Thanks John
I ordered their top end flash yesterday. the 568EX for $166 shipped. better than $550 for the SB910. thats a ridiculous price for a flash. theyve gotten too greedy NIkon. so here they lost a sale. 2 counting you. and its only going to get worse for them.
4 things they need to fix in the next version. 1 commander mode, 2-add "A" auto mode (auto thyristor) 3-wider than 24mm flash coverage, and 4 is an external battery pack option connection.
other than that, its what I need.
if it was $350-400 for their top end fine, I would have prefered to get a Nikon flash but not with those prices. they are sniffing some good glass powder there. the economy is bad and people should be getting more for their dollars.
grips are way too expensive. I just bought 2 grips, 1 for my d300s and the other for my d700 and both cost $120 shipped. sure the build quality might not be on par with the METAL nikon (dont know till I try them)but it isnt worth 5 times the price. no way in hell. If I had extra money, I still wouldnt buy it. I rather invest in lenses. and also there I think nikon has gotten way too greedy over the last few years. I am no longer the diehard hardcore nikon fan I used to be. I no longer believe in them like before. there was something special about nikon compared to canon. they were a small modest company who did things better. the F5 was something from the future. not anymore. theyve gotten too greedy and stopped being unique. and way too many QC issues.
pocketwizard is another one whos feeling the loss of sales. with the yongnuo 622 full ittl transceivers, and PW minimum investment of $300, people are thinking twice when you can get a set for $80 shipped! if I like what I see with the flash I ordered then I will get 3 sets to use with 3 off camera flash to supplement lighting in my weddings. cause right now, I will be shleping studio flashes.
im seriously considering selling my 17-55 and 70-200VR1 for the sigma 18-35 f/1.8 and the new tamron 70-200. I just want to wait for more review to see what they can do. not sure about the Tamron, but the Sigma lens is looking like an amazing performer.
I started with sigma lenses. when I was shopping for lenses, I saw the newly launched 28-70AFS and the price of $1500 and saw the sigma for $500 and thought "wth is up with this price difference, im getting the Sigma" I didnt want to go with variable aperture lenses as they are a compromise. I wanted to get the best I could right away. the lenses were great when stopped down from f/4 but always lacked the quality wow look. then someone sold me an 85 f1.4 AIS for cheap, and it was game over. I understood why the Nikon was so much more. it was something that shocked me. I then sold everything I had, took a small loan, bought the 80-200 AFS and the 28-70AFS and it gave me a "push" to take my photography to another level. there is a reason why the nikkor pro zooms are expensive but the price jump for the 24-70/85/70-200VR2 are overpriced in every way. I wanted to kill the person who bad mouthed nikon. but today they are just a company whos tools I will use to make money to pay my bills. no more Nikon. and when a customer loses faith in your company and isnt loyal to you, you have lost.
I want more for my money. im not a blind nikon slave anymore handing my cc over blindly.