When I was a school, in those days there were still metalwork classes, we did a decorating job on aluminium using grinding paste on a bit of dowel spun in the drill.

You sometimes see it on aluminium cases, small circular swirls in the aluminium all over. Not sure if it would be possible with the thin material the top and bottom are made of.

Faststone is easy to use, even I can manage it! In fact it is what I use most of the time for most things.

Took me a while to realise that it would straighten verticals. Look for the rotate function. It will rotate to left, right and Other. If you click 'other' you can control the amount of rotation by degrees, with a nice little before and after panel. Dead easy!

Try here link

You will find it under accessories. The password is Pentax.

Is is not already as 'the right to freedom of expression'?

I think that can cause problems, the manual says it is best to turn it off when the camera is held still on a support.

I think the SR can cause shake! Someone will be along in a mo and will explain better than I can.

Getting back to the Sigma...

Did you mention that the shake reduction was always on, even when using a tripod?

Nobody interested? Its free!

Any colour darkroom printers out there that could use this?

Free to a good home.
It was about to be thrown out at a local youth centre, where they were rebuilding and I thought someone could use it. I believe it worked some time ago. But it needs to go from my loft. Instructions included.
Happy for it to go to an individual, club, school or college where it will be used.
Can be collected or posted.

Bob.

Brilliant!

Did strike me as odd that the balloons are 1.95 and three bottles of champagne are only 2.25.

One thing the 55-200 has over the 55-300 is compactness and lighter weight. You can also get the WR version for a little more.

Thing is, it depends what you want to do with it. I have both the 55-300 and the 55-200. I use the 55-300 when I really need the length but will take the 55-200 most often, especially when I have to carry it all day in the mountains. I find it is a good choice for general use, I even upgraded to the WR version so I don't worry about missing shots when the rain threatens.

Don't forget a 300mm lens is easy to shake when you are 'on the move' and not in a position to use a tripod. It is easy to end up with a pile of blurred shots cause you didn't realise the light level had gone down and you pushed the lens out near it's limit. More is not always best. You can always crop!

I wouldn't dismiss the 55-200. Go and try both out in the shop and think about how you will use it.