I like that one Tony It has that slightly chaotic feel to it which comes with having a load of geese in one place Some of the Geese in Richmond Park have goslings now - they're cure but they move so fast!

Nice one!

Mat W

On your second question, I have a kenko 2x teleconverter, which notionally retains autofocus (screw type rather than SDM), although to be honest I haven't used it a huge amount so far... the teleconverter costs a couple of stops so unless you have really good light, the viewfinder is very dark and the lenses used are manual focus for the most part, unless they are 'fast' lenses to begin with. To retain autofocus at 400mm I think (??) you would need a lens which is f2.8 at 200mm... (others here will no doubt know better than I). That said, when i have used and managed to focus it spot-on the image quality has not been too bad. I'll use it more this summer I think if we get some bright sunshine

In terms of a lens which will get you out to 400mm, you could look on ebay to see what is about, pentax or third party - there's normally something out there although worth checking here or on the web for whether the lens is actually worth what it is advertised for...; there are also some decent sigma zooms (120-400, 150-500 and 50-500). I have the 120-400 and it's f5.6 at 400mm and has SDM autofocus. Image quality is good I reckon, it's a bit of a beast to lug about and it's longer brothers even moreso.

You can normally find something like a 500mm mirror lens for around the price of a teleconverter or less... not had any experience of them myself; they generally have a fixed aperture around f8 and (as I understand) offer a slightly strange bokeh (like doughnuts of light rather than blobs). Obviously at f8 they will not be as fast as a many other lenses of that range.

Finally, the pentax DA* lenses such as the 300mm prime or the 60-250 offer fantastic image quality (I would say) and would probably offer something similar to a 400mm lens if the image is cropped in processing. I have a DA* 300mm (as many others here do) and it performs really well.

Don't know if that helps??

Regards

Mat W

These are all great too! I like the Tunnel and Blown Out, but am quite fascinated by Blue Square - really like that one

Mat

Wow, those are great shots. I particularly like Mandarin, Balconies and Curves. I agree with others here that Mandarin almost looks like it's drawn - fantastic

Mat

Thanks Tim. Much appreciated. I like that one too.

Regards

Mat

Thanks Tobio

Mat

Gosh that grey goose (is it a Greylag?) doesn't look like he's having much fun... nicely captured behaviour, well done. Think the second is my favourite - the facial expressions say it all! The white goose is positively glowing - i reckon a little adjustment in PS or similar would tone him down a little and bring out some more details:

Regards

Mat W

Thanks again folks. I know what you mean about the penguin on the wrong trousers I find myself always drawn to the ducks in the park. I went on a bird photography workshop with the wildlife photographer Chris Weston a while ago, and after that thought I would practice my technique with the local birds... the ducks were the most obliging and I've been recording them ever since, and they are very funny to watch...they also make some fantastic squeaks and whistles...

Regards

Mat

At least once weekly for me. Left to my own devices I would be out somewhere every day I think, but work and other aspects of life get in the way. That said, I do make a bit of time every weekend (usually early sunday) to get out on my bike with the K-7. I am quite intrigued by some of the sets on flickr where people obviously take a pic a day for the whole year... maybe I'll do that myself next year

Regards

Mat W

I love that wacky bokeh in the first one. Very groovy - makes the lettering look slightly alien. I also can't helping thinking I would find a right angle viewfinder really useful!

Regards

Mat W