Just returned from my Europe trip...

[lejazzcat]

and i thought ide share so insight into the experience.

Firstly -TRS .
Simply, one form and no questions , it took all of 5 mins to have it deposited into my account within 24hrs . Funny thing was that they did it on the full amount of my invoice - $2250 so TRS returned=$225 . Strange when the limit is $900 per person(me and my GF =1800).
"Me no complain".
Note- upon return there was a returning passenger form to fill out ,but they dont check to see if its accurate IYNWIM...

Next luggage- my lowe microtrekker full of lenses,filters etc and our cams , and a 17" (wtf was i thinking ?) inspiron 9300 as handluggage -no problems with customs xrays, although i was carrying a leatherman -oops i 4got, and it just goes to show weapon checks are really abit of a joke .

Please note - any tripods/monopods will need to be stored in the luggage hhold (and it has to be contained within a bag), Austraian Airlines wouldnt aallow it as hand luggage , although Air Paris did.


The d70s performance?
One of our d70's(hers) started to jam the mech shutter halfway through the trip. The electronic shutter still did its job,but it was very annoying when i had to push the shutter the second time to release the ERR shutter.
It also messed up the orientation of the image on the card - i dont know if its a mechanincal or electronic fault yet. ~6000 actuations

I ran a 80-200 2.8 ED most of the time, and my girl the kit 18-70 .
Im going to the 70-200VR asap ! what a shame i didnt have it to take with me . Any opinion of its flare handling capability - mine sucked, mind you i didnt take my flarehood for it - dooh!
Digital seems to be way more sensetive to flare ?

Auto ISO came into play when handheld shooting inside churches .
I originally had it off , but it was the only way to work with the telephoto, otherwise everything ended up soft . You get a better ratio this way than when ISO is set to manual.
Note: most churches and museums DONT allow tripods ! and if you want to attract the atention of the local thieves watch them swarm around you if you set up outside. The places that let you take photos/videos inside , after a handful of extra euros (bastards!) still dont like people using flash. I tried using a monopod but that was near useless!

On the point of the mech shutter - why cant it be switched off ? Its a pain when attempting candid photos in the Metros and the shutters click causes everyone to look at you - asking for a beating if you arent careful in Hungary or Paris.
And no cable release ? why ?????! the remotes a joke !

As a working camera i wasnt happy with it - its a good family camera but for a photojourno/travel camera i dont recommend the D70. The battery life was wonderful though.
Having come from a F4s , the d70 feels like a toy . Light weight was nice when working it all day and night, but the balance with a long lense feels way wrong . Nice with the 50mm - i didnt know i had a camera in hand .

So now i have to build a website for the images - any advice on software that can speed this process up for me ?