teef_au

Haven't used my D80 in a while and can't remember the last time I had the SB600 flash unit attached. Went to use them together this last weekend to take photos at a party and had a problem.

The Nikon uses a pre-flash to measure light etc and then the main flash when the image is captured. Whilst the pre-flash is happening OK, the main flash isn't happening 9 times out 10 resulting obviously in a horribly under-exposed shot.

Diagnostic steps.

1) Brand new lithium batteries in the flash

2) Fresh charge in healthy and genuine EN-EL3 camera batteries

3) Reset camera menus

4) Reset flash

5) Cleaned hot shoe mount and flash contacts

6) Played with various metering and focusing modes

The camera performs perfectly using the onboard flash. However with the flash unit attached photos are still under exposed. I photographed a new white car to see the window reflection and I can confirm that although the flash pre-fired, there was no flash reflection at all in the shot. (The car wasn't the only thing I tried to photograph, I tried all sorts of scenes.) When I use the onboard flash there is a reflection of the flash. every time I attach the SB600 it all goes south again. The flash is saying BL and TLL. The camera has an AF-D lens attached and the flash focal length is changing to match the lens. So information is being passed through the hot shoe.

Then in a stroke of rare genius I put the camera into wireless commander mode and put the flash in wireless mode. Now the odd thing is that the flash works perfectly ten times out of ten. I can confirm that when I photograph the car there are two reflections, one from onboard and one from the SB600.

This has me beaten at this point. I will test all this gear against my D300 and SB800 when I get time, but I am wondering if anyone has encountered this problem before, and has some insight, even if I am doing something dumb?

Thanks in advance.

OK here's the scenario. Going on a date with a new girl, only spoken to her on the phone, this will be our first face to face meeting. She chose the restaurant based on our mutual tastes. We are having Italian. I don't know her taste, or have any clue what she might order. The restaurant is BYO, so I want an educated idea of what bottle of wine to buy to surprise her with. Kind of be a gentleman. I don't drink wine myself so this will be for her only, so I hope we get it right! Any help appreciated. This is in Australia by the way.

Thanks in advance.

I know this is last minute, but I have a friend who desperately needs a new mobile phone for Christmas. She is a single attractive 50 yr old extrovert who works in customer service. Having said this she is somewhat of a technophobe, so the phone would be best off being basic and simple to use. It should be stylish yet be able to put up with some abuse. Also long battery life would be a plus because she always forgets to charge it. Which phone should I get her?

Here in Australia Dyson Vacuum cleaners start at about $500. Some people are telling me they are the best for the money and some are telling me not to get a bagless vacuum cleaner because they suck dirt through the motors and wreck them.

What's your experience? Do you have a vacuum cleaner that you would recommend?

Thanks in advance.

My father in law got a new battery put in his 2005 Toyota Camry (Australia) and they lost the settings in the process. Now the Stereo requires a PIN code which of course there does not seem to be any record of.

Anybody know of a way around this problem?

TIA

5 years ago digital cameras were expensive and didn't have image stabilization etc. So what does the future hold? What features do you think future generations of cameras will have? What would you like a digital camera to be able to do that yours can't do right now?

I am an advanced amateur photographer who mainly shoots landscapes. My current kit consists of a Nikon D50 and D80. I have an SB600 & SB800. I have a trusty old 28-200 lens as my main walk around, with the 18-55 'kit' lens and the 70-300VR and various similar lenses that go on the D50. On this shopping trip I will also be purchasing the Nikon 12-24mm lens. In this field my shutter counts are fairly low, my 10 month old D80 has 5500 activations. I will certainly invest in more glass as time goes by, but for now that describes the setup to date.

I am agonizing over the choice between the D200 or the S5 Pro.

The S5

Greater dynamic range sensor

Basically 'interpolates' from 6-12MP as each pixel is drawn from the best result of one of two photosites

More advanced newer processor?

Nikon D200

Solid reputation, almost an industry standard workhorse.

Razor sharp imaging (glass dependent) crucial for landscapes

Which is the best choice for me? What points and features should I consider?

so i'm like really into photography and all that and i've read so much about it like OMG some of you guys on like no so much about cameras and stuff and like stuff that I really could never ever learn even if I lived to be like really old like 50 or something anyway so my friend looked at some of my photos and he was like wow ur really good so i'm thinking i could maybe take some more photos so anyway my question is like how much to megapixels really matter because my friend is gettingmarried tonite and so like i told him i would do his wedding for hime and that i'm really good and stuff and he's like wow i am spending like $6000 on photos and stuff so seeeing as he is a good friend and stuff i like said wow I can do it for like $5000 and he's really exited to be saving like a thousand dollars because it means we can all drink more at the wedding and i'm like wondering like how much do megapixels matter 'cos i have like a pda and if megapixels don't matter too much and stuff it has

Anyone ever heard of a "JazzJam" phone? I was asked about these and I have never heard of them. If someone could point me at more information about these things, I would be grateful. A yahoo search didn't show me much. Even if I could just find out the brad etc.

I cannot add the domain administrators group to the ntfs security on a file on a member server (Win2K3) It says there is no such group or object?