extreme IV and more announcements to follow from other memory card makers. These leaps are logical when you take into account the need for faster read / write speeds as file sizes increase. It's not yet about the actual card capacity though - but it will be - and soon.

Why? Imagine writing files to a card that are 22-meg each instead of 11. You're going to need bigger cards to hold the same number of images as before. It is easy enough to predict that the commodity that is CF cards - AND THEY ARE A COMMODITY - will look back on 1-GiG cards as a charming historic relic in the near future. Expect 4 and 8 GiG cards to become the norm next year.

My professional friends resist the larger cards now because they can't bear to think of losing a card either blank of full that holds so much information. I say if you are in the market for cards, there's no time like now to get on the wagon with 4 GiG cards as your minimum. Feel free to think - the longer the card is in the camera the less likely you are to lose it. Imagine having 8 GiG cards and needing only two (maybe) to cover an entire wedding! Chances are you would never have to take the first card out of the camera! And just how often do you hear of cards magically being erased, lost or otherwise rendered useless? This is kind of the reverse engineering idea - never take the card out at an event and never lose it. Make sense?

Read the Writing on the Wall!

It is not impossible to tell what is about to happen in the camera hardware area of digital imaging. Nikon has just thrown out a teaser about its new 10.2 megapixel camera that will probably be tagged something like D70X (x for extrapixel), and Sandisk who already had the some of the fastest cards on the market has upped its speed as well with the new EXTREME IV.

What does all this mean you ask? Well it means the bar is about to be raised yet again. In the megapixel war, it has been pretty much tit-for-tat between Nikon and Canon since the war began. Recent figures show that pound-for-pound, Nikon has held onto significant market share which you would think a behemoth like Canon would have already swallowed whole.

Despite the early problems with the Nikon D200, Nikon seems to have made good for people with problems and kept the bad publicity off the front pages in reference to D200 firmware problems, sensors with blown pixels and continuing supply problems with the D200.

Canon continues to wade through problems of its own with little press or class actions. Take the 20D for example; a revolutionary camera when it came out which has documented problems with focusing. Whoops, great camera just can't get anything in focus! Again, whether by design or the overwhelming number and rapidity of new camera models brought out to supersede the 20D, they dodged bad publicity on this one too.

What Canon lacks as a company is FOCUS. Too many sensor sizes and too rapid camera upgrades has fickled a consumer, if they are a die-hard Canon user, who has been preconditioned to wait for the next great thing.

So, what is the next great thing? Well, you can expect a jump (either announced or rolled out) to 22 megapixel camera sensors at the high end of all DSLR cameras in the next two months.

What does this mean for the average shooter? Well, again the camera you just bought has depreciated like a YUGO, so leveraging the sale of that into a new Porsche is impossible at best. If you are teetering on whether to sell gear - now is the time. When you have the cheaper cameras now at your (expensive camera's) megapixel range, and higher models replacing your camera - PUNT! (Hold onto your Hasselblad film cameras though as word on the street is they will cease production at the end of the year.)

What this all really means is we are about to enter a new era of digital SLR camera production. With a new upper end of 22 megapixels, there is no need to go any higher for quite some time. This kind of resolution is equivalent to medium format film. Very few consumers will see the need to even go to 22 meg., and professionals will be quite satisfied with 22 and smaller sensors (ala NIKON). This new era should see a truce in the megapixel war, and a new focus on ... cameras that focus, cameras that work differently from anything we now use (take a look at Sony), a true revolution in the way cameras look, work and feel.

Remember, we are in the first five minutes of a 100 year revolution. There is absolutely no reason professional DSLR's should look like our old 35-millimeter cameras. NONE! The only reason they do is that camera manufacturers are scared of a revolution and comfortable with evolution. How many times do reviewers tout "looks and feels like my 35mm..." bla bla? Or, "looks and feels like a real ..."? That is exactly the wrong signal sent and received by the manufacturers. We need manufacturers to now concentrate on cameras that look, feel and most importantly WORK like nothing we have ever seen or held in our hands before. Let the Golden Age begin!

LIGHTWARE - Still The Greatest Bags Ever

DENVER CO. - Recently, while killing some time in Denver, I decided to try and drop in on the greatest bag manufacturer in the world - Lightware.



