Report on the meet 30 October 2004

[Killakoala]

Present at the meet in no order of preference
Birddog
Onyx
Woody
Glen
Matt K + Philo
Gary
Kris
Pluckaduck
MJ
Killakoala
MHD + wife + child

Let me know if i missed you

The first 30 minutes of the meeting was basically a time to catch up since the last meet andto introduce those members who have not yet met each another.

Gary started the show off my showing us his PDA-D70-PC wifi combination where he can wirelessly connect his D70 to his notebook PC by connecting his PDA via a USB host adapter or some other whizbang gizmo. We were impressed. Best to ask Gary how he did it. (There's got to me a market for you there Gary)

Birddog the offered a few bargains to the members present. Transcend compactflash cards to recored those precious D70 memories, USB card readers to transfer those precious D70 memories and DVD burners to back up those precious D70 memories. Birddog also introduced us to the TDK armourplate DVD's that can be used for long term reliable archiving purposes. Did i miss anything Birdy?

And then the nibbles arrived. Smoked salmon rolls, assorted nuts, crisps, dried bread pieces and dips to go with them. Delicious!!! The drinkies consisted of Moet & Chandon, Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz and/or coffee. We were impressed by this stage but more was to come. (I must add here that Gary has aided the nextdoor neighbour in starting a cork collection. It didn't quite make it into orbit)

Then we got down to business. Matt gave us a very informative standing lecture on the advantages of JPG and NEF usage, White balance techniques, and photoshop pre-processing. He suggested that Photoshop is great for disaster recovery, but you'd be best getting the photo right at the camera rather than having to amend your images in Photoshop. Or at the very least, get a good image into the camera and therefore limiting the amount of post-processing later on. (Sounds fair to me, i must try it sometime.)

Lunch soon followed. This consisted of sausages, beef salad, fresh bread and spring rolls with a fantastic sweet and sour chillie and garlic dipping sauce. And it was delicious. A very heary thankyou must go out to Birddog's wife who made such a fantastic selection of superb food. Icecream and strawberries followed later and was very much enjoyed.

The remainder of the afternoon was taken by Matt who showed some very keen and interested members some easy and yet brilliant photoshop actions and procedures to help us make better photos.

Birddogs Gitzo tripod became a strong contender for the 'Talking Point of the Meet' award with a very high interest level from members. We were just blown away with the excellent engineering of the device. Likewise we were impressed with the Epson 2100 A3 printer that prints a quality of photo that has to be seen to be believed. The D70users.com polo shirts were definately a hit. (The author bought two). Great colours and a very nice logo plus the great price make them and excellent buy so if you havent got one, then make sure you do before they run out.

So, all in all the afternoon was a fantastic gathering and a lot of information passed from member to member and just goes to show that no matter what level of experience you have with photography, you will still have something to contribute.

A big thank you to Birddog and his wife for hosting the meeting.

A few pics below of the gang.

http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246274/1/10577197
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246274/1/10577198
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246274/1/10577199
http://killakoala.smugmug.com/gallery/246274/1/10577200

[birddog114]

Steve,
Thanking you very much for your contribution of the reports.

[Onyx]

After reading Killakoala's very accurate and detailed post, those that didn't make the meet wouldn't have missed out on anything! It's a very good precise summary of the day - but I guess it's just better when you're there.

[Charandane]

Steve:

Thanks for the report for those of us in far-away places that couldn't attend. Sounds like you folks had a veritable feast!

Any chance of finding Matt's actions that you spoke of somewhere in the forums?

[Killakoala]

Matt's actions weren't exactly 'Photoshop Actions' as such. He showed us how to make photoshop actions but the things he showed us were not automatic, but manually done.

I hope that makes sense as i have just confused myself.

[Charandane]

Thanks, I think I understand what you are saying. It was more of a demonstration of how to make things into actions than just loading a pre-recorded action and pressing a button to activate it and then it would do it's thing automatically...I think...now I've almost confused myself, but I know what you meant.

I have not yet recorded any of my own actions but one day as time permits.

[louiek]

Thanks for the report

Sounds like everyone had a good time

Louie

[gstark]

Steve,

Thanx for taking the time and effort to compile this report.

It's greatly appreciated.