Seeing the Light! Okay, maybe just a glimmer...

Received and viewed the new Nikon School "A Hands-On Guide to Creative Lighting" DVD. Sat through the whole thing, one pass.

It went through the basics of lighting, some demos, and the field work with Joe McNally. What really got me was 1) how they talked through everything they were doing, even if it went over my head, and 2) that Joe McNally was shooting in Matrix Metering (when he's not blacking out ambient) and multi-light iTTL. And all that grip equipment (the panels and C-stand kits were cool!)!

I really need to rethink lighting... Yes, the Strobist method (manual, off-camera) is really good for static situations when I know what I am doing, but this may take most of the brain-work out of shooting. Mind you, it still requires someone that knows how all the stuff works and goes together to build that great shot, but the automatics take a level of complexity out.

The Nikon D700 has been announced! The...

Okay, breathe.

Actually, already have the D300, so I can wait.

But "wide" is nice!

Don't do posters, rarely print, so megapixels don't count. Much. Okay, maybe for the occasional crop.

But "wide" is good!

To make it right, I would have to get the body, plus at least one lens on the ultra-wide end, say, the 14-24mm f2.8... That would put me out around $5K. Ouch.

But "wide" is sooo good!

And the SB-900... $500!!!

*sigh*