I was welcomed by Brenda who seems to basically run the whole show - which consists of a lot of shipping, customer relations and entertaining lost Texans.

Brenda not only showed me some new hot products, but also was nice enough to take the time to talk about the photography business in general, design in particular and their stringent quality control standards. Impressive, but then I already knew that as I have owned their bags for close to 15 years now. Sure, they cost money but then you get what you pay for.



Any way, if you are going there looking to see assembly line workers sewing away on their products - forget about it. They have had to make some of the same changes the rest of American manufacturing has made. In the end it all comes down to overseeing the quality of the product BEFORE it reaches the consumer.

UNT Cancels Continuing Education Minicourses

Denton - Instructors for the University of North Texas' minicourse program were informed by letter that "Due to budget cuts and market changes, these courses no longer support themselves nor return the necessary revenue to our University."

For those of you who have taken my classes in the past - THANKS.

Now, is it time for me to create my own instructional outlet for those interested in learning more about photography? It's up to you. I will secure the physical space needed to continue with instruction which will be guaranteed to take anyone to a higher level of knowledge in any area of photography they are interested pursuing. However, this is not a "build it and they will come" scenario. New, former and potential students should financially commit to come and I will build it. Classes could be ready to start as early as this Fall and should the ball start rolling along, a full blown offering of classes would begin in January, 2007.
Preliminary brainstorming of class topics - each several hours in length - include digital printing, natural lighting, camera strobe lighting, studio lighting, studio equipment, digital manipulation with Photoshop and web site design. What else would you like to learn?

Thanks again and please check out the new sponsor on the right column - istockphoto --- nickels and dimes make dollars and sense.

PYG - And Do it Now!

One of the first hurdles any upcoming photographer encounters is the most baffling, written about and subjective subjects there is; "How much do I charge?".

At first, you are just glad to be working in the field you love and can't believe you are being paid for it. Then, you can accept payments without a subliminal question mark on the end. Meanwhile, some peers do better and others do worse. "There but for the grace of God go I", you tell yourself when you see some, and with the others it's "What's (s)he know that I don't know?". You start to see the delineations - the haves and have nods, the sell outs and drop outs.

You find yourself surviving but not thriving so you do your research - read books. Advertising 101, how to build a service based business, success (insert subtitle here), creating a brand, branding, franchising, incorporating. What's wrong and what's right? Then you get caught up in other photographer's hype - DVD's that will make you / your studio rich, how to sell photos, all the things you think you need to succeed being taught by who - photographers who aren't doing what they do best - shoot photos. Always ask yourself, "Why is (s)he here?", when you attend one of those lectures / seminars etc... I will tell you why (s)he is there instead of shooting - three reasons really; money, money and mo' money. If you ever see a worthwhile and free lecture series, please let me and everyone know about it. It's about them branding their names and Proclaiming Themselves Great! Feel free to think ...

Sometimes clarity comes from unexpected places. Tonight talking to a friend - a fellow photographer who recently decided to do the teaching gig and get mostly out of the photo business - he said he once had a childlike epiphany talking to his brother who made pottery. "I was talking to my brother and trying to figure out why he was struggling to sell two dollar coffee cups while others were making stuff not nearly as good and charging ten. I told him, It just seems to me you should just Proclaim Yourself Great and charge ten!" He went on to relate that they still recall that moment many years later and how it changed things - changed everything.

If you really have what it takes, why not Proclaim Yourself Great (PYG) right now? I have seen this work first hand and it can carry you part of the way to your goals. There can be some pitfalls though - the main one being if you really aren't great or even good. How can you find that out? Be objective and look around at web sites, magazines and books. The thing about the PYG mentality is that it falls into one of those categories of "some people have it and some people don't". I know of people who can talk about themselves, their successes and conquests endlessly. Yet others have to have one word after another dragged out of them like a rope with knots in it. There are all shades of difference in between. If you are not a natural, you have to think of this as a game - one where you are playing the role of someone else. That someone is a successful, and talented musician or artist or photographer or business person. Gather the tools and play the role.

"But you still haven't answered the question. How much do I charge?" There are technical formulas to help answer that, but I am talking more about the intangible value you place on your work. The short answer is in three parts 1) be real, 2) charge what you believe in your heart you're worth and 3) Proclaim Yourself Great.

CLASS IS OVER

Well, the spring session of Digital Photography at UNT has ended. Anyone from the class willing to take the time to summarize the meetings, please do so here by replying to this post. Meanwhile, as promised, one of my favorite newfound sites MIKE COLON will blow you away as well. One of my many questions: How does he deal with music rights on this? A new friend of mine said he knew FRANK W. OCKENFELS as a youngster. Mr.Ockenfels is what I would consider a well hidden secret. I have seen little press on this guy, yet he is obviously a star. Does anyone know where his work is published on a regular basis? Another local photographer, GREG BLOMBERG recommended signing up at WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALIST ASSOCIATION as a way of generating interest in my wedding work. The process for joining WPJA is more interesting than most. First, you have to submit your site for review. Then, if you are accepted, you pay 240.usd a year to be listed on the site.

The first time I applied about two years ago, I received a very nice review and rejection stating that my site did not have enough candid work and had too many posed shots. Well, I have evolved since then, and I think they are realizing the income generaing tiger they have by the tail. SO, I applied again - and shazam - was accepted. Now all I have to do is fork over 240. dollars. Take a look at that list of photographers and multiply each by 240. I think I am in the wrong business.

Overall, you need to go to the site and look at many of the photographers listed there - most of them are the cream of the crop. There is an interesting trend developing where male photographers seem to be fronting their female spouses in the business - Leighanne Whittington - for Brooks Whittington, and Anne Stefanchik for Joseph V. Stefanchik. Go to the site and click on them all.

Gotta' go and break my piggy bank to come up with that 240.

SELF PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOKS

Once you have figured out how to get the best of printing by going to MPIX, then why not take the next logical step and try your hand at publishing your own books. The easiest way to get on board this is with a MAC computer using the software iPhoto and uploading your images to their bookmakers. However, I may have just found a link to go around iPhoto and go directly to the book publisher which will be of great use to PC users. Have a look and report back.

APERTURE GOES ON SALE

Sometimes if you shout loud enough even the largest company may hear you. The grumbling became a roar as weeks turned into months of waiting for Apple to update Aperture - to make it usable on the new INTEL Chipset Apple boxes, and for this photographer - an update to make the RAW images from the D200 accessable. They announced updates to be released "in March" and promptly missed their deadline. Of course the corporate spin was that they would rather miss the release date than release an buggy update. Meanwhile, unknown to some of my professional friends (using D200 Nikons), the OS update 10.4.6 contained the RAW translator for Aperture. That answers a major mystery --- RAW updates are, or can be, part of an OS update and not necessarily an Aperture update.

Last week APPLE released it's much awaited update for Aperture (v. 1.1) and in what can be considered a one-two punch they announced a price drop of 200. for the purchase of Aperture and 200. rebate for instore purchases for those of us on the bleeding edge who purchased Aperture when it was released last year. It is a smart move and one intended to silence (by paying off) its critics. Heck, who wouldn't want a new iPod video?

If you deal with images and are a MAC user, you should have this program. Keep in mind it is not Photoshop and is not intended to be a replacement for Photoshop. However, it resolves a lot of workflow issues, it exhibits wonderful translation of RAW to jpeg and tiff and it will cut your time in workflow - dramatically. So far, this is a MAC only program, but with the advent of the intel chips and APPLE edging into making the new boxes run Windoze, a PC version will be available sooner rather than later. At a new retail price of 299., there is nothing on the radar that come close to what this software will do.

If you want more reasons to switch, or purchase, now is the time to seek that knowledge.

NIKON DIGITUTOR

Hey, now Nikon has a great idea! The DIGITUTOR is a part of Nikon's site that you can use to see - SEE - how your camera works. Happy Easter Eggs.

Second Class - UNT - SPRING

So someone take the time to run down an outline of what happened in our second meeting.

FIRST CLASS - UNT Continuing Education - SPRING

SPRING 2006 - First class went very much in line with early description of last Fall's class. We added detail to it by getting down and dirty into f.stops and shutter speeds --- what they do and how they change your images. If you read the previous blogs, you are ahead of the game. Feel free to add to this.

