No, I missed the firework display

Why Jing?

All you need is to press "PrtScr" (on a PC), paste into your photo editor of choice (or IrfanView) and crop.

Andrew

Is this still available?

I meant to say "pushed by nearly 3 stops in PP"

Andrew

A few from a trip to the Trafford Centre. C&C welcomed.

I rarely visit the Trafford Centre (to shop) but thoroughly enjoyed the trip on Monday last week. I decided to try and shoot hand-held with just a K30 and DA 35mm f/2.4, which on balance was probably a mistake. I definitely needed something wider a lot of the time (image 7 is 3 images stitched together with MIcrosoft ICE).

Next time, a tripod is a MUST. Shot 6 for example, taken at f/4 1/25sec ISO800 - but pushed by nearly stops in PP, is not entirely sharp and a bit noisy.

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If anyone is reasonably local, the Trafford Centre/Barton Square is worth a visit. It's probably best to contact the management centre first, as we did. They'll welcome you warmly and kit you out with an ID, so you don't get challenged by the centre security folks.

Andrew

Well, yes, but that is all about learning the mechanics of taking sharp, correctly exposed photos which is, perhaps, the less important part of photography. The part that I really struggle with is seeing the (good, great) photo in the first place. The problem there is the squidgy organic bit behind the viewfinder - not the camera technology.

Andrew

At times, I worry that I'm just getting a bit better at sifting a few decent photos from a much larger heap of detritus that digital lets you take - but without actually getting any better at making images in the first place.

Even before this thread, my New Year's resolution was going to be to take a lot longer over each shot than I have done - a resolution that I soundly broke on a trip with a local camera club on Monday last week to the Trafford Centre. We were there for about 5 hours (including a break for a mixed grill and liquid refeshment at the Wetherspoons) and I came back with over a hundred shots more than one every 3 minutes!! We could have stopped for a week and taken thousands. There's just so much to point a camera at .......

One way towards a more considered approach is to discipline myself to use a tripod. I do take one pretty much everywhere I take a camera - but it rarely finds its way out of the car. I can feel another New Year's resolution coming on .....

Andrew

Indeed, yes.

I am 65 in late December. I've been taking photos with film cameras, on and off, since I was in short pants. I was very late buying my first DSLR, a Pentax K200D in 2008 - but by 2010, I had taken more photos using the K200D than I had with all my previous film cameras.

Of course learning with a film camera is entirely possible, but it'll just take a lot longer than with digital.

Andrew

Just a thought - but have you considered spending an afternoon/evening at Meadowhall? They'll have all the Christmas lights on by now.

A few of us from Oldham Camera Club spent about 5 hours at the Trafford Centre on Monday this week & had a great time. The Trafford Centre management team were extremely helpful and, to our surprise, seemed very keen on making sure we got the most out of the afternoon/evening..

Andrew

I have the f/1.7 version of the XR Rikenon 50mm lens. It is a fully manual lens. It is Pentax K mount. It was only the later Rikenon 'P' (program) lenses that had the infamous Ricoh pin.

FWIW, the XR Rikenon 50mm f/2 (in some quarters) is reputed to be one of the sharpest 50mm lenses ever made.

Andrew