I'm really impressed - not much noise and the pictures are sharp and clear The second one (Behind the Screens) is intriguing, bit spooky

Did you enjoy the concert? I never heard of Emily Autumn before but just tried youtube - sounds interesting and a bit weird - which I like (however is not that weird as some of the music I listen to, ie Einstuerzende Neubauten)

Thanks for sharing the pictures - I enjoyed them listening to her music. BTW, the bear is psychedelic

You mean reading books late?

Don't they have some shears in Jessops on sale then?

Mike, they are really nice. The robin is so sharp, colours are warm - I like them all My favourite is the #3 - did the robin spot you?

When I was a teenager my favourite way were 45 degrees photos - but this was part of fun (and gave me a longer vertical space).

Thank you again for your comments - they are really helpful. And Dan, you were right, shame on me, the vertical hanging line was actually about 2.45 degrees out. I rotated the picture - now I wonder if it's not too much to the right. The line is vertical now (as far as I can tell), but possibly there was a little wind which drawn it aside a bit.

I (usually) try to keep the camera level, but... as you can see I fail

This is the #2 rotated. I didn't try with #3 as I couldn't find anything I was sure is horizontal or vertical - and the shoreline wasn't straight:
[IMG]http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo284/misiek_knm/PU/imgp0869a.jpg[/IMG]

Nice to hear (or rather read) you again and that you can continue your journey. I hope you'll enjoy LA - actually my colleague took a year holiday and goes for an 'around the world' journey with his wife, and the first place he'll visit will be LA

Hello and welcome

Just got the Tamron today (and I lost faith long time ago)
And must admit it is quite a nice lens but... Comparing to my Pentax DA 55-300mm it is much less comfortable.
1) The zoom is extremely stiff comparing to Pentax
2) Focus ring: Cannot be used if not in manual mode. Now I really appreciate Quick-shift in Pentax - I got it for granted and now see how brilliant it is. Focus ring is also stiffer in Tamron.
3) Lens hood: you have to be careful mounting the hood on Tamron as it's mounted onto the moving part; so force applied is on the focusing mechanism.
4) Seems that it hunts for the focus more than Pentax and is a tad slower
5) Macro is just 1:2 and works only in 180-300mm range. Switching back Macro to Normal is also limited - the focal length has to be at least 95 cm (as far as I remember).
Apart of that the lens is quite nice - haven't had any chance to test it outdoor as it was too dark already. Probably will on the weekend. But... I already know that I really prefer DA 55-300mm

*Gulp* I don't think I can afford any of these... Maybe I'll just be visiting all nearby car boot sales in high hopes of finding hidden treasures much cheaper than on ebay...