I was gonna just PM the boy, but is anyone else curious as to why ole' Shark won't get out and shoot his D100 and post
up some photos?? I am SO curious. I will grant you that I found it to be a bucking bronco and almost impossible
to tame, and thus, hard to show my results in public, but come on Sharky-boy, let's see some pics. Your public is
waiting.

On a related note, I gave Shark a whole 24 hours to out-buy me, but I couldn't wait any longer. I have a history of
making BAD $75 dollar camera buys, and also a history of not being able to resist them. I bought that Fujifilm S1500
that turned out to be the most sluggish camera I ever used. I gave it to the kid downstairs from me for $25.

But Ado had a Nikon D50 with two defects, it had a tight power switch and a missing rubber flap that covers
the I/O connectors for file transfer and TV plugging in. Let me say that the power switch IS TIGHT, and a nice
black piece of gaffer's tape has covered the I/O area I never use since I use a card reader. That is by far
and away the best $75 I ever spent on a camera. JUST PERFECT image quality (for my lenses) and it sits
very nicely among my embarassingly, ever-growing collection of Nikon bodies.
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Two bits of old gear today, the Nikon D50 I got so cheap, and for another $40, I picked up another Nikkor 70-210mm
lens for my sister. The lens has issues with the CPU, and it REALLY needs to be babied to get shots. It goes from
smooth as silk in it's push/pull zoom action and perfect pics, to messed up, rough action that produces flashing and
erratic numbers on the LCD status display and shoots either a all black or all whited out shot when it does so.
When it starts that $hi+, I jerk off the zoom a bit and it smooths out and takes great pics again. It has fine optics
and makes the D50 look like a great camera...For the life of me I cannot figure out how it messes up it's action.
The CPU issues I can see.

Image

Image

This last shot is properly metered, but as the guy was smoking down the street, I couldn't exactly set in
any exposure compensation to overcome the camera seeing his headlights and the dappled late afternoon
sun. I just liked the pic. The camera perfectly stopped his motion while still giving a dynamic feel to the shot.
Yes the rider is dark, but I explained that earlier. I had to just shoot it or miss it.

Image

And again, these are just walking around lens and body test shots, but so far, this body and lens have produced
the best test pics I have taken since I began this odyssey.
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I shot some flowers this morning, among other things, while the wife was at the doctor. Ill mess with and post them later
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Ok here we go. First the theme pictures for the week..

Image
IMG_4202 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4213 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4214 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4217 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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And now other shots from today...

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IMG_4229 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4225 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4197 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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IMG_4195 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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I like weed eater man.

Flower assignment pics....pretty crappy in terms of composition and depth of field, but I was testing
my sister's new lens and was not thinking about any of that much. Excuses, excuses, I know.
Will keep going out with it until I figure out if I can fix the CPU issue or not.

Image

Image

I MISS BEES!
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Not too much to photograph. I'm holding out until the next 3 to 4 weeks when everything (hopefully) begins to bloom. Those zoo shots were the D100, as were the closeups of the cigar box and beer bottle label. I agree it's kinda finicky but I think I can get a handle on this camera's quirks
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My Canon Élan 7N 35mm SLR has arrived.
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Ahhh, OK, tell us about it next time, haha. Thos zoo animals looked depressed as hell.
What are y'all DOING up there?? I am gonna have to call the SPCA.
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Here she is. Looks like she's in 98-99% condition. Now I need to get some CR123a batteries. :-)

Image
First 35mm by emopunker2004, on Flickr
Image
First 35mm by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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Wow, in a strange way I am jealous. I like new cameras, and by new, of course, I mean used to hell and back,
and cheap besides. But there is no way I would want to mess with film again. I suck bad enough with digital
cameras.

Sharkie, baby, I forgot about the beer bottle, I had assumed that was a new shot. But you had posted so many
vacation pics from years past, I thought that you had not posted new stuff yet. One thing I like most of all
in the pic spectrum, its animals. Thanks for posting them.
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The macaque monkeys and lions were behind glass barriers, in open air pens. Of course the glass was kinda greenish so getting the colors right was a PITA. I was startled that the ostrich and monkeys turned out so well. The ostrich was walking around below me, so I was waving my hand above my head, and it kept peeking up to see what it was...
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Sigh.

At an urgent care to see if my wife needs a couple stitches on her chin. Surf board caught her there. Friend from work was trying to teach her. Surf was too rough for them to stand. She got some good paddle practice in though.

Shot some on the 60d and the waterproof Olympus AND put a 24 shot roll of Tmax 400 through the 35mm
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Well no stitches. Just some surgical glue, butterfly bandage and a tetanus shot.
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I liked the ostrich, he was definitely peeping. Of course they are funny no matter when you shoot them.
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You shot with the Oly camera you were going to return? Or did all that happen already and you have
a 2nd camera that you are satisfied with?
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Its the replacement one
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yeah, I realized after I wrote that that it was 7 days ago you said they were sending a replacement.
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BAM! Stole another one!.....

Even though I have had no less than five DSLRs run through my fingers of late, I still want more.
So I DO TROLL the used rack daily at Ado. And the other day I saw a Nikon D200, This one was
$200, but the flaw was a "tight rear command dial" I thought, cha-ching, I can live with that, and
quickly ordered it, not wanting to get skunked again like when I missed the $150 D200 while I was
reading freaking reviews to see if it was worth it. Someone else snagged that one.

But last night I panicked.....the rear command dial is how you set EVERYTHING. And if it was as tight as the
on/off sw on my 'new' D50, I was doomed. SO as I had not gotten a shipping confirmation yet, I said,
"excellent, there's still time" and emailed a cancellation request. This morning the CS person said, "I'm sorry,
that item has shipped." I thought, yeah sure, that's why I have no shipping confirmation. But I thought,
maybe it wsa an oversight.

But today came in. Anyway, I get the camera to my desk and unpack it, and it is still in a box.
I know some photogs keep all the packaging pristine, so when they can sell their used up junk, they put it all back
in the box with all the plastic bags and stuff and line it all up just so, and they get more money for it since it looks new.

So this camera is still 100% complete, and I mean 100% complete. So I go RIGHT FOR that command dial,
spin it, and it's just a hair tight, barely noticable. Well the other thing they said was that the rubber grips
were peeling. ONE was. On a magnesium alloy heavy body, the grips from Nikon don't stick well, and a good hot day
is all it takes to start it sliding off. So I got some automotive trim adhesive at O'Reilly at lunch and this camera is now
THE freaking BOMB!!! Heavy, expensive, BLAZING FAST and a freaking masterpiece. And all that for $2-300 off the
going rate, and some $1000-$1200 off the new rate 5 years ago (i guess).
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I like this Nikon D200 a lot. In fact I have told my sister she can trade in her D70 for what's
behind the curtain, or what's in the box Janice is holding. She can keep the D70, or trade it
back in to me for a Nikon D50 that I stole from Ado, or trade it for a Nikon D90 that I stole yesterday
for a song, but that will NOT auto focus, lol. What a choice. They're all good choices, but they all
come with their own hazards. She can stay with what she knows in the D70, but I don't think she
has been shooting it much. I can't STOP shooting these cameras, she seems not to have really started.
She can take a tiny bump up in LCD size and a better Image Quality, or a huge jump up in LCD, video and
live view, but no AF. Tough choice indeed.

I checked the shutter on the D200 today also, and STOLE IT seems somewhat tempered by the
relatively high count of 18,200. But I give the previous owner credit, they used it, but didn't abuse it much.
It is cleaner'n Skeeter's peter.
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