any tips to handle my d7000? (i'll be charging it tonight)

the shop seller told me it must be taken care to avoid fungus which I think is SCARY. lol. what is the proper way of taking good care of it?

[do you guys normally bring camera bag together? wont it be an attraction for robbers especially a kid like me?]

read the manual on how to handle la, no need treat it like your newborn baby one

dslr are built to last and torture (to a certain extend) my D5100 shot under rain, kena splash by sand from the last time i shot racing event, still working fine
if night i dont dare to bring my dslr out alone, unless got someone accompany me

I think the camera is choosing the right Ss and ISO for your exposure.. Maybe your flash isn't giving out enough power..

Or maybe you are shooting in to dark space, ie your subject is in a large dark room.. Bouncing the flash around would cause loss of light and therefore the increase in ISO and decrease of SS

What you can do is set the minimum SS for your camera if you are using auto ISO btw the D800 has an option for auto minimum ISO which is very convinient if you change your lenses often

Is there like a limit to how high the auto ISO would go when flash is mounted? For Canon system, it'll not go more than ISO400 no matter what (strange) but when there's no flash mounted, it'll be back to normal.

Anyway, changing the ISO manually  isn't so hard right?

at night i dont really feel safe, even day time as well

most of the time i will go crowded places or shoot inside shopping mall

can I ask right, normally to take these food pictures what focus mode to shoot at? I always tried to use my Nikkor 35mm 1.8 to shoot food pictures but it always focused on exactly that "one point" where I asked it to focused. If I narrow down the aperture, then I won't achieve the bokehness like those that were shown..

AiS lenses are too obvious. Yes, the 17-55mm f/2.8 lenses are still being sold. There are ones where people have bought since as far back as year 2004 when it first came out ! Very obvious that they are out of warranty but the ones bought as late as 2 or 3 years ago would be the ones that would be questionable by Nikon as warranty card looks identical to the one now.
Yup. Those with older warranty cards sure cannot tipu. But I believe the warranty card as far as 2 or 3 years ago is the same as the one now if I'm not wrong. Those are the lenses that are in question and which Nikon wants to filter out.

Not to imply that vearn27's warranty claim is bogus but from another point of view, Nikon does this to protect themselves.
300mm would still look small. Unless you can crop crop crop... 
Distortions are not too bad. Unavoidable on 35mm format. You just need to know how to avoid it.

If you need something wider and better performing that the 16-35mm f/4, the 14-24mm f/2.8 is the one. Cons? No VR and ND / CP filter system for it is very costly.

Anyway, if you have to choose only one, the 24-70mm f/2.8 is a good all rounder lens.
One lens to rule them all !!! 

Seriously, it would depend on the type of photography you're into. Event photography, the zoom would be number one. Studio portraiture / product photography / landscape photography would benefit having primes. The 24-70mm f/2.8 would be slightly inferior compared to the primes in the same focal length (especially corners) but flexibility wise, no prime can beat it. If you're willing to sacrifice a little bit of quality for speed and flexibility, the 24-70mm f/2.8 is the one to choose.
While this sounds too funny and almost like a joke, it's very true indeed.
Nothing is ideal and perfect. Speed in exchange of sacrificing a little bit of quality is sometimes worth the gamble...
Ideally, the 14-24mm f/2.8 AND 24-70mm f/2.8.

Since you only can have one at the moment, get the 24-70mm f/2.8.

I would suggest keeping your DX as a 2nd body and mount a decent lens like the Sigma 10-20 to cover the extreme wide angles. The 24-70mm f/2.8 (or 70-200mm f/2.8 depending on the occasion) goes on the FX body.
Yup.
What's the problem with age? I still use lenses that are more than 10 years old.

Anyway, f/1.4 lenses sound very nice to have and shoot with but for events and concerts, your subjects need to be very still to be able to get a shot in focus under low light. DoF is so thin. With bodies delivering crazy high ISOs at fantastic quality, you should not be worried about shooting with f/2.8 lenses.
When their website was still new, I tried to register but somehow the application did not go through. Gave up after a few tries. 

Apparently the older f/4 - /5.6 is the one to look for since it's marginally better than the newer f/3.5 but that's nitpicking.

Speaking of which I actually have one (the older one) in my drybox. I also have also a D300 (less than 12k shutter count) and a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime that does not get used at all since going to FX. In case if anybody's interested, let me know.

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Added on June 6, 2012, 9:44 am

Have yet to update mine.  Anyway, I originally did not face any lockup despite reports that it does. I think it has got to do with the usage of SD cards which I don't use.

the tokina 11-16 is like a "prime" lens...you will    sometime when u try to zoom more when u need it...

I can tell you wide open the Sigma it is not pin sharp. If you want sharp wide open, the Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 is the one you should get. Even then, the 14-24mm f/2.8 is sharp in the centre and not sharp in the corners at f/2.8 wide open due to the wide curvature of the glass i.e. like what you mentioned DoF is not the same in the centre and in the corner. What more for a lens that is more than twice cheaper !

Anyway, why do you need a lens sharp wide open? Wide angle lenses for landscapes are usually stopped down to get DoF. By then, any erros due tot he lens curvature is taken care by the DoF from stopping down.

I'll post an example below that I took a while back and without looking at the EXIF, could you tell the difference between the two disregarding the slight WB and FoV difference? Stop down enough and you could not tell a difference at a glance.



Like I mentioned above, the best wide angle lens also suffer from slightly soft corners. More obvious if you shoot on a 36MP FX body. Not so obvious on the smaller MP D700/D3/D3s FX sensor and certainly not at all on a crop sensor because only the centre portion of the lens is used.

It is so difficult to get corner performance sharp like the centre. That is why good wide angle lenses cost almost the same as their tele counter part because it's more difficult to make a wide angle than a tele. This is why DX cropped sensors were made initially when digital cameras came out because DX sensors concentrates the centre part of the sensor and disregards the corner areas of the sensors which is most difficult to get correct.
There are custom made filters. Just that they cost a BOMB ! 
The Tokina makes decent pics. If you're taking landscape pics and stopping down the lens, it is cheaper to go the DX route.

If you need a wide angle that is also a f/2.8 for shooting dark night clubbing scenes, the 14-24mm f/2.8 should be the one.
LOL, nice to have but most of the time it is not nice to the pocket. 

anyone care to comment on 18-135mm DX lens performance?

thinking to get one

In that pic, you look more like a tired and annoyed prison guard in Africa ! 
No worries. Wide angle and still want bokeh? That's where the 24mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4 come in.   
The 28-70mm f/2.8 is a fantastic lens in it's time. Still is. The thing is 28mm vs 24mm is quite a lot of difference.

24mm = 84 degree
28mm = 75.33 degree

The other thing is the 28-70mm f/2.8 being an older lens would be risky getting the AF-S motor rosak. Replacement cost is quite high. In the end, it might be more worth it to get the 24-70mm f/2.8 instead.
I think it was Robert Capa who said that if you’re pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.
Yeah, it will not be long when you see them drive 599 GTOs. 

Spam old pic again


primes by izrur, on Flickr

Rarely use the 50mm 1.4 ais since i got the 35mm f2 for my Nikon FM

Maybe yes maybe no, actually I don't know haha!

Side note, you own a TC2 III right? What lens do you pair it with? 70-200 f/2.8 VRII? How's the tracking capability like for fast moving subject (cars.. not birds )