That's a great set Tim. I like them a lot. Guangzhou dragons stands out for me, and the last is ace! - reminds me of the old cassette ad on the telly (Maxell???)

Great stuff

Wow Kris nice one - cool pic too

Regards

Hello all. Spring has well and truly sprung and I got a bit fascinated with some of the unfurling fern fronds in the park. I produced a set of mono shots and thought I would post a handful to see what people think; so any C&C would be gratefully received.

First up, Family Group:



One in the alley:



Strange Gathering:



Having a tickle:



Ball and Wall:



Unfurling:



Hope you like them

Regards

I have loved seeing your shots of the red squirrels - beautiful creatures! None round my way though... Keep 'em coming Great stuff

Regards

Cracking shots - love the second one. He's a handsome chap for sure

Regards

Gosh those pics are beautiful! I especially like the first - great stuff

Regards

I have three TCs. The tamron 1.4x as it supports SDM autofocus and only costs one stop of light - pretty good performer IMO. I have a kenko teleplus 2x TC which I think is very good quality-wise, although it costs 2 stops and doesn't support SDM so normally means manual focussing (normally does anyway unless it's used with a pretty fast lens). Lastly I have a sigma 1.4x EX TC which only works with sigma lenses as far as I can tell, but it is probably the best of the three quality wise IMO when used with those lenses. Overall none of the TC's are probably as good as a lens of the equivalent length (although the sigma one is very good with the sigma lenses and maybe is) but they are a lot cheaper!

Regards

I have the DA21 and if I ever only take one lens with me anywhere it's normally that one. One of my all time faves - especially if you have good enough light to get the f-stop into double figures - although still sharp enough wide open. There are some distortions but they can generally be corrected in PP if necessary (depending on the subject you will either notice them or not)

I seem to have a range of wide angle lenses which I have picked up (mostly second hand) - the sigma 10-20 is very cool - again it's sweet spot it is with a smaller aperture I think, but 10-20 I find a useful wide angle range, although inevitably it gets used more at 10mm than anything else. I have a 16-50 DA* which can produce some great pics but I generally am less happy with the results than from the sigma or the DA21 - probably that's me rather than the lens

Don't forget also the 10-17 fisheye. It's maybe an acquired taste, but can produce some uniquely cool pics.

If i had to pic one from those I would go with the DA21 every time... cheaper filters too as well (if required) although I haven't tried out the DA15 ever - it's next on my LBA list

Regards

I rather like ducks (I think there's a few in my portfolio) and there's some good stuff here. Like snappychappy I rather like the first two. The front duck on the first looks properly inquisitive and the second pic is rather nice - and so is the last in fact, although it looks on my monitor like they both have a bit of a colour cast. Not sure what post-processing application you have but it's pretty easy to remove in photoshop or elements. Duck with botox is very cool and well done to have got her mid-quack. I like the use of DOF in the others, although a couple of them look as if they slope slightly to the left - again easy to straighten in post-processing.

Good stuff though. Ducks are great subjects i reckon. They are full of character and often exhibit some interesting behaviours which can make for some great pics

Regards

I quite fancy a 400mm prime too, although a tip-top DA* 1.5x teleconverter would be rather cool as well I think. I know that there is also a legendary Pentax 200mm macro lens... I wonder whether that could be re-incarnated as a new weather sealed lens?