This is the basics which i assume you know as your stuff is quite nice.

Settings:
ISO 100, Aperature f16, Shutter 1sec, Timer trigger

1. Set a black background
2. Use a smoke source (I use an incense)
3. Placed the flash head below facing the smoke souce
4. Use 1 hand to fan the smoke lightly so you'll get random design
5. Trigger the shutter then within 1 sec trigger the flash manually
6. Within the shots, find an area (could be a small area) that you can mirror to get an image.
7. Cropped out that mirrored image.
8. Adjust the brightness and contrast so the background is black enough to make the smoke stands out. (I tend to use Brightness -88 Contrast +3
9. Add and layer over the image, set it to overlay, opacity 50-75%.
10. Add whatever color or gradient you want.

I know but you still need something to create the Light Refraction.
If i can be bothered setting up my Home studio i will do some for you.

Smoke is smoke. You need to create the colour therefore you need to focus the light to the smoke.

Just a further point..
A photographer by the name of *lordsbm* on http://www.digi-darkroom.com did a lot of this stuff well over a year ago. Might be worth looking him up for some advice.
He will be able to tell you straight away how they were created.

These are not really that difficult to shoot.
Some of them are crops of 1 image mirrored and put together to look as though its one image.

The colour effect is also very simple.
Those cheap kids toys that spin in multiple colours combined with a prism will give these results.
You dont even need a prism or crystal as a glass ornament with some detail in it will cause the same effect.
Its simple light refraction.

I appreciate that but its not about working miracles.
Its about getting decent pictures straight off the camera that need basic adjustment.
I did this one earlier from a random picture from today.
I spent over an hour on this and used every piece of software at my disposal.
Made a bit of a mess with the guassian blur and cloning but its actually turned out not too bad after an hours work, although an hour is a a lot longer than i really want to spend on PP'ing bird pictures.

[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj132/CraigF1969/starling-1.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for the advice folks and links but my problems are a little more simpler than that.

1. First body i had the 16-45mm (my only lens at the time) was nice and sharp without any adjustment.

2. Second body i had the 16-45mm and 50 f1.4 were spot on without any adjustment. The Sigma was very soft at f5.6 @ 400mm.

3. Third and present body - 16-45mm and 50 f1.4 are a mile off and need -10 focus adjustment at least to get to the standard they were both at with bodies 1 and 2.
The Sigma however is still very soft at f5.6 @ 400mm.

No matter what tests i do these simple facts will always remain and they are.

1. 3rd body is not of merchantable quality.

2. Sigma 120-400mm is not of merchantable quality.

Ultimately i should not have to keep returning items that are not up to standard. If they are not up to standard then they should not be getting sold.


I have now decided my best course of action will be to Contact all parties involved including Trading Standards as it now fells like i have just been given the runaround.

These are the points i am concerned about guys.
The setup was this..

Slik Pro 700 DX Trpiod and head. (Hurricane Katrina would struggle to shift one of those tripods)

K20D SR OFF mounted on tripod.

Was setup just inside the door so as to eliminate any wind even though there was very little.

Minus 10 Focus adjust - 6 pictures all really blurry.
Plus 10 Focus Adjust - 12 pictures all really Blurry
0 Focus Adjust - the best of the 5.6 pictures is the Raw linked above.

Now heres the bottom line.

I did not pay £600 for an f8 lens as that is the minimum useable aperture.
I did not pay over £700 for a camera bundle that in reality i have had a few hours use out of in the past month.

At this moment in time it seems to me as though ive just tossed £1480 plus the cost of post returning bodies - roughly £30 in total down the pan.

I know where your coming from m8 but ive already had to return 2, its getting really annoying now and not only that i had a week off work there and due to having to return the camera and now this one my week is nearly over and i havent fired a shot in Anger.

Ive uploaded these 2.
These are the best i got today, real world with the 120-400mm @ 400mm.
Feel free to knock yourselves out guys with PP and see what you get.
They are full size DNG so they are Big.
Another thing i noticed; my White cat (with some light brown patches) was playing in the garden and i tried to take a few of her. Took over 5 seconds to lock on to her and then promptly lost focus a fraction of a second later and hunted around again for a few seconds before aquireing her again.

http://upload-drive.com/23311/IMGP0241_DNG this is f5.6

Will upload the f8 one later as it showed an error when uploading. (partial upload error.)

Some tests with the 135-400mm would be nice.

I wasnt comparing the 100-300mm with the 120-400mm, i was just pointing out how vastly different they were. I wouldnt expect the 120-400 to compete with the 100-300 f4.

The 50mm was 100% spot on with the other 2 cameras i had so i dont think its the lens.

Took the 120-400mm out into the garden this morning. Lovely sunshine, lots of birds feeding. Took over 50 shots at f5.6, f8 using 0, -10 and +10 focus adjust..All deleted, none worth even trying to PP. NB.. Will go shoot some more as i just noticed i had SR on while on a tripod.

I dont think theres much point in doing any more tests on cereal boxes, charts, bricks etc as the lenses will never be used for that purpose so they need to be able to perform in the Real World.


Can only wait until tomorrow and give Sigma and Pentax a call and ask their thoughts.