Several D100 questions

I have been looking in this forum for several weeks now and I am impressed with all the good advice that is given (free of charge)

I intend to purchase a D100 before I go on vacation to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in November. I already have a F90 with 28-70 and a 70-300 G lens and I am looking at the 18-35 as replacement for my 'standard' zoom.

I have a few questions:

1. Is it advisable to take the Mindstor (20Gb) on vacation (I already have one for my C5000) or should I invest in some more CF cards. Anybody have experience with the Mindstor travelling?

2. I know the 17-35 is a better lens than the 18-35, but I would expect that since I only use a smaller part of the lens (CCD size vs 35 mm), all the limitations of the 18-35 (corners etc) should be less?

3. Since I will be shooting very different types of pictures I expect to be changing lenses quite a bit. Do I need to take special precautions to keep the CCD clean and should I carry a cleaning kit. (If yes, what should I buy?)

Thanks in advance for the help,

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Jan-Willem Goedmakers

Here is my personal experience:

1: I just returned from a trip to the Rocky Mountains with my Mindstor (10MB). No problem through airport security devices (and why should it? It's just another harddrive). I have two 192MB cards, which will give me 56 JPEG fine, large shots each. When one card is near full, I swap cards, continue to shoot and DL the full card when I have a minute, and so on. Worked just fine.

2: I have the Nikkor 18 - 35 and love it. You are correct that the mult. factor removes corner issues. Also, with 200 ISO as minimal setting, I find that I have plenty of light under all circumstances. DOF play is less of an issue with a wide angle lens, so I'd get the 18-35 and keep some cash in my pocket.

3: I swap a lot between my 3 lenses (Nikkor 18 - 35, Nikkor 28 - 105, Nikkor 70 - 300 ED, covers all I need) and have not had any dust issues. Just use common sense and be methodical, quick and careful. No more of an issue than my 35mm experience: respect your hardware.

I hope this helps.

Frits

Frits said:

Here is my personal experience:

1: I just returned from a trip to the Rocky Mountains with my
Mindstor (10MB). No problem through airport security devices (and
why should it? It's just another harddrive). I have two 192MB
cards, which will give me 56 JPEG fine, large shots each. When one
card is near full, I swap cards, continue to shoot and DL the full
card when I have a minute, and so on. Worked just fine.
2: I have the Nikkor 18 - 35 and love it. You are correct that the
mult. factor removes corner issues. Also, with 200 ISO as minimal
setting, I find that I have plenty of light under all
circumstances. DOF play is less of an issue with a wide angle lens,
so I'd get the 18-35 and keep some cash in my pocket.
3: I swap a lot between my 3 lenses (Nikkor 18 - 35, Nikkor 28 -
105, Nikkor 70 - 300 ED, covers all I need) and have not had any
dust issues. Just use common sense and be methodical, quick and
careful. No more of an issue than my 35mm experience: respect your
hardware.

I hope this helps.

Frits

Click to expand...

It can't be more of an issue than film 35 because in the film case any dust that may land on the film is swept away when the film moves to the next frame. The digital CCD sensor frame on the other hand just stays there all the time accumulating more and more dust--if any dust is actually getting in.

Good point Fred, I can agree with that. My point was basically that dust is the enemy of any camera internals, so be wary of that. I can imagine it to be more of an issue with DSLR's then 35mm and think being careful will get you a long way.

Frits

Fred Phillips said:

It can't be more of an issue than film 35 because in the film case
any dust that may land on the film is swept away when the film
moves to the next frame. The digital CCD sensor frame on the other
hand just stays there all the time accumulating more and more
dust--if any dust is actually getting in.

Click to expand...

I guess I just have to be careful when changing the lens. Well, since I am not a professionel, I will have time to treat my equipment decently.

thanks for the advice

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Jan-Willem Goedmakers