Not everyone will realise that many of the screw thread 55mm lenses marked f2 were in fact f1.8 lenses with a baffle put inside to reduce the aperture. Along with a different aperture ring with new markings. This was presumably lower cost than making a second production line of different lenses.

So the f2 lenses are every bit as good as the f1.8 ones.

Very nice idea, and the perfect title.

How about cropping so that there are no other birds competing for our attention?

As a web image, nothing. As a 20" x 30" print on an exhibition wall, rather a lot.

It's all relative to what you need from the image file/film image.

The longevity issue is interesting. Providing you can record it, the series of ones and zeros is very clear and could in theory last for ever.

The negative is rather more vulnerable to age, but if you use a black and white film and process it archivally it may well still be here in a few hundred years time. Colour will be less permanent, but correctly processed and kept in a freezer the original 1936 Kodachromes are still in fine condition.

However, kept at room temperature and not in archival sleeves you may get a bit of a shock after 20 or 30 years.

The rough order of longevity would probably be black and white>Kodachrome>E6>Colour negative. If you can read the digital file it will never change.

That is indeed freedom.

Not much use if we want to take the pictures now. Part of photographic skill is doing the job with the equipment we have.

Never give up Tim! There's always a way. Another approach might be studio flash, placed strategically around the room to bounce light as required.

Those are the sort of things I'd start with anyway.

Indeed. Obviously not the intended market segment. Perhaps for every 10,000 DSLRs they sell, they sell 25 remote releases. Just guessing the figures, but it's the thought that counts.

My pleasure Vic!

Tricky one Tim, I'll grant you that!

Probably one option is the 50mm f1.4 lens at f2, just to give tyou slightly more DOF than at open aperture. 800 ISO maximum for best results.

To improve the situation and give you are fighting chance, replacing the bulbs with brighter ones will probably then swing the balance far enough in your favour.

Photographic technique is not only about the camera.