Great bird photos. We have those Canadian geese hanging on our local golf course here. Their "business droppings" left on the greens make for interesting tactical putting:-)

A friend of ours, Steve Petz, of Saugus, CA, set-up his telescope and camera body around 0400hrs/PST in Central Park, and took the following of the eclipse this morning:

Image

Image
[Reply]

Image
[Reply]

Nice looking orchids Patrick...

Getting off the commuter bus at Fifth and Flower downtown Los Angeles in the wee hours of the morning revealed the following artsy combination of elements:

Image

Image
[Reply]

That's awesome Mark :-)

A couple obligatory cherry blossom sunrise pictures:

Image

Image
[Reply]

Image
[Reply]

I have a RACE on for today.

Two orders
Both Used equipment.
$160 approx. Value each
One Adorama, TWELVE DOLLARS SHIPPING for one item
One B&H, FREE shipping.
I GUARANTEE YOU the free shipping, which has every excuse to drag along, will ship today.
I can also guarantee you that the $12 I had to pay to ship my order by Adorama will NOT get me the kind of
service you'd think paying for shipping would get for you and it will ship MAYBE Thursday. MAYBE.

Unknowns? Will Adorama screw up a THIRD SUCCESSIVE order? Find out Next week.
[Reply]

They fixed the first screw-up, but I don't really have the time it takes to participate in the unscrewing process.
The second one I just flipped out, and decided just to sell the lenses involved rather than deal with all the red-tape.
Your mileage may vary, I have years of successful orders there myself. But lately it seems like the wheels are
coming off up there.
[Reply]

Curious as to why you're ordering from Adorama if you have no faith in them AND they've screwed up more than once? They're far from the only game in town.



Note: I've ordered no more than twice each from KEH, Adorama and B&H and been happy with all....except a little confusion and delay when I ordered over a Jewish Holiday weekend from one of them.
[Reply]

Well I have to both report and answer that, Dave.
It simply comes down to money. It is easy to fall into the assumption that everyone is the same in the NYC Camera trade.
The two big dogs, both Hassidic Jew-run outfits, and TO THE PENNY, they will both have the lowest price on new, legit gear.
It is when you talk about USED stuff that Adorama runs away with the title. They demolish KEH and B&H on used
gear. And by demolish I really just mean they are 10-15% lower, lol. Sometimes more. But after you factor in the
shipping I griped about, it starts to get a little closer. But I needed a mic mixer the other day, and no one had the one
I wanted, and new they were $250. I had a choice between principle and price and I fell down. AS I have EVERY time I
have had a gripe with Ado. They are like a girl you just can't quit even though you know they are poison and they stick
you good every chance they get. But I have done two things in response. I have cut my purchases WAY BACK so that my
exposure is down, and for new stuff I am back to B&H. It's a tangled web. I got a lens early this year, it was a "E-"
grade, and it had a gouge on the front element and what felt like sand in the helicoids. I thought "Who on earth would
grade this excellent minus?" But it was so cheap that I just took it as a sign to stop using them......for a week, I think,
lol. I use it on a video camera as a wide angle lens. My feeling is that SOMEONE there was just not paying attention
anymore. Ordered a plain Stick mic and I got a wireless stick mic (but no receiver). Ordered a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8
and got a Sigma Mini Wide for Nikon. A dead cell on the occasional DSLR body deal was one thing (three times in 2 years,
all replaced without question or cost) but pure, avoidable mistakes tend to make me a little madder. I used to open boxes
from them like a kid on Christmas, now I open them like there might be a snake in em, "lordy, what will be wrong this time?"
They'll get it figured out, this can't be a general slippage company-wide, this is an individual or two in a large Used dept
that need to be found and fired.

------------------------

BUT THE NEWS IS GOOD for them today, as both packages shipped last night/this morning, so I guess I am just
going to have to call it a tie. What's in the BOX might change that, but they also might get it right. I have found out
as you have that ordering ANYWHERE near one of their holidays is asking for trouble. When the staff returns, they do
not seem to be entirely on their game. And granted, they are usually long holidays, so I am sure the backlog is intimidating.
[Reply]

I always check B&H. They rock.
I wish I hadn't seen this thread. Now I want another camera I won't use.
This one Sony HX400V/B 20.4 MP Digital Camera.
B&H price is $398. Free Shipping.
Amazon price, $398. Free 2-day shipping, but that's because I have Prime.

Real question...
How's come most of these prosumer cameras don't shoot macro?
More accurately, when they do, why do I have to be 18" off the subject?
I keep an old sony dsc-r1 just for macros because I can pound the lens right down on the subject like a microscope. Takes STELLAR macros.
[Reply]

Image
[Reply]

Image
[Reply]

Looks like a Grey Rat Snake, there Ron ole boy. Amazing that it let you shoot, although I doubt Michigan is
ready to have snakes dancin in the streets yet.

And Scott, I would almost think that 'with a tripod', 18 inches of macro standoff would be GOOD for lighting.
And for NEW stuff, B&H and Ado both have identical prices or within a dollar of one another. Its the used
stuff where the conundrum breaks in. But the thing I would really say is to avoid any kind of small sensor
DSLR-shaped Point and shoots. I was transfixed by them in olden tymes because the used prices were
conducive to that over a DSLR body. But I would think that you'd do better with THIS CAMERA and a decent lens.
(oops, before I typed it all out, that $389 Nikon D7000 got snatched up)

Then you look at that zoom range and it all starts to get cloudy. But until they make one of those that can
stand up to the low light I use em in, I can't go that route. But I imagine in good light and if you can stand the
shutter lag, they just get more feature-packed every year. The image stabilization alone makes some of
my concerns go away.
[Reply]

Great pics. Love the reflection.

What lense, body and settings did you shoot with?
[Reply]

Sterns and Shark, great looking photographs:-)

My wife and I were on our way home this afternoon, when we noticed a Hawaiian fair going on at Hart Park in Newhall, CA. We stopped in and I noticed a beautiful looking Chevy station wagon parked:

Image

Image

The photo's were taken with a new Galaxy S6 16mp lens...
[Reply]

Station wagons from that time are pretty rare. Nice!
[Reply]

That Chevy is looking great for being 62 yrs old:-)
[Reply]

How about a few more:

Image


Image


Image
[Reply]

those were just with my cell phone, I have some from the dslr but I was lazy. I'll see if I can dig a couple up to post
[Reply]

Great looking rides. But...

Where are the booth babes?:-)
[Reply]