s2 just arrived

[paulinemiller10]

hi all,
i m an artist in the uk ,painting landscape,got my s2 a few days ago, also an Epson printer, using the s2 to take pics of paintings and then print them out, all very new, lots to learn,got it working,lots of nice pics on computer, just taking snaps at the moment, got to get a microdrive for the large files, anyway just having fun. pauline

[SSonnentag]

I'm jealous, but not for long. UPS tried to deliver my S2 today, but a signature was required and I was at work. :( I'll have it tomorrow though! :D

I just bought an Olympus P-400 dye-sub printer to go with my new camera. It seems to make really nice prints so far (printing shots taken with my Olympus C-2100).

Shawn

[anthony]

Hi there! Nice place:)

The Olympus printer is pretty nice--great dye sublimation. But take a look at the Canon S9000 for about the same price, which delivers 13" x 19" prints in 4 minutes. The Olympus is limited to just under 8 x 10"

Anthony

[Keith]

Hi Pauline,

Transplanted Englishman in the USA ....
Congrats on your S2, same here, just enjoying it.

I'm envious of the incredible Welsh scenery, should be plenty of material for stunning photos ( when you run out of paintings, of course :-)

Hang in,
Keith

[KevinH]

I'm waiting for the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 to come out. It should be available in August. It is sounding pretty incredible. I am hoping that paired with my S2 it will produce some stunning prints. There is a nice review of it here:

http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/Epson2200.shtml

Thoughts?

[paulinemiller10]

hi Shawn
hope you got your s2 ok, i bought the new Epson 7600, nice prints,still learning how to use it,so exited, lots to learn, with a good printer and a good camera what more could you want, ah yes my micro drive,ordering tomorrow, expect your having fun with your new camera and printer. pauline

[paulinemiller10]

hi keith
hope your enjoying being transplanted in the USA , what part of the uk where you from? and yes we do have some very nice scenery here, i m looking forward to getting some nice prints from my paintings, i paint landscape. pauline

[SSonnentag]

Hi, Pauline,

Yes, I received my S2 about 2 hours ago. I'm busy trying out my new lenses, microdrive, compact flash, smart media, camera, etc. There's a lot for me to learn with all of this new equipment. :)

Shawn

[Lita]

Hello everyone, I just started shooting with my S2 a few days ago. I bought it primarily to have control over my own color prints as there are no decent labs where I am from. I'm interested in the EPSON 2200 as it is said to produce archival quality prints, which would be great for my portrait clients.

I have an upcoming job to do a fashion shoot for a client who will be needing large prints, about 4x5 feet and bigger, for display in her shop windows in the mall. I heard about GENUINE FRACTALS, a plug-in for Photoshop, and supposedly it allows you to bump up your file size so you don't have to do your imagine on different file sizes if you need various sized output prints.

Does anyone out there know about this?

I find the S2 very easy to use, and it is going to change the way I shoot (fashion, people, etc) a lot because of the immediacy of viewing the image while shooting.

The big question now is whether to sell my F5 or not! Is this *goodbye film forever*?!?!

Thanks for setting up this site, it's very useful!

[paulinemiller10]

hi Shawn,
i just got a microdrive, i can snap all day now!!!!its a lovely camera,iv been setting up a place to take pic of family snaps, to put in the computer, don t know what sort of lighting i need, any idea s, have taken my paintings outside, but would rather take them indoors, as fly s land on them , and dust blow s over them, their looking good on the computer , got to see what their like when i print them out!!how are you getting on with your camera? Pauline

[SSonnentag]

Hello again! I'm really enjoying the camera. Summer in the desert doesn't make for very nice outdoor photo opportunities (my favorite subject area), but I am getting to know the camera fairly well. I use a Nikon SB-28DX Speedlight for indoor shots. It lights up the subject very well, although I probably would have gotten the new 80DX model if I had known about it in time. :)

From my experience, there is no substitute for daylight and sunshine to get the best colors out of your subject. I try to take all of the portable objects outside before taking pictures of them whenever possible. I even do this for things I sell on eBay. :) I'm sure there are some really nice studio lights that can bring out the same brightness and colors that sunshine does, but I'm just an amateur and don't know all that much about professional photography technique yet. Anyone else have suggestions?

