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UPDATE 08/07/10

I placed the order with lens filters on June 21st,  the site said the product was available, but I received an email a few days later saying the product was on backorder, with the ETA unknown but typically they were filled in thirty days.  Even though I was disappointed on availability I keep the order live because the stock was not available anywhere in the US.  So here it is August 2nd, and my order shipped from Canada, FedX next day…except next day turned into a week, due to some customs issues with Fed…but never matter, the .75 (2 1/2) ND saw use this morning at 5:30 am, and boy was I glad it was in my bag again….the price: $135+$34=$169cdn = $165US   vs  B&H $105+$0 ship  …a $65 dollar premium, no bargain  but it is in my bag now (after a six week wait) !!   If you are tired of US channels give them a call.

Posted on 6/21/10

US distribution thru B&H, Adorama and other outlets for a number of Lee Grad ND Filters types is borderline abysmal.  Product selection and availability is weak and any delivery information is out of the question.   The reason is that Lee had some major type of manufacturing meltdown in the UK over a year ago and are crippled to get the act together and supply demand.  I’ve written about this a few times as I have seen the shortage impact my ability to get the Images I want.

Exacerbated with the wait, I spent the better half of the day, researching domestics camera stores for availability. NOTHING…..In frustration, I searched worldwide. NOTHING…then I smartened up, went to the LEE site and searched on their store locator for Canada…walla!….the have one major distributor, and their web site is very well put together (unlike B&H,Adorama) explaining the various filters, functions, dimensions, availability and pricing.   I have my order in…so let’s see what happens with the delivery process…I’ll keep you Posted

Even since I was tipped off by my filter folks up in NH to this Japanese manufacture, I have been switching over my C-Pol filters to Murumi DHG Super Circular PLD from the iconic German made B+W KSM C-POL MRC.  There is also a head to head comparison by Lenstip of 24 filters manufactures, and the Marumi tied for first, with guess who, yep B+W.

For me what makes Marumi that much better is a lower price, better availability, a black matt finish on the paint, less weight,,,but the best feature is it is half the width of the B+H.  This starts to really matter when you need to stack filters, such as a ND and then go ultra wide angle, then the Marumi thin width prevents annoying filter vignetting.

B+H filter on left, Marumi 67mm and 52mm (middle & right)

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It seems to me that ‘where to buy paper and what kind of paper’ was an often asked question during the evening at the Photographer’s Salon at the Center for Photography at Woodstock.  During my start up days, I’d use B&H or Adorama, and often used what ever paper and profile that was on sale or available.  Then I was saved from my stupidity, by a comment from one of our country’s premier Fine Art Photographers, Vincent Versace, saying that ‘…printing is the soul of the Image’..it was then I realized that my photos were going to hell, if I did not start respecting the craft of photography, as those before me have….

Hence, another journey, and I soon discovered that this wasn’t a singular voice, the same theme and sense of pride and passion for the final print …from Prez to Moose Peterson to Scott Kelby to John Paul Caponigro. Paper is unique with qualities that will enhance of detract from your Image.  That to know paper was yet another critically important aspect of photography.   Moose tells a story of spending a month at home, closed away, spending four thousand dollars on paper, discovering what works best on what images on what printer…. he is a fanatic about his prints.

In the B&W film heyday, film was equally important, but digital while providing the immediacy of feedback has lost that importance in the development process, Digital is really 1 and o, film is analog…you can try and reproduce it like digitial sound, but if you’ve grown up on it analog, digital can’t compete. What I trying to say that film and paper both played a critical roll in the preDigital era.

So in the digital era that leaves us with what paper should you own and print on and where can you buy paper.  I’ll be the first to admit, my world is only Epson products, but someday that will probably change.  The information that follows is a blend of Scott Kelby’s book, “The Digital Photography Book”, workshops and articles by/with Moose Peterson, and personal experiences

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Somehow I misplace my .9 (3 stop) Lee Graduated Filters on the Cliffs of Gualala in California. The vistas were stunning and I spent quite awhile shooting in the early morning and even though I thought I picked up and packed all my gear, somehow I lost it….   Later, back in NY, I discovered that trying to order a replacement was a major problem, it took more scouring to locate a filter than finding my D3s.

All my favorite haunts were out of stock,or backordered. Why? Come to find out that Lee had a major production line problem several months ago, either with equipment, people or process, (not sure) however their bread and butter products (.3,.6.9 ND Grads) have been backordered for several months now. While new filters may start trickling in, I needed something quickly. I handhold this filter in front of my lens when shooting and the soft grad is particularly useful for wide angle lens (ie my new 16-35mm f/4 !)

