Very nice. Sometimes a little camera and a lens that doesn't get rave reviews is all that's needed. Well done, I like them.

Steve

Right, let's be picky here. Neither clematis pic fully works for me. In the first, the main flower has a couple of distracting OOF green spikes cutting across it. Also, its lower petals are OOF which makes it a bit unbalanced to my eye since the upper petals are in focus. In the second, the main flower is good and the green spikes are less distracting as they are in focus, but the background is now too cluttered. Try f5.6 .

The potato beds shot gets my vote. It evokes the feel of a working garden. Healthy looking spuds, greenhouse in use, two water butts which shows serious intent to water plants, lawn neat but with enough daisies to show that it's for walking on not looking at...

Incidentally, the above comments might just be coloured by the fact that I've never been very keen on large flowered clematis. Give me clematis montana any day (and the space to let it ramble!).

Steve

+1 for frozen peas. My dog comes running hopefully when she hears things being removed from the freezer. She likes raw beetroot, too - messy though .

Steve

Stunning - both your pictures and what is happening to that pupa.

Steve

So the 10th birthday of this thread was the day that the PM announced that "We're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub". Ironic, in view of a recurring topic here...

Perhaps we should sing 'Happy Birthday dear thread' while washing our hands.

Steve

Talks about talks have tentatively started for the next communal bulk order of beer from the Piddle brewery. Another company that has adapted to survive. Their beer has so much taste to it!

Mrs Lubbyman is in charge of vegetables, they have been magically arriving on the doorstep at irregular intervals for the last few years.

But nothing can beat the taste of rhubarb freshly picked from the garden, cooked immediately and served with custard . Except, perhaps, the same rhubarb cooked and served as a crumble (note to self, have a word with Mrs L. about crumble...)

Steve

So that's where it is! No Wensleydale in Tesco yesterday, had to get Lancashire instead (runs for cover as Yorkshire folk rise up in anger...)

Steve

Altruism - people who buy new lenses today are ensuring that there's stock for the used market of tomorrow . And some people just like shiny new things .

But for a macro I'd tend to agree with you, a well cared for used lens shouldn't be a problem and will save £££.

Steve

The hawthorn in 1, the paths in 2, the inverted V of sky in 3 - deliberate or not, they make those pictures rather special to my eyes . Nos. 4 and 6 don't do anything for me . The jury is still out on 5 - it's too much of a reminder of the old, rotting and weed-penetrated wood I was struggling with this afternoon!

I was talking to some old friends on Saturday who live on the west side of the hills. They commented that they were fortunate to have the hills for their 'permitted exercise'. Your pictures show why.

A technical question - is the horizon in No. 1 showing the curvature of the earth, the rise and fall of the land or a characteristic of the lens?

Steve

There's a thread all about the Irix 150mm macro on this forum, too - see here. When I got the lens, I wasn't sure how much use it would get compared with my old Sigma 105 macro. Suffice to say that it's now my defaut macro, the Sigma is now used only if there's a good reason (e.g. size or weight). I can't speak for the Pentax 100mm as I don't have it.

Steve