Very interesting shots, 4 and 5 in particular catch my eye.

Regards
David

Love the composition, the only negative I can see with this shot is that it's a bit too dark in the top left corner, this tends to destroy the detail in the trees. It may have been better not to use the grad, but I'm not sure.

A really lovely shot.

Regards
David

Thank you Alistair, likewise with your images too, although don't post too many of the birds because you make most of us look very shabby in comparison!

Regards
David

I like the foreground in this image Alistair, lighting looks very tricky! I think it could do with another point of interest somewhere, like a person or a couple in the mid-distance?

Regards
David

I like these Drew, where in Sheffield were they shot?

Cheers
David

PS: Is the camera focussing OK now?

Hi Stan, thanks for the comments! Regarding the 55-300, one thing I have learned with certainty is that this lens should not be used with filters! It hates filters! Take them all off, use it naked and it is brilliant. I may have a particularly good copy, I find it very sharp throughout the range, it is great for portrait work, colours and contrast are spot on and it is very light to carry around. The only negative I have is that the bokeh is a bit variable, but then who cares? For the price it's an absolute gem of a lens.

Regards
David

I think around £150 to £160 is its mark. I paid £160 about 6 months ago for a mint black one, body only, 700 shutter actuations, boxed with all accessories and paid £230 for a mint silver one with a DA 40mm F2.8 XS lens (which is excellent BTW), boxed with all accessories.

I haven't seen any fetching more than around £175, which is criminal considering the high quality of this camera.

Regards
David

Thank you to everyone who has commented on this thread. I hope it may have sparked some interest in using the 55-300 for landscape work, I plan to make a series of landscape images in 2014 with this lens just to do something a bit different.

Regards
David

Impressive images, very sharp, lovely natural colouring. We're struggling a bit in the UK at the moment as the light has been very poor, it looks like you had good light for these.

Regards
David

Actually, I would be surprised if the mount fails before other parts of the lens mechanism do! I don't think many people will be using DA or DA L 55-300 lenses in 50 years!

Cheers
David