Brian

Yeah, it's painful to fork out that first $2000+ on a lens. Then before you know it, you will have spent $8000 on even more pro-grade lenses. Once you shoot with the high-end stuff, there is no going back. Honestly, sell that Tamron 24-70 to help out with your next purchase. If you can hold off for a few months, Nikon might offer a rebate on the 24-70E, usually around March Nikon 24-70 E is great at 24mm and 70mm. Is decent at 35mm and "meh" at 50 mm. The 24-70G, better mid-range and decent at the 24mm and 70mm lengths. The 24-70E out peforms at either end. So if you are at 24-35mm a lot, definitely get the new Nikon 24-70E. The Tamron isn't going to keep up. I know this ruffles feathers, but there is more to a lens than DxO scores and "sharpness." Things like overall image quality, how flare is handled, how chromatic aberration is handled, contrast, color quality and tonal range; when you go pixel peeping, that's where you see the difference. I've always found that Nikon Glass produces more neutral colors, especially skin tones on caucasian skin, Tamrons add lots of Red. Sigma lenses tend to add yellow. As for which lens to be on-par with the 70-200E? I'd say the Nikon 24-70 f/2.8E. It pains me to say that due to the higher cost, but it's an honest answer.

Either of those systems have their own dedicated video memory. I would use the DisplayPort for the best results. Make sure the IPS monitor has a DisplayPort connector as well. Most Dell IPS Screens have this port. As for which one? Either. The $1999 has more stuff, but that 500GB SSD drive can't become a dumping ground. You will need to store your data files and such on the 2TB drive.

Yeah, I'd upgrade the SSD Drive to a 1TB then. I could recommend a traditional hd, but SSD is faster. Your power supply is fine for a better video card, so those two areas I would upgrade next. A faster CPU is only going to give minor performance boosts when it comes to PS. I would also upgrade the RAM to 32GB if you can. Start with the HD first. Get that squared away, then upgrade the RAM, then video card. Unless you are doing 3D stuff in PS or use the liquify tool A LOT, the it makes more sense to do the HD and RAM 1st. Oh, stupid question...you are using a digital connection from your computer to your display? Right? (HDMI, DVI-D, DisplayPort, etc.) If you are using the traditional 15-pin VGA cable, save yourself a few hundred bucks, skip the video card, and get a good quality HDMI cable, about $8-$10 from Monoprice.com.

Is your main drive a SSD like I'm assuming it is? If so I would get this drive: Samsung 850 PRO - 1TB - 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7KE1T0BW) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LF10KTE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RIwnAbV0DF9K3

Oh here is one program that will analyze what is taking up space on your hard drive: https://windirstat.net/ The bigger the color-blob, the more space is being occupied by those files. Another good one is called TreeSize Free: https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/ I'm thinking your Windows Updates Folder is getting large and you have restore points that are created when Windows does a major update that is eating up your space. But this is a educated guess, I'd like for you to use one of those programs and report back on what you find.

