Went to the motor show last night - just a fiver to get in after 5pm.

Took just the K10D and the 10-20, just for a bit of practice, really, since I've never photographed cars before. The results weren't great, since there were lots of people in the way most of the time.

But I was delighted with the lens, and with the effectiveness of the SR.

And I thought it would be rude not to post this picture...

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Motor%20Show%202008%20Excel%20Centre/IMGP1046.jpg[/IMG]

When I bought the 55-300, I actually felt like a traitor, not buying it from Chris.

What I truly don't understand on the topic of editing, is why it can't simply be "have it the way it was, and change it if it becomes a problem".

Of course there would be a risk of abuse, but it wasn't a reality before, and there's no actual evidence that it would suddenly become so.

If it did, it could simply be switched back to the higher restriction, and there'd be no grounds for complaint.

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Edit: why is is that even though I always use preview, I still can't see the typos till I've posted?

This is a good point.. I realise that I would go to the current competition thread at least every day to look at what people were posting. Now I realise that I don't. I couldn't even remember what the topic was until I stopped by there just now, prompted by your comment.

Not for a 10-20, I bought mine from SRS.

But when I needed the 55-300 for Farnborough, sadly Chris couldn't get one at the ridiculously short notice I was giving.

As it happened, Bristol had one, at what would have worked out at the same price as SRS once P&P was taken into account.

It arrived within 48 hours of ordering, appears to be UK stock (well, it has a European warranty card - is that the same thing?), and is absolutely fine AFAICT.

There was a minor glitch with the order, though - I got a phone call the day after, and it was fortunate that my phone number had been written down right, so they could ask me about my CC number which hadn't.

There was a mix-up over an IR remote, too, that I ordered from them before I discovered SRS. I ordered it on the web site, rang them to check that all was Ok, and they said, sorry we're out of stock, we'll contact you when we have some. Then the same day, the remote arrived.

So two times out of two, it turned out Ok, even though it looked like it wasn't going to.

On the basis of these experiences, I think Bristol are Ok, just not quite the most organised.

This, sadly, is the least likely request to see a positive response, IMHO.

We don't pay for membership, nor are contributions solicited, unlike the forum you're obliquely referring to.

So I think we're stuck with what, I think, will be seen in time as a late 20th / early 21st century business model, where adverts are foisted on those who don't want them, paid for by companies still under the illusion that they do any good.

What we can do, is block the adverts (AdBlock on Firefox), and I'd urge you to do that - it removes them completely.

Much more important, I still think, are the many features we no longer have.

We still can't edit posts after 20 minutes (which for image links is a real pain in the rear).
We still don't have a choice of font or font colour for posts.
We still can't switch off avatars and signatures if we wish.

I fear we've got to the point now, where the powers that be don't particularly want to make any more significant changes, and have noticed that we no longer have the stomach to continue arguing these points, and will just put up with what we have.

Colour, but of course a polariser would be important, to reduce the reflections so as to catch him even after he'd submerged.

I have a standard, unmodified K10D.

I can count six features in the viewfinder which are perfectly adequate as horizontal levelling lines.

Why anyone would need any more than this to get their horizons horizontal is beyond me.

10.15 am or thereabouts for the maximum.

I imagine the bright ghost to the left of the sun is a reflection off the filter, on to the welders glass nearest edge (and then into the lens).

The less bright one to the left of that I'd guess is a reflection off the welders glass furthest edge.

Not sure where the reversed one comes from though.
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Edit: 'face', not 'edge', of course.

From the UK, yes.

I didn't get any more like this after I removed the UV filter that was sitting between the welders glass and the lens:

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Technical/IMGP1010.jpg[/IMG]

However, look closely at the ghost at top left. It was present on all the shots, even after removing the intervening filter.

Cranking up the brightness on one of the later ones shows it a bit more clearly:

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Technical/IMGP1020PEF.jpg[/IMG]