In three weeks, rally finland will visit my adopted home town. There are several special stages "down south" and many of them are essentially on my doorstep.

Now, under normal circumstances I'd be scouting the route before, driving the stage in both directions, looking for positions where I'm not particularly in danger but can get something decent (which is where teh 100-300 comes in) - but is there anything else I should know about? I've not been rallying before, so I'd be interested to hear how things work out for those who have done.

Bret

cokins are a decent starting point but if you keep them in the hard plastic boxes they *will* scratch.

ND 3 stop and ND grad 3 stop or 2 stop as an absolute minimum IMO.

I find I use my grad more and more on the end of the 24-70 and wish I could use it on the 18-55 and 50/macro. They, however, require a new adapter (I use Cokin's "P" size filters, which are 85x85mm) and the thread adapters are around a tenner each. So I have adapters for 72, 77 and 82mm, a simple low-profile filter holder and two filters. Total? around 75 quid new.

I'll probably get an A set at some point for 52 and 49mm filter threads, with 75mm filters, and - since the Hitech 10 stop I have has a serious magenta cast - I'll add in a set of Lees. They are *not* cheap (the 10 stop is around £100 and "rocking horse poo") but they are glass and very, very nice.

Buy a set of cheap(er) filters if you feel the need, use them, experiment, understand why you want to upgrade and then go for what you want. I do not see the point in going any further than Hitech or Cokin to start with. Still, you'll end up investing the better part of a ton.

And yes, with a K5 you don't *really* need them as the amount of data in the shadows is absolutely phenomenal. The only problem is underexposing enough Still, a Grad gives a certain feel to a pic and sometimes that's exactly what it needs.

Bret

these are a processed set partly from last week and partly from today. C&C welcome... the dragonfly is with the Tammy 18-250 that's up in the classifieds.


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- Bret

I've not used a snoot as a diffuser (that's what the tube is doing, playing snoot); you can use simple, stiff plastic taped together and some velcro to keep it in place.
If you don't want the black backgrounds, get a second flash and hand-hold it at around 1/8 power, a foot or so away from your bug. Bit of experimentation should tell you how far - and you'll get better highilights of their dark bits.

Bret

Least used (for a long time while I had a 10-24); kit 18-55, then the M135.
Most used? Toss up between 24-70 and 80-400. Which is why the 80-400 is being replaced by a Siggy 100-300. A new one.
Favourite: D-FA 50 Macro. Fantastic.

Bret

sold pending payment

I did not think it would come to this, but it has; I have an opportunity I don't want to miss but the Tokina has to go to pay for it.

The lens itself should need no introduction. It's the cheapest way to get to 400mm on Pentax without teleconverters and it's good quality at the same time, rising to very nice indeed if kept around f11 and 330mm. Easy enough with a K5.

This is version two of the lens, with the tripod mount. It comes with soft case, original Tok front and rear caps and hood (which is relatively stiff, common on this lens).
The lens backfocuses mildly at infinity which I was going to get fixed; considering its other abilities, I saw that as not a real problem.

Examples from this include the wagtail from my recent "mixed weekend bag" set. I can provide more if you wish.

I'm interested in a rapid sale and my preferred payment method is Paypal or Bank Transfer, with PP being preferred. Don't ask for "gift" as it's in neither of our interests.

The lens is located in Finland and will be shipped double-boxed, as is usual for me, with an insured carrier. Post is included in the price of £350 / €385.

If you have any questions, I will try to answer them. These lenses do not come up very often, so take the opportunity while you can. I haven't seen one of these for sale since I bought this copy around 9 months ago and the K5 really allows it to shine. However: I want something that allows me to go longer and that means investment .

Contact via PM.

Bret

I'll agree that the landscape crops work really nicely.

Bret

I'd actually put the difference at 8x, I get consistent 150MB/s over eSATA and 20 max via USB.

And consider span's biiig boxes for lots of disks via a single eSATA connection. They look very practical indeed... and minimal software to screw up.

Bret

ahh, wrong pic....




Bret