Wow...talk about a blast from the past!! I haven't heard "Ghost" being talked about in a loooong time!! I use a program called Acronis these days that does the same type of thing. What he is talking about is a cloning program that takes a snapshot of your drive, all the files and folders from the entire drive and puts it into a single large "Image" file. Basically, it's like a really-really-really big zip file, but not a zip file, it's an image file. KWIM? What he is proposing in a nutshell, is to create an image file, replace your HD, boot off the software that created the image file media and restore it to the new hard drive while telling it to expand the space. So in essence, you get a larger hard drive, with all of your files intact, just on a bigger hard drive partition. It's pretty straightforward, but something that takes a more advanced user to accomplish. The hard part is getting these cloning / imaging program to recognize things like USB ports, Network Cards, Hard Drive Controllers in order to restore the image file on the new HD. You could hookup a second larger HD and to a disk to disk clone, then remove the old C: drive and put the 2nd HD in its place, but only if that program supports it. ...and they only put in a fricken 250GB Main HD? *SIGH* Let me guess, it's a really super-fast SSD drive, right?!?!! Oh SSD is so fast and amazing!!! You want one!! Everyone has one these days!! Uh-huh. The problem is that fast SSD Drive doesn't do you a damn bit of good if it's full!! A 250GB (Formatted 223GB-ish) is really small by today's standards. Things like Windows Updates, the PS Scratch File, the Windows Swap File, all occupy the C: unless you manually tell them to be somewhere else, like a 4TB traditional Hard Drive. "...what's the Scratch Disk? Windows Swap File? Huh?" Back in the days of old, where "...640K ought to be enough for anybody." (A Bill Gates quote,) software engineers needed more resources to run their programs. RAM was expensive back in the day, and in the early 80's, there was a limitation of 640K for RAM. So if a program needed more to work, they used hard drive space in place of RAM. This way a program could use the free hard drive space for its resources, while eliminating the need to break the 640K barrier. Software still uses this type of technology today. Photoshop has a file called a "Scratch Disk," which is just a temporary cache file. Even though you have 32GB of RAM, PS still uses the free HD space for a performance boost. Especially if you have a lot of duplicate pixel layers which causes .psd file to increase in size, and if you edit more than one photo at a time with batch editing, etc. So even though 32GB is a nice thing to have these days, it sometimes isn't enough...at least as PS is concerned. Windows has a file called pagefile.sys and that's the "Scratch Disk" for Windows. With a small C: drive, you have to be ANAL on what gets installed on it. With a drive that small, you can't simply click 'next-next-next...ok...ok...next-next...finish' when installing programs. You need to do a custom install and be very specific on what goes where. Unfortunately, there is no single way to install software with a custom install each time, unlike the "Typical" installation routine that almost all software uses today. (Basically, dump everything on a C: HD.) I wouldn't even bother with a 500GB at this point. That's the smallest HD you would want these days, and those days are numbered when it comes to Windows 10. The problem is, 500GB is not large at all these days. Windows 10 really takes up space, not the OS itself, but all the stinking updates. In fact, when Win 10 goes to a new version, it talks to Microsoft's servers and downloads a WHOLE NEW VERSION of Windows 10 and puts the existing one in a c:\windows.old folder. I recently reformatted a customer's laptop and re-installed the version of Windows 10 that came with it. OK, I thought, no big deal. Well, guess what? After installing that Windows 10 OS, there was 3.1 GB (that's Gigabytes) of updates the first go-around. Then another 500MB of updates thereafter. So 3.5GB worth of updates. Combine that with restore points on your main hard drive, and you have a recipe for full hard drives. This is why I always recommend a 1TB Main Hard Drive at the Minimum when I give out recommendations. Sooner or later a small main drive will come back to give you grief when it runs out of space. Why does Microsoft do this? Because there will never be a Windows 11, or Windows 12, etc. Microsoft is taking a que from Apple. We have Windows 10, Anniversary Edition. Windows 10 Creators Edition. Windows 10 Fall Creators Edition, etc. etc. I think we are 5 versions into Windows 10 as of right now? Something like that. Think MacOS Yosemite, MacOS Sierra, MacOS High Sierra, etc. Same difference. As far as taking the plunge with Windows 10, it's growing on me the more I play with it. The main problem is, Microsoft keeps moving stuff around and burying things with each and every update. So it's challenging to figure out where the new update put stuff. I realize that what I use the average person wouldn't have to worry about, but something as simple as "Devices and Printers" is GONE from the Startup Menu in the current version of Windows 10. Sure, it's still part of Windows, you just have to find it. Microsoft is trying to go in a new direction to where you click the Gear Icon (just like on a Mac for System Preferences,) to get to stuff. That said, January 7, 2020, Microsoft is abandoning all support for Windows 7. Just like they did with Windows XP. There will be no more security updates and it will be put out to pasture. Same thing goes with Server 2008 & 2008R2. Support for that Server OS ends on January 14, 2020. So eventually, you will have to upgrade to Windows 10 at some point. What should you do going forward? What is your budget? Are you interested in getting an off-the-shelf computer or upgrading this one? What kind of Power Supply do you have and how many watts is it? The reason I ask is fancy video cards often need a power supply that can support them AND the devices in the computer. Who built you this computer? Are they still around and can help you out?

Botched up video driver. You did what I would do. Glad it's sorted out. Now, when was your last Time Machine backup done?

Yes, it did work. Thank You!!

Let's try something new and see if this link works. paypal.me/BrianHermans

Yeah, I need to get that beer link.

Thank goodness for the holiday season!! I found a deal!! Manfrotto 190Go! Aluminum Tripod kit with 496RC2 Ballhead Supports up to 13lbs, which is fine for a D750, Battery Grip and 70-200 f/2.8G VRII attached. On sale for $159.88!!! Whoop! Whoop!!!

