How much more for everything would you be prepared to pay for this?

But this is a separate issue, isn't it.

Manufacturing in the far east requires no contact with English speakers.

Support does.

As with all these problems, they are much easier to solve if a representative example can be posted.

No probs.
Not quite what I meant - almost the reverse, actually.

It's a purely subjective view, but on my monitor at least, the rocks have a lot of shadow areas which tend to dominate, without offering anything specific to catch the interest.

I had a go at editing it to bring out the shadow detail a little, and I liked it a lot more, but still not as much as #5.

Well I'll give you #3, since obviously there isn't a real horizon . I had the impression of the trees slanting slightly overall as well, but that might just be an illusion.

But the actual (sea) horizon is quite slanted in the first one.

Here's a rectangular crop that makes it obvious:




Personally I don't think spirit levels are at all reliable - slanting horizons become obvious to me at about 0.3 degrees, and I'd be a bit surprised if you could detect that with the usual sort of spirit level on the top of a tripod.

Were the strongly slanting horizons in 1 and 3 intentional?

The last one is my favourite. The progression from wet sand on the left to ripples in the shallows on the right, coupled with the graduation from dark (yet still with detail) to light (yet not burnt out), I find keeps the interest. And the sky has a lot of activity in it (contrails and birds), contrasting with the relatively peaceful foreground.

So there's much to keep the attention.

The others I like less - not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at between the V of the trunks in the 2nd one, so I lose interest, and there's too much endless rock texture in the 4th one.

But 5 I like a lot.

I hate to sound a negative note, but I don't find this as pleasing as some of your other photographs, Lilly.

It may be my monitor, but the darker area at top left is virtually devoid of detail, and very dark, which unbalances the image overall. I've been suspecting for a while that those doing their editing with newer, brighter LCD displays, end up with an image that is simply too dark for my ageing but still sharp CRT. So I suspect a new screen is in order in the near future.

Like John, I also like the wide angle effect in the rocks at the bottom and right of the frame, but I find the way they're cut off at the frame's edge somewhat jarring.

I do like the light and the colours though. The light on the wet sand is just lovely, and I like the bronze tinge it lends to the foreground overall. The subtlety of the colours almost gives it a hand-tinted black and white look which I find very appealing.

I noticed the curved and slanting horizon too, but it's easily fixed, and therefore a relatively minor point. I don't, however, like the bright halo around the background rock edge where the L-shape meets the sky. Something's been overdone there, I think.

Was there a shower, out to sea at the left hand side of the visible horizon? If not, it seems a little unnatural to me.

And sadly, although I totally understand why you've done it, I find the copyright notice very distracting too.

Sorry to be a bit critical, but I normally like your photographs so much that I felt it would be wrong to remain silent.

Well, the 'sale pending' above is intended to mean that I have a buyer, subject to acceptable pictures and an accurate postage quote. If he pulls out for any reason, I'll make it clear that it's available again.

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I've added some prices based on recent eBay auctions, or in the case of the 75-300, the new price.

Pentax SMC-FAJ 75-300 F4.5-5.8 - £100
Pentax SMC-M 135mm F3.5 - £50
Pentax SMC-M 200mm F4
Pentax A Zoom 28-80 F3.5-4.5

Sigma A 400mm F5.6 (MF) - £125, sale agreed
Sigma 600mm F8 Mirror lens

Pentax Program A body

Setting a price is easy on eBay, since it just goes for whatever it fetches. It's harder selling privately, so I'm always happy to consider offers.

PM sent.

Pentax SMC-FAJ 75-300 F4.5-5.8 - now eBay item 170165663910
Pentax SMC-M 135mm F3.5 £35
Pentax SMC-M 200mm F4 £35
Pentax A Zoom 28-80 F3.5-4.5 - £25

Sigma A 400mm F5.6 (MF) - £125 [Sold]
Sigma 600mm F8 Mirror lens - £125

Pentax Program A body - £20

Photos available on request.

I'm open to offers, though, in the meantime.

The lenses are all in excellent condition.

The FAJ 75-300 belonged to John Riley before me, and the Sigma A 400mm to Mannesty. They were both essentially mint when I got them, and I haven't spoiled them in any way.

The Program A seems to be fine functionally, excellent inside, and pretty good cosmetically, although it's obviously been used since the bottom is a bit scratched (but not dented). I got it attached to a lens I bought on eBay, so I haven't put any film through it. The metering and exposure seem to be working fine.

The M-series lenses I bought second hand many years ago, but they're both still very nice, and the mirror lens I bought second hand from SRS. The 28-80 I bought new, and is in mint condition.

Nothing wrong with any of them - just not using them enough to justify keeping them, and in the case of the Sigma 400mm I have the AF version, and the Pentax SMC-A version, so although the Sigma is lovely, I can't justify keeping three 400mm lenses!

Happy to answer any questions I haven't covered.