[quote="Daniel Bridge"]The East Neuk of Fife (just over the Forth) is good for fishing villages (Anstruther, Crail and others) etc. and the Forth Bridge is on the way there - you could also continue up the coast to St. Andrews and then onto Tentsmuir - several of these places have great beaches as well. There is lots of nice spots in East Lothian, including some nice castles near North Berwick. The Pentland Hills can be very scenic if the weather is right, as is Arthurs Seat. If you don't mind driving a bit further then the Trossachs area (abut 50 miles or so) is lovely - the drive from Aberfoyle to Inversnaid is very nice, ending on the east side of Loch Lomond with views over the loch to the Arrochar Alps on the far side.

Linlithgow, which to the west of Edinburgh, is very scenic with a loch, palace and old church. There is also a decent castle nearby at Blackness on the Forth.

The Falls of Clyde and New Lanark are very nice as well - I've not been there for a few years though.

I passed through Crianlarich yesterday on my way south - where I was (Achmelvich and Gairloch) is about 200 miles further north.

Lots of good stuff to do (and photograph) around Crianlarich - the short & scenic train journey into the railway halt at Loch Ossian, Glencoe (35 miles north), Glen Etive (one of my favourite places in Scotland), the mountain road past Ben Lawers into Glen Lyon, Loch Awe, loads and loads of hills etc.

Meant to say - it's also useful for portraits...

Cheers.

Definitely the 10-20mm first IMHO - it's still my most used lens (the 16-45 is a close 2nd now) and I must use it at least 10x (if not 100x) more often than the fisheye.

What part are you heading for?

I was staying in youth hostels this time - one of them (Gairloch Carn Dearg) is the building in the top photo.

The rest of the pics from the trip are here http://www.pbase.com/niblue/nw_september_2007

I've had the 10-17mm fisheye for a little over a year now and I continue to be impressed by it, especially in terms of colour rendition, sharpness and flare resistance. What I hadn't realised though was that if you keep the horizon across the centre of the frame you can get ultra-wide landscapes (way wider than my 10-20mm Sigma) without little in the way of obvious distortions, even at the wide end. That makes the lens considerably more useful than I'd originally thought.

I'm just back from a few days up in the NW of Scotland where even the wide end of the Sigma sometimes wasn't enough to get everything in, but having the fisheye zoom helped at times:

You might consider purchasing Photoshop Elements, particularily as it's on sale at present. It's a good balance of power and ease of use and can make the photo-editing process easier, including the preparation of files for web use.

I prefer the ones with a quick release plate. I don't leave the plate on the camera permanently, however I do fit at the start of any trip where the tripod might be used so it's always available.

My K10D is wearing a quick release plate at the moment and I don't find it gets in the way at all.

Don't know, however they have a strange way of rewarding customer loyalty given the upgrade is £57.58 and the full price only £55.22 at present...!

Prieni: My daughter also thinks your shot is very cool (as do I) - I've just taken something similar while testing a Cosina macro lens that has just arrived and I can appreciate the effort it will have taken to get the background just right (the one I did just shows the kitchen tiles behind the tap as being in focus!).