The third one is the strongest. All the lines lead us into the image and towards that dark and moody sky. Add the terrific lighting and you have a very good image.

I think the second one is too confused and I'm not sure I like the sliver of sky at the top which spoils the splash of colour. Perhaps if you went in closer and made one poppy dominant and then the others could form a backdrop to that. The colour is fantastic though.

The first one has nice lighting on the fence and a good lead in...but to what? When our eye is drawn in to the image it arrives at a pretty blank bit of sky. I'm sure there is a great image to be made in this location, but it needs revisiting and working around a little more.

A good start, with one out of the three being extremely good, so that's a good indication that you are on the path to some great pictures.

Hope that helps.

Thank goodness. But look at the clouds...

I'm glad you chose that particular painting because I've always felt that the figure lying down looked pasted on. Very artificial. Is that just me, or does anyone else see it too?

Perhaps Constable was into Photoshop...

I can see what you mean by a Constable-like quality to the lower part of the image, but to really fit the profile it would need to be landscape format and have a sky full of broiling clouds.

A haycart would also help.

The story of Ensign is a bit complicated, but in summary is as follows: It starts with Houghtons in 1834 and soon thereafter they begain selling Daguerreotypes requisites. In 1892 they became george Houghton & Son and in 1904 Houghtons Ltd. 1926 saw a merger and Houghton-Butcher (Great Britain) Ltd was formed. 1930 saw the creation of a selling arm called Ensign Ltd, which is where we came in with this thread.

In 1940 Ensign's London premises were destroyed by enemy action and Johnsons (the chemists) took over Ensign forming Houghtons (Holborn) Ltd. The Ensign name was retained and in 1945 another merger resulted in Barnet-Ensign, followed by Barnett Ensign Ross (194 and then Ross-Ensign (1954).

This continued until the firm disappeared around 1961.

In common with other famous names such as Voigtlander they don't disappear but the rights to the name linger on owned by someone. The japanese seem to have picked up a few and I think Ensinor (being a derivative used for lenses by Ensign) was used for budget SLR lenses probably up to the 1970s.

There my tale ends as I have no idea what the current state of play is. Perhaps a Google search?

In theory yes, a small amount of error could creep in. In practice, providing it isn't done repeatedly, it isn't any detriment to the image.

If it's flare then it will only arise at certain angles to the light. You should be able to see it in the viewfinder if you look carefully and adjust the position of the lens to see whether it changes as you do.

Flare is the result of internal reflections within a lens. Coating reduces but does not always totally eliminate it.

The pictures are very unsharp and also exhibit signs of lens flare.

Difficult to analyse from these images, but it looks like something is seriously wrong with the camera and/or lens.

The backlighting in the first images won't help the flare either.

Is the lens clean and clear and free of any fungus? Has there been a serious knock that has put the focusing out?

It depends on your photographic style, but I have found myself using the Pentax 16-45mm almost all the time. A fantastically useful and very high quality lens. It's even done low light work thanks to SR and adjustable ISO.

Which one do you think you will go for?

The object of the exercise is to keep it simple and fun, with as few rules as possible.

Pentax shots are obviously preferred, after all it is a PentaxUser forum, but a shot from another camera would be OK from a forum member.

If suddenly lots of Fuji Forum members descended, if there is such a place for them to appear from, then that would be something else...but why would they?

The f2 lenses are "budget" ones, a very good design nonetheless but not as good as the f1.7 and f1.4 offerings.

I say go for it!