INTRODUCE YOURSELF HERE FIRST.

spraynpray

Welcome Peter.

"We spend as much time as possible outdoors walking, exploring and photographing wildlife."

Better get the F4's then!

PeterBex

Hi Spraympray

Yes, I've been working out the payloads for the new equipment,mostly F2.8. I may have to start visiting the gym more often!

Worth it for the IQ though.

dissent

If you power walk with one of those big honkin' beautiful FX 2.8 lenses in each hand (securely!!), you'll build up those muscles in no time.

Welcome aboard.

MikeGunter

Hi all,

A D4 and any of the f2.8s and no fatty foods will keep you young.

My best,

Mike

PeterBex

Thank you for the warm welcome.

I'll let you know how I get on. In the Somerset marshes I may well sink without trace.

Peter

Gentoo

I'm back

Old forum member. One of the OG's haha. No longer have my gear. Had to sell it to get my now ex's car running again. I mostly produce music now but still and always a Nikon fan.

spraynpray

Now ex? #-o I'd have kept the gear.......

Welcome back Gentoo.

NSXTypeR

I'm back

Old forum member. One of the OG's haha. No longer have my gear. Had to sell it to get my now ex's car running again. I mostly produce music now but still and always a Nikon fan.

Wow, this member goes far, far back!

I wonder how many original members that are still with us.

A lot has changed since then...

scoobysmak

Well I am not an OG like others but have now migrated from the other site, nice to see others have as well. I have not had to sell my gear (I would have tried to sell the EX before I sold my gear, jk) but for now I will have to deal with not having most of it. Once I get back from "playing in the sand", hope to contribute more but for now looking forward to the PAD to inspire me to do better and learn new techniques.

NSXTypeR

Well I am not an OG like others but have now migrated from the other site, nice to see others have as well. I have not had to sell my gear (I would have tried to sell the EX before I sold my gear, jk) but for now I will have to deal with not having most of it. Once I get back from "playing in the sand", hope to contribute more but for now looking forward to the PAD to inspire me to do better and learn new techniques.

Hello and welcome!

I recognize your name too.

Just curious, does the Scooby in your name refer to Subaru?

You seem to be a car person.

Gentoo

Thanks for the welcome. Yeah I was actually on Nikon Rumors before there was a forum.

adamz

welcome back Gentoo!

warprints

Anyone know right off when NR forum started up?

NSXTypeR

I joined on March 27, 2009, probably within a week the forum started. The blog was up before that though.

warprints

Yeah, I thought so. I joined March 25, 2009. Seem to remember it was just after the forum started up.

billythecounselor

Hello all. My name is Billy. I'm trying to reconnect with my roots as a photographer. I had to slow down my photography schedule a few years ago as I was working on my credentials as a mental health counselor and college instructor. I've been reading this forum for a little while and wanted to start connecting (and nervously) putting my images out there.

spraynpray

Welcome Billy, I think you will be able to develop all of your skills here.... :P

billblurton

Hi all. My name is Bill and I am a retired Long Distance Truck Driver. I live in the Niagara Area of Ontario in Canada. I promised myself I would do more walking when I retired and started out to do just that. It wasn't long before I realized if I am out and about I should have a camera with me. Now after 7 years I have a Nikon D300 with a 18-70mm and a 70-300 lens. I am looking forward to being a part of the forum.

dissent

Hi billblurton. Welcome aboard. I can remember once when we did a family driving vacation along the Canadian side from Detroit to Niagara Falls. One morning I was driving at dawn (it was late summer) and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises that I have ever seen. Ever. And, of course, I have no pictures of it. Look forward to seeing your work in the PAD thread.

@ billythecounselor - don't be nervous, man. Heck, they let ME post here.

Keemo

Hello all. Keemo here. I'm the newest of newbies. Will buy a DSLR very soon & just started researching a couple of days ago. But I'm bent on getting a decent camera up front.

