Indecent Exposure Podcast

I am a hobbyist shooter looking for a lens that takes acceptable pictures for night sports, mainly football. I am using the basic canon 70-300mm F4-5.6 zoom lens on a rebel xti. Unfortunately, even at the highest ISO setting, I cannot get acceptable pictures. I am convinced I need a new lens, but I am not sure what to look for. I am a student and do not have loads of dispensable income for a new lens so I would like to keep it under $400. Any suggestions for a lens or shooting techniques to make my pictures acceptable? Thanks? Jordan in Kentucky

Lori & Matt, I was hoping that you would speak more on the D90 and perhaps compare it to a few of the SLR Canon models. Specifically the D90 vs. Canon 450D (XSi) and the Canon 40D. These are good entry level SLR's for beginners. Hopefully you could shed some more light on which DSLR (under $1000) is the best bang for your buck! Is it worth investing over $1000 for the camera body? Or going for a cheaper body and investing in a couple nice lenses? Love the show! Your Canadian listener, John C.

Hey, Lori & Matt I just got my 1st DSLR, the Nikon D60 with an AF-S 18-55mm non VR lens, and was wondering if you could give me any newbie advice. Also, is it worth getting a UV lens filter; what purpose does it serve? Thanks, Jacob, Australia

Lori, Just wanted to say thanks for your reviews on CNET. I was checking the Canon HF10, 100, and 11 reviews...
Poked around to find the answer here but couldn't find it. Is it really much better to buy the HF10 or 11 with the built in memory when I can buy 16GB cards for $32? Is there something a lot better with the on-board flash memory? The HF10 is roughly $150 more than the HF100, but I can buy the 16GB card for only $32ish. And the HF11 is a few hundred more for only 32GB on board. Just curious. Having a baby in about 5 months and want to be ahead of the game. Again, Thanks for your help and great reviews. Andy in N.C.

Better-quality prints of sizes 8x10 and larger. Here are my choices: Canon PowerShot S80 - 8 megapixels, but sadly does not shoot in RAW, only JPEG... - OR - Canon PowerShot G2 - only 4 megapixels, but can shoot in RAW so no compression... I guess my question boils down to, how important is shooting in RAW when it comes to image quality, particularly with larger print sizes? And are there any other specs I should pay attention to? (I'm also curious about this for when I eventually shop for a new camera!) Thanks for your help! Love the podcast. - Annie Brooklyn, NY

Hi, I've been listening to your show since episode 1, having heard about it on Buzz Out Loud. I've been wanting to make the jump from my Canon miniDV to an HD camcorder for quite a while now, but I haven't yet done it. Aside from the fact that I keep waiting for the perfect camera to come along, one of the things that has always hung me up is the difficulty of sharing HD video. I have a MacPro and use FinalCut Express to do editing. I tend to put together videos of vacations and stuff to share with my family and friends around the country. I've found that the only sure-fire way to share with the people in my life who are less technologically inclined is to burn DVDs that they can pop into a DVD player and view on their TV. Whenever I think about getting an HD camcorder, I end up asking myself how I'm going to share the video. Nobody I know has a Blu-ray player, and sharing anything more than a minute or two of HD video over the Web is nearly impossible. Which brings me back to tried-and-true standard def DVD. Combine the sharing difficulties with the editing headaches I've read so much about with AVCHD, and why would I bother with HD? For me, the fun of video is all in the sharing. My question is, are there any advantages or disadvantages to shooting in SD mode with an HD camcorder. Or shooting in HD and down-rezing for standard DVD. Will the image quality be any better/worse? Would the higher resolution sensors in an HD camcorder make the SD image look better? Or if I'm going to stick with SD for a while, would I be better off just upgrading my couple year old miniDV for a higher end SD camcorder. Any thoughts or feedback you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks for a great podcast. Jason

Dear Ms. Grunin, I would like to thank you for your digital camera product reviews. Your videos and editorials have been very helpful to me. I am interested in purchasing my first DSLR camera. For more than the past few months, the primary concern for me has been the Canon versus Nikon question. However, my new concern, with the introduction of the Nikon D700 and forthcoming replacement for the Canon 5D is this: Will the smaller-sized sensor formats, such as the Nikon DX or Canon equivalent, be replaced by DSLR's with full-frame, 35mm equivalent sensors, thereby making the respective lenses obsolete? Though my present budget limits me to cameras such as the Nikon D90 or Canon 50D, I am more concerned with the investment in lenses since--correct me if I'm wrong--the lenses between the two sensor technologies are not interchangeable. In short, if I purchase Nikon DX format lenses today, will they become obsolete in five years if manufacturers move to full-frame sensor cameras? Please forward me a link to any relevant editorial if you or other CNET editors have already addressed this topic. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Regards, Marina

Hello I have been a cnet fan for over a year and I wanted to upgrade my camera but there are so many that I do not know which one is good for what. I generally just take pictures during concerts and I am usually within 30 yards of the stage. I have a sony dsc-t9 right now which is good but I would like to capture more details and have more zoom so I can get some really close pictures. I do not care about the size of the camera, but I am more of an amatuer photo taker and think that the SLR's are way over my head. Could you please suggest a couple that I could compare or tell me which categories to pick from the cnet camera review tabs. Thank you, Ryan

What are the advantages of having a full frame dSLR (ie. with the release of the Nikon D700)? I know you can get a wider angle, but is that it? I think full frame actually also come with its own problems, such as capturing distortions at the edge of the image from the lens. Is it worth the extra expense to get a full frame? Are the images better? Thanks! Paul

I generally avoid ever using a flash, choosing instead to go with fast lenses and if needed higher ISOs, but have recently decided that there are just some times that you need a flash. This lead me to find that buying a flash is a lot more complicated than I expected. Could you give a quick rundown or explanation of the Guide Number, and how do I try to determine how large (or small) a Guide Number I need?

Tip I recently learned--If you are using Photoshop Elements (or presumably CS3...though I do not own that), you can edit your JEPG pictures in Adobe Camera Raw. From the Editor (or File Manger) Screen Go to Open File As, when the dialog opens choose Camera Raw...it will still show you all of your JPEG pictures, simply select the picture you want to open, and it will open it in Camera Raw. When in Camera Raw, use the "Vibrance" Slider which gives you much finer control and nicer results than the standard Saturation Control. Of course, do I need to point out that I love the show? Keep up the good work.
Jay Romeo aka JayMonster on the CNET forums