They are great Barrie. I wish I'd been there on Saturday but domestic duties prevented it.
David

The one I keep going back to is #3 but they are all fascinating. The old argument about whether or not photography can be art is easily be resolved by asking a simple question. And that is: are photographers capable of pushing at the boundaries by throwing out old rules and inventing new ones along with new techniques?
Painters did it centuries ago by evolving their work from traditional to often challenging new forms.
Some photographers are doing it now - and Bill is one of them - by adopting new ways of seeing things.
Keep it up Bill.
David

Very nice with a good variety of detailed and more distant shots. Its many years since I walked up the Malverns. but what views on a clear day.
David

No, that is a quality lens and it would defeat the object. I envisage the Lottery funding would be used to buy the worst possible lenses with poor IQ for the LBA sufferers as aversion therapy. This would eventually lead to them realising that the lenses they already have are by far the best so they become cured.
In the event of any cash being left over after the success of the scheme I, as co-ordinator, would use the surplus to purchase a couple of lenses of my choice.
David.

I feel insufferably smug having never suffered from LBA or even CBA. That's not to say I haven't occasionally drooled over a new camera body that I couldn't justify buying.
But I've enjoyed this thread immensely and with a mixed sense of guilt and compassion wonder about founding a charity to try and help the poor souls so afflicted. Perhaps with lottery funding?
David

15,000 shutter actuations don't seem very many to me. Your K5 should be good for many more times than that. I've lost count of how many times my K5 has been round the clock.
As for the advantages of one K1 plus the cost of several new lenses versus two K3s for two people to use I know which course I would take and that's with the K3s.
David

PS I have one or two older legacy lenses, including a couple of FA zooms which would useful if I bought at K1 but they don't compare with my DA* series zooms for image quality.
David

They are gorgeous views. You didn't need to climb the peaks to get these beauties.
David

Avon 'Skin So Soft' is reputed to be very effective against the dreaded Highland midge. My family suffered terribly from them during a heatwave on Skye (yes you read that correctly a heat wave on Skye) many years ago. I later learned that this Avon product was used by the electric board's power line workers stuck for hours at a time high up in the mountains. I don't however know if this product is still available, its not on my weekly shopping list.
As for your photographic equipment it still seems pretty hefty if you're doing some serious hillwalking/climbing. Even Stac Pollaidh,that most spectacular but not very high among Scottish mountains, is a long way up.
David

Thankfully mine still works perfectly - its light and ideal for street photography. I got it when the K30 was a fairly new model in 2012 as back up for the K5 and its never let me down. I'm sorry some people have suffered faults with theirs but I'm sure there some bad examples of every camera model from every manufacturer.
David

For a monthly subscription, around £8 or £8.50 , you get Creative Cloud which bundles the latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop. I got it for Photoshop.
Unfortunately I haven't a clue how to open up the Lightroom bit of it. Every time I click on the icon I get a message saying it is use in another application and I should first close that other application. I don't know what that other application is and haven't clue how to close it. Not bothered, quite happy with my Photoshop.
David