I agree - another superb pic of the team. The lighting is great and I do like the vortices streaming from the wingtips. Great stuff

Regards

Beautiful pics all of them Mike, and you have even managed to get the synchro pair crossing over in pic 1 without on of them being a blur - I think that is my favourite of an excellent set. Very sad business what followed alas.

Regards

Hi Eke and welcome. You have a K10D - a very cool camera and a pretty capable tool so you should be taking ace shots in no time. In terms of your questions - where to start??? I would strongly recommend you find a copy of the K10D instruction manual, as it is pretty good as I recall at effectively teaching the basics! The 18-55mm lens you have is indeed often referred to as the 'kit' or 'standard' lens as it is typically supplied with the camera when bought, but it is a neat zoom lens which goes from "wide angle" (at the 18mm end) to "short telephoto" (at the 55mm end) - effectively the longer the focal length (i.e. 18mm or 55mm (or anything in between)) the narrower the angle of view of the lens and therefore the larger things look through the viewfinder... The 'F' thingys (f-stops) are measure of the size of the opening in the lens which lets light through to the sensor (the aperture). There is a relationship between the aperture size and shutter speed you need for a correct exposure. All other things being equal, a big aperture (signified by a low 'f number') means more light gets through and so the shutter speed can be faster for a correct exposure. This is good if you want to 'freeze' action, however, there is a trade-off in that a big aperture (small f-number) also means that the depth of the picture in focus is reduced. However, this can then be used creatively to isolate the subject of a picture against a blurred background, for example.

Overall, the exposure of the picture (which is the critical aspect generally) is dictated by the amount of light hitting the sensor, and therefore the key parameters are the aperture (f number), the shutter speed and the sensitivity of the sensor (which can also be adjusted - this is often referred to as the ISO and I think on the K10D it will start at ISO100 and go up to about ISO1600 or more). The modes on the camera let you hold certain aspects constant, while adjusting others (or indeed to set all of them manually yourself), to get the picture exposed correctly and creatively controlled as you wish. So for example, Av mode (which is often people's mainly used mode) lets you dial in a set ISO (sensitivity level), then control the Aperture manually - the camera will automatically then set the correct shutter speed to expose the picture correctly. Alternatively, Tv mode lets you hold the ISO constant, choose a shutter speed and then the camera will select the correct aperture...

In terms of taking pictures of people under high energy lights there are a few things to consider - will they be moving (and therefore will I want a faster shutter speed to 'freeze' their motion); do you want a shallow depth of field (and therefore a big aperture (small f-number)); and just how bright are the lights - what ISO level do you need to select to achieve the right exposure with the shutter speed/aperture that you wish to use. Suggest you do a lot of experimenting. Try Av mode, start at ISO 100 and f8 and see what shutter speed the camera sets. is that quick enough to get a sharp picture? if not then open the aperture by going to f6.3... f5.6... f4 etc until you get the shutter speed you want. if you cannot achieve a quick enough speed, then set ISO 200 (i.e. make the sensor more sensitive) and repeat, then ISO 400... etc.

What shutter speed should you be looking for?? well in general to get a sharp pic the shutter speed should be at least the inverse of the focal length. So at 18mm, you would want at least 1/18th of a second (or the closest setting - probably 1/20th second); at 50mm you would want 1/50th of a second etc... Obviously, if the subject is moving, then use a faster speed to freeze their action (or you might want a blurred pic to show the movement). You can see that to get a sharp pic hand-held with your Tamron lens at 300mm, you would be looking for 1/300th of a second at least, which might need a big aperture and a fair bit of light to achieve...

One or two other things to watch - a digital camera also has a further parameter called white balance which dictates how whites appear in the image, and is related to the source of light (the 'light temperature). Setting this incorrectly can lead to a coloured cast in the final pics. I suggest initially you set that to 'AWB' which means the camera will automatically sort it as best it can - although again this is something you can experiment with. Finally, the higher the ISO, the more 'noise' manifests in the final picture, this looks like a fine pinkish/blueish grain in the pics, and can be removed to an extent in post processing (if you have a processing package with noise reduction) or otherwise lived with. The K10D is OK up to ISO400 as I recall but beyond that the noise gets quite noticeable.

In all of the above I have assumed you won't be using the onboard flash! - of course you could pop that up too but flash is probably lesson number 2

Your lens hood will help reduce effects of glare from lights so suggest you have that attached, and the skylight filter (I think) helps reduce UV light which would have been more important if using 'real' film as a digital sensor has a built-in UV filter I think so it will only really act as a 'protection' for the front of the lens should you attach it. I think

Another War and Peace! (apologies) - there is a LOT that you can control but it's great fun playing around and learning.

Hope that helps!

I have a pentax magnifying eyecup on my camera pretty much permanently, and I think that helps a bit, as I tend to focus my 50mm manually, especially when using a big aperture.

Regards

Av almost exclusively for me, although I keep meaning to have a play on TAv...

If you know what you want then amazon seems to have some decent prices. I am not sure where you are located but I know that the WWT wetlands centre at Barnes has a showroom with binoculars and scopes which seems like a good outfit. I agree that there are a baffling array available and at a huge range of prices. For myself I have a pair of Pentax Papillio 8.5x21's. I really like them. I am happy with the image they produce, they are fantastically lightweight and very compact, easy to focus, and in my experience to date they are good at distance (for birds) and close-up (for butterflies and bugs). They are so petite that I actually take them places as they don't take up much space in my camera bag nor add to the weight. They are less than £100. However, I would reiterate that you ought to try out a range of binos and work out what your specific requirements and budget are. I know from other experiance that Carl Zeiss make some very capable optics indeed, but the ones I have tried are all beyond my price range...

Regards

Hello all. I have collected a few more shots around London over the last couple of weeks. I generally have a camera of some sort with me as I wander around to and from work, so I always seem to end up with a few shots of central London on my memory card. Here are a few, hope you like them...

First up, the South Bank skate park. Always covered in (ever changing) graffiti. This was early in the morning (no skaters!) and using the fisheye on a gorillapod:




St Paul's in triplicate. I imagine this is already a bit of a cliched image, taken from the new 'New Change' shopping centre in the City:




Supersonic sightseeing! trying out a big stopper filter using a gorillapod again:




I have recently acquired a DA15mm lens. A thing of diminutive beauty I think. Here are a couple of test shots I took the day after I got it I think; Southwark Cathedral:




and the Sentinel - a sculpture in the 'More London' development which includes the Mayor's office and lots of modern buildings:




This is what 'More London' looks like from the other side of the river - think this is a fisheye shot that I tried to 'de-fish':




Finally, a bit of a freak-out on Tower Bridge with the fishy again. I cross Tower Bridge quite often but was delighted on this day because it actually opened. very cool...




All were taken with the K-7 and have had varying levels of PP. Any C&C welcomed as ever.

Regards

I agree with all the above - proper beauties!

I rather like these, and I think the sepia tone is fine for the second shot; although overall on my monitor numbers 1, 2 and 4 look ever so slightly dark. I love the gradations in the sky in number 4 - a classic coast landscape; and the figures/kite in 1 and 3 add interest too. Good stuff.

Wow - you see some awesome views in your job! I think I like confluence the best too; very cool, and looks to have better contrast throughout the image (if that makes sense).