Hello, Mac.

We are truly on the same wavelength. I have exactly three Spotmatic bodies and exactly 9 Takumar lenses. Latest being a junky looking 50/4 Super Macro Takumar that's so beat up you can't get a filter to screw onto it. But it takes wonderful pictures, so it was $60 well spent.

Down here it's HOT. Five miles from the Mexican border. But the monsoon season begins in 10 days and will cool things off.

Probably cool and rainy up your way.

Cheers,

Ted

PS: K10D bodies seem to be getting less expensive each month.

I'm clearly a misfit here, still using Spotmatics with their wonderful Takumar lenses. I've also got a istDS, and of course use the lenses on it. Quite a cheap way to go. K10D will be my next purchase.

Michael:

Thanks for the info. I had forgotten about BH and Adorama.

Ted

OK, OK, Drew. I will.

Now, can I just get the damn thing from London Drugs like you did? Wonder what the shipping to Arizona would be...

In what city are you located? Oh, and where is London Drugs located?

Thanks for the Willoughbys customer reviews. Cooled me right off (even though that's where I got my istDS w/kit lens ($748 to the door) with nary a problem. ONe reason I've procrastinated is probably due to my bagful of long primes, but as you probably know, attaching and detaching them is fiddly and takes time and great care.

Ted

(PS: I was wrong about the $150 rebate, it's $50 - but the price to the buyer is the same).

At Willoughbys in New York the 50-200 DA is now $196US (after the $150 mail-in rebate). At that price I think I'll go for it.

Its 35mm film camera lens equivalent range is 76.5-306mm, and should be much easier to hand-hold than my 300mm f:4 SMC Takumar prime (which I love dearly) mounted on my DS, which, on the DS is something like a 450mm?. On a tripod with the DS it becomes a proper entry into bird photography, and I intend to keep it for that and other tripod-mount uses.

However, the 50-200 DA isn't much heavier than the 18-55 kit lens and I suspect it will suit me well for sports and other hand-held stuff.

Any opinions on that?

Ted

John: What think you of the 16-45? I've heard some pleasant comments about it. However, when I think of my 18-55 and go to a 16-45, I've already got the 45 covered and only gain from 18 to 16. (I don't know what the difference is from 18 to 16 in 35mm film lens equivalent).

However, the 16-45 may be a far better piece of glass?

Ted

Liam:

We are using the Norman Control Box P400X (very heavy) and connected to it are two Norman strobes LH2400 with modeling lights. Connceted to the P400X is a Speedotron Model SSH and the cable from the camera is connected to the Speedotron. I'm assuming the Speedotron is somehow regulating voltage. Also, on the camera hotshoe (camera is my son's giant Canon DSLR) there may be a safe sync hot shoe adapter. I don't know as he's out of town on assignment right now, but perhaps this Canon of his has a direct into-body plug in, which the istDS does not.

Ted

Thanks, all, for the help. Apparently the Wein Safe-sync hot shoe adapter Model 990-550 will do the trick. I am concerned about the voltage reaching the ist DS, and my question would then be to you, John, does "a simple hot shoe adapter" limit voltage in this way?

Ted

In our studio today my son and I decided to use my istDS today instead of his $5,000 Canon in order to take advantage of some of my Super Takumar primes.

Oops. I have been using this camera almost daily for eight months (always available light or using the built-in pop-up flash) and never realized that you can't just hook it up to a control box and a couple of Norman strobes.

I pried off the little black cover on top. Looks like a hot shoe underneath. I don't want to use a camera mounted unit, so what do I need? A hot shoe adapter? If so, where do I get one and what is its exact name? Does Pentax make one? Sure couldn't find anything like that listed.

I could use some counseling and guidance here.

Ted

The Epson 4990 does a very good job scanning 6X6 negatives. I print them with the Epson R2400 printer at 8X8" and they look as if they were done in a darkroom. (I haven't tried scanning 35mm negs yet).

I can't go larger as the two boxes of 11.7X16.5 paper I ordered has yet to arrive.

Initially I plugged the scanner into my new 2.0 USB card and the computer couldn't find the Twain driver. Finally I plugged it into my 2.0 USB hub - which is plugged into an old original 1.0 port in my computer and it finds the Twain and works.

Obviously, one of the ports in the 2.0 card must be dead. I suggest that as the R2400 is plugged into the first port (there are four in the card) and it works as it should.

I would say the R2400 is well worth its cost. On the black and white prints there is no banding with glossy paper, as I've heard happens with some of the earlier printers (R2200?), and B/W prints using Epson enhanced matte paper with the matte ink cartridge are excellent.

Ted