Many macro lenses do have deeply recessed front elements, thus reducing or even eliminating, the need for a hood.

But you've answered your own question, it depends on situation, subject lighting, etc.

It's a bit less contentious when put into the context of some abuses that have happened in the past.

In essence though, the correct way to establish if something is OK (and to have to ask we must therefore have doubts) is to drop a PM and then it can be sensibly discussed.

Ah, all my favourite spots already taken, there's a challenge if ever there was one!

More excellent images!

Very nice textures and tonal quality. perhaps the choice of shoes is unfortunate as the bright white attracts the eye, so if that was toned down in Photoshop I think it would just put the finishing touch to an excellent image.

Absolutely splendid pictures Mat, really like them. You have set the bar very high!

I would be happy to, but it will need to be a different day. On my fortnightly Tuesday visits there's not much time because I'm principally there to let my 88-year-old aunt do her food shopping at M&S. So by lunch we'll be long gone I'm afraid.

Perhaps next time we do an ADAPS Manchester Walk around the Northern Quarter you might like to tag along for a while? You can come and go as it suits you, staying for the whole walk or dropping out whenever you wish. If that appeals, I'll let you know the date as soon as it's fixed.

This is my latest acquisition, and although previously I've used one and found it not my cup of tea, having used the Q Fisheye I'm feeling more well disposed towards it, so I do have some uses for it now. The moral of that is never sell lenses unless you really need to, you just might come back to them and regret the loss taken.

The lens itself is very heavy for its size, beautifully made and comes with a high class metal lens hood similar to those in the Limited range. Also included is a lens pouch.

So far so good, I'll be around Manchester Tuesday morning to have a play with it, and I'm looking forward to taking a new view on its capabilities.

The recent lens review by Gary didn't give the lens much credit for resolution at the edges, but to get the chart in it must have been inches away from the test target. That is not the best way to measure anything, it just isn't designed for that. So it will be interesting to see what the performance is like at normal shooting distances, with 3D subjects as opposed to a flat one.

Horrible or not, it shows the principle. It could be slightly desaturated in Photoshop, but then again not for this particular image perhaps.

I think we can just experiment, be aware of the features available, and sometime a situation will arise where it's the perfect thing to do.

One huge advantage is that we have to think of doing it at the point of capture, not later, so it means we have to think before we shoot. A good exercise to improve our way of seeing.

No claims for art on this, just a technical experiment.

The eyes could be turned back to monochrome in Photoshop, but yes, Unicolour Bold keeps the bold dominant colour we select and turns everything else black and white.

Another example using red: