+1, a very thoughtful gesture.

Yeah, yeah, he needs to get some proper lighting

No!

That's not the same at all.

The focal length you tell the camera for setting the SR is the actual focal length of the lens - including the converter if you've used one (or something in the middle of the range if it's a zoom).

Focal length is always focal length! The camera already knows its sensor size, so you don't need to add a fudge factor to help it get its SR compensation right.

It's even in the manual to use the closest actual focal length!

The rule of thumb for minimum speed for handholding in the good old days was 1/focal length, and although that's very variable depending on the photographer, I have seen them recommend 1/(1.5 x focal length) for APS-C

But that's because of the enlargement of the shake you get when you enlarge the cropped angle of view to get the same final image size as you would have got with the equivalent lens on 35mm. Nothing to do with the SR setting at all.

For instance, 50mm lens on 35mm, rule-of-thumb for handholding 1/50.

50mm lens on APS-C, you get a smaller image on the sensor, which has the same angle of view as 75mm on 35mm.

If you want the same print size on APS-C, you have to enlarge your 50mm shot more than your 75mm shot needs on 35mm. But you enlarge the shake too, so the rule of thumb says 1/75.

Bottom line: actual focal length for SR setting.

If SR is off, then 1/1.5 x focal length for avoiding shake when handholding.

Incidentally, I'd be quite interested to understand why the progressive lessening in apparent sharpness from left to right in DrO's image.

I know the lighting is more direct on that side, and detail less easy to see due to the lack of shadows, but to my eye it appears different from that.

This one really is based on Darkmunk's DNG:

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Other%20Peoples%20Pics/K5D_4595-600px.jpg[/IMG]

I know there's the bright right-hand rim - it's a sharpening artefact, but I don't have time to do much more than this today.

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy..."

Indeeed - it's always driven me nuts. P-TTL is a complete PITA in that regard.

I've found that off-camera flash, especially if it's bounced, doesn't seem to make people so prone to blink. I guess cos it's not right in their eyes so much.

In any case, I get a lot less in the way of half-closed eyes with off-camera (even with all the pre-flash chitchat between the master and the slave(s)).

Possibly not quite as amazing as you might think... from someone who has taken some superb images of the moon.

Nice try, DrO

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Other%20Peoples%20Pics/TwoMoons.gif[/IMG]

This is very true, but possibly you meant "wary", and "warily"

Indeed. Not even oversharpened, so I don't get the pleasure of that little moan. It's just not fair!

Actually, perhaps the dunnock and the second goldcrest are, just a little. They're just a tiny bit too bitingly sharp, really - if you look at them in their own browser tab at full size, the diagonals are starting to get slightly jagged.

I'm just being picky, though, they're way better than the pathetic efforts I wouldn't even post