NIKON D70 Time Bomb

Beware owners of the Nikon D70 camera body. There is a potential problem with your camera. We are still lacking full details, and you can bet there will not be agressive disclosure of this problem by the folks at Nikon. I discovered the problem recently when I dusted off my D70 from storage, inserted a freshly charged battery, and nothing. Nothing happened for a while, but I went through all the logical steps - charging the battery again, clicking the on-off button to try to jolt it to life ... and nothing going. Then what has come to be called the "blinking green light of death" came on on the back of the camera. At the time, I did not know there was such a thing, but only a couple of days later I received an e mail from a previous student who described the problem I was having precisely - was happening to her D70. OK, two does not make a trend. Then, I was describing the situation to a fellow photographer, and he said the guy he sold his D70 to had just called him to let him know the D70 had suddenly quit working. Now we have a trend. In talking to the folks ad Dallas Camera, they described the problem before I had time to finish my sentence. It seems there is a defect in one of the solders on a circuit board in the D70. I don't know if this is the early models or all D70's. I also do not know if this includes the D70s, but must assume at this time that it does not. Start with the business that sold you the camera. They should be able to do all the proper shipping and whatever else goes along with a non-recall recall (for lack of a better description). I have heard that Nikon is fixing this problem at no charge - as they should - but that is a little hard to believe. SO BEWARE THE BLINKING GREEN LIGHT OF DEATH - if this is your only camera or you are thinking of buying a used D70.

D200 Mixed Reviews

Remember, a camera is a hammer. That said, this is one heavy hammer. You could even call it a B.F.H. On first feel, the D200 is the closest thing to a true, fast top-end 35mm camera that I have been able to afford. If you can afford a D200, well you aren't done yet. In order to get that loving feeling, you have to add the MB-D200 multi-power battery pack (about 179.usd). Feeling better? Then add the cost of a SB-800 Speedlight (about 329.usd), and now you have a fast photo-assault weapon. For those of you needing flash, there is no dedicated Nikon subsititute for the SB-800. Sorry. For those of you wanting to skimp on the battery pack - don't. The battery pack adds weight and function. It also adds MAJOR shooting capacity in that it holds TWO of the En-El3e Li-ion batteries. Guess what? There are no additional batteries to be purchased as of this writing! NONE. My preliminary estimate on this is 500 images before the battery immediately goes south. IMMEDIATELY. They did, however, include a AA battery insert to get you limping through - and it does limp.

PROS - Feels like a great camera. Functions are well laid out. Rear screen is HUGE. Controls make sense. File size allowed me to print 2.4 x 4 feet prints with quality. Programability of functions is extensive and managable. Viewfinder is incredibly bright, and the speed of the mirror is unlike anything I have ever witnessed. Lag time for shutter is not a factor. Multi-focusing areas are welcomed and easy to change. Did I mention the mirror speed? Wireless programability of Speedlights is amazing and now possible without a computer science degree. This needs detailed coverage because it opens so many creative doors, I can not cover it here.

CONS - My Cool Hand Luke quote of the day "What we have here is ... failure to communicate." Photographers need to unite and communicate to their respective camera manufacturers --- NO MORE NEW RAW FORMATS! ADOBE IS SHOWING THE WAY! The new RAW file for the D200 can only be read by, you guessed it, Nikon Capture Editor 4.x.x(and BIBBLE Pro 4.5 update). The NIKON software sucks as it always has! It was crashing and moving so slow that I finally pulled the last hair out of my head and went to the NIKON web site to check for updates. Guess what? The brand new software has a brand new update (4.4.1). That tells you how "good" the software really is. Besides the usual lack of speed, the conversion of raw completely departs from whysiwyg - giving you images nothing like the RAW (correctd in raw) originals show. There are no updates for CS2 or Aperture as of this writing. However, I have e mailed all channels - Adobe, Apple and Nikon to give them a taste of the displeasure over their slowness and backward thinking.

FINAL - Don't buy this camera now if you want to have your workflow move at same rate or faster than your current camera allows. Wait for the translators from Aperture and Adobe. If you are not in a workflow hurry, buy this camera now. It is a quantum leap in the advancement of Nikon's line of cameras. Besides the feel of the camera, the wireless dedication of flash, detailed programability and did I mention the mirror speed?

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