Did you not have a polarizer with you?

I agree with the 'too much sky' comments but then I'm not a big fan of these 'try and make something out of nothing' images I'm afraid.

I could perhaps see it being used for advertising, but I wouldn't hang it on my wall.

No. 2 & 3 aren't keepers for me, sorry.

I hope you don't mind but I would have done something like this with #1. The colours have a bit more punch and the subject has more presence with the square crop.

Picasa > 'I'm feeling lucky' + square crop, nothing fancy.

I'd leave it exactly as it is except for cropping away the light border at the bottom and partially up the left side.

Well done, good capture.

Does it have a 'motion freezing' setting too?

I think a good quality zoom, like any of the DA* series, can easily take the place of several primes. IQ from the DA* 50-135mm for example is superb. The cost is much lower as well when you consider how many primes you'd need to buy to cover that range, unless you buy old lenses.

Zoom or prime, doesn't make for better or worse images. A FA 31mm Ltd on the front of your camera isn't going to turn a rubbish scene into anything special.

Lighting is the key. Get that right, or wait for it to be right, and it'll transform a mediocre scene into something that could be stunning, even if it's taken with an old Miranda zoom.

Zooms are convenient, pure and simple. Primes are lovely, but better? I don't think so. Twenty or thirty years ago IQ from primes was better than zooms, but not now.

Computers are to blame. When you can interrogate an image at pixel level you may well see a difference, but only you will see it. Print the image and I doubt anybody will see any difference at all.

The only negative that I have to say about fast zooms is their size and weight when in use. Three or four primes covering the 50-13 range for instance might not weigh as much.

The filters are 35.5mm threaded. The spanner is shaped to fit the slots in the rim of the filter and it's recessed/shaped so that it doesn't slide from side to side.

Fact is, it's just a flat piece of shaped sheet metal. If you have a needle file, I'm sure you could reshape the parts I'm talking about to fit your filters and still fit these larger filters.

That's the one John. I thought it was a poll. Obviously it wasn't.

Thankyou Msr. Poirot.

What make is the 200mm?

TT, you might find this thread interesting.

There was a poll a while ago inviting members to show which modes they shoot in most of the time, but I can't find it. Maybe somebody else can?