I've owned a DA40mm ltd for about 9 months, and have taken some excellent images (in my opinion); there are no disputes with regards to the image quality.

However I'm constantly finding it to be very limited as to what I can use it for, and as such find that I rarely use it. On a recent holiday to Malta the DA40 was used very sparingly.

As such I'm contemplating trading the lens for a fast zoom, such as the Tamron 17-50/28-75 or Sigma 18-50

The DA40 and the above zooms seem similarly priced.

Has anybody taken a similar route?

Thanks
Adrian

Snapfish / Truprint (same people) also get my vote.

Adrian

Emma
I was in a similar position some months ago, in that I wanted a lens that would be a step-up from the Tamron 18-250, image quality wise.

The superb advice I gained, both from this forum and elsewhere, convinced me to keep the 18-250; yes, possibly I would notice some improvement with lenses such as the Pentax 16-45 (amongst others), but would the cost be justifiable?

Why not purchase a lens which allowed me to do things which I currently couldn't? I took this advice and bought a used Sigma 10-20; what an amazing lens!

It's not the fact that you can cram more detail into a shot, but the fact that it opens up a whole new dimension to the images that you can take. It's amazing as to how close the subject is at times (I've even managed to capture my own shadow on sunny days).

In a nutshell the Sigma is an excellent lens for landscapes, whilst also opening a totally different dimension.

My Flickr page has a dedicated section for this lens.

Regards.
Adrian

Whilst deliberating where/who to use to produce a canvas print recently, a work colleague recommended a friend of his who has recently setup her own printing business.

A price of £25 was quoted for a 35x35cm canvas, and this is the option I chose. I've never had a canvas done previously, therefore cannot compare the quality.

What I can say, however, is that the quality of this canvas is excellent; I would highly recommend it, outstanding quality and very competitive prices.

If/when I would need another canvas printing, I wouldn't look anywhere else.

The lady's name is Lindsay, e-mail
[email protected]
Website http://www.wix.com/Lindsay3/EnterPage

Prices etc. can be viewed on the website.

I think that Lindsay is based in Anglesey, but don't quote me on this one.

Regards.
Adrian

Regarding the £35 spent on a 'professional' clean, I must confess that I do agree that it does indeed appear to be £35 wasted. As greynolds999 specifies, who/what are the procedures during a professional clean?

The arctic monkey was always an option for a DIY approach, thanks for the recommendation. However, I opted for the Pentax wand seeing as the prices had more or less doubled and I managed to purchase one for the original price (yet to be used in anger).

My conclusion to this thread is that nobody has recommended a 'professional' place to send their camera for cleaning, and my experiment going down this road has failed the test.

Who knows what service the various Internet sites provide, whilst promising the earth?

Whilst seeming a bit daunting, it would appear that the DIY approach is more practical in terms of both a financial and practical sense; the rocket blower has been a great help, but hopefully the wand will remove the few stubborn specks when I pluck up the courage to have a go.

Again, my sincere thanks to all comments and advice, all invaluable to a DLSR user still wearing L-plates (15 months and growing...)

Kind regards
Adrian

A few weeks ago I took the camera to a photography shop in North Wales for cleaning (£35). This didn't get rid of everything, a few slightly visible specs remain, although it's a whole lot better than what it used to be.

I noticed that the Pentax cleaning wand on SRS and many others has shot up in price from £29 to £57! I managed to get one at the 'old' price, but as yet haven't given it a try.

Again thanks for all your advice and suggestions.

Adrian

I paid £275 for mine in April 2008, together with the kit lens (Argos of all places...).

Adrian

I bought one of these off a forum member a short while back, and I'm very pleased that I did; I can't praise it enough.

I'm sure that whoever snaps it up will also be of the same opinion.

Regards.
Adrian

On my K100D Super, I use two sets of Energizer 2500mah and one set of UniRoss 2700 (which came with the rapid charger I bought).

Performance wise the UniRoss blows the Energizers out of the water.
When I'll require new batteries, I know what I'll be getting.

Regards
Adrian

I have been experiencing problems with dust on the sensor recently.
A trusted friend cleaned it for me; however, this made the problem worse!
I can now see a few particles through the viewfinder (no idea where/what this is).

Applying the rocket blower has it seems got rid of some of these particles, but some remain.

I have applied the rocket blower once again, but have not got around to testing it (my usual method being the blue sky, which is sadly missing in North Wales at the moment).

If a professional job is in order, does anybody have any recommendations?
Ideally taking it to a shop would be more preferable to sending it away.

The following link shows the state of the sensor after it was cleaned by my mate, and after applying the rocket blower afterwards.

Kind regards.
Adrian

link