Inspired by the pic of Castle Stalker on another thread:



Ardverck Castle in Assynt, K10D, Tokina ATX-Pro 80-200 F2.8



Achmelvich Hermits Castle (allegedly the smallest castle in Europe) with myself for scale, K10D & DA 16-45 F4 balanced on a rock - probably flash too going by the relections on my shoes.



Blackness Castle, Pentax Z1p, Tokina ATX-Pro 20-35mm F2.8, Ilford Delta 400, red and ND grad filters



Curtain wall of Tantallon Castle, *istDS, Sigma 10-20



Dunstaffnage Castle, *istDS, Sigma 10-20



Lindisfarne Castle (ok not quite in Scotland but close!), MZ5, SMC-FA* 24mm F2 (probably - if not it'll have been a Pheonix 19-35mm), Provia 100 (converted to B&W after scanning)

Even I'd consider buying one of the 55-200's at £49, however I wouldn't pay much more that for one.

£30 for the 18-55 sounds about right to me...

I've haven't done a lot of macro with my 70-300 yet (I've not had it long as it was a recent Ebay purchase for £65) however here's a couple to give an idea of what it's capable of:






This one is full frame and was no-where near the lenses closest focus.

It's not something I'd tried before but I just had a quick play with my Sigma 70-300 APO (mine is the older "Super" version) with a 2xTC and the AF works up to around the 250mm setting although it's not the quickest.

The Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO Macro DG is another one to look out for - they're £155 new at warehouseexpress.

It's bulkier than the Pentax 50-200 but has a number of advantages:

1) It has a 1:2 macro capability at the long end - it's not as sharp as a proper macro lens but it's definitely useable
2) It goes to 300mm instead of 200mm - it's not at it's sharpest between 200mm and 300mm but you can still get good shots and it's better than not having it at all
3) At 200mm it'll be slightly faster than the Pentax lens as well

My experience is also that the Sigma is a better performer optically where their ranges overlap.

In the days you could pick up the Pentax or Samsung equivalent for under £100 then I think it was a good buy, however given it's usually more expensive than the Sigma then, unless you want to stick with the Pentax brand or size is important to you, I think the Sigma is the better option especially given it's cheaper.

Note that there is also a cheaper Sigma 70-300 available (£96 a warehouse express) - I've no experience with it however it's supposed to be of lesser optical quality.

I don't have any shots of Castle Stalker though I've been in the area plenty of times. On my recent NW trip I'd planned to take some shots of Eilean Donan castle on the last day but unfortunately SWMBO needed me back early so I whizzed by it without stopping.

All very nice but no.3 is the one for me.

I need to get myself another IR filter (current one got scratched) and give it a go again.

I also think the 2nd and 3rd ones are very good.

The midges don't mind the rain (if fact they seem to like it) however what they don't like is wind. Avon skin-so-soft does work and, unlike DEET which is also effective, doesn't melt plastics.

Several of my film SLR's date back to when I lived in Hong Kong and out there I used DEET based mosquito repellants - that's why much of the logos have & labels have gone from my cameras.

I was quite lucky with the weather in my NW Scotland trip earlier this month: