The first looks like a cinnamon bug and the second a weevil of some sort. Nice detail.

So I went out looking for whatever colour I could find in this bitingly cold February afternoon. 'Imbolc' is supposed to be the start of Spring on February 1st, according to our pagan brethren. They could be right from what I found. These were taken with a K1 and a Vivitar 100mm f2.8. It was, however on the end of an 'F' series x1.7 auto focus adapter, giving 170mm (so ignore the quoted f numbers). All the images will enlarge if you click on them.

The superb summer and autumn has resulted in bumper catkins on those trees that support them.
My local brook is lined with huge, ancient alder trees that make its borders appear to be misty purple for as far as you can see. Also, at about f3, there is a pleasing bit of bubble bokeh! FastStone Image Viewer was also used to get rid of some quite strong green fringing.



There are one or two sycamore trees too whose branches are covered in bright green lichens. Once more, there is evidence of the fine summer where they have produced so many sycamore 'keys' that some of them remain hanging where they grew.



Further along is a large clump of Red Twig Dogwood that only shows its colour during winter, the rest of the year it has green leaves and white flowers.



Talking of times of the year,, the old question asks, "When is kissing in season?". To which the answer is, "When the gorse is in blossom", knowing that gorse blooms all year round.



And to come back to Imbolc and Spring, the crocuses have erupted really early in this sheltered spot that is protected by a grove of oak and acacia tress. Someone went to a lot of trouble to plant masses and masses of them, along with snowdrops. They have matured and naturalised now and provide a wonderful spectacle every spring.






So that is my walk over for now. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures.

There is one on Ebay at what seems reasonable price right now. (Doesn't mean it will remain reasonable, however).

Nice images, particularly the egret - it seems very purposeful.

Indeed you have caught the essence of a very lovely part of Europe. Just out of general interest, there are quite a few places ending with 'ingen' in southern Germany. According to locals, it signifies a place where a legal court could be found. It even gets doubled up with the jurisdiction of pairs of villages, such as Villingen-Schwenningen - The internet comes up with all sorts of other linguistic explanations!

You lot missed out with that 135mm f2.5. I had a quick rummage through and found this one ...

[quote:3496ace15f="SSF1957"]Nice images. The lens seems capable of delivering good quality at both ends of the scale - are you happy with the purchase?

Considering it was a crossed fingers punt, I am very pleased with it. I have a long way to go to get it right but that's half the fun with this caper!

I recently bought (sight unseen) from Cash Converters a Tamron A05 17-35mm very wide angle zoom. It is quite a range, so here are some more results that I have obtained from it.





That's the very wide angle end, whereas the next one is about as close as it will go


This is a headlamp on a Ford van.

Keeping to a motor car theme and a wide angle, we get this traffic light controlled junction.



And a very close-up of the wares being sold (just to the left of the previous image) at a main dealer's forecourt.



Silly big, plastic grin - costs a fortune so don't go breaking it. Please comment as you will.

Great illustration of the "rood screen" that excluded (in the past) the great unwashed from the 'holy of holies'

Totally against the desire for a 'smaller' camera than the KP, a K5 will do absolutely everything and really doesn't weigh much. Put it on an over the shoulder strap (Jobi?) and you would hardly know you were carrying it.