The PKA ones are not so rare; my friend at work paid about £35 for his and I paid £30 for my PKA Teleplus MC7. I still think £40 is the mark? Maybe one of the more knowledgeable members with regard to lens sales can advise?

Regards
David

Hi Simon

A friend at work has the Vivitar Macro Focussing TC, but doesn't use it very much. I would guess it is similar in quality to the 7 element Teleplus MC7 that I own; this is a good quality TC but must be used with prime lenses (I've had excellent results with a 50mm and a 105mm Macro, but it's totally useless with my 55-300). The one you describe is massively overpriced at £85; I would guess it's worth nearer the £40 mark?

Regards
David

Stan, I also have the 7 Day Shop variable ND filter and it does indeed add a warm yellowish cast to images. However, the cast added by mine is nothing like as strong or as yellow as that on your images, and is easily corrected in PP. The bigger downside to me with the variable ND is the loss of sharpness which is quite pronounced. I can't explain why the cast on your shots is so strong, but I'm almost 100% certain it is the filter that is doing it.

Regards
David

I'm not sure that the actual images posted in the links above offer a good comparison. In particular, those taken with the Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 are completely different in character to those shot with the Chinon. However, I've recently acquired a Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 and I'm currently a bit underwhelmed by it. It doesn't appear to be as sharp as either my Pentax-A 50mm F1.7, or my Auto Chinon 50mm F1.9. It does render skin tones beautifully though, so it may well become a favoured portrait lens.

The three lenses are all very different - horses for courses I suppose!

Regards
David

Really good shots Bob, shows not only your photographic skills, but also the capability of the kit lens.

Regards
David

Hi Chris, this one's a bit from the leftfield and I'm not sure if you have good eyesight, but had you considered a cheap manual focus 300mm prime? You can pick quality ones up for silly money.

Failing this, I would stick with the 55-300, the lightest possible option is a DA L version. Also, you mentioned a tripod; are you taking a monopod too as this will be much lighter / easier to carry and more flexible for framing shots quickly. It would be a godsend with a long lens, regardless of which one you decide upon.

Regards
David

These are superbly shot and processed Shaun, very impressive indeed. I have a small issue with number 3 in that the back of the boat is cut off, but I am being very picky here. If these were mine I would be very proud.

Regards
David

I truly take my hat off to you - brilliant ingenuity and great results.

Regards
David

What the hell! I'm up for a challenge Nigel, PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you what I consider to be a 'difficult' image to process and we'll see what happens!!

Best wishes
David

Live View is a real boon for manual focussing. To zoom in you simply press the 'Info' button; each time you press it the image zooms in and you can then use the direction buttons to move to different parts of the image.

Regards
David