Purchasing a D60

[Fat Guy]

Does anybody know where to get a D60:

1) At a fair price;

2) Where it is in stock; and

3) Not in New York State (for sales tax reasons)?

Thanks.

[defordphoto]

1. There's only one price: $2199

2. Rare to find in stock and if so, jack the price a couple hundred.

3. ritzcamera.com (Maryland)

Fat Guy wrote:
Does anybody know where to get a D60:

1) At a fair price;

2) Where it is in stock; and

3) Not in New York State (for sales tax reasons)?

Thanks.

[Fat Guy]

Thank you, sir.

[davefaulk]

Just ordered one from Ritz on 11-15 and was told that it would take up to a month. I recevied it this past Monday, the 25th! It only took 10 days.

[defordphoto]

I was (also) very pleased with my experience with Ritz. I actually ordered through one of their brick and mortars (Kits) and was originally told 3-4 months when I ordered it in September.

I got it in 30 days. :)

[Fat Guy]

The Web site actually claims it's in stock right now, though that may be a glitch. I'll probably be ordering on Monday. Last chance to talk me out of it!

[defordphoto]

Sorry. I can't talk you out of something that I'm pretty sure you'll love as much as I love mine. Enjoy!

[Fat Guy]

The deed is done. I've just ordered from Ritz Camera. Now on to lenses . . .

[defordphoto]

And CF cards and tripods and backpacks and more CF cards and portable hard drives and then more lenses and remote shutter releases ...WHEW! ;)

That reminds me, I really need a remote release bad!

[Fat Guy]

And lights!

[Morden]

.... and, most importantly, an efficient cooling system for your primary credit card.

[Longwatcher]

Something I highly recommend if you plan on traveling a lot is one of the portable storage devices such as the picture pad. Saved me from buying lots of CF cards, just need two (or three). I just need a pair of 256meg cards.

As to where I got my set from
I got my D60 and 75-300mm IS lens from buydig.com
I got my 28-135mm IS lens from a local dealer (he had it and I was in a hurry)
I got my new 16-35mm Lens from B&H (arrived last night, very fast auto-focus compared to my other lenses - not fully tested quality yet, but expectations high).

Highly recommend trying Pricegrabber.com when you decide to buy something specific, so that you can find the lowest prices. I have saved much on paper and ink supplies that way. I would say I saved a lot on the camera and lens, but was limited at the time to who had in stock. Do take into account though to look at number of responses, not just price on that site as pricegrabber is not necessarily good at letting you know about unreliable merchants. That said, I have had no problems to date with any of the merchants I have used to date after finding them on pricegrabber.com.

Companies I have bought from include
B&H (Lens, 550EX flashes)
Buydig (Camera, Lens, Printer)
Thenerds (paper and ink)
Provantage (paper)
My local stores (Lens, tripods, carring cases, spare battery, remote cable). I would use local stores more, but out of stock and significantly higher prices means go on-line to me.

As to lights, taking my dad's advice: Home Depot industrial lights. If not using flash at the same time or using industrial lights as primary, set camera for indoor lights, if using flash as primary then set for flash. Remove the wire cage from the front and buy a can of BBQ black spray paint and paint the red or yellow stands and light (after covering glass) to black so they look professional. The only thing you don't get with industrial lights is the barn doors, but you can make those if you need them.

[clkgtr37]

Fat Guy (love the name), I am selling mine (almost 2 months old) with the box, kit, grip, 3 batteries, and warrenty for 2300 if you want one.

[Fat Guy]

Hey, where were you when I was shopping!?!? My order is now in, but thanks -- and I bet somebody is going to snap that unit right up.

Longwatcher, in what situations do you use those big-ass Home Depot construction-site lights? Is that a portrait photography thing? I'm mostly looking to do smaller still-life so I'll probably get some of those Smith-Victor basic flood lights. But those Home Depot lights are so cheap I suppose it's worth having some around should the need arise.