I finally called into my favorite filter specialist in my home-state of NH (2filters), and they didn’t have any stock either, but I received an email an hour later, saying they had stock, a quick call revealed that they didn’t have the .3, .6, or .9 however they had one .75.  I had never seen the .75 advertised, so it’s a 2.5 stop filter which should work for me, because I often pullup the .9 on my lens because the grad is to dark, so I’m thinking the .75 might just do the trick.

The Lee product is just Great Quality, you don’t see that info coming thru on website or other articles,

• It comes in an extremely well made black thick cloth pouch with velco and fits perfectly in your camera bag outer pockets
• It easy to clean and I think it’s quite resistant to scratches
• The filter is long and wide enough to hold and handle as you move the grad into position
• Its light weight the grad is uniform thru the resin and is a few millimeters thicker than the next guys filter
• the cloth pouch has a plastic window protecting the filters spec paperwork.

My friends over at 2 filters also turned me onto a newer filter maker, Hitech, .9 ND grad 4X5 which I’m interested in trying out. From first glance, it’s missing the nice case, is shorter, not as thick and the grad looks to be centered to low in the middle so the coverage over my Nikon glass might be a problem…oh well I try it… until I can replace my Lee .9ND Grad soft……

I have seen this banner off and on for awhile, and I finally decided that waiting to try this product was not an option especially with a 20% sale going on.   This manufacture has been designing and selling special focusing screens for cameras for over 29 years and has been calling the product Brightscreens.  The brightscreen product replaces your 35mm cameras standard focusing screen with a screen that has a split image with a micro prism collar….eh….you remember (before digital displays on camera backs) when most cameras used to have a viewfinder with a split image, and once you aligned the splits the picture was in focus ?  This allowed very fine adjustments in any lighting, and your eye didn’t go wandering around looking for a illumination or a waiting to hear a beep to know the camera was in focus.

In addition to the 6 standard configurations on over 150 cameras, Brightscreens can also be ordered to come with screens etched with one of six Crop line configurations for an extra $50.

I ordered over the phone because I had a few questions and the people I spoke with were friendly and accommodating to some of my neophyte questions. These Brightscreens are manufactured in Tennessee, and that southern drawl evoked trust, and you can take that from someone who lived there for three years.  The advertised lead time was four/six weeks and I was prepared to wait it out, but the screen that I ordered was a popular configuration, and it came securely packaged three days later.

Installation was very straight forward, and they have a web-link with step by step photos to show you the proper orientation and preparation techniques.

How does it perform in the field ?: Superb, I am very pleased with this addition. I can now watch auto focus align the prisms or I can override and go into manual mode. In manual mode, or when the camera autfocus goes on the fritz, I now can keep my eye on my subject, set the focus on the lens and not hunt around for a green light to indicate focus and then back up to compose the shot.   Also,  all the red selectable focus points are highly visible (and in the D3 luminosity can be adj if required) and can still be moved to anyone of 9 of 51 locations. The crop lines are bolder than the Nikon type E screen, and are on a rule of third grid, this is also an improvement over the Nikon E screen. Additionally, the split image is does not obscure my focusing at all.

For me the results have been very beneficial, especially when taking some recent Images at Barberville Falls (white snow, and w/manual Focus PCE 24) and at Troy Alley and Troy Lady Blue, both contrast-less situations.

One thing that I am still keeping an eye on is that the screen seems to attract its fair share of dust, and of coarse it lands directly in the center of the split !  I’m not sure why and I plan to call in and ask why they recommend dry cleaning only, so for now the best removal technique is to use a blower and the 8mm visible dust brush.

Supplier Link: BrightScreen

Last year around this time, I researched for weeks for a ball head for my shooting adventures. My punch list was long, I wanted simplicity, quality, durability, performance, compatibility with my tripod, expandability , service.. quite frankly – excellence. After much research,I settled down on the BH-55 LR w the B2 AS II clamp, manufactured by Really Right Stuff. What swayed my decision was it was an American manufacture and it focused on Camera Support Solutions and their web site is chock full of reasonable advice and current configuration information. I always considered this purchase rock solid……

After shooting a simple Lobster Trap Christmas tree in Maine, I moved my tripod up a few feet to better frame the shot, and when I went to tighten the panning plate, there was no tightening left in the pan lock knob, everything was mechanically frozen..

Normally I would have contacted service and waited for repair, but in two days time I was off for a weeks vacation in Florida.  I called RRS, and spoke to Marcus, he called me back a short while later to tell me a loaner had been found and that he’d ship it overnight.