As an expert in another field, I've been giving advice for a long time. Now I guess the shoe is on the other foot!

Anyway, I've read a few threads on here & it's apparent that there's a lot of good advice.

Gitzo

Hi Everybody;
For quite a while, I was shooting with a great old Canon F-1 match-needle, "manual everything" camera. Then,
about 15 years ago, I got a phone call from my son who is a civilian EE for the U.S.N. He said the Navy had sent his whole group to Honolulu for an "indefinite duration" to work on a "project" that couldn't be discussed over the phone; then he said he was sending me a plane ticket, and how long did I want to stay in Hawaii ? (his luxury hotel and rental car right on Waikiki Beach were being paid for by "da gub'mint"), so there were"t too many expenses involved; I told him three weeks should be sufficient, and 3 days later I was on a free AA DC-10, bound for Honolulu; Hawaii is probably the best place in the whole world to take pictures, for many reasons; ( like best climate on Earth, some of the best scenery, (and for me, everything was almost free !) Anyway.....as my son and his wife are both very well paid "techies", just a few months before going to Hawaii, he had bought a Nikon F-5, about 6 lenses, (all f 2.8 or faster), a new CF Gitzo with an Arca Swiss B2 head on it; So we're out shooting scenery, me with my OLD (by that time) "manual everything" F-1 and lenses, and a "wobbly" Silk tripod; in the days that my son had to "go flying", I ran around using his F-5 and Gitzo; ( we even had the "use" of a brand new Nikkor 600 mm f/4 that belonged to his "group" ); a bunch of things happened rather quickly; First, I realized that Hawaii was as close to paradise as I was every going to see, so I ended up staying 3 months instead of 3 weeks! ( Hey, I'm retired, I have no pressing reason to go home, I have this VERY bright son that is being very well paid to be there, and I have NO expenses ! ) I can honestly say, I learned more about photography in those 3 months, than I had learned all together before that; (I also realized that as soon as I got back home, I was gonna have to have my OWN F-5, Gitzo, and AS ball head. Had it not been for that trip, I would probably never even stayed with photography as a hobby; ( I already HAD about half a dozen other "hobbies" taking up my time and effort. Anyway, that's how I happened to start using Nikon equipment.

From looking at it over many years now, I can see where a lot of people are letting their initial enthusiasm kind of "run away" with them; doing great photography requires essentially two things; equipment and knowledge; and I feel that anyone who has made their living at photography over any significant period of time will probably agree with me, that of the two, knowledge is far more important than the equipment.
Either one without the other will seldom lead to very many great pictures.

I've often wondered, why are so many people so excited about photography as a hobby, yet they still have no clear cut ideas as to what they want to photograph. I seriously doubt that if digital photography hadn't "come along", I probably never would have taken enough meaningful pictures to justify the cost of my equipment; but digital DID come along, and it was a heck of a "transition" (I'm reminded of the old saw about "old dogs learning new tricks") Buying Fuji Velvia for a camera that is capable of dynamic auto focus while shooting 8 fps can get VERY expensive, VERY quickly ! (And then you STILL have to wait a month to see if any of that film had any pictures worth keeping on it !

On the other hand, I hear lots of people saying, "hey...shooting digital it's FREE ! To which I would ask......."what are you going to do with that "latest and greatest" body 5 years from now, after there are 3 more "latest and greatest" models that have passed it up"? What I'm trying to point out is, regardless of what camera and what lens you have, learn everything there is to know about what you have, and DO everything it's capable of doing, and THEN buy that new "latest and greatest"; I see and read SOOOOOO much talk about "this new body, and this new lens.......hey.....if you have recently purchased a new Nikon camera, here's the best advice I can possibly give; take that Nikon owners manual and file it away someplace safe, because you're gonna "be awhile" trying the climb the learning curve of your new 600, 800, D4. or whatever, with the meager amount of knowledge that Nikon provided you with; I've had my 300s for over 2 years now; and after recently ordering and reading David Busch's 300s guide, I've learned more in two weeks than I learned in two years ! If that isn't worth the $20 I invested in it, I don't know what is.

