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.