Shawn

[paulinemiller10]

Hi Shawn,
summer in the desert, ooooh, what about the sand, camera does nt like sand, instructions say so, took mine to the beach, found a dead dolfin 'sad' took a pic , had maggots , took those too , then lovely sunset,got home ,saw some grains of sand on camera, got rid of them quick,instructions say, must nt get sand on , no shaking, no getting wet,how are photographers going to manage shooting on a rainy day? ok for me , i wait till it stops!!!Pauline

[ncphotoman]

Sand, dirt, rain - all of this you will encounter if you want to grab a shot that has not been done! I take all my equipment to extreme enviroments - I just take care of it. If a little sand is going to freak you out then you can count on not getting the shot. The equipment is replacable the image is not. We have a saying in the studio " Film is Cheap in comparison to missing the shot" If it take 50 or ! roll to capture the shot then it is worth the expense - just as risking the conditions in which you use your equipement. I am not saying to be abusive but being prepared with the proper protection and common care will be all you need. This equipment will take alot more abuse than you think. I will say that I have insurance on every piece of equipment. There are exceptions where this pays off. I remember when I was canoeing down the James River and got dunked - it trashed a Minolta I had at the time but so what. I had a great camera that provided me great shots before the bath! I would have missed alot of that with lesser equipment. When I got back I placed a claim and kept shooting. I hope I get the opportunity to soak an S2!

[Digi4Ever]

Pauline,
I agree totally with Bill. (the other Bill) These cameras are a lot tougher than people think they are. We have had 7 digital cameras and only one has had any major problem in the field. We have taken them to places like Africa, (South Africa, Zimbawe, Botswana) Argentina, Costa Rica, Thailand, Across Scandinavia and Russia, and, of course, all over the USA. We, like our host Shawn, live in the Southwest where the summers are very hot and dry. Desert conditions. (especially this year!)
We did a photo-trip across the southwestern National Parks earlier this summer and spent some long days hiking across places like Yosemite, Bryce, Arches and Canyonlands. We never had to perform a cleaning of either the S1 or the D30 nor did we have any problems. Rain has soaked us, sand blew over us, the Heat assailed us everywhere and, through it all, our cameras survived and took great pictures. I clean them every few months and they just keep on ticking!
Anyway, my long-winded point is that these new DSLR's are just as tough, or fragile, as any other cameras are. You just have to use some common sense that every photographer has to use as part of the trade-craft and you will do fine.
By the way, we just came back from some under-sea adventures and will be putting some pics up soon.
OK, I keep saying that, but I will... Really!
Bill
:)

[paulinemiller10]

hi Bill,
i was so pleased to hear these digital camera s can put up with a lot more than the instruction book says!!, i bought it to photograph my paintings, so i can print them out,its all new to me , but im getting there ,i find the camera quite easy to use, but i m having a lot more to learn about the printer , epson 7600,its getting them into the camera,then the computer and print,it takes time to learn, but i m enjoying it.
must be exiting canoeing down the river,but i dont think i d be very happy if i lost my s2 in it, i m going to look into getting insurance for it,i took out a three year warranty on the printer ,but hav nt done on the camera, as people say they wont mend it if its been damaged, and if its stolen,you v lost it,so i m going to insure it myself. Pauline

[paulinemiller10]

hi Bill,
realy enjoyed reading about all the places you v been to , what an exiting life!!! i bought my camera for photographing paintings, but i also use it for reference for art work,but i v enjoyed just going out and taking what ever takes my fancy, the best thing is , you dont have to spend money developing the films,and you can just delete the ones you dont want, in my case most of them!!. i was so glad to hear these camera s can put up with a lot more than the instruction book says, i feel better now,may even take it down the beach again!! i m looking forward to seeing your underwater adventures, then i can see what a real camera man can do!! Pauline

