What are your reservations about the DFA 100 Graham?

Hi TB

It's a bit difficult to recommend a lens when you don't seem to be sure what you are after.

Saying that, the DFA100 macro is proving to be a stunningly good lens, with blisteringly sharp images and cheap (49mm) filters, given that you can get one at about three fifths of the street price and you do not have a macro lens, it strikes me as a no brainer.

I'm a 50 year old fat knacker and I don't have too much bother with the weight of the big Sigmas. I have a Lowepro Flipside 400, and can happily wander around all day with the K20, 150-500, DA*300, DA*60-250, 18-50, DFA 100 and a 50gm pouch of Old Holborn. (Probably not a combination I would choose).

As I found in my earlier life on Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, you can carry a lot more if it's correctly stowed.

One further thought on the "you gets what you pays for" edict, the Bigma is around the same price range as the DA*60-250 and the 150-500 is about two thirds of the price.

In the absence of any longer Pentax lenses I would say the Sigmas do a reasonable job.

Is it plasma or lcd Jack?

Plasma generally uses a lot more power.

Another suggestion not mentioned so far I think - once you find roughly what you want, google the model number. There are always one or two lemons out there, and people can be fairly vociferous, but if you get lots of people describing the same fault, you might want to investigate further.

There are forums out there specific to TVs and associated equipment for example www.avforums.com . They may have useful advice.

One word of warning - with the emphasis on price as it tends to be these days, one of the areas which suffers is product proving, and there are more lemons put there than there used to be.

Speed ranges. Turboprop engines are for slower flying aircraft. Turbofans are for faster aeroplanes.

I was involved with flight simulators for 25 years. I started off a a maintenance techie - my personal choice was the hydraulics. I gradually worked my way through electronics to writing software and mathematical models of aircraft, particularly avionics.

I enjoyed it because it was never the same job twice.

In a piston engine the pistons start at zero speed at the top or bottom of their travel. They then accelerate to very fast half way down/up the cylinder, then they slow down again as they head for the other end. Theoretically the energy they absorb from the crankshaft while accelerating is returned to it when they decelerate, but in truth, there is a lot of friction moving the piston up and down the cylinder. This energy will all be lost as heat.

A turbine engine is not subject to these losses.

Stefan - are you a propulsion specialist? Have to put my hands up, I was a simulator engineer.

I have one of their CRT TVs John and I have to say it's not as bad. The only reservation I had with it when we first got was that it could not handle black. Anything that was remotely black was black so for example dark suits lost all their detail.

The picture has also degraded disappointingly quickly with age. Picture quality and alignment of the three guns have drifted considerably. In the analogue days I would simply have gone for my tweaker and sorted it, but these days you have to use a computer or dedicated set up box.

As to the TV shop - yes I agree, but pick a proper one. The chain stores have been known to regrade the picture quality on one set when they want to sell another. Go to a good home theatre shop and look at what they have got, then try to find it cheaper on the internet.

Not sure what you are looking to spend Ian, but Loewe are worth searching out if you are looking for something nice.