Well due to Christmas and UPS problems, overnight turned into the package getting to NY one day after I left NY, then RRS expedited the loaner to be sent to my Florida address, only to have UPS botch up the delivery again, and it arrived the day after I left FL.

To make the long story short, the folks at RRS were super helpful, professional and gave me a 100% effort to try and help keep me up and running…

As you can see from the map, the Ballhead repair and loaner, combined, clocked over 14,600 miles of travel time.

And the cause of the problem, the usual, my cockpit error,  ”It is easy to forget that you set the drag and then …….do not over-loosen the Main Lock Knob” Point #5 of user manual…

Okay this is about as KISS as you can get…but it WORKS like no other laptop stand I have used.  After a simple setup, you lay your gear on it, it will keep your cords raised up off the desk, you’ll have a small space under the stand for paper,pens, and your hands are at an ergo position, and the screen is at a decent angle to view…..

Then if you need to take it traveling, (and you will want this one with you). All you do is unassembled and snap folded flat, store it with your laptop, (it’s really light) and and then you can reassemble at 25,000′.  Then set it up on your tray (it overhangs) and you’ll be inspired to open up your PS4 and relax because unlike past trips, you will not have to worry about that ass in front of you, or those screaming bouncing kids, accidently  pushing their seat back so as to crack the lcd screen and making you misrepresent God’s 10 commandments.  This gear has been field tested !

Nothing is quite perfect, and I’ve permanently modified mine (back in the DD) by taking one set of sticky strips and moving it to the front paws of this device, then I can simply lift up the front legs to slide the laptop backwards, out of the way, if I need the desk space to work on.

And now for your special tip.….I try to always by from the OEM (I also Google to see if I can get thru Dist), so I own three of these and paid Keynamics $19.99/each + $12 for shipping….I just found out that I could have paid half of that, $9.99 and 1/2 the shipping…..So you should go out and get you one of these, you’ll really be glad you did….even if just to use on flights….but I don’t know…I was glad to have mine while on all my ground travel adventures, just for the ergonomics and safety of keeping water and stuff off the keyboard…

Where to buy……Surprised me to…..Other World Computing OWC….

Well I also met a group of really great photogs and people a few weeks after MMW in NYC for an Adorama sponsered event, called Crossing the River with Moose. We had a great time on the Brooklyn Bridge and into the DUMBO area. Lot of images to be seen and just a very fun day !  I also reached out to those talented people and asked if they would not mind also Linking up here. Soooo please find the link to their site here and check out their quality IMAGES…

For those contemplating any traveling, here is some travel gear that you may want to consider.

From the company, Think Tank Pro, the Airport Antidote (AA) , really swallows up and protects your valuable photo equipment. On my recent Florida trip, I had a few other travel backpacks to consider, but I all ways came back to the AA. Primarily because, the backpack loads well, has very comfortable straps, is highly configurable, fits in an overhead easily, and has handles that are well located to help you transport it when not engaged on your backside.

Here is a sample of what this HOG can hold…..

The overall weight was about 50-60 lb, and stored 8 lens and a D3,etc., very manageable, while moving about at the airport or in the field.  The laptop compartment is an external compartment to the bag, and not padded, so for my MBP, I used a padded laptop sleeve, and unzipped the expansion zipper and all fit quite well. Also, you will notice that I also have some extra padding for some of my lenses, that’s something that has come from experiance when I transfer some of the lenses to a smaller travel satchel.  So it you do have some traveling, and you like backpacks this one may help you out.

The folks over at NIK software sent out a prerelease announcement on this upgrade back in November. I total enjoy using NIK plugs in, but when I bought version 1 1n Sept. ’09 for $129, I was disappointed, it was anemic and had little use in my workflow.  Then to add salt to the wound,  version 2, would be a $99 upgrade, unless you purchased after Oct. 1.  I tried calling and talking to someone at NIK to get a break, but they were to busy to ever get back…anyway, I went ahead and using my NAPP discount purchased V2 for $79 and downloaded the plug in for PS4 for MAC.

The technology for the software is based on U-Point technology, first found on Nikon Capture NX.  For comparison I have a screenshot for each of the plugins:

1) NIKON CAPTURE NX2 – Color Control Point

2) Viveza 1

3) Viveza 2

The interface for Nik V2, is totally beefed up !,  and now includes so much more control than before. During my work flow, I try to use color control point whenever I need it in NX2, but when I goto PS4 to finish off my Image, it was a pain not having the control points in PS4, and having to decide if I could find a layer to get what I wanted done, or go back out to NX2. The primary benefit here is that you can do both global or selective adjustments with this plug in. This is something that the NX2 color control point can not really do unless you make the entire Image a control point.

