i-rant

It arrived today, along with a 1GB CF card. Its amazing. I took a lot of useless pictures but then went back and read some of the manual. All the options, all the fun. The resolution is amazing as you can see here – I give you a low resolution version of a high res jpg I took of Maia and Daniel; then a crop of Maia’s eye – same picture!:

So last night as I checked Fedex Shipping tracking on the web and my eyes lit up Stephanie said “what?” I replied – “expected delivery date 3/15!” You see, I ordered it Sunday thinking with Purim and other delays, and since I took the inexpensive “ground” method it wouldn’t be here till next week. She said, “oh man, I married the AV Geek.” We aren’t talking point and shoot here – though you can, we are talking control and quality – I’m psyched!

Yea, I admit it. I was the guy in middle school who could thread a 16mm projector and who in all of my jobs is the one who gets the projector running for a presentation, loads up software and troubleshoots pc problems when the IT guys are busy.

I’m also the guy who chose Photography as an elective in high school and college. Who had countless hours of quality time with Dad in the field and the dark room shooting, editing and developing film and prints. I love this art and hope I find the time to really enjoy this camera.

Its been a long time coming but I do feel a little guilty for buying a $1,700 camera. I had considered the D50 – for about a minute, settled on the d70s for about 6 months and then they released the D200. I couldn’t believe the price. It may seem like a lot but this is a $10,000 camera five years ago. A $5,000 camera just two years ago – heck, a year ago. 10MP for those of you who count – twice as fast as the D70 and twice the pixel count. Its a solid tough magnesium body, has complete control over white balance, ISO, Quality – right from the dial! It has a bright LCD (2.5,” 230,00 pixels. 170 degree viewing angle) on the back that allows for easy cropping and preview. A professional meter (1,005-pixel 3-D RGB Matrix Metering). Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual. 11 AutoFocus Zones. I could go on and on but I will wait till I get it… TOMORROW!

JC

Ken Rockwell has put together a terrific site. I find the photographic equipment reviews particularly well done. He has a section dedicated to Nikon  and really well done hyperlinks thorughout the site bringing you where you need to go as you read. He knows cameras but he also understands the power of HTML – link when you can and click when you read. Don’t be afraid to wander around, you can always click the back button.

I’m considering the new Nikon D200 – was looking at the D70s but now I’ve been upsold for the 10 Megapixels! I’ll look deeper later – here is a GREAT REVIEW of the D200 by Phil Askey.
So this website “best price cameras” offered the camera $400 less then anyone else. I figured it would be too good to be true so I did a google search on them and look at this horrible feedback.

The DIS Discussion Forums

The best is the picture of the storefront!

Thanks Don Wiss. This guy has a great webstie – he has taken shots of the storefronts behind the websites.

Apparently many of these low ball resellers go beyond the grey market vs. usa warranty scam. Grey market is when its bought from Japan or Europe and therfore not sold as a USA product. The problem is finding a place that will fix it. If the company is big enough they may send it to Japan to get fixed for you. Most of these companies won’t be in business that long. Here is the dirty trick they described that this company does. They require you to phone in your order to verfy, then ask you if you want the “accessories” which are really the stuff you are supposed to get with the camera anyway. Such as the manual, lense cap, battery, etc. They bump the price over market that way or tell you its backorderd and you never get your product or money back.
I’m ok with the “international” warranty on certain items. For example, Stephanie bought my Tissot T-Touch with an international warranty. With Swiss Watches they are top quality as long as you get a real/new one. And I’m pretty sure this one is. The manufacturers protect the resellers who are “authorized” – if not “authorized” they cannot offer the US warranty. But the cost difference was enough that I’d just buy a new watch or pay for the repair. With a Camera its a different story – especially this one that will cost over $1,500 dollars and have lots of moving parts. With this reseller they claim they will send it to Switzerland for you.