First post - hi!

[maxf]

Hi everybody,

This is my first post in the Photography section, although I post fairly regualrly in other areas - so Hi!

After lots of deliberating (and negotiating at Jessops ), I finally bit the bullet and bought a Nikon D70 with the 18-70mm lens. This is my first real camera and very much a learning experience - I even bought a photography book (a big deal for the chap who won't ask for directions or, generally, read instructions).

Now for a couple of questions:

Do you chaps pay for prints to be produced or do you have photo quality printers? Are super-dooper printers a false economy (purchase price, good paper, ink etc)?

I think I'll need another battery or two - are the non-oem batteries ok, or should I stick to genuine Nikon?

Can anyone recommend an online photo-host who don't compress the images too much?

Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to posting some of my efforts (although not the rubbish first weekend ones )

Max

[_Dobbo_]

Welcome to the money pit!

I don't tend to print my photos much, but when I do I just lob them on a disk and walk down the road to the local independant place. Support your local businesses etc. etc.

As for photo hosting... I bought my own domain and hosting package, it costs very little (less than £50 a year) and then you can choose how much you compress your own images, how your site looks, etc etc.

However there are several PH'ers who will help you with this if you don't want to go that route - Rico is a name that springs to mind immediately, I am sure there are others who will be along shortly!

[-DeaDLocK-]

maxf said:

...bought a Nikon D70 with the 18-70mm lens.

Fantastic. Well done - you won't regret it. You'll find that the D70 user base on this forum is by far the largest, and many of us are D70 users. You're in good company, and you parted with good cash for a good camera. That lens is really good as well.

maxf said:

Do you chaps pay for prints to be produced or do you have photo quality printers? Are super-dooper printers a false economy (purchase price, good paper, ink etc)?

Generally speaking, you'll probably find printing at home on large format (i.e. A4 and above) more cost-effective than doing it externally. It is also a heck of a lot more convenient. But for mass small prints of 4x6 or 5x7, it is cheaper and easier to use one of the external companies. I use photobox.co.uk, which many on here also use. If you can afford it I would recommend however getting a good printer anyway (if for nothing else than get one for the convenience) - the really decent A4 printers can be had for about £200-£250, with A3 ones a lot more. I run an Epson R800, and the quality is phenomenal.

maxf said:

I think I'll need another battery or two - are the non-oem batteries ok, or should I stick to genuine Nikon?

Don't think there's a lot of difference - I own two originals so I'm not sure, but the third party batteries are so cheap it's gotta be worth giving it a go.

maxf said:

Can anyone recommend an online photo-host who don't compress the images too much?

Try photobox.co.uk or pbase.com. Or pay a bit of money (£30/year at 34sp.com) and get some hosting, which is the best way of ensuring reliable and consistent image-hosting and quality.

>> Edited by -DeaDLocK- on Monday 14th February 10:53

[rico]

And another D70 owner!

[V6GTO]

Also look at www.smugmug.com and www.photobucket.com . I use both.

Martin.