My Meade ETX125 stargazing telescope has been unused for some time until I bought the adaptors and fitted my K100D.

Yesterday I went out and used it in anger for the very first time. Took it to the local nature reserve and played around with it. Took some 400 shots and only about 20 were worth keeping.

This is one that came out reasonably sharp. The bird is about 75yds away! The scope has a prime focus magnification of about x72 and it is very difficult to work with.

The image in the viewfinder is upside down and left/right is reversed. Depth of field is very shallow and so any moving objects are almost impossible to get in focus. Scope wobble and neck ache are major problems. Fair C&C welcome!

Took my Lowepro 350 out last weekend for a 3hr jaunt across the cotswolds on a very warm Sunday. No sweat. This bag has about 1" clearance between bag and the wearer's back so there is plenty of ventilation.



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3 in the last 14 months, so I know how it feels and I know the upheaval it brings. Hope you manage to return soon.


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Martin,

Thank you for setting what should have been an easy to enter competition, perhaps we are all too busy in our lives and so the number of entries suffers?

Again, excellent judging and thank you for your comments on my entry. I spent some time with a bad head trying to get the right size image uploaded but couldn't get it to work.... oh well.

I haven't got a tripod yet!!!!! So if I can't rest the camera I take a deep breath and hope for the best!!!

Well done Prieni. I knew as soon as I saw your spendid entry that it would be a hard one to beat. Excellent!



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A Wiltshire Sunset.

Hand held, I think I had SR on.


Taken 29/3/09
20:11
K100D
1/3 sec
-2 stops
f13
50mm

John,

I've read up on this camera and it has certainly earned itself a place on the short-list.

Thanks.

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I'm taking on board all comments and will look at those suggested. As Hefty1 says, it's best to get it right first time round, chopping and changing would be a pain.

Unlocker, thanks for the offer, I'll bear it in mind.

As expected, a lot of different views on which is likely to be the best tripod and it comes down to personal preference but it is useful to see individuals' comments. I'll get to know what to look for and what to possibly avoid.

It all comes down to playing with them in the showroom to get an idea of the look and feel. Gywn, thanks for the tip about taking my gear along when I try out the tripods

Don't stop posting your comments, all gratefully received.

If you thought that deciding on a tripod was the most difficult part of photography, and because of this just plumped for a brand name that sounded good, like... Manfrotto... Which one would you choose?

Requirements are for a sturdy, heavy duty model with tilt and pan head, you know, not the ball joint type.

Budget irrelevant for this exercise.

Any favourites?


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Hi,
My daughter wants a high Megapixel slim pocket camera. Must have minimal shutter lag and glass lens, rather than a plastic one. Do any of the Pentax Optio's fit the bill? She'll be snapping rather than doing creative photography.

Thanks.

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Shim,

It happened to me when I saw a bargain Nikon D80 and 135mm lens, I lost hundreds even though I paid by Paypal, they guy scammed dozens before he fled. The silver lining to it all was that I did my homework again on buying a DSLR and made the right decision and bought a PENTAX!! So the rotten so and so actually did me a favour in the end.

I hope you find a silver lining from this experience.

Commiserations