In practice, I used this plugin on my image HEAD SOUTH, I wanted to tone down the green color cast on the ocean, soften the vibrance of the warmth, and brighten the foreground. I first did a global on the green color cast and dialed it down -2, then put a control point in for both the warmth and another control point for the foreground and made my adjustments The adjustments levels on the control points are backlit and isolated so that they are now really easy to read your setting. Finally, I prefer to selectively apply my adjustments, so I press the brush button and go back to PS4 and Brush in my changes, then hit apply and your finished. Very smooth, very simple, very cool…..

So for now, I find this new release at PAR with the other NIK plug ins, including DEFINE,SILVER,SHARPEN,COLOR EFFECT PRO…., along with OnOne, these are my goto plug in my Digital Darkroom Development.

As I mentioned before, I purchase and use these products on my own, and have no affiliation with any of these developers, I’m just a user of this great technology that they make for us !

There is an aspect of photography that cannot  be escaped, it can be darn expensive sometimes. However during the coarse of the last several months, I have uncovered a few products or suppliers that while off the beaten path from the big boys can provide some technology or service for quite a few bucks less. If you are prone to being highly risk adverse and just don’t really trust your Internet dollars to anyone but the Big names then this isn’t for you…but that is okay.. it is your call.

Compact Flash

I read about a company called PhotoFast on Ron Galbraith, Digital Photography Insights site. If you search on Photofast on the site, you ‘ll read, ‘But, the performance data ahead will reveal that if you want a fast card -  in some cases the fastest card – and you’re prepared to roll the dice on a company with almost no presence in many countries worldwide, PhotoFast may be your next CompactFlash purchase.’  Well, I own a a pair of the high-end Sandisk Ducati Extreme 8 gig, and decided to make a purchase of the Photofast. So back in September, I contacted Jason at dvnation and priced out 2 533x Plus 16GB cards for$292 w/shipping.  You can research today’s prices and calculate the savings vs SanDisk.  The performance and speed is excellent on my D3. Real world, they load up the D3 limited buffer quicker than my SanDisk and have been a reliable performer in camera and during uploading to my Mac Book via FW8 or USB2.

Next up is a gift idea around FILTERS, I have two things for you cheapskates to consider….

1) Polarizers Filters that cost ~40% less than B+W, with the same performance as evaluated by lense.tip.  I spent the first half of the year buying from an outfit in NH, that had very good prices, service and delivery , 2filter.com, on B+W filters. Then when B+W went on backorder status, they  turned me onto and I now use on all my 77mm’s, the fine Japanese Polarizer MARUMI Super DHG Cir POL.

2) How about paying 1/2 price for B+W clear filters?  You need to leave the safety of the US and goto a site that sell only authentic B+W.  This company’s positive merits were part of a lengthly discussion on a photo forum, so I decided to give it a try.  I had purchased a 77mm XS-Pro (007M) clear MRC stateside at 2filters for $155, then discovered this company MAXsaver.Net, the same filter was in my hands (with a longer lead time) for $77 (delivered).  I can only image that no one stateside wants this info to get out. Filters seem to have a huge markup.. But these filters are not grey market and compared 110% to my prior US purchases.

Nikon Caps

I really, really enjoy all of my Nikon gear..but it does irk me to no end to have to pay $34 for a lens cap with their logo on it, but I need the logo, other alternatives were just not optimum for me.  All was lost until I read over at Thom Hogans site, about this little gem of a resource for cost saving for caps and such.

Camera Service

I purchased a used Nikon series E 75-150mm f/3.5, based on a great article (again T.H,) from KEH and knew it had telephoto ‘lens creep’. The extent is never known until you get the gear, so when it did come in, it bugged me. Well, Prez, told me about this repair store that he had been using for years. So I took the lens in for repair, two days later it was done at a price that was less than $25 !. I spoke with the owner, an ex Navy man, with over thirty years in the camera repair, who takes in business from colleges all across the US, and as we spoke fed-x trucks were driving in loading and unloading..what a find and what a bargain. If your so inclined, and are in upstate NY, consider contacting Camera Works, at 166 Sparrowbush Road, Suite 5, Latham, NY 12110.

Hope this helps, I have no affiliation with any of these companies, and did personally purchased and field tested everything listed.  Finally, I do want to add that the folks at Adorama and other some other big shops, still are absolute tops when it comes to communication and validation about your purchases, delivery, backorder and repair status. Nothing is as reassuring that your hard earned cash is being handled professionally as a timely status by email.  But that service does come at a price, and there are always #2 and #3 trying hard to win your cash/business,  you just need to assume the risk.