I was working in the Ft. William area of Scotland this week, weather was miserable, low cloud, rain, wind and mist, ( later snow ), suddenly the sun came out, took a pic or two.




Fort William and Ben Nevis





Isle of Eigg with a fantasic sky




Looking back from Ft. William to Corran Ferry, don't fancy the crossing tonight !

There are situations where you have no choice but to use high ISO values. The Viking below, was only lit by the flaming torch and I felt flash wouldn't have given me the effect I wanted. The picture had to be hand-held, so with my 50mm 1:1.4 lens set at f2.8, ISO upped to 3200 it allowed me to use a hand-hed speed of 1/180 sec. There is grain /noise, but I feel it doesn't distract too much in this type of picture.

Love the lens, Pentax - A 50mm 1.4, never used RAW before, except for a couple of experiments. Decided to jump into the deep end and take all my Ft William trip pics in RAW. Still 'developing' them, will have to see if I'm happy with the results. Posted a few the General Chat forum, have a look, will add to them later

LiamD, did you know McTavishes burnt down in June 2006 ? So I didn't get my coffee !!!

Got a couple of pics from my time in the 'Fort' , I'll try and post a couple later, ( new lens, first time all RAW, don't know if I like it ) ?

You actually saw some SUN ?

It's been steady gales and rain here for as long as I can remember

Working in Fort William and Mallaig area next week for 4 - 5 days, hoping for a few shafts of sunlight. Might get a pic or two if I'm lucky.

Don't know if you have come across this site before,

http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/

there is some interesting info., especially about infrared, macro and flash on Pentax digital.

It may help out anyone interested in giving it a go.

No they wouldn't let me in the limo,

I got a phone call to meet them for a group pic when they got out of the car.

You are totally right, forgot about the Optio 550. I will add it to the pic !

Cracking camera, stands up to a lot of punishment. In-fact it is the only camera I let the kids get their hands on, even then, I'm a little reluctant to give it to them. Must buy them a Pentax of their own. Start them young on Pentax you know.

Some of the 550's pics are here, see . . . Katies Pics & Nairn Dance

http://web.mac.com/john_md


(The first few of the Nairn Dance were with the DS )

Decided today to gather together all my Pentax gear, just to see exactly what I had, what was working, and what, if anything, I might part with.

Well it all works

Found an old Takumar 135mm M42 lens I didn't know I had !!!


Decided not to part with anything at the moment, and logged all the equipment details into a database. I felt quite pleased with myself.

Took a group photo to celebrate my achievement.







Not the best pic, but all my good stuff is "in" the picture.

Pentax *ist DS
Pentax Z-1
Pentax ME with MEII winder
Pentax Spotmatic SP

17-28mm zoom Pentax AF
28-80mm zoom Pentax AF
75-150mm M zoom Pentax M
18-55mm DA zoom Pentax AF
K 24mm 2.8 Pentax
M 50mm 1.7 Pentax - came with the ME
A 50mm 1.4 Pentax
M42 50 1.4 Takumar
M42 100mm Macro Takumar
M42 135mm Takumar
SP 300mm Tamron with 2 x SP teleconverter
SP 500mm Tamron mirror
28-200mm zoom Tamron
and a
Pentax AF-500FTZ flash.

Now to record all the wee bits, filters, step up / down rings etc., what have I started ?

Now you got me thinking about wanting/needing new stuff !!!

Not the 16-45 or even the 12-24, I decided on a helicopter.

Not really Pentax related, but I came across a website with some cool pics of Mexico City, taken by a helicopter pilot. So I want/need a helicopter now.

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PhotoAlbum31.html


Off to check ebay for a pilot's licence and a Huey.