Very nice indeed, I like the effect the fisheye gives, it adds context to the scenes by including the surroundings.

Regards
David

I think it's going a bit off-topic with Desktop PC's and big screens, the OP is asking about a laptop up to a £500 budget!

Regards processing, a decent laptop will process images every bit as well as a desktop, it all depends on the PC specification. You could also have a laptop used with its own flip up screen for most usage, but if you have a desk at home where a large monitor can sit, you could just hook up to this as and when required and get a wireless keyboard / mouse setup. You have the best of both words with this.

Regards
David

The new HD 1.4 should be your choice, it marries superbly with the DA*300. I've tried a few TC's and none come close to the latest Pentax one for IQ or autofocus operation. The DA*300 is a tremendous lens and deserves the best TC to partner it.

Regards
David

That looks a bit expensive Bill?

[quote:3496ace15f="wvbarnes"]Hi again, I think this meets your needs and budget. Personally I prefer a big desktop screen but I have old eyes.

]http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-z50-laptop-amd-fx-8gb-ram-1tb-8gb-sshd-15-6-/p17...

Yesterday Amazon had the same machine on offer at £269.00, not sure if this is still available but I think you buy a similar spec machine elsewhere for quite a bit less.

Regards
David

Edit: Be careful with the SSD on this machine, it's only 8GB, the main hard drive is 1TB, so this will be used for most operations with the SSD being used to avoid having to access the main hard drive for in application reasons. You main apps will still reside and load from the traditional hard drive.

It is a good spec machine though and the killer feature is the full HD screen. It is also expandable to max 16gb RAM.

This is a complicated subject and there are so many different options out there, but I think I can provide some useful pointers:

1. Look for laptops that enable you to expand the RAM at a later date, you probably want a max RAM capability of 16gb if you can find one that allows this. Most reasonably priced laptops do not have provision for memory expansion nowadays. One exception is Toshiba - most of their laptops have two memory slots so this might be an option for you. Take a look for example at the L50 range, these are in the price range £300 to £500 approx. and allow for 16gb max RAM

2. The advice above regarding full HD (1920*1080) IPS screen is very good advice, but to temper this you will struggle to achieve this on a budget of £500 or less. The screen is once of the biggest areas where manufacturers cut cost, so IPS full HD screens are very rare on budget or mid range laptops. Also, will you be using a desktop monitor with your laptop, when it is used at home? If so, a full HD IPS screen may be less of a consideration

3. Look for the best processor you can find within your price range, Intel i5 or one of the AMD A8 Quad Core processors would be good, don't be tempted by a Celeron as it might struggle with processing / multi-tasking some applications

4. Make sure you visit a Currys or similar and physically look at / feel the machines you are considering as this is the only way to assess the screen performance, the keyboard and ergonomics, all of which can look similar on paper specifications, but make a huge difference in everyday use. The screens vary massively in terms of contrast, colour performance, sharpness etc. and the keyboards can be horrible to use or very nice to use on different machines in the same price range

5. Try to get a non-reflective (matte) screen as opposed to a glossy one, it is much easier to use in a range of lighting conditions

6. Go for a machine with a separate Graphics Card as opposed to shared graphics. Be careful with this as a lot of manufacturers make both variants in the same range of machines, some with integrated (shared) graphics and some with dedicated (separate) graphics. Quoting Toshiba again, the L50D-B-13C has a dedicated AMD Radeon 2GB Graphics Card, whereas the L50D-B-136 has integrated graphics. Both machines have identical spec apart from this and there's only about £20 price difference

7. Don't dismiss 'A1 Graded' machines. These are basically 'as new' but have been either opened or returned. You can still get 12 months warranty with them and if bought online don't worry as you are protected by the usual distance selling laws, so if it is not as described or doesn't work you can return it. You will save up to 50% (more often it will be between 15% and 30%) if you buy a graded machine

8. SSD (solid state drive) is preferable to a traditional hard drive, but again you will struggle to get one for your £500 budget without sacrificing something more important. You can always add a SSD later if you wish and if budget allows

9. Go for one of the main manufacturers who provide good customer service. I'm not by any means suggesting you buy a Toshiba (I have an Asus), but I do have a lot of experience with Toshiba products / customer service as I use them extensively at work. They are reliable machines and Toshiba do tend to look after their customers better than most, again this is just my personal experience, others may have different opinions.

Hope the above provides some useful information for you.

Regards
David

This is an interesting thread and has prompted some very useful information. My recommendation when shooting red flowers is to take several test images and review them before you decide on your final settings.

Also it can be useful to try different angles on the shot as the back ground can make a huge difference to the required exposure setting and what you want the final image to look right. Quite often I prefer to have either a dark background (referred to by Nigel when he mentioned under-exposure), or if the background isn't dark I prefer isolation of the main subject, i.e. without lots of unwanted detail to clutter the shot and distract from the subject. This means I am thinking about not just the exposure, but very much about the angle I'm taking the shot from, to ensure there is a reasonable distance between the subject and anything behind it, i.e. enough to blur out anything else and make it a smooth background. I take the same approach whenever possible when photographing wild birds.

Getting back to the exposure question, as John pointed out early in the thread, the lighting conditions are also critical. Bright, but overcast days are the best, also rainy days can produce really good results, but bright sunshine is a difficult prospect, unless you want the 'black background' result, which is often very nice but which requires a lot more thought about composition to make it effective.

Hope the above provides some useful input.

Regards
David

Bright reds are the colours most easily prone to burning out, particularly on flowers, like Dahlias and Poppies. Your recovered shot looks pretty good to me though.

As a rule I will generally shoot at least one full stop under-exposed for red flowers and sometimes even less exposure than this to avoid any possibility of burn-out. Another flower colour prone to this is bright yellow, e.g. plants like buttercups.

Regards
David

Just magnificent, you have achieved something very special here Alan, that is to capture not only the light and the moment superbly, but to somehow also capture the very essence and mood of what the statue portrays.

I agree with all of the above and would add that this image should be published.

Regards
David

It's worth considering a good used example too, especially the Samsung version of this lens which usually sells for less and is every bit as good as the Pentax one. The cosmetics are a bit different, but the optics are the same, it's a great lens.

Regards
David

Fabulous images, all four of them.

Regards
David