So, you've got 3 days before you go...?

Dan

Well done Dirk, and well judged Lilly!

Dan

Dan

It's very much like a Dragonfly exuviae, which is when a dragonfly larva emerges from the water, crawls onto a handy perch or surface, and then bursts out of it's skin to reveal the adult, flying version. Not sure what other insects do this, whether any beetles do something similar.

The 'ribs', 'fungal filaments' etc are tubes which go from the external skin, which has been left behind, into the spiracles on the body inside. This is how the insect breaths. When the old skin is left behind these tubes are withdrawn from the spiracles and then look like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exuvia

As far as the 'Alien' reference is concerned, the Alien from the film is partly based on dragonfly larvae, the way the jaw opens up and prey is grabbed by nasty shooty out bit is how it is at the bottom of a pond...

Dan

I would say the first thing to do is give the contact a quick clean, a soft cloth will do, just in case there's something on them that's preventing communication between the camera and lens.

Also, give the aperture ring a wiz back and forth, and make sure it's properly seated in the 'A' position. If this still doesn't work, try setting the custom function to allow lenses to be used with their aperture ring, and see if that allows the camera to function.

Just reading back through your post, not sure if you mean the 'A' mode on the camera or the lens. If you mean the canera, then the lens' aperture ring needs to be in the 'A' position also, otherwise the camera can't set the aperture.

Dan

It's an f/2.8 A Star lens, so significantly higher up the scale than the f/4 M lens that Substitute was refering to.

Dan

I've had no real problems compiling panoramas from up to 14 images at full resolution, one ended up at 18307 x 2895. That sort of resolution soon gobbles up RAM though, so I tend to add a couple of layers, save and close, reopen and add a few more, close, reopen etc.

You lose the ability to step back through the history this way, but as long as you're working with layers, this shouldn't be a problem. You can always resave with a new name if necessary.

Dan

Congratulations Ratcatcher, can't say I'm not jealous!

Will look out for it over the coming months.

Dan

It can be useful if you're shooting a series of pics with an off-centre subject - you select the focus point which corresponds with the subject you want to focus on, compose the picture as you want it and then fire away.

Yes, you can keep focusing with the centre sensor, then recompose, but if you can do it effectively without having to recompose all the time, why not?

I know the centre sensor is better at getting focus, which is why I have the word 'effectively' in the sentence above.

The mode where the camera selects the focus point might be good for very quick grab shots, but I don't use it. The mode where the photographer selects the points definitely can have its uses. I quite often use it if the camera's on a tripod with an off-centre subject.

Dan

Clarky beat me to it! Just a note, the 'Yes' and 'No' column on there is in relation to EOS bodies, which are apparently very sensitive to voltages.

Dan