[Longwatcher]

I use them mostly for in studio portrait work, but they are pretty tough so as long as you have power and an extension cord, you can run them anywhere. They come in 1000 and 2000 watt ratings. I use one of each and a single flash in home studio mode and the 2000 watt and two flashes in portable studio mode. Just to make sure there is no confusion, they are the $40 to $50 home use versions of the work lights. As opposed to stadium size lighting.

Trivia: I was still getting a slight color shift to orange (easily adjusted in photoshop), even in indoor white balance mode until I added the 550EX flashes (and put the diffuser over the flash). It seems to correct the tungsten lighting and get me even closer to the correct color. The strange observation though was using the onboard flash resulted in blue pictures even with the Industrial lights, whereas the 550EX flashes don't. I think this is strange, but I suspect the 550EX's do a better job of adjusting output for the light levels.

Just my observavtions.

[Fat Guy]

Are there any samples you can point me to online of portraits or other photos that you've done with these Home Depot lights?

[Longwatcher]

Reference desire to see examples:
Please take into account that most of my pictures are mostly of a mature nature (read some nudity and some Goth/fetish wear). Originally I took pictures for a company that makes Goth/fetish fashion accesories. That said

http://www.longwatcher.net/adult/images.htm

These are Jpeg formated images at lower resolution.
Until I move to a new site sometime this spring, I am limited to 10 meg total space on web site, so have limited my images to no bigger then 600x800 pixels at a jpeg mid-level compression. (I have been procrastinating on moving to the new site as the setup I have now works reliably)

Feel free to critique my work (I do constantly). After I took some non-fetish shots, I was going to post sme samples for crtique, but might as well do it now.

Not all were taken in my home studio.

The top photo shoots on the page are location shoots. One used a single industrial light (too far away in my opinion) and a pair of 550EX flashes (one of which did not always go off, like I wanted - I have since figured out this was operator error).

The next one is outdoors in Jamaica, with just natural light. (After the fact, I really wish I had the flashes during this shoot to fill-in better on a few of the shots.

the rest are studio, some with Canon D60, some with Kodak DC4800. All were before I got my 550EX flashes.

Sometime soon, I may be adding some shots I took backstage at a fetish fashion show (no-nudity) with the my lights at the correct distance. Also this weekend, I will be doing a model shoot (normal clothing) specifically for me to practice with my lighting techniques. I need more practice getting the shadows to do what I want for the effects I am looking for.

When I post this weekend's shoot, I will post to a secondary page with details of the conditions of the shoot and positions of the lighting (as I will be logging down most of it). When the posting will happen I suspect will be after the first of the year as I will be traveling to visit parents for Holidays and will otherwise be busy catching up on other work (not to mention traveling for my day job)

[Fat Guy]

May I please have PJ and Melissa's phone numbers? Thanks.

[Longwatcher]

PJ can be reached through
pjmyst@pjmyst.com

PJ lives in Oregon

Mellisa can be reached through
Gregandmellisa@cs.com

Mellisa lives in Virginia

They were both found on the One-Model-Place web site

www.onemodelplace.com

Hope that you employ them for a photo session, very fun models to work with.

I think that we should end this thread and converse one-on-one at this point.
I can be reached directly at
longwatcher@longwatcher.net

Thanks,

[madone]

Fat Guy, Did you really get your D60 in 3 days from Ritz?

Fat Guy wrote:
Hey, where were you when I was shopping!?!? My order is now in, but thanks -- and I bet somebody is going to snap that unit right up.

[Fat Guy]

No: I still don't have the unit. It's supposed to ship 12/14. What I meant was that I had put in the order.

[imago57]

TWIMC:
I purchased my D60 from VILLAGE CAMERA in Seneca Falls NY, I paid $2100 plus $10 shipping. It is the USA warranty model with battery, charger, cables, software etc., and I didn't have to wait at all, it was shipped the same day I ordered and 2 days later it was in my hands. Maybe someone out there would like to use this information. The telephone # is 315-568-8516.
Good luck

[madone]

Wow, imago57!
Thanks for the info. I just got off the phone with them and they had one left. I should have it tomorrow!
Thank you so much for the heads up!
--Mark

[imago57]

My pleasure, the seem to be some of the most honest merchants on the market.
Regards.