This is kind off topic but on topic..

What do you use to clean your lenses? The good old fashioned lense tissues, or do you use those fancy lense cleaning kits? Or something else entirely?

It's funny you should mention that because the first photo I took of that camera really highlighted the fact that I HAD NEVER CLEANED THAT LENS IN THE ZILLIION YEARS I'VE OWNED IT. the thing was filthy and I got paranoid, not that it was affecting my photos, but that y'all'd think I was some sort of gibbon living in a cave so I cleaned it with a lens pen someone gave me a few years ago and I'd never taken the lid off of.

So the real answer is "I never do" and the practical answer is "my shirt if I see a thumbprint on something".

(I clean my glasses all the time and have a microfiber lens tissue with a map of philly on it in my camera bag for that.)


(Love that icon of yours!)

So the real answer is "I never do" and the practical answer is "my shirt if I see a thumbprint on something".

Hahaa. That's kind of my motto, but I remember my dad being a lense cleaning fanatic, so thought maybe I was abusing my lenses.

Thanks about the icon. That's the story of me the minute I walk in the house in the evenings.

Fantastic!

I know what you mean about a pro camera looking wrong without a vertical grip. And yes, it looks best with a grip AND duct tape.

I was constantly stunned by how expensive camera equipment is, then Kevin sent me a picture of a lens sliced in half. He was trying to show me how complicated the stack of lenses are, but I was blown away by the casing alone. The mechanical engineering in that thing is mind-boggling - never mind the optical engineering. </p>

But that handgrip is highway robbery.

It gets better. $900 for a wifi adapter!

(Now, granted, that wifi adapter does have some pretty neat special stuff in it, like remote shutter control. But $900?)

you can get a remote release on ebay for $15 and connect it to one of your pocket wizards. (which i do) $900 is nuts.

Nice!
Good you hung onto that grip and don't mind a little smashy diy rigging.

Somehow seeing a smashed, taped DIY grip working on a brand new camera that stunning makes my former theatre lighting tech heart smile. Then again, one of my current rigs is a TTV periscope made with spray-painted cardboard, so there's probably not much 'former' about that outlook.

What a coincidence: today, I just bought a spare battery for my Panasonic. (The video jobs are starting to require it.)

I originally bought an after market grip for my D200 which blew in the not connecting or rolling over camera choking kind of way. SO I bought the Nikon grip for it which I loved and thought rocked on toast and rolled over from one battery to the next all hunky dory. I have always detested the D700 grip for both unpredictable roll over and the need to remove the fecking grip to get to the second battery. Now... $600?????? ARGH!!!!

See, now you have a d200 grip to sacrifice to the cause!

i tried a screwdriver first, but it was taking too long.

I love problems that can be solved by ingenuity and brute force.

Damn. I may have to find myself one of those D100s, and perhaps pass my old (but perfectly serviceable) D40X on to the wife and kids. That .wav file feature is the kind of thing I love. Thanks for the tip!

The d40 is probably "newer" technology, but I'd still take a d100 over it, it can use more lenses and it's got a "pro" build.

What's a pro build?

they're built knowing that they will be dropped or dangled three about a neck smacking into one another every time the owner takes a step.