And I wasn't exactly a "newbie" before I bought the thing ! Between finding the right "learning material", and hanging on this forum, you'll give yourself a great shot at becoming a seriously good photographer; and THAT"S when photography is really fun; when you have great fun, doing great work where others can see it.

And I think I forgot to mention,

I'm Charley

Archibill

Hello to everyone. I've been a reader of NR for several years, but just now joined the forum. I started taking pictures as a child with a green Imperial Mark XII box camera. When I was an editor on the high school newspaper, a friend had a Nikon F and he started taking sports pictures for me. That's really when the photography bug bit. Being poor and in college, I finally bought a Canon FT in 1967, just in time to take slides at Expo 67! I used that camera, taking ektachrome slides almost exclusively until 1990. At that time I bought what I thought would be my "final" camera, a Nikon F4, which I still have, but no longer use.

Through the years, we started to travel more, and in the '90's and '00's, we made several trips to Europe and the national parks. As an architect, I like to photograph buildings, especially historic cathedrals and castles. I've been to most of the major romanesque and gothic cathedrals in France, a passion that often drives my wife crazy ("Do you really want to see another cathedral?")! I like to put together travel slide shows to music and still have a two projector dissolve system with cassette control! In the early 2000's, I bought a Nikon 4000 scanner and started producing prints digitally.

In 2002, I purchased a used Wista 4x5 on ebay and acquired 4 good lenses of various focal lengths. I lugged that outfit on two vacations finding it too cumbersome for travel. I ended up taking a lot of flower pictures with it. I had several exhibits and some sales. I still have the camera, but the local processor that used to handle ektachrome transparencies went out of business, so I haven't done anything with it for 4-5 years.

Then came digital. Seven years ago, I purchased a D200, the 18-200 and the 12-24mm lenses and my photographic life changed. I started producing slide shows digitally--a much easier and less tedious process. In my film days, I would take over 1000 slides on a trip, a very significant expense! With digital, the camera cost more, but the total cost of ownership went way down!

I'm about ready to retire, at least cut back on work. Last year I upgraded to FX with a D800, the 16-35, the 24-120 f4 and the 28-300mm lens. I don't know if this will be my "final" camera, but it's pretty darn good! I look forward to participating in the forum. Peter does a great job with the site!

Archibill

I also forgot to mention, my name is Bill

adamz

welcome Bill

D900E

Hello,
I started photography in Italy when I was 10, using my dad’s Agfa. I am 67 now and haven’t learned how, yet :-)

I am talking about the artistic part, the composition: I am a complete disaster on that. As an engineer, however, I have no problems with any technical aspect of this great hobby, from physics to electronics, mechanics and optics.

My place in California is full of cameras, from film to digital; I will mention only the DSLR:
two D100 and one D300s. They were good until Nikon replaced sensors on a D100 and D300s, now they are trash. The D800E is my target but I am still reluctant to buy one as I keep reading scaring things like: a) Left focus; b) Green LCD; c) Oil and dust like the D600; last and not least the 10-pin connector defect. I postponed the buying until I will see the one with my name appearing: the D900E :-)

As lenses will list only the AF:
FX: 14 f/2.8; 14-24 f/2.8; 24 f/1.4; 24-70 f/2.8; 24-120 f/4; 35 f/1.4; 50 f/1.8; 70-200 f/2.8;
70-300 f/4.5; 80-400 f/4.5; 85 f/1.4;
DX: 10.5 f/2.8; 10-24 f/3.5; 18-70 f/3.5; 18-200 f/3.5;
and manual 1000 reflex f/11; 50-500 f/6.3 Sigma, plus another dozen or more of old E lenses for film.

Msmoto, how do people put their equipment in small font after their postings? Thanks.

Lorenzo - it is also my name on NR.