5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 12

[dzneprincess]

Amanda, glad you found a way to go on the repositioning cruise. And great news about another one so soon!

I made our spring break plans today. Eye exams, teeth cleaning, and taking Alicia for her 15 year check-up. A little late, but she seems to be running ok. Well, except for all her dance owies. Real exciting spring break, huh?

Party animal!! LOL
Any trips to WDW planned? And is a move still on the works? If so when?

 

[MickeyMo'sBo]

Here are some more from Alaska

Sunrise

Beluga Whale

Aspens

Reflection

Lighting

These are all straight from the camera as I have not had the time to sit down and post-process these. They need straightening, sharpening, and cropping, but I still ike them. The last one is my favorite -- I like the "mood".

 

[justmestace]

wow! yall have been rahter chatty lately! I hope all is going good for everyone! Sory I havent had time to check in here lately!

And the Eastbound ticker....did I know you were going on the Repo???

Ahhh...I read on. Very nice!! See you there!

 

[justmestace]

Here are some more from Alaska

Sunrise

Beluga Whale

Aspens

Reflection

Lighting

These are all straight from the camera as I have not had the time to sit down and post-process these. They need straightening, sharpening, and cropping, but I still ike them. The last one is my favorite -- I like the "mood".

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

 

[dzneprincess]

Beautiful shots John!
And Stace, yes you knew...we talked about in via PM's

 

[scuba diver]

I should HOPE it was for the beer, and not because he's a stalker!!!!

And I did get a beer for my efforts. It must have been some home brewed thing because it only had a plain white label on it.

But it tasted pretty good.

 

[scuba diver]

We are out of here. We leave for Charleston this afternoon. Remember, it's all about gymnastics!

Lisa has a meet and her time is Friday morning. At least we will be back Saturday afternoon.

Matt has some school events so he is staying home. I think that is his way to getting out of his turn driving.

Have fun without us. I guess Í am going to take the office lap top so will be checking in.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Going on the Mar 17th Eastern!! Some friends I made on the Sept double dip invited me to go with them for a fantasic rate and I could not turn it down! ANd lucky for me, same friends are letting me share a room with their DD for he EB repo or I would not have been able to go!!! Super exicted!

Super - Super - 'cited for you as welll....

Yippeee......EB Repo!!!!

And I get to share the Morning Top with Amanda - that hasn't happened for a while....Hi Amanda....

And a Konk Koolers and Eastern Repo cruise.....

 

[chip&dale&fun]

*******

I made our spring break plans today. Eye exams, teeth cleaning, and taking Alicia for her 15 year check-up. A little late, but she seems to be running ok. Well, except for all her dance owies. Real exciting spring break, huh?

Ya gotta do what cha gotta do....

 

[chip&dale&fun]

We are out of here. We leave for Charleston this afternoon. Remember, it's all about gymnastics!

Lisa has a meet and her time is Friday morning. At least we will be back Saturday afternoon.

Matt has some school events so he is staying home. I think that is his way to getting out of his turn driving.

Have fun without us. I guess Í am going to take the office lap top so will be checking in.

Tell Lisa we all wish her "good luck" and "pixie dust" for her meet this weekend......

 

[MickeyMo'sBo]

Back to camera chat....goodie, while you are chatting, what would be the best lens for me?

I did look at the digitals, I even picked up the Rebel TSi and could understand its features, but I hate the lens, slop, slop, slop....how can anyone work with that lens.

Hard to say. I am not up on the Canon line, but I do know in general the "kit" lenses that come with the low end bodies are plastic garbage. I am not sure you are going to be happy with an entry level DLSR (Rebel or Nikon D40). In the Nikon world I think you would like the D80 or D200 -- I do not know the Canon equivilent maybe 300D? You do not need the portrait, landscape, sprots, etc... mode of the cheaper cameras since you already understand the trade-offs with shutter speed and aperature.

For lenses it really depends on what you are shooting, plus you are going to want the higher end lenses. Don't judge all zooms by the cheap ones you have seen. In fact many zooms are now higher quality than their non-zoom counterparts.

The Nikon 18-200 is a very good all around lens. It is not super fast, but it is well made and reasonably sharp. I have the 24-85.. f/3.5-4.5 AFS lens (~$300) that is in the same line of the 18-200. This is what is on my camera all the time. Although as I said in a previous post I would love to get the 18-200 mm VR lens and that would become my main lens.

From there it just depends on what you are doing. For landscapes you are going to want wide angle lens. The 17-35mm f/2.8 is a stellar lens ($1300) but on a digital body it is not super wide. Most of my Alaska pictures were on that lens. The cadilac of Nikon wide angle zoom is the 12-24mm f/4 ($900)

One nice thing about Nikon is that they have kept their lens mount consistant for a very long time. Lenses purchased 20 years ago still work on the bodies today (at least the upper end bodies)

Thom Hogan has some excellent information on his site:

http://www.bythom.com

He writes very detailed users guides for all of the Nikon cameras.

He also has good reviews on all of the lenses:

http://www.bythom.com/nikon.htm

Again I am not trying to push Nikon, but it is what I know best!

 

[justmestace]

GOOD LUCK LISA!!!

 

[WDWLVR]

Good morning everyone!

Good luck Lisa!

Had another wonderful day yesterday. Went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and had a great time. We signed up for what they call their Ambassador program which puts you in small groups with a guide. They really know their way around and you get to see all the islands. Great for a first time visitor. Long day as we left here at 8:30 yesterday morning and didn't get home until 10:30, but so worth it.

