No shortage of blackbirds around here and breeding too (the two may be linked...:wink. It's worth noting that blackbirds do move around so numbers can vary locally. British blackbirds may move around the country in search of food as autumn/winter arrives. And blackbirds from Scandinavia migrate here during autumn (for food, of course) and leave in spring. The number arriving depends on how bad the weather is back home and on the journey. They might not get here at all if they find somewhere with good food supplies en route.

As of the last few weeks, though, the garden has been taken over by a robin that demands food every time I go out of the back door.

Steve

Another vote here for the white seeds as a background. A setting where the blackbird's camouflage doesn't work - which is great for a photographer .

300mm limiting? You don't say how big a crop you had to do, but the lens is good enough for a fairly aggressive crop. Alternatively, your next purchase is the 1.4 teleconverter - they're made for each other!

Steve

Add 3: Sudden, torrential rain when you're walking to the shops because the sun was shining...

Nice photos by the way, both of you.

Steve

That's a winner! Not sure what it will win, but it deserves to win something .

Steve

Superb - yet again .

As Yosemite was for Ansel Adams, so Malvern is for Lennybloke .

Steve

Whether MPB is offering a reasonable price can surely only be determined by comparing it to what other businesses (e.g. SRS Microsystems or Ffordes) will offer. SRS Microsystems is usually (and rightly) considered to be an excellent Pentax dealer, but once in a while someone has commented disapprovingly on this forum about how little SRS has offered them for something that they consider to be worth much more.

And of course, don't forget the effect of VAT . A new £600 lens is actually only a £500 lens - £100 of the purchase price is tax. When you make a private sale (e.g. via this forum), you don't need to consider VAT and can agree a price that is a reasonable discount on the 'as new and including VAT' price. However, a business must take VAT into account when buying and selling a used item, even if it is just on their markup rather than total price.

Re the specific offer on the 50mm f2.8 macro, early this year I bought one from a forum member. They were happy to sell it for £140. If that is taken to be the going rate for what an end user will pay for a used lens (and in v. good condition, too), then MPB's offer of £100 implies about 33% margin (+ VAT on the margin). That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Steve

+1 for what Lennybloke says. Ask questions, make comments, post pictures - it's what the forum is here for. And we're all learning .

HDMI out to PC via an HDMI-USB adapter, OBS Studio link to capture what's on the live view screen. That's what I use with my macro rig to get a good view of what's on the live view screen (not just bigger is better, the position of the camera means I'd do myself an injury looking at its fixed screen :shock. I don't actually record anything for macro but could do just by clicking on a button or two - and I know it will work because it has recorded some other things. OBS Studio will also live stream, so if you ever get into live online tuition or webinars... And it's free .

Steve

Don't forget the beautiful (and no doubt heavily bribed) dog...

Steve

Strangely beautiful. And nicely photographed, as usual.

But is it upside down ?? (You're in good company if it is, apparently there's a Mondrian that's been hanging upside down in art galleries, it took 70 years for someone to notice :shock.

Steve