It was certainly worth the 40 minutes, well done. I like the background to this one better than the first.

Thanks Jonathan.

Mantids are actually quite easy to photograph and they look quite comical as they spend a lot of their time upside down and very still waiting for their prey to come within striking distance.

I found this one on my garden wall, bought it in and put it on a plant. Once they are comfortable they don't move much with just the occasional head movement. Even that can be contrived as it's quite easy to get them to look in the direction of a waved finger.

They'll also adopt the typical "praying" pose for most of the time.

This is the first green one I've seen in the wild, most around here being an earthy brown colour.

One point I was trying to make in my post though was that macro photography doesn't have to be expensive. The lens I used cost £50.00 and the Raynox adapter was £30.00 My SMCP-FA 100mm 1:2.8 macro lens was nearly £400.00 . . . and tubes another £40 . . . and bellows . . . etc.

Thanks again and regards,

I took this last night using my Samsung 50-200mm lens with the Raynox DCR-250 macro adapter + on AF540FGZ + Sto-Fen Omnibounce.




K10D, ISO400, Samsung 50-200mm @ 50mm, 1/60 sec, f22, hand held, image cropped and sharpened.

I think Pentax ought to hire the company who first thought of bottling water for sale to the general public. What a scam that is, but people all over the world fell for it. It's a bit like joe public being made to believe that CanoNikon cameras offer good value for money . . . .

I think it'd be quite easy to introduce a yellow/red card system coupled with a one months posting suspension for offenders who have been 'sent off' as it were.

Then again, perhaps some here have outgrown this forum and need to move on to the heavyweight arena where the fur really flies.

If only to keep you company John , The medium format has never been of interest to me since my college days. I only used them then as part of the City & Guilds course.

I fail to see why a hobbiest, even a very serious one, would need such a beast. There are of course those who simply indulge their 'wants' and just buy what is current/new/different etc.

The K10D fulfils 100% of my needs, not least of which is cost of ownership.

There is also a glaring absence of lenses to suit the new 645D. Other than the DA645 55mm, due at the same time as the body, ther's nothing else on the horizon. I guess they have to start somewhere though.

When the Canon 1DS Mk III (35mm Full Frame) is being advertised at £5999.00, body only, what on earth is the 645D likely to cost, if/when it is ever produced?

Yes, but you'll probably hate me . . .
Oranges (still green), lemons (Some ripe, some not), peaches have all gone though . Oh and a few Olives . . . not ripe yet either.

If you already have the 18-55mm DA lens, and want something wide (or wider) you need to be looking at the DA 16-45mm, DA 12-24mm (my recommendation) or the DA* 16-50mm. The SIgma 10-20mm is highly regarded too and has a rectilinear design rather than the curvilinear SPC Pentax-DA 10-17mm.

The Pentax DA 14 & 21mm lenses are worth a look too, if you want a prime.

I for one hope that Zanussi don't somehow prevent Spanish washing powder/liquid from working in a UK washing machine

This could get really silly. Just wait until George gets back on Sunday.

The lens in the auction looks to me as if it is a SMC Pentax-M or the older K version. If you plan to use it on a K10D, I would go for at least the SMC Pentax-A version to avoid the exposure issues that are well documented elswhere on this forum. That said, the BIN price is very low and is worth risking.