[Dan Z]

Hi Pauline
My wife is an English landscape artist now living in US, and we have just purchased the S2 and Epson 7600 as well, though still waiting.
Concerning using the Epson 7600, there are some excellent discussion groups at Yahoo that are full of good info on these printers. The learning curve for color management ect is steep but these groups really help.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSONx7x_Printers/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Epson9000/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/colortheory/

We intend to do the same thing you are doing, reproducing art ourselves instead of paying someone else a fortune. Cant wait to get started. Have heard only good things from people using the S2 and 7600.

Hi Lita.
I was following your threads over at another site. From what I can gather from reading and talking concerning the issue of print size I think that 4' X 5' and bigger may be pushing it even with rendering in Photoshop or Genuine Fractals. However, people have been very surprised at the quality of large prints coming out of the S2. A thread at dpreview discusses getting excellent quality at 35" X 53". The URL is http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=3207589
The photo attached is quite impressive. When first looking into using the S2 for large prints I was told that anything over 20" X 30" was too much but that doesnt seem to be the case. However, even if greater than 4' X 5' is not possible with a single capture, you could always consider two captures stitched together. Therer are some excellent stitching programs out there. Check http://www.panoguide.com/ for a comparison of these programs. One of the best is even free, check out review at http://www.panoguide.com/software/reviews/panotools_v21.html
though the download site I understand is unavailable for awhile. Anyway, the best to both of you and I hope to be joining you soon in the quest for digital creations.
Dan Zimmerman

[paulinemiller10]

hi Dan,
it was nice hearing from you, i decided on the epson 7600 and s2 after loads of surfing on the net,now i have to learn how to use them,the printer is heavy,and quite big, i v been using cheap paper ,and having a go at getting the print s the right size for my mounts and frames,the colours are way out with cheap paper, the printer came with a roll of paper,and i was printing one pic on the corner of the roll, as i did nt know how to get pics on the whole size of the roll, so i v taken it off and i m feeding A 4s in one at a time ,with two small pics on, just getting used to working it without wasting too much paper,i have printed four A3s on the roll of epson paper , they were good, i was just lucky getting them right, i m getting on much better with the camera,its so easy to snap what you fancy, and if its no good , delete them , and get lots more!!,the paint seems to be going down quite fast in the printer, so i m hoping to get all the sizes and colours saved, then its just a matter of printing when i want them , lots to learn.thanks for all the interesting sites,they will be very useful.Pauline

[ncphotoman]

What is the smallest cut size paper the 7600 will accept?
Thanks

[paulinemiller10]

hi Bill,
regarding the size you can print with the 7600, the smallest i v printed is A4, i m not sure if you can print smaller than A4 , you have to set the printer to 'sheet' , and feed each one through the top of the printer, i m just learning how to use it,i v taken the paintings with the camera a few times, i v been taking them in daylight ,i find if i play around with the colour too much in photo shop, they dont print out so good, i v got a nikon lense AF G 28-100, when i take the pic with the s 2, i can t see the edge of the painting, but when i play it back , the edge is there, so its not taking what i can see,so i think i should be using a different lense,i can do them , but its taking more time to get them right.
Pauline

[ncphotoman]

Pauline,

You will never see the entire frame thru the viewfinder no matter what lens you are using. That is the case with most SLR's unless you shoot with certian F series Nikons. I am not sure if other manufactures made a 100% viewfiinder or not. It is just something to be aware of and should not affect your work.

[paulinemiller10]

hi Bill,
thats interesting, and i thought i had the wrong lense ,i m getting better at taking them now, i m also getting on better with the printer,its getting it all together, i m getting some nice prints now, i m sending some to a gallery for sale tomorrow.
Pauline