MRSAMO

Trust me guys, the starting place is worth it, the drive is worth it, and the final stop is worth it. I can't wait to see all my gunmetal brothers LOL

UNSW sounds like a problem area!

So I take it that you're a NON-native speaker then.

Actually I have met a couple, they are only sub contractors though and not on a full time basis which means that they are more or less on a limited visa. Language is an initial problem but they somehow get something to work.

Sorry mate, happened to me too with my first car through an importer, second car had no problems because I did it myself! Something is suss there, hope you get it all cleared up!

SOO DESU KA Well I wrote a much longer reply but bloody Maccas' internet keeps disconnecting me. I did the route today driving up to Katoomba and among other places including the cinema in which the event will be using to screen something very special. The drive itself was excellent, lots of challenges for you need to keep awake! The weather was excellent. I visited the Edge (cinema) and let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised to find such a high tech facility in the middle of nowhere. Katoomba has no Maccas, just plenty of interesting restaurants I did not expect to find including a few chinese, thai and greek! The Edge however has all the food and drinks you want. It is big, clean and professional with a sizable arcade section for the gamers in us. It will be a great place to relax after a hour and a bit of driving! I'm expecting big things from our sponsors/exhibitors and am very keen to know what kind of R32 they'll be putting up. If not I'll put mine there Lets just say that 400 Skylines turn up, can we somehow break this up into groups? I would actually like to see a group of all gunmetal R32s which I believe will be a lot out there. WOuld make an interesting video ;-)

Mine's a daily which means I drove my GTR from Melbourne :-) Take a drive mate, just keep it on 5th and 2900rpm and a useful passenger If you need a carwash before the event let me know, I might be able to arrange something for a small group ;-) (don't worry I won't be the one washing lol)

You forgot the 7D which does 1080p and is the so-called big brother of the 550D which is probably out the OP's budget. I would think the 500D or 550D would be perfect if he chose Canon, or D90 if he chose Nikon. Anyone that is serious about photography will consider a number of factors, not just a complete reliance on post processing! For the 90% of people out there if they could get the picture right the first time then Canon would favour their style more than Nikon, that's what I'm saying. Of course, you can set a whole lot of stuff on the camera like contrast, sharpness, saturation etc as well as all the SLR stuff to get a nice result while shooting pictures on any camera. I find that I had to do some post processing on my Nikon, slightly less so on the Canon for general happy snaps. This argument comes up all the time because people simply have different preferences but Nikon is much easier to use right off the bat, this is backed by so many pros and magazines. Naturally things get easier the longer you use any camera. Forget auto focusing on any of the V-DSLRs. Most people end up using manual focusing anyway. If this is a big issue for you then you should really get a normal video camera instead and let it do all the work. Some can capture images but is nowhere near as good as DSLRs. 550D does 24fps, 500D does 20fps. 550D is the better model. Again, I'll keep it simple. Do a search on youtube and vimeo on 550HD samples and D90 samples to get an idea of how each one do video, then ask OP lots of questions And lastly, bear in mind of the filesize that you will be work with if you buy a Nikon with 12 megapixels or a Canon with 18 megapixels. The larger the file the harder your computer has to work to process each image and the longer you have to wait. The same goes for HD (720p) and Full HD (1080p). The difference in filesize between the 2 is significant especially to those starting out (ie. consumers). Personally, if its a Canon, I'd invest in the 550D and get a nice zoom lens (ie. 18-200 1.8) and prime lens (50mm 1.8). Having 1080p already on the camera will prepare you for future use on video recording when the time come. Even if that isn't very soon you can still use 720p which IMO is still bloody good. Look up some videos to be convinced. This is a totally different route that's just starting out. If this is the next generation of PnS cameras then I think this technology will do very well. Personally I'd rather go with the companies that's been promoting the best camera technology the longest (dslr).

I have/had a weird combination of cars - Suzuki Cappuccino - Honda CRX - Nissan R32 GTR The only thing they all have in common is that they all have 2 doors. I loved driving each one on different days, the cap was just a small bundle of fun that's really cheap to run, the Honda was a revvy 2 seater that's a lot of fun around the city but it had always been the R32 that commands respect from me and anyone that goes near it lol

RX7s have always been thirsty buggers for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't mind 300kw and 15l/100km!

Absolutely, its funny I can get some great feedbacks on camera gear on a motoring forum! lol I'm a landscape shooter which was why I was looking at F4. My uncle has the 2.8 mk1 IS version and he barely uses it (might sell it to me for cheap ;-) ) I hear that the 2.8 mkII isn't a significant improvement over the older one, I think most people should be happy with either.

Dan I'll make this simple: Video - get a Canon Photo - get a Nikon This is for the long haul as Nikon can't compare with Canon for 720p or 1080p video recording. Canon already make excellent video cameras so they know their stuff, this is the first time for Nikon so it'll take them a while to catch up. Lens wise Nikon has more "cheaper" lenses to choose from, especially for the non-AF bodied cameras like the D40, D60, D80. The D90 is the only one of the consumer Nikon bodies that has a built in AF motor the other are the older models (D70 and D50 which I have). This translate to more expensive body but better valued lenses. Also, they will support legacy lenses which is a good thing because lenses don't lose much in value whereas bodies do. The D90 is an excellent DSLR, a far better camera than all the other lower/previous models including the D100 (which is an old model just like the D70), I was going to get this when I first heard about its HD video. Unfortunately 5 minutes isn't very long and it is incredibly difficult to film your subject especially in motion. I guess when you hear about the jello effects you'll understand that HD video recording on DSLR still has a way to go. Nikon is not the preferred choice for video capturing, end of story. Photo-wise, the D90 is almost as good as the D300/D300s! Can't get better than that especially at that price. It will be a while until you've exhausted everything you could do with a crop sensor DSLR and move up the scale to something more significant like a full frame DSLR. Of course, you've probably made photography a side business and can afford to spend big on bodies and lenses. I've also noticed that most people who can't be arsed with post processing (ie. me) buys a Canon. One thing I love about Nikons over Canons is that they feel better in the hand and are way way easier to use. To summarise: If your girl is a MRS. then get her a DSLR, if she's a GF then get her a PnS comsumer camera which is almost as good but without all the lenses so far far cheaper.

Well I've been involved in the education industry in Asia for many years, you don't have to be a native speaker to get a teaching gig in Japan. You just have to : - be good looking - sound good - submit to the culture because your native BS won't work there - have some kind of intelligence I've seen Russians, Swedes, Norgs, Germans, Swiss, Spanish, Fillipino, Koreans and other Asian people teaching English, that is if you can call it that. Seriously, some if not most of these ESL jobs in Japan is not really teaching at all, just "passing on information" and playing "tape recorder on repeat". If you want to know what real teaching is, start with teaching in Australia or in an English native speaking country. OP has 2 choices, learn English and study teaching over the next 3 years to get a decent teaching job or learn Japanese over the next 3 years and pursue a different field like import/export. PS. I would not advice to do 3 month visa runs, avoid this completely.

Are you saying Melbourne roads are worst?

Thanks for implementing the pro-rata idea, I agree it is far easier to work with.

To bring this thread slightly further adrift, I do wish they would fix up the roads....especially parramatta road lol

Are you driving up? Do it!

This is a great shot, I love the subtleness and discretion but you can still tell from the lines that this is an R32 GTR. Now if you could take the number plates off...

Top lenses, I thinking about the 2.8 or 4.0, speed vs weight

I think the RX8 has done pretty well considering the competition and for the performance in that it's only an NA. The turbocharged and supercharged versions however hasn't quite lived up to the high expectations that the RX7 TT left behind. The way I see the RX7/turbocharged rotaries is that it is more suited to racing applications than street (high performance=shorter life span). That's just the way it is.

Mate what's your fuel consumption like per 100km?

Hooray!!! Man I hope the weather is going to be good for this!!

50??? Happy birthday Neil.

I see, yeah I've got an Australian licence

You could always study English for the next 3 years LOL Seriously, get a CELTA or ESL cert to reinforce your teaching abilities, this should improve your communication skills. You can be a native speaker and still suck at teaching.