Hi Matt,

I suppose anything attached to the front of a 12mm lens (I've never used that wide a lens) is going to be difficult to keep out of shot, as you're going to be approaching something in the region of AoV 160° (calculated guess, with 15mm being 147° (APS-C)). That gives a spare 10° or a couple of mm to hide something behind the AoV if attached to the lens. That's not much to play with..

I was trying some wide angle (with the 18-55) seascapes yesterday, and as my first real venture at wide angle since using the ME with a 28mm, I'd line up a nice shiny rock a couple of feet from the camera, look through the view finder and it would look as though it was half way down the beach. Still, I got a couple of useable shots, but I need more practice. I'm off to Bruges on Saturday, so I'll try some architectural WA shots, and see if I can get better.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Ammonyte,

It looks more like the hood on a Cokin filter holder. It shows at the very wide end of my 18-55 occasionally, when not exactly square. That'd be my guess anyway..

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

I find GIMP useful for sharpening up photos, and although I'm not anywhere near as good as Matt at this sort of thing, GIMP does give good results if a little time is spent on them.

I've just finished this one, a scanned photo. I've used a little sharpening overall, and more used in selected areas, using the unsharp mask and the lassoo tool. Then a little adjustment of contrast, selectively again (I find that adjusting contrast (slightly) helps to bring out some areas more realistically when used in conjuntion with the sharpening, especially on B&W) can work wonders.

This is from another family photo.
Before



After



I set the unsharp mask to..

Radius 5.0
Amount 0.5
Threshold 0.0

and repeated as necessary a little at a time until the desired effect is acheived. Of course, recently, I've been doing this on old photos, so it doesn't take much to make a big improvement. Using the same settings on a Pentax .jpg does work well though.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Steve, and welcome to the forum,

I too bought the DL with the 18-55 around new year. If you have just started with digital then you'll notice that the slight softening is inherant in all images, regardless of the lens used. I like the lens, and some do, some don't elsewhere on the forum. That's down to both personal preference and I suppose the odd bad lens. Colour cast is (should be??) independant of the lens, so that's something to work on, when setting up the camera. Certainly tungsten lighting tends to be outside the parameters of the AWB (Auto White Balance) and so you need to change the setting to Tungsten on the menu. You'll find it by pressing the FN button on the back.. page 112 in the manual.

What program are you using to process your RAW images? Rawshooter Essentials 2006 is free and now supports the RAW files generated by the DL, and is easy to use. Just adjust the Colour Temperature slider to obtain the right light. You can also sharpen etc. with the various sliders. Although I don't shoot many RAW files yet, it is a very intuitive program to use.

If you look at the top of the page, you'll see MattMatic's name. He's the author of Sharpenomatic, which demonstrates how to sharpen up your images.


When using *.jpg images, I find that the Unsharp Mask tool in GIMP works very well, if done a bit at a time.

I can't comment on the Tamron lens, but I'm sure someone else here can.

Hope that's a start,

Cheers

Liam

Hi Steve,

glad we could help..

Cheers

Liam

Hi Steve,

Interior dimensions...

100 7.5W X 5.1D X 9.8H in. (19 x 13 x 25 cm).

200 8.7W x 5.9D x 11.8H in. / 22 x 15 x 30 cm



Looking at the dimensions, the 100 is 7.5" wide, and the 200 is 8.7" wide (interior dimensions). I've just got the tape out on my DL + 100-300 FA and it comes to 8.5. Now I've got a couple of cased SD cards in the pocket that's on the lid, it's a comfortable fit.. but not tight, and there are lots of other pockets I can use if this became an issue. This is with the end divider (the one pictured at the end of the attached lens) removed. So if you wanted to carry the 80-200 attached, then the 200 is going to be the only option. Unattached it'll fit in the case, but you'll have to keep changing the lens to a shorter one, if you want to put the camera back in the bag. As for the amount of kit, the 100 will carry the short lens, long lens, 2x and all your odds and sods.

The top pocket on the 200 will carry a thin waterproof anorak (my example being a Berghaus NON fleece lined) example, made for the chunkier of frames . The pocket on the 100 should be capable of about the same, but it'll be close, due to losing an inch in each direction.

It also has the sliplock attachments on the top, front (back???) and side (underside when swung around to access), on each bag so you could always add an extra lens or two if needed, in individual cases.

I hope that helps,

Cheers

Liam

You're welcome Steve,

make sure you get to road test the 200 though, as it's significantly roomier than the 100 according to the Lowepro site spec.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Niblue,

I used by bag for the first time "in the field" so to speak at the weekend, and then realised what you may have been asking. It carries the the DL with the 100-300 attached with a good 1" to spare, and at a squeeze probably 2-21/2" spare, so as that's the lens you're probably going to have as a walkabout lens (if I found the correct dimensions for it), it'll fit just fine.

You need to take the bottom divider out, or release it on one side and fold it back (velcro), but that still leaves 4 lens slots, plus the top and back pockets.

BTW, it does what it says on the tin. Just swing it around and open the bag. You can adjust the straps without losing a stride, if you want a tighter fit for cycling etc.

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

I don't know how big the 80-200 is, but my 100-300 is just over 7" long, and fits as the lenses are displayed on the Lowepro page. With the dividers being removable, you can probably get a lens up to about 9" long sideways in there. I'll check with a 300 prime later, but it looks as though it should go.

http://www.pentax.co.uk/product_details.php?divisionid=2&productid=105&p...

I've just found this, and yes (at 191mm), at a squeeze, it'll go upright, but will easily fit if you change around the dividers to load it lengthways.

Cheers

Liam

Hi all,

I decided on which bag to get..

http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Sling_Bags/Designed_for_Digital/SlingShot_200_AW...

It arrived today, and is perfect for my needs. It incorporates an all weather waterproof cover (attached) that comes out of a little hidden pocket underneath, and is very comfortable as well.

I'd recommend it for using as a day pack, although if you regularly use a lens much bigger than a 100-300 (which fits quite nicely), you may need something a bit roomier.

Cheers

Liam