another option would be to carry a 28-200mm lens and a teleconverter which would give you a good selection

the sigam 28-300 or the tameron is another option it depends more on what you specailise in realy

the first option would give you a 28-200mm and a 56-400 with teleconverter but of course you must remember that you will lose two stops of light with the teleconverter

i think this is a sign of the times and mass production especailly where the use of plastic componnents is now comman place

i tend to stick with the older SMC m/a lenses as the build quality is far superior comcared with the moidern lenses

you also tend to find that the zoom systems on the todays cheaper lenses i.e. the lenses zoom away from the camera (or get longer as thay zoom)

the classic examples of one touch zooms which reverse zoom ie the barrel moves towards the camera ie 70-210mm f4 SMC or the 135-600mm f6.7 SMC

you find some of the internal focus/zoom lenses from independents like sigma and tameron dont tent so suffer from the wobble problem though i have used the 170mm-500mm sigma hyperzoom lens and the lens actualy tripled in length when on full zoom which can cause camera shake problems and make the lens difficult to handle in windy conditions

not sure about their claim of it being the biggest sensor their is a telephoto lens floating about in space thats not using a ccd sensor


THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE


make that baby in a pentax k mount and were cooking with gas

if your looking for a new printer the new epson 7 ink cartrige printers are excellent for black and white reproduction

have you tried one of those new L.E.D. type torches thay come in various different sizes and are very bright using 12~24 bulbs some of them which should be ok with digital cameras im going to try one and will let you know how i get on

the other alterative is one of those hugh spotlamp torches by eveready that put out 1/2~1million candle power was thinking of trying one with a soft box and baffel to see what the effect is (again probley only good for digital)

having owned a copier-cam company D300 (love that term george shall use it allways hehe) the firts thing you notice is the lack of information in the veiw finder as with the nikon units

the one thing i hope thay do incorperate into the new MZ-D call it what you will is the slopping top plate used on the MZS which is so easy to use without moving from the veiwfinder

anyway my name is on the first order with jessops carnt wait to get my sticky mits on it

i may even go to photokina and have a play

here s a stange problem that i came across a couple of years ago

when using a SUPER A with the A drive i was finding that i had an exposure problem when using the camera in continous shooting with the drive set at high speed wind the camera underexposed but only on the sixth shot never the fith or seventh always the sixth and only in high speed mode

now i thought it maybe the batteies were depleteing but the seventh shot was perfect

has anybody else ever come across this problem or can shead any light on what may have caused it

i have now replaced the SUPER A body and now run the pair without any hicups

i think the real difference between the art of photography and photograpic art is :-

the art of photography is getting THAT shot under natrual conditions where as photographic art is more studio orientated when you are in control of the light excetera

this is purley my personnal opinion

the other trouble with insuance poilcies is the old for new clause my MEsupers for instance are to old to insure with some companies and i found that the ones that would cover them if lost or damaged they will replace them with *ist cameras and not ME supers even though the cameras are still available second hand

when i tried to insure my 135mm~600mm f6.7 lens thay refused to cover it although the lens only cost £600 the new replacment 250mm~600mm lens in pentax's pro range is £16,000

im with george on this one if you can afford to replace it dont bother

as for filters well their are the filter properties to consider as well i.e. uv or polarizing filters