I like the flower, I like the shadow, but personally I think this an unremarkable image.

There is little contrast between the subject and its background. had it been shot against a dark, or even black, background, it would have a lot more impact.

I, and many others here, have the Sigma 150-500mm F5/6.3 DG OS HSM. Mine performs perfectly in all respects when attached to my K20D and K5.

The optical stabilization (OS) will only work with bodies equipped with SDM contacts.

If you can acquire a new one at or near to £600.00, go for it, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

These contacts are not switches that need to be depressed, they are simply a spring loaded ball bearing which mates to a corresponding flat contact plate.

The contact must therefore be continuous, or not, through to the camera body.

If your problem is that a ball ended contact on your lens is electrically connected to the tube body, insulate it with something. I don't recommend any adhesive backed product applied to the lens as you'll soon have other problems with the lens, but you can stick a piece of electrical tape to the tube body to provide the insulation if that is what is required.

The only real answer to this issue is to get a set of tubes having all the necessary contacts. The number of contacts varies with the age of the tubes of course, just as it did with the KA mount, hence the need to create a pseudo contact with older Jessops (and other makers) tubes by scraping some paint from where the additional contact is on newer tubes. So beware, get a set having all 7 (I think) contacts.

Strewth, what happened?

There probably are similar programmes here, but I couldn't find one anywhere close to where I live.

All the spaying and neutering has been done now. We did get a discount from our vet, but it was still expensive at €90 a time. We've had 6 queens spayed, and 4 toms neutered. At least that'll reduce the population explosion for a while. We still have one intact male who is possibly the father of Pepe and Matilda that visits.

Feeding them all costs about €15 a week too, but they are great company.

Dice only went to the vets twice. Once to be spayed, and again to be put to sleep but his company during his time with us was worth the €250 that those two visits cost.

Thanks again for your offer Gwyn, but I won't need to take you up on it just yet, I still have some of my kids inheritance left

Dice was a lovely cat, a real character. I'm still bemused at how quickly the FLV took hold.

He could have had it from birth, transferred from his mother, but that usually shows up in the first 6 months or so. I think it more likely that he got it from a bite (which I didn't notice) or from some other transfer of saliva like mutual grooming as you said.

My wife and I took the decision early on not to immunise our feral cats, mostly due to the cost, which is not limited to the cost of the jab. I have an hours drive to our vet and I need a trap to catch most of them. That's two return trips, one to fetch the trap, and one to take it back with a cat. 4 hours in total for each of 6 of our 10 cats. I can catch the other 4 quite easily and I have two baskets.

That said, I really don't want to lose any more of them so I might just have to bite the bullet and get as many as I can immunised, especially as whichever cat infected Dice is possibly still around.

Thanks to all for your comments.

Losing a pet is one of the hardest things in the world to deal with, especially when one has to make the difficult decision to end its life. Dice was less than 3 years old which is so young when compared to our first cat, TJ, who lived 14 years.

Pepe though, is fine, as are all the others.

Pepe now has a half sister, Matilda. Apart from being female, she is his double. Slightly smaller, but very similar in character, mannerisms, and markings. They are both black, but they also have a couple of small patches of white hair on the tummies in the same place. They both have the same mother for sure, and maybe the same father. She was born about 8 weeks before we had their mother, Esmeralda, spayed.

Another Update.

We lost Dice a couple of weeks ago. He succumbed to Feline Leukemia Virus (FLV). A week before his demise he was a strong and healthy cat. Chances are that he was bitten by another infected cat, which is worrying because it must still be around if it hasn't itself died.

He just stopped eating, but was drinking and peeing normally. After a week of him becoming more lethargic and sleepy, we took him to the vet where his problem was quickly diagnosed. We had no choice but to put him to sleep. He was a lovely good natured cat and was not prone to fighting, but if he had bitten any of our others they would have been infected also.

Hi Mike,

I've taken some time off from forums lately and I've not touched the camera since Three Kings. I'm not sure I'll be as prolific a poster as I once was, but I'll be around.

Clarky hasn't done much anywhere for some time. His Flickr account is stagnant too. I guess we all move on from time to time.

I've been trying very hard to resist your Siggy 50-150mm 1:2.8 lens, and succeeding . . . so far.

Cheers.

I can't find my original post where I identified this problem and recommended a fix for it, but here's a thread with a photo from another satisfied user.