=========================================================== THE NIKONIAN http://www.nikonians.com Regular Newsletter #10 31-DEC-2000 =========================================================== In this issue: 1. Editors Note 2. The Nikonians Contest Final 2000 is in January 2001 3. Next Monthly Contest is in February 2001 4. The Bookshelves Have Been Heavily Updated 5. New Calendar Administrator 6. Upcoming Events From Our Calendar Administrator 7. How Water Resistant is an F5? 8. Can You Trust 3D Matrix Metering All of the Time? 9. Getting Rid of the Red Eyes in Photoshop 10. 3rd Nikonians Assignment 11. Still a Student 1. Editors Note =========================================================== Thanks for your interest in our non-profit community for Nikon users. Well, this has been most definitely an interesting first year for Nikonians. Ok, we're celibrating our anniversary on the 1st of April 2001, so it's not really a "first year", but it has nevertheless been much fun to see the community grow like this. Some reflections on the past year @ Nikonians... We started out with the Beta phase having some rudimentary functionality up around February 2000. Pretty soon some selected 25 "beta members" had registered, helping us out, providing us with lots of ideas and positive criticism. This made it possible to have the official launch two months later in April of this year. For each month the traffic increased and more members registered, typically with 30-40% per month. We were able to keep it a "nice place to be at" eventhough we have had pretty "heated discussions" every once in a while. In all, this has though been related to minor issues and the community has lived up to its motto of being a "friendly place to be at". We all should be *very proud* of this, since many sites and communities on the web detoriates fast when it comes to (not) accepting the person on the other side of the "computer line". For the data-freaks amongst us: We are now well over 2,000 members, have +800,000 hits and some 6GByte of traffic (month of December figures). Here are some *Special Kudos* in place for our moderators and "the other" Old Hands in the community (you know who you are!) So, BIG and sincere thanks goes out from JRP and me to all of you! Without your support and continuous drive, Nikonians would not be what it is today; The friendliest and largest web community for Nikon users. Some *Additional Kudos* goes out to the following guys - thanks for making the year 2000 a good year for all photographers on the net (in no certain order): John @ photographyreview.com for being who he is. A cool guy with good ideas and a great amount of humour. Don @ nikonlinks.com for providing all Nikonians with the best directory of Nikon links ever available. Doug @ acecam.com for providing all photographers with the most comprehensive directory of repair shops and retailers. Phil @ photo.net for never keeping his mouth shut and for having the energy to keep up with the monster site of his. Alex @ nikonusers.org for being the most nerdy Nikon user and Nikonian personality on the net. Bill @ photolinks.net for continously improving his site and supporting Nikonians while doing so. To all of you - Thanks for helping out making the internet a better place for Nikon photographers! Only together we can improve the net being and staying a good resource for photographers. Our contest has received more and more attention from all over and many Nikon photographers have participated. Due to both technical problems as well as to time constraints, we have lately not been able to serve all the participants as we would have liked to. This will change over the next coming months as we'll install new software and get a new server. We would like to appologize for the not-up-to- standards service we have delivered regarding our contest in the last two months. It's not an excuse, but maybe easier to understand when you know that we are doing this on our free time financed with our own money. JRP and I are wishing you all very nice holidays and a Prosperous, Happy New Photography Year together with your most important ones! And as always, remember to have fun! Bo & JRP 31-Dec-2000 bo@nikonians.com jrpalacios@nikonians.com 2. The Nikonians Contest Final 2000 is in January 2001 =========================================================== The final for the first Nikonians Annual Contest will take place in January 2001. Each finalists, i.e. each winner of each monthly contest held throughout 2000, has the chance to send in a total of three new images for the final. Only unsubmitted pictures will be accepted, i.e. pictures which have not yet been on display at Nikonians. All pics must be submitted by the finalists by email to "finals@nikonians.com" prior to 16-Jan-2001. The received images will not be put online until the winner has been elected. All the pictures from the finalists will be put online afterwards. Our jury will select the single winner who will receive a *very nice* set of Nikon equipment plus additional gear worth more than 10,000 USD! The final winner will be announced early February 2001. Our annual contest for 2001 will start February 2001 and runs until December 2001 with a final in January 2002. The prizes for the 2001 annual contest have not yet been defined. 3. Next Monthly Contest is in February 2001 =========================================================== Due to that the final of our annual contest takes place in January 2001, the next monthly contest will be held in February 2001. All of you who have sent in pictures for the next contest, please be patient as your images will not be included prior to February 2001! 4. The Bookshelves Have Been Heavily Updated =========================================================== There are now over 100 books in our bookshelves. If you would like to see a certain book being included, please send books@nikonians.com an email. http://www.nikonians.com/html/resources/bookshelves/index.html 5. New Calendar Administrator =========================================================== We have a new Calendar Administrator; Albert Coo. Albert is taking care of including interesting events in our calendar section. There are many new interesting events in there - check it out! http://www.nikonians.com/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.pl 6. Upcoming Events From Our Calendar Administrator =========================================================== - Convention Fotofusion 2001: International Festival of Photography and Digital Imaging January 23 to 27, 2001. Palm Beach Photographic Centre Delray Beach, Florida Seminars, workshops, and exhibits on film and digital photography. Information at http://www.fotofusion.org - Exhibits "Women Photographers at National Geographic" Impressive works and achievements of over 40 women photojournalists. Through January 27, 2001 at the Newseum/NY in New York City, New York Information at http://www.newseum.org/newseumny/index.htm and through February 11, 2001 at Explorers' Hall, National Geographic Society in Washington, DC Information at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/index.html - Contest Nikon "Beyond 2000 Magic Moments Photo Contest" Through February 28, 2001 Capture the moments and memories of the Holiday Season, and a chance to win a Mentor Photo Trek, Nikon cameras, and lenses. Information at http://www.mentorseries.com 7. How Water Resistant is an F5? =========================================================== Nikonian f8andbethere says that after he'd taken a short dip with the F5 in the sea, he rinsed off the salt water in the shower... Check out the water persistancy of the F5 at: http://www.nikonians.com/dcforum/DCForumID5/138.html 8. Can You Trust 3D Matrix Metering All of the Time? =========================================================== Not all members seems to trust the 3D (Color) Matrix Metering Mode all of the time... Bo surely does, but others don't. Check out: http://www.nikonians.com/dcforum/DCForumID5/154.html 9. Getting Rid of the Red Eyes in Photoshop =========================================================== Pro's are not supposed to get red eyes caught on film, right? Here are some tricks on how to get rid of them in Photoshop - *IF* you have them: http://www.nikonians.com/dcforum/DCForumID36/11.html 10. 3rd Nikonians Assignment =========================================================== The 3rd Nikonians Assignment is dedicated to animals. Yes, you've read correctly... Even all of those infamous pet shots are allowed! http://www.nikonians.com/dcforum/DCForumID29/8.html 11. Still a Student =========================================================== But what kind of student... Nikonian Eolo Perfido from Italy has a great talent and he shows it. Check out his not-so-pet-like shots at: http://www.nikonians.com/dcforum/DCForumID40/81.html =========================================================== If you have any questions regarding this newsletter, please send an email to editorial@nikonians.com You receive THE NIKONIAN because you have requested it. We hope you find it useful, however, if you'd like your name to be removed from the newsletter, you can simply do so at any time from the main page at our community: http://www.nikonians.com