I understand how compelling the argument for third party batteries can be, but there is growing evidence and concern that there are some very cheaply made and potentially dangerous products out there. Both batteries and chargers can come under this cloud and there have been serious fires and burns as a consequence.

Why not cut a corner off a battery? Because it's the wrong battery, it voids any warranty and if air comes into contact with the lithium then it will overheat and possibly catch fire.

It's a fine idea, but the OP won't be able to make that edit. It would have to be the Mod Team and it would mean continually reading all the threads. As things stand, I'm not sure we'd be able to do that reliably.

I've never heard of such a thing either - the image would be probably too dark for the AF system. Having the electronic contacts is sensible though, so maybe Amazon, or maybe one of the supplier websites such as SRS, Park, Jessops, etc.

In macro work most people switch off AF anyway.

You have a very nice sense of timing, which is a very good start indeed.

Technique still needs to be worked on, for example some are not very sharp. The black and white has beautiful tones, unfortunately the bird in the centre is just blank white without any detail. You've attempted something very difficult there.

The dog has a delightful expression, with lovely expressive eyes. Always focus on the eyes in a portrait and you won't go far wrong.

A good first set, hope the comments are helpful, let's see plenty more.

I like the final group best, that works well.

The black and white shots seem quite dark toned and lifeless, so a bit more contrast or livelier lighting would help.

Gallery images can be marked with the adult filter.

There are repair houses in the UK and the official one is JPS. You could perhaps book your lens in in advance of arriving in the UK, or maybe send it ahead and then collect it while you were here.

Actually that last question is a very good one - where do we find all these bugs?

CarolG on EPZ seems to find thousands of them, and she make superb images of them with a compact camera. She's worth looking up as it sets a very high benchmark for these type of images.

I've left it in because it's just possible that we could have impromptu competitions in the forum section, there's no reason why not. Then we'd be back to the 800 pixels.

If we look at the early competitions in the forum, by the way, we can see why the Gallery is a much better idea. I have kept my own links active for my images, but many members haven't so there are lots of missing pictures.

It's not inevitable Andrew, but Photomatix needs subtle and restrained handling to get a natural result. Of course if we want a special effects result then that too is possible.