I've got the DA35 and D-FA100 macros.

The DA35 is a fantastic lens that you can walk around with all day long when travelling light - just like having a film camera with a 50mm lens. It excels as a general purpose lens to the extent that it's dislodged my FA43 as my default lens and I've barely used the 1:1 macro feature yet!

Unlike most "standard" lenses though you can just keep moving closer, and closer, and closer to your subject - until the front element is almost touching it in fact. This gives you the option of being able to take some very interesting perspectives in your everyday photography and it's great with flowers and other non-nervous subjects.

For things like insects that are more likely to object to having their photos taken then a longer lens (like the 100mm ones) is required. This allows you to get exactly the same magnification but with a longer distance between you and your subject. The longer lenses can also make for good portrait lenses but, as others have mentioned, can be a little too sharp for their own good (the FA77 is much better at them to be honest). Of course the longer lenses are also less useful as a day-long-walk-around lens than the DA35.

So there's no real "better or worse" focal length to buy - just one that suits your own needs the best. I have no intention of getting rid of either of mine

Canon yes (and a lot of folk already doing it), Nikon no (you'd need an adapter with a glass element to retain infinity focus which would rather miss the point of the exercise).

Only if it's one of the later Pentacords with the double exposure lock-out...

I wish I hadn't opened this thread - you know I'm going to have to track one of these down now don't you?

I often find the hot shoe on new cameras needs a little "running in" or it's prone not to connect properly. Make sure the flash really is properly seated before trying anything else.

Firstly, WOW!

What a great bunch of entries and a record subscription for the Fortnightly Comp I reckon!

I like nice open competitions with a very broad theme as it gives everyone a chance to give very different takes on the subject - I certainly haven't been disappointed here with the variety on offer so congratulations to everybody who entered. Without further ado I'll crack on with the individual comments.

Hyram - Ground Gently Washed by the Sea

I loved this one as soon as I saw it. Square crops are always a favourite of mine and it's no secret I like colourful photos too. This picture has both elements and enough detail to keep my eyes wandering over it for ages, the only thing stopping it from being "perfect" is the small amount of motion blur caused by some of the bubbles on the left hand side of the frame, otherwise an excellent capture with plenty of textures, colours and details to keep me happy.

Belinda B. - Abstract Water Effect Ground

This is a tale of two pictures for me. The lower half is wonderful with the stones and the patterns cast by the reflections in the water; the upper half, unfortunately, doesn't fare so well in comparison as there isn't enough to keep my eyes interested. Although I like square crops I think this one would probably work better with just the lower part in landscape.

JudithAnn - Autumn Colours on the Ground!

Nice cheerful colours on this one and it made me smile! I think that the picture is a little too unbalanced though with the pumpkin being too central to the frame, I think it would look nicer with the left edge trimmed down a bit to get rid of that dark patch of grass which, as it stands, tends to distract my eyes from the main subject.

Mannesty - Chocolate mud.

Genius! It doesn't matter how many times I look at this I can still see it two ways; is it dried up mud that's been baked under a hot sun until it's started to peel, or is it chocolate curls on top of a huge chocolate brownie? Either way there's plenty to see here among the textures and the shadows. If I was being picky it would have been nice if there was an ant (or similar) wandering through the scene to give some scale but otherwise this is great work.

darlene - untitled

Really nice lighting and soft focus combined here gives the scene an ethereal quality, I could well believe this was taken at sunrise in some Fairy Wood. There are two small things that don't quite work for me though; the first is the lighting on the mushroom itself which is a little blown out, the second is some of the stray grass blades that are in front of the mushroom and out-of-focus. When taking photos like this it's tempting to shoot things "as they stand" but often you'll get a better result with just a little judicial pruning before hitting that shutter button.

Lilly - Weeth Farm earth

Another square crop - anyone would think folks were playing to the judge's preferences! As usual, a masterful use of black and white from our resident expert - it never ceases to amaze me how many small details and textures can be pulled from an RGB file in this way. The tubers here immediately made me think of my dahlias (a good thing) but they look very dry, in fact the whole picture is quite a "dark" one that tends to make me think more of famine rather than fertility. Not that that's neccessarily a bad thing but this did leave me a little disconcerted - which, given the suject matter, is actually quite a compliment!

Malo1961 - Birds-eye view on "Her Ground".

A very imaginative take on the theme and one that I hadn't thought of when setting the competition - it works well though! I like the addition of the dog and the encroaching flower bed, however, the position of the table & chairs doesn't sit quite right in the frame for my personal taste. It's offset slightly to the right (to get the shadow detail on the left in frame and I understand that) but not enough in my opinion; I don't think cropping would neccessarily work here so the only option would be to re-shoot from a few inches further along the window. Top marks for originality though.

mecrox - In the Wolfson nature reserve, Oxford

This was exactly the sort of image I had in mind when I set the competition and you've done me proud! There are plenty of things to see on this small patch of typical ground, things that normally get overlooked as we trample over them. I like the Autumnal colours and the dappled light and the sheer volume of things to look at. My one complaint is that the most eye-catching piece of the picture is the red berries and they are slap-bang in the centre of the stage whereas I'd have been tempted to flick them out of the way before shooting. Excellent effort overall though.

