No Hard Feelings

[Swampy]

Just so you guys know. I've got no hard feelings about the S2 or Nikon based stuff. It was my decision based on really the resolution factor and the focusing factor, more on the focusing. The D2x and even the D2h are great cameras.

While the wife was shooting my 1D the other weekend, I was "stuck" using her S2 and the 400mm+tc, so I snapped a few and this is one of them to prove that the S2 still does take wonderful pictures. It's just not the performance freak I need. :)
http://theswampbbs.com/JS2R4965e.jpg

[jhawk1000]

Hell, there are no hard feelings from me. I applaud those who keep the economy booming through consumerism :)

I guess that different things appeal to different people but I admit I have limited experience with Canon cameras and none with the more expensive cameras but I have seen and played with a Nikon D2x and I have seen the big enlargements from the D2x with a nice lens, 35-70 2.8 and the resolution, the colors, the noise level were absolutely wonderful. I have seen three mega enlargements from my friend's D2x using the 35-70 at 200 ISO and 400 ISO and each one has been breathtaking with no artifacts, no noise, superb resolution---you name it and it has it. And---they were printed at a lab that does not do as good as a job as Linda's will do. :) My D2x owning friend is an attorney who does medical malpractice and has settled well over 50 million dollars in suits and has won about that much more in trials. He can afford anything he wants and does! His swimming pool which is Olympic size has the University of Illinois logo on the bottom. Since he got the camera, he has added the 200mm f2 (says he will use it one day), a 400mm 2.8 (likes it cause it looks neat), an 85mm 1.4 cause the salesman told him he needed one and all kinds of zooms and flashes. He says he has shot at 1600 and noticed some artifacts at 16 X20 but nothing bad. Mind you, he tried out all the Canons, Fujis and even the Minolta/Konica and felt that this one gave him the best. I suspect that he will never learn the intracacies of Photoshop and RAW conversion is something that the printer does and still he gets amazing results.
He has printed some on an Epson he uses in the office for photos for trial and those have also been amazing with only the manipulation allowed in Capture for jpegs since he does not shoot RAW yet. He says maybe one day. I played with it and can not see how focus could be better or faster.


My point is:

Who knows what trips another's trigger to change systems.

How much is want to and how much is improvement. I would love to have a D2X but right now, I have found my niche and am happy with my equipment and with my technique. Hell, I am even happy with a little noise in my shots since most are not looked at with an 8X loupe.

I will get off my soapbox now. What is unimportant to me is important to others and that is what makes a ball game.

Mel

[Auminer]

Just so you guys know. I've got no hard feelings about the S2 or Nikon based stuff.Hey we know that! We each base our decisions on our own circumstances and input. I'm sure there are quite a few of us that might have gone over to Canon if it wasn't for the money we have tied up in Nikon glass and the additional 3K for the box. Now if Nikon was sponsoring me..... ;) Really, there are trade offs in both cameras and either one can produce quality shots. Some day one of these manufactures will come up with a perfect camera... :rolleyes: :help: ...using her S2 and the 400mm+tcStill have Nikon stuff, or was this prior to fire sale? :)

Dave

[Wichita Wayne]

A few years ago I got a great deal on a couple of Bronica's with various lenses that I wanted to use for weddings. I liked the way they worked and they looked like great cameras. For MF I had always been a Hasselblad or Mamiya shooter but knew lots of people that used Bronica. After a few weddings I noticed that the pictures were great and thought I made a pretty good deal. However, after about four months I had a back go bad and fail to advance beyond picture 14 (220 or course). As a result I shot about 20 pictures on frame 14 before I noticed the trouble. Off it went for repair. Then I noticed that it cost about 50% more to repair Bronica's than Hasselblads. I also had an assistant take a whole roll of shots with the dark slide out only about 1/4 inch. When a Hasselblad breaks it tends to stop working all together, and the dark slice has to be a pretty obvious half way out before it will allow you to snap a picture. Several more bad back repairs and the potential for a dark slide goof made me come to hate the Bronica's. I was snake bit and no longer trusted them. I traded them off after owning them for a year and went back to Hasselblad. They were great to use, and they took great pictures but it was the pictures that I lost that convinced me that Bronica was not for me.

Cameras are just like ice cream. There is a reason that they make so many flavors. A lot of times it is not what we like that causes us to make purchase decisions but rather what we do not like.