When does wide angle become fish eye? Presumable a normal DSLR would get away with a shorter focal length than a full frame camera

More specifically, what is the widest wide angle that still gives a "normal" perspective? I have seen lenses with similar focal lengths described as wide angle and as fish eye. If I remember correctly it was 10mm.

Or is it more complicated than that?

Like many before me I have often compared prices and wonder how some people claim to make massive savings. I cannot find any. In fact checking overseas prices against UK I have concluded that in general "rip-off" Britain is not such a rip-off after all when it come to photo and computer kit.

I know someone who bought a Canon 350D and another person who bought an HP computer and both were convinced they had a bargain. Out of curiosity I surfed UK offerings but did not disallusion them when I found similar prices available over here.

I bought a Tamron 1.4X converter from B&H, but only because it was not available over here. The service was very prompt and you are not likely to meet much in the way of warranty needs on something so simple. Having said that, of course, if it had been damaged I would have had a problem sending it back.

Graham

An update on the Vosonic VP5500 having just used it in earnest during a trip to Canada.

BEWARE that the date attributed to the files is the date that they are stored on the unit and not the date the image was created. This causes problems if you then try to tie the images back to the itinerary using the date. Fortunately, I had a stack of SD cards but was forced to buy some more en route so that I did not have to re-use any cards.

So what then is the use of this device? If the date is not important, then it proved to be a very satisfactory image and review tank. Even if the date is important it still served as a Backup and Review device. In fact I did delete some images on various cards after saving the whole card on the VP5500, but retaining some for each day, so I could identify them by reference to the image number sequence. I could then redate them using eXpress TimeStamp Toucher v1.1.0 - a small but FREE download which allows date changes for a complete folder at a time (which sometimes means temporarily segregating specific files for re-dating.)

Not a very elegant solution but it works and is free. There are a few other similar programmes which might be a little more convenient so one day I will have another search.

Hope this is of some use

Graham

[quote:3496ace15f="Mongoose"]......... and there are now a few of us on here who have done it so someone will be able to help you if you get stuck.
/quote]

Thanks for the offer. I might well take you up on it "tomorrow".

Looked at one in PC World the other day just to see one in the flesh so to speak. Liked it a lot, but does not quite fit my pocket (unless I get one of those old window-cleaner's jackets:lol. The plan is to get a Linux system up and running on my PC first but that is tomorrow's job and tomorrow never seems to arrive in this house.

Once I have mastered Linux (any recommendations on which version would be best for image reviewing work (I thought of Irfanview for that job)would be appreciated) then I might take the plunge EEE-wise for other uses.

I have come to the conclusion after many years that
1) Anything that works will be banned or "fixed"
2) Anything that replaces that which worked will not work as good as the original
3) This provides work for people and keeps the world turning
4) Evenually the replacement will work as well as the original
5) When the replacement is better than the original somebody will decide to "fix" it
6) In time we become accustomed to the new order of things
7) Goto step 1

C'est la vie

Have been thinking of upgrading my old Flashtrax for some time and following the demise of the auto backup function I decided to change to the Vosonic VP5500. So for the benefit of any others who might be thinking along these lines here are my initial conclusions. Bear in mind they are against the old (What I call “vertical style” Flashtrax). The later version would undoubtedly be better, but I am not sure if Flashtrax is still in business and various sites reported “no stock”. I could not find their web-site anymore but you may know different.

Positives
Fast file transfer
Neat Leather case
Small size (same as Flashtrax)
Allegedly better battery life than Flashtrax
Excellent LCD
Reads Pentax RAW and .DNG (amongst many others)
SATA HDD that can be changed easily for upgrade
Uses easily obtainable Fujifilm rechargeable battery

Negatives
OS not as flexible as Flashtrax (but perfectly adequate for purpose)
4 Way navigation button too small and very sensitive
Need to set up directory structure via PC (limitations of OS)
Does not play music (but I never used that facility on the Flashtrax anyway)

Overall
Like most things it is not a straight win situation (that silly little navigation button is a pain) but on balance I would recommend it

Hope that is of some help

Seems I confused everyone. From reading a multitude of magazines and postings there is a continual debate on whether or not it is worth the extra hassle of shooting RAW.

For many people, including me, .JPG is most convenient from a post shooting point of view, but shooting .JPG means that sometimes (with hindsight) .RAW might have been a better bet. However shooting all .RAW is a pain come processing time, whilst shooting .RAW + .JPG uses space on the card.

So, a quick and simple method of shooting .RAW and then batch converting to .JPG offers a solution. I appreciate that there are other approaches, but this seemed an option worth pursuing. - Just a thought.

For those who want to convert .DNG to .JPG out of camera quickly and cheaply try Faststone Image Viewer - freeware so its worth a look

Why? For my photography .JPG is perfectly adequate, but this lets me take .DNG as a quality file if I need one, whilst still enjoying the benefits of .JPG without filling up the SD card.

I have been using it for a few weeks and within the limits of my eyesight it seems to do a good job.

Exactly - I was wondering if anyone knew of a Smartdisk upgrade that would allow me to view the .DNG images