You might be able to renew it (actually, get a new one) without charge before the $14 charge takes effect.

Take a look here for some background ... and here for the actual form.

It seems that the country of departure and flight details are optional, and can be filled in later. The US address can also be updated later, so it appears you can get the application accepted (and hence valid for two more years) without having actual travel plans in place.

I've got a reminder set up so that I can fill mine in as late as possible before the charges come into force.

Do you not find that the sky tends to burn out more with centre-weighted metering?

Sure it gives you a better shot at whatever's in the middle of the frame, but I've found that if there's a bright sky behind, I end up with cyan bands as the colours start to clip.

It's ruined a lot of photos that were otherwise Ok. This is an example of the sort of thing I mean - it's not terribly offensive in this one (I have a lot worse), but the cyan between the blue that's exposed Ok, to the completely burned out white, is quite unpleasant.

Not sure there's an answer really.

I actually quite like your one for its impressionist look. It's so unreal that it takes on a completely different character, and I find myself looking it at it not as a landscape, but as a combination of colours and impressions.

I'm all for such variety

But as a landscape, I like the original the best - its subtle other-worldliness comes across to me strongly without the need for adding contrast that wasn't there in the first place.

I'd love to see a much bigger version of it.

I'm left handed, and I think a camera with the controls reversed would be worse, not better.

None of the controls on the right hand side needs all that much dexterity, unlike for focusing and zooming, where speed and precision can sometimes count for a lot, and you pretty much have to use your left hand - which is fine for me.

I just feel sorry for all you right-handers out there, forced to use the wrong hand!

I agree about everything being subjective. No one has to agree with anyone else about what they like.

I would take issue, though, with what seems to be an implicit assumption that more contrast, and more saturated colours make for more drama, or indeed more impact, except in a 'blimey, that's bright' sense.

There's a growing tendency to slap in a levels adjustment, whack the saturation up, sharpen to the point of making the eyes bleed, and imagine that it's better.

I don't think this necessarily follows.

I've got nothing against special effects used for artistic purposes, though. I just think they're a bit overused, and the 'impact' they have is a bit superficial at times.

Me too, FWIW.

No, they're from a couple of years go sometime. I'm down there quite frequently and quite often have the camera. Especially if there's something interesting flying circuits you get quite a few opportunities if you're in the right spot.

If you want to try it again sometime, I'd be happy to meet up and give what help I can.

I took this, this, this, and this at White Waltham, but it's not always possible to get this close.

It depends which runway they're using - 29 or 11 are the best ones, and you really need to be with someone who flies from there, else you won't be allowed to get to the best spots.

There are really only a very few circumstances where MF is practical at airshows.

- Aircraft on the runway (landing or taking off). It's possible to prefocus and then time your shutter release

- Static displays (duh!!)

- Very occasionally, when an aircraft doing a low level flypast maintains the runway centre-line. Again, it's possible to prefocus, and take the shot when the aircraft goes past the spot (not too high, or the distance will be wrong).


Thing is, flypasts are very rarely bang on the centre-line, and, more to the point, the most dramatic shots are when the aircraft are turning, often hard, where they're close, and their distance from the camera is changing very fast.

As you'll no doubt have noticed, pictures of aircraft in flight only have to be very slightly out of focus to be completely useless, so in practice, I'd say that only the very skilled, and very practiced, MFers would stand much of a chance.

I took about 1000 shots at Farnborough the other week, of which about 40 I'd be prepared to show. A lot more than that are sharp, but either the light is rubbish, or they're too small in the frame, or they're badly exposed. I wouldn't want to bring my chances down even further by trying to use my now woefully out-of-practice MF ability.

AF-C is mostly good enough for aircraft, even fast ones, and letting the camera pick the AF point gives you a lot more leeway as you try to track the moving object in the viewfinder.

Also, keep the other eye open, so that you can see the wider view at the same time as you watch the aircraft through the viewfinder. This helps you find it again if you lose it.

Without quick-shift, you might locate something at the right sort of distance to swing round and point the camera at, to refocus quickly in the event you lose track and it hunts to infinity or the close point.

At a guess, the field is supposed to be flat - it may not be anywhere near perfect, but it is at least supposed to be a rectilinear lens. There's tons of barrel distortion at 10mm, of course, but it's often not a problem.

I think your 'edge too close to be within the DOF' is a very real effect.

The other thing that complicates things with lenses this wide is that it's incredibly easy to have the camera angle such that (for instance) an item at the left edge of the field has its own left edge closer to the focal plane (even if that plane is perfectly flat) than its right edge, which means that the magnification of the left edge is greater than the right, leading to an apparent distortion.

This makes the 'frame, focus and reframe' technique of getting the bit you want sharp by only using the centre AF point very unreliable.

Added to which, of course, with the Sigma 10-20, there's the complication that the DOF is often so extreme that the AF doesn't feel it needs to adjust focus, when really it should.

It's definitely not the easiest lens to get the best out of, but I do like mine very much.