These are very beautiful Drew, that new Sigma macro lens seems to suit you very well. I can't pick an outright favourite, but the first, third and last stand out.

Regards
David

[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]She must be very good John. There were four of us there yesterday, all very competent photographers (Jim Ennis, Andrew Allport, Shaun Wilson and myself) and I think between us we got a couple of sharp images of the Dragonflies in flight. Jim Ennis got the other one, but I've not seen it posted anywhere yet (where is it Jim?).

Regards
David

Thanks very much John for your feedback. I haven't really done anything with the wings; it is due to the shutter speed used and the low sun at that time in the afternoon. My intention was to get the Dragonfly sharp and the wings in a blur, so from that point of view I'm happy with it. It was very difficult to get this shot, especially manually focussing, as the AF had no chance of keeping up with the insect!

Regards
David

It does seem to me that Matty is somewhat under attack in this thread and I really wonder why? I can't really blame him for responding to Northernmonkey the way that he has; the questions were quite provocative.

Matty has put his head above the parapet and offered his views on a hands on experience of the new Pentax camera; I'm sure he's done this with best intent.

FWIW I don't think John is having a go; John has a difficult job in moderating Forum posts; not one that I would want, also as mentioned earlier I don't think Dr. O was having a go either, but it's very easy to misinterpret what is written in a post.

Regards
David

Thanks to everyone for the comments on these images, as always it is very much appreciated.

Regards
David

Excellent once again Alan, the first one for me as it's more difficult to capture animate subjects!

Regards
David

Here's another one you might like - got an opportunity this morning to get closer to a Common Darter (Male) and got quite a few really good close-ups.

Common Darter resting on a pipe




Regards
David

ICE does accept jpegs. I've used it before with this file format, although I don't have it installed on my current PC and can't remember if I did anything particular to make it accept them.

Regards
David

The Samsung version is the same as the Pentax one, barring different coloured bands and different rubber on the outside. I can appreciate you may prefer the Pentax one simply for the look and the Brand Name, but the IQ and handling will not be any different on the Samsung and you might be able to pick one up a bit cheaper? Either way, both are very good lenses and well worth having.

Regards
David

It seems to me that you have presented a balanced view in your last post Matty; OK there was some misunderstanding earlier on words and I think that Dr. O. was genuinely trying to gain useful information and wasn't meaning to provoke in the slightest.

Whether the camera is a big enough step up from the K-5ii / K-5iis remains to be seen, but I seem to recall a few people jumping from the K-5 to the Nikon D7100, so maybe it is? I would guess that the additional development time with the 24mp sensor will have given Pentax / Ricoh the opportunity to maximise on its potential and I'm sure that the AF will be great, but we will soon find out.

I hope this experience hasn't put you off posting on the Forum.

Regards
David