The saying with tripods is this, You can buy a sturdy, lightweight, or cheap tripod. Pick two. It can be lightweight and cheap, but it won't be sturdy, etc. Or sturdy and lightweight, but not cheap. I'm going to do some shopping. Your $200 budget it a. It tight. The "cheap" legs that I would recommend are $175 and we need to get a head for it. If you could stretch that to about $250-ish, I can configure a decent one.

I found that with my 70-200 VRII it's much sharper and more forgiving using f/4 than f/2.8. So I would use 200mm @ f/4, start there. Then try 70mm. ISO 200-400 should be fine since you have a D750. If the hall isn't bright enough, you will need some sort of external light/flash. Start with one person or one subject. Heck, a large coffee can or stand up vacuum cleaner will work in a pinch. If you do use a tripod, shut off the VR!!! Honestly, when I photograph large wedding parties, I'm usually around f5.6, give or take. (f/8 is normal and so is f/11.) I pick someone / something in the front row that is not all the way out front. Could be a black jacket next to white shirt or shoulder or something. Something in the middle and "average" looking sharp focal plane so that everything is acceptable sharp. Eyeballs are usually too small to have enough contrast swing for the AF to lock on and you get out of focus group shots. That's the biggest thing that I've learned over the years. Only when you are in close proximity, say around 5 feet away or less, e.g., the 3/4 dreamy bridal portrait, would I pick the eye closest to the lens/me. As soon as you put yourself further back, AND YOU WILL being at 200mm, a person's eyeball will be of NO USE to you in nailing focus.

What lenses do you currently own? Because that's where sharpness starts.

1024 x 768 was great in the 1990's on 15" CRT (Tube) Displays.

That should work. I like the ASUS "Republic of Gamers" line for photo editing purposes. Their screens are decent.

I'd get a different monitor. Yes, there are adapters and such, but in reality, you are wasting your time. It's one thing throwing up a power-point presentation on the fly, something completely different if you are editing photos / concerned about color quality and consistency. It will be faster and cheaper and better in the long run if you get a new display. As I've stated above, when it comes to flat screens, you really want to avoid using the 15-pin analog VGA port.

No. It's one or the other. You'll want to replace the video card with two HDMI ports if you want dual displays. In addition, it's better to use HDMI ports for today's flat-screen displays. You'll get better colors and contrast and the image will be sharper. The standard 15-Pin VGA connector / port has been around since 1989 and is NOT meant for today's fancy flat-screens. In reality, a VGA port was only meant to go up to a 20" CRT (Tube) display. If any member comes across this comment and is using a VGA cable instead of a HDMI, DVI or DisplayPort type of cable, and has that option to upgrade...PLEASE do yourself a major favor and stop using the VGA port. I get my cables from Monoprice.com and a high quality HDMI cable shouldn't be more than $10.

A defective lens. It needs to be sent in for repair. That problem is not normal at all. Now, there are Depth of Field challenges when shooting at f/2.8, but that isn't the case at all.

That's good to hear. You just need to practice with the light. It seems that this light is not a run-and-gun light. There seems to be a learning curve. I would use AWB and stop with the "Set it to _______ and fix it in post..." thinking. Just to see if you get better results. You can always go back.

I get my cables from Monoprice. That one from Amazon should be fine. I also refuse to pay $50+ for a special super-duper cable that the stores try to push on you. It's a HUGE profit maker for them. In fact, the box stores make more profit selling a single overpriced HDMI cable than they do selling 3 gaming consoles. It's insane. The only time you need to pay attention is if you are viewing 4K video. Then you need a HDMI 2.0 cable that is capable of 18Gbps, but you are editing photos, not watching blow-up action movies on a 60" flatscreen.

You are good. Enjoy your new display. Please use a HDMI cable or DisplayPort Cable with the monitor.

That Dell Computer seems ok, get it before Nov 30th.

You can add a second, much larger HD to those computers. It's easy to install and I can walk you through it. I like the WD Caviar Black internal Hard Drives. Been using them for 20+ years. Here is a 4TB model: WD 4 TB 3.5" Performance Hard Drive 128 MB Cache, 3.5" Internal Bare or OEM Drives, Black (WD4004FZWX) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWS2ZOC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_WIwhAbFR979T8

I do like the quality of light coming out of the Godox light vs your Canon Flash. It's way more even and less "Flashy." We just need to figure out how to manage the Godox.