I've purchased from Japan fairly recently, although the item was under £50 GBP, you will need to add on VAT and a customs charge / admin charge of approx. 25% - 28% of the value of the goods.

I have purchased lenses a few years ago, prior to Brexit and they represented very good value even with the customs charges etc, also the Japanese sellers are very keen to please, service has been excellent and the goods I've purchased have been slightly understated, i.e for excellent read mint !!

I have however only purchased boxed lenses and have always looked at the feedback etc.

[quote ]I'll drink to that! They are very good indeed, even before making proper use of the glass. To my eyes, the only negative in the whole set is the sweets around the bottom of the brandy glass which detract from the glass itself. Delete them (or better still, eat them) and it becomes a better picture to me. Steve[/quote]Done on both counts LOL

Agree Rob,

This was with the K3iii plus the 150 - 450 at max focal length equiv 695mm - 1/100th sec - ISO 200 - F5.6 - handheld

You just have to stand back a tad and then a tad more

As the weather was pretty dismal at the weekend, I started something I wish I hadn't, the sweets in the brandy glass took a day and a half and I'm still not happy with it.

85mm - F14 - 25 seconds - 100




59mm - F13 - 20 Seconds - 100 ISO




The multitude of highlight / reflections were the problem with the brandy glass, even shot in almost total darkness with a black light tent

55mm - F4.5 - 122 Seconds - 400 ISO

I did one of Tim's natural light workshops with his muse ( Lulu ) at the end of August, a superb days education and shooting

[quote:3496ace15f="Mike-P" [quote ]Thanks for the heads up. Will give it a workout over the weekend hopefully.[/quote]Would be a nice match coupled to a K3iii

Superbly well shot

Thanks Karlo,

took about 30 mins to put together as some of the shots were on a black bg and some were a white bg along with a little distortion on the box to resolve

The sand bank on #1 just to the left of the 2nd headland, is called " Doom Bar " a beer of the same name is made by Sharps based in Rock

That's worked pretty well Steve,