The only disappointment is that we left early to spend some time on the North Shore and check out those big waves. However it was smooth as glass!

 

[justmestace]

Good morning everyone!

Good luck Lisa!

Had another wonderful day yesterday. Went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and had a great time. We signed up for what they call their Ambassador program which puts you in small groups with a guide. They really know their way around and you get to see all the islands. Great for a first time visitor. Long day as we left here at 8:30 yesterday morning and didn't get home until 10:30, but so worth it.

The only disappointment is that we left early to spend some time on the North Shore and check out those big waves. However it was smooth as glass!

How has the weather been for you? Are the flowers all in bloom? I bet they're gorgeous. Have Mark take a picture of some pretty flowers for me....a virtual bouquet, if you would.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Hard to say. I am not up on the Canon line, but I do know in general the "kit" lenses that come with the low end bodies are plastic garbage. I am not sure you are going to be happy with an entry level DLSR (Rebel or Nikon D40). In the Nikon world I think you would like the D80 or D200 -- I do not know the Canon equivilent maybe 300D? You do not need the portrait, landscape, sprots, etc... mode of the cheaper cameras since you already understand the trade-offs with shutter speed and aperature.

For lenses it really depends on what you are shooting, plus you are going to want the higher end lenses. Don't judge all zooms by the cheap ones you have seen. In fact many zooms are now higher quality than their non-zoom counterparts.

The Nikon 18-200 is a very good all around lens. It is not super fast, but it is well made and reasonably sharp. I have the 24-85.. f/3.5-4.5 AFS lens (~$300) that is in the same line of the 18-200. This is what is on my camera all the time. Although as I said in a previous post I would love to get the 18-200 mm VR lens and that would become my main lens.

From there it just depends on what you are doing. For landscapes you are going to want wide angle lens. The 17-35mm f/2.8 is a stellar lens ($1300) but on a digital body it is not super wide. Most of my Alaska pictures were on that lens. The cadilac of Nikon wide angle zoom is the 12-24mm f/4 ($900)

One nice thing about Nikon is that they have kept their lens mount consistant for a very long time. Lenses purchased 20 years ago still work on the bodies today (at least the upper end bodies)

Thom Hogan has some excellent information on his site:

http://www.bythom.com

He writes very detailed users guides for all of the Nikon cameras.

He also has good reviews on all of the lenses:

http://www.bythom.com/nikon.htm

Again I am not trying to push Nikon, but it is what I know best!

Thanks for such a super response...Lots to think about... Nikon makes great cameras and I will relook at them. One real option I need (that some reviews said were not available in Nikon) is TTL viewfinder. I do not like (HATE is a better word) the large screen viewfinder.....that is an absolute must have feature for me.....Lenses is the next.....will read the reviews and again - thanks....

My camera lenses of choice are 28 and 75....for film.....I have zoom but not for the standard shots.

 

[MickeyMo'sBo]

Thanks for such a super response...Lots to think about... Nikon makes great cameras and I will relook at them. One real option I need (that some reviews said were not available in Nikon) is TTL viewfinder. I do not like (HATE is a better word) the large screen viewfinder.....that is an absolute must have feature for me.....Lenses is the next.....will read the reviews and again - thanks....

My camera lenses of choice are 28 and 75....for film.....I have zoom but not for the standard shots.

All DSLR are TTL viewfinders. DSLR means (Digital SINGLE lens Reflex) you are looking through the same lens in the viewfinder and will be used to acutally take the picture. It is exactly like your current camera is. In fact no DSLR, except one, has "live preview" on the screen on the back.

The equivilent lenses would be an 18mm and 50mm for digital. Nikon does have a decent 18-55mm zoom that would cover both ends.

Do you have a Wolf Camera near you? You should be able to go there and ask to see a D80 with a 18-55 or the 18-200 lens on it.

PS. Check your PM

John

 

[MickeyMo'sBo]

Guarantee cabin got assigned today for our Princness cruise in 2 weeks! P221 – forward unobstructed ocean view on Plaza deck (Lots of stair work-outs for us!) Looks pretty good location – not quite under the seat of the theater. This was a 2 level upgrade from out guarantee. Could still change again though….

 

[Dancind]

Party animal!! LOL
Any trips to WDW planned? And is a move still on the works? If so when?

No trips planned for now, though you never know when we will pop in there. Always watching for a DING! It is our second HOME, you know.

The moving date is in flux. I was thinking maybe summer '08, Kevin thinks that is too soon. And Alicia has still not gotten real serious about school, which is a big part of the reason for the move. I hear that UF is quite picky about which students get in there.

 

[mickeymo]

Ok - John just left work early to head to the rodeo...Work is going - no spouses this year Reba is performing. He's also going Monday night, again no spouses.

Since he won't log in until tomorrow I can tease him a bit - he's so obsessed with our upcoming cruise, actively posting on Cruise Critic, His bedtime reading this week has been the Carnival annual report. He's even downloaded RCCL's report to compare He would have also printed DCL if it wasn't rolled into all of Disney Corporate's annual report.

I don't want to hear about my Disney planning obsession ever again!!!

 

[BWVPam]

John - WOW, great pictures

Lisa - Good Luck at your Meet

Mark/Mary - Sounds like you are having a fabulous time

All you others with cruises booked, I am totally jealous. I have no cruises booked, only my trip to WDW in 10 days