I've had two and both have been rubbish. That's not rubbish compared to other more expensive zooms, but when directly compared to other consumer zooms such as the FA 28-200 and Cosina/Pheonix 19-35mm.

With both my 18-55's centre resolution was passable but edge/corner sharpness was very poor.

I've for one of the Sigmas as well as one of the kit zooms and can confirm that the Sigma is a much, much better lens, although it doesn't go anything like as wide as the kit lens, which limits its usefulness.

If I recall correctly a Pentium-M 1.5Ghz Centrino had roughly equivalent performance to a 2Ghz P4 so I think there is every chance your laptop would be ok with those printers. I'd suggest confirming that with Epson however from what I've seen the 2Ghz is a recommended minimum and therefore the printer is likely to work (although possibly quite slowly) with pretty much any processor capable or running Windows XP.

For A3 prints only having 1.25GB of Ram might be more of a performance issue however I'd still expect printing to work fine especially if you're not doing large volume.

I have once done a shoot just to get a picture for one of the competitions but usually, and I'm certainly not alone, I pick something from my existing shots to fit the theme - in fact looking back through my pics and thinking about the theme is half of the fun of the competition for me.

The somebody else is possibly me. I have both the Sigma 10-20 and Pentax 10-17 and they're both great lenses that I use frequently. While the 10-17 is useful in more situations than you'd think I'd still have no hesitation in recommending the "normal" super-wide first though, as I still find I use the Sigma much more than the fisheye.

As with many of the others a very tough competition to judge however here's my comments:

gartmore I really like this shot, nice texture, composition and a touch of humour although the partial window on the left is perhaps slightly distracting. 3rd place

Gwyn Looks like a nice place although I find the picture is a little lacking in punch. The branches cut off on the left also detract a little from the composition for me.

browngo1 Punchy colours and a good composition add up to a nice shot of an area I also enjoy. Would also have been a good shot for the reflections competition.

Prieni Very nice shot - much better than anything I got from my own visit to Venice in the summer. I wonder if it might be even better in B&W as that would get rid of the green water which is so often a feature in Venice photographs. Commended

Ammonyte That's my sort of area although I'd like to be up on the ridge looking down into the valley. The combination of wide angle and polariser, while adding to the colour saturation, does appear to have caused a problem with the sky being much darker on one side compared to the other.

justgetourandride I've also got a Brooks saddle on one of my bikes so I'm also a fan. I love the composition in this shot and the out of focus background. The out of focus highlights aren't the most attractive I've seen though - perhaps the bokeh of that 55-100 isn't the best? Commended

ChrisE Lovey shot - breaking the usual rule of thirds on placing the horizon works well in this case as the scene has interest in the sky and in the water. I think using a smaller aperture and longer exposure would have improved the shot though as the foreground is too soft for my liking.

GlynM Another very nice shot with a great eye for a scene and an element of humour. Despite the good colours this is another shot that it'd be nice to see in (grainy) B&W for a nice period feel.

KimC I've never been on a long-boat holiday but I can image it'd be a nice way to relax. I'd have been tempted to crop out the near canal-bank as it doesn't add to the scene plus experimenting with a polarizer might have been interesting to see if it improved the water and sky colours.

johnriley Either your goldfish is pregnant or it's carrying a world inside it like the turtle with the world on it's back in a Terry Pratchett novel! SMC coatings haven't helped with flare in this case but it's an interesting insight into your mind...

Clarky I'd like to take my own trail bike to visit there as here in Scotland there are a lot of restrictions on where it can be used. The body position etc. of the figure with the yellow top could have been an interesting focal point to the scene if a longer focal length were used however as a motorcylist I'd have liked a tighter crop on the bikes so I could identify them!

dirk1000 Interesting, almost monochromatic image and the plane certainly adds interest. I'd have considering getting in closer to the yellow/green flowers in the foreground to boost their impact on the scene and provide a bit of colour contrast.

spaceraider There is definite potential in that scene with great colours available and lots of points of interest. The out-of-focus statue doesn't really work for me though and I think perhaps there are too many elements in the shot. Cropping tighter on just the central part of the frame (including the orange flowers, fountain and the brick pillars) might have worked better.

Galoot A very lovely shot and a great advert for the capabilities of the DA 10-17 including the ability to look "normal" when the horizon is kept central in the frame. I love the colours and composition but would have preferred it without the bent trees on the far left. 2nd place

hefty1 A very tranquil and attractive scene with great colours plus a touch of human interest from the figures to the right of the main tree and on the bench. I'd preferred the bench to be entirely in shot though but overall a very nice shot.

drerka A lovely scene well composed. The foreground is a little dull for my taste and I'd have liked the colours of the house a little punchier but those are minor comments on a very nice photograph.

amoringello A nice family portrait with attractive twinkly colours from the tree-lights - I'm not sure which family member looks the most uncomfortable with the headgear choice though!

pschlute North Yorkshire is also a favourite area of mine although I'm not as familiar with the area shown here. I think this is a very good shot with great colours in the trees, including a lovely flow from the bottom left to top right. Commended

AdrianP A well composed shot with good use of foreground interest and of the greenery as framing elements. For me though a smaller aperture would have been beneficial as I'd like to have seen the abbey and trees behind sharper.

ronniechristian Interesting to see a tranquil view of an area I'm not that familiar with. For me the grasses in the foreground don't add a lot to the shot however so I'd have been tempted to place the horizon lower in the frame and perhaps also use a polariser to punch up a sky which has some interesting clouds in it. Trying a smaller aperture might also have been useful.

LiamD Nice composition with the swans providing some good foreground interest. The highlight detail in the swans seems to have gone however, although the contrast in the scene might not have been easy to cope with. Still a very pleasing shot however.

karma mechanic I like IR shots and this is a particularily nice one. I think the composition is very good and were this one of mine it'd definitely be up on the wall. 1st place

lenscape A lovely, dreamy scene with lots of good elements - the colour of the sky, the shape of the mountains and the boat in the foreground. A shot I'd definitely have been happy with although I'd like to see it in both a B&W and a more saturated version.

Congratulations to karma mechanic and I'll be interested to see what theme he'll be setting us this week.

Competition is now closed - I'll be deliberating and posting the results later today. Thanks for all the entries.

A recent trip to the North West of Scotland helped refined what "favourite places" means to me, but what does it mean to you?

Regards
Steve

I've got the Tokina 500mm F8 mirror and I was pleasantly surprised with its sharpness.

The 70/80-200 F2.8's are a very good option (plus being a very useful lens generally) however you're probably going to hunt out second hand options from Tokina or Sigma and there aren't that many around.