Just joined and two questions

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Before I close: A couple of observations based on one week of
camera use: I'm very impressed with the image quality of the D7Hi.
Already got some impressive (to me) sunset shots in San Diego
(which I'll post) and some images at San Juan Capistrano Mission
where the results were quite good though I noticed camera
"struggles" with high contrast scenes. But so does film in my
experience.
I think the color and tonality of the images is great! Very natural.

Thanks, Bob Semans

--
RKSemans

Click to expand...

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

Koen van der Linden said:

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

Answer on question 2 is indeed "No". I tried, ask the operator and
I't won't affect the data on the compact flashcard.

Greetings Koen

Click to expand...

Koen van der Linden said:

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

Answer on question 2 is indeed "No". I tried, ask the operator and
I't won't affect the data on the compact flashcard.

Greetings Koen

Click to expand...

Robert K. Semans said:

David and Koen,

Thanks for the feedback. Great info. Forgot about contrast
setting in camera as I'm used to editing images in Photoshop. The
Dimage iis indeed feature rich but it'll take a couple of readings
of the manual to absorb all the material.

Bob Semans

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Click to expand...

Hans said:

Koen van der Linden said:

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

Answer on question 2 is indeed "No". I tried, ask the operator and
I't won't affect the data on the compact flashcard.

Greetings Koen

Click to expand...

Hi Koen, You are right. It is an old topic. Memory cards or
microdrives are not damaged by X-rays on airports.
(BTW, Is that Grizzly, who has set his eyes on an Minolta D7Hi ?
Welcome aboard then.)
Hans

Click to expand...

Jim Venner said:

Hans said:

Koen van der Linden said:

Robert K. Semans said:

Good Sunday, Minolta folk,

As a newcomer to digital cameras and this forum I wanted to
introduce myself. I've enjoyed following some of the threads and
hope I can contribute something worthwhile down the road. I make
my living as a "fine arts" painter (portraits, landscapes and
stills) and recently purchased the Minolta D7Hi. I picked this
camera because it seems to have the best overall blend of features
and a "modest" price. I couldn't talk myself into the higher end
cameras because the technology is changing so rapidly and when I
decide to invest several thousand dollars, I'd prefer it be in a
camera which is relatively bug free and "tried and true." With the
advent of 35 mm sized sensors and the new Foveon sensor, I figure
in another year or true the choices will be terrific and the price
point more in my range.
I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

Answer on question 2 is indeed "No". I tried, ask the operator and
I't won't affect the data on the compact flashcard.

Greetings Koen

Click to expand...

Hi Koen, You are right. It is an old topic. Memory cards or
microdrives are not damaged by X-rays on airports.
(BTW, Is that Grizzly, who has set his eyes on an Minolta D7Hi ?
Welcome aboard then.)
Hans

Click to expand...

--Welcome to the Minolta group. You bought your camera for the same
reason I bought mine. Something to use until the technology gets to
what I really want A Canon D1s. Now have to wait for price to drop.
Meanwhile I have fallen in love with my Minolta D7i. I have had it
for about 6 mos and it seems to keep impressing me and feeling more
and more like a glove. It has more than met my expectations.

I hope you enjoy your Minolta as much as I enjoy mine.

Jim Venner
See what I am saying?
http://www.pbase.com/jimven/galleries

Click to expand...

Robert K. Semans said:

I have a couple of questions: 1: Can someone point me to a website
where I can post images for feedback? and 2: Are compact flash
cards and whatever data may be stored on them affected by airport
X-ray machines? My guess is "no" but am no engineer!

Click to expand...

David Martin said:

Some people, myself included, habitually bracket shooting from a
tripod so that you can blend a couple of different exposures in
photoshop and effectively increase dynamic range.
Check out Luminous landscapes for how to do this and a lot of other
goodies.

Click to expand...

Jeff Hawley said:

David, I am interested in this technique. Unfortunately, the
luminous-landscapes website is "Temporarily Unavailable" due to
"abuse issues" according to the summary in Google.

Any other place to go for more details? I always use a tripod for
landscapes and it would be easy to bracket.

Click to expand...

David Martin said:

Jeff Hawley said:

David, I am interested in this technique. Unfortunately, the
luminous-landscapes website is "Temporarily Unavailable" due to
"abuse issues" according to the summary in Google.

Any other place to go for more details? I always use a tripod for
landscapes and it would be easy to bracket.

Click to expand...

The basic principle is easy. When the Luminous Landscapes site is
up again you will doubtless want to have a look at it to get all
the wrinkles down pat, but it's just based on moving one eposure
over the other, and then erasing the top layer to let the bottom
show through. I use a fairly transparent eraser, so that I can
feather the two together better.
Here's an example:
http://www.pbase.com/image/6747998
Without bracketting either the stained glass would have been washed
out or the stonework have lost it's detail.
It only gets more complicated if you are trying to work from just
one picture, as you can use just the one, alter one version in
curves and re-combine to bring out the shadow detail.
You might also like tthis technique by Stephen Lau:
http://www.pbase.com/image/566166
Chuck does the reverse of this technique and uses screen instead of
multiply. See his post on the War memorial.
Best regards,
--
DaveMart

Click to expand...