Galoot - Looking over the wall on to Thurso Bay

Another smashing pebbly-scene with lots of shapes, textures and colours to take in. The low light picks out shades of yelow and pink in the stones as well as the greys and browns that are first apparent, making this a very satisfying view of the bay to my mind. I also like the small white stone as it looks like it's been dropped from another scene entirely and adds an air of mystery to the composition - no real complaints about this picture at all.

Aiki - Rendezvous

It's probably down to the sand but this photo has a really strong "weather worn" feel to it. The leaf, apple and pine cone look like they've been blown to this spot rather than having dropped there and there's a bleakness very similar to Lilly's entry above. I like the subtlety of the colours in this one but can't help feeling there should be something more going on towards the edges of the picture. A good effort but there are stronger entries this week.

thoughton - Walden Turf Maze

An interesting take on the subject and not what I was expecting - I'm always happy to be suprised though! I quite like the angle and the composition; the way it makes a nice geometric pattern, however, I find the green a little flat and washed-out which doesn't appeal to me particularly. I realise this is probably how the ground looked in real life but this is one of those circumstances where a litle tweaking of contrast and saturation could liven the picture up very nicely indeed.

Telstar - Tethered

I like the composition here and the way the rope leads us out of the frame to an unseen boat, however, the point of focus is on the top of the pole rather than the ground which was - after all - the subject for this competition! I'd have liked to have seen greater emphasis on all those little pebbles embedded in the ground and those fabulous textures in the edging planks. As it stands it's a nice enough picture but not quite enough in keeping with the theme for a top three placing this week.

noddywithoutbigears - untitled

A lovely composition with the yellows and browns of the sand and the crab blending nicely together. There's plenty of detail to keep the eyes interested and I like the small sweep of seaweed giving the flash of green. On the negative side I have to say that I'm not a big fan of frames and this one is just too heavy for what is, after all, quite a delicate and detailed shot. Lose the frame and there's a potential winner here!

Tony-O - Cellar Grid

I do like geometric patterns and this one stands out from the other entries as it's so obviously a product of man rather than nature - not that there's anything wrong with that! There's a good amount of detail in the textures but not enough to hold my attention for any length of time unfortunately - I think something to act as a central focal point is needed to make this one shine.

mikew - untitled

I really like this one. It's a bit like looking for shapes in the clouds and here I can clearly see a seahorse swimming across the frame - excellent! The semi-submerged purple plastic is very odd but compelling at the same time, although I'm not entirely sure why - I like it anyway. This is a really quirky picture that works well for me but isn't quite strong enough to win this week - close though!

Dr. Mhuni - Grounded

I like this one as it tells a story, even though I'm not entirely sure what the story is. The small blue and green tiles in the foreground look like sweets that have dropped out of somebody's pocket and the girl in the background looks like she's preparing to bowl a ball at them - some strange new game that I'm not aware of perhaps? There's certainly plenty going on here and it's a pleasing composition overall with little for me to complain about.

andrewk - untitled

I like this one a lot! For me the footprints make the picture as you can imagine who made them and how their paths crossed. The sand is beautiful and you've done an excellent job of the exposure to avoid blowing anything out (quite easy to do with this sort of subject). I like the colours and the composition, in fact I like the picture full stop!

RESULTS

A tough choice this time as there were several strong contenders, but there can only be one winner so after some mulling over I've decided that the podium looks as follows:

1st Galoot - Looking over the wall on to Thurso Bay
2nd Hyram - Ground Gently Washed by the Sea
3rd Mannesty - Chocolate mud

Pretty much all the other entries deserve a commendation so for all those who entered give yourselves a pat on the back - you've earned it!

Over to you Galoot for the next one.

Entries are now closed and judging is in progress! I'll try and get it posted before I go out but if I don't finish in time I'll post them later tonight / tomorrow morning.

You get what you pay for and that goes double for tools!

Glad they lasted long enough to get the job done though - it really is amazing the difference that little hole can make isn't it?

Probably not internally (although I don't know that model so I can't be 100% sure) but the most straightforward way would be to download the images from the internal memory onto your PC, then copy them from the PC to the card using a card reader.

If you can't find one (and I'm guessing they're none too common) then I think your best bet would be to call your local independent* optician; I'm sure they could make one up that's tailored to your requirements.

*Forget the big chains, I doubt they'd be interested in small one-off jobs.