I had just been taking a couple of night shots at a Railway Station and was walking back to my car with the intention of packing my K7 (Fitted with grip and DA* 16-55) away in the light from my car tailgate. Half way across the road the Camera detached from the tripod and fell heavily onto the ground with a sickening THUD!. Thinking the worst i picked it up, The lens cap had not been fitted and the hood was in the reverse stowed position. The hood was cracked through and was missing a chunk but was still usable. Everything else was unmarked and in perfect working order! Phew!!!

Regards - Pete

I shoot primarily for my own pleasure and i would not like to change that for the world. However before i purchased a DSLR i realised that to keep up to date with the fast pace of development in digital photography i would have to make it pay for itself! So i found a couple of stock Photolibraries and discovered that the Ist DL would produce satisfactory quality images(around 5 years ago) so i bought one. Sent 300 images off and i have been contributing around 100 images per month to one of them ever since! It has paid for all of my kit ever since including my K10D, K7 and 3 new lenses, Flashgun and Tripod etc. Yet i still shoot whatever i please and merely keep separate files for any that might be suitable for the Photolibrary. I just pop a DVD in the post and let them do all of the legwork! I get 50% (or sometimes 30% as some 2,000 of my images are farmed out to other photolibraries so its a 3 way split.)

Regards -= Pete

three Fuji Pro Films get the chop! link

Regards - Pete

I have not used them but Amateur Photographer Mag presented quite a comprehensive comparison test last year. Every Grad displayed a measure of colour cast. None were truly neutral, Considering the price the SRB grads did not disgrace themselves at all.

Regards - Pete.

This is the one i use for my posh stuff-www.bpdphotech.com which are used by one of the local pro`s too. but for everyday enlargement prints of nice quality i use bonusprint.com. I have tried Snapfish who produce images that are punchier and more saturated but Bonusprint offer a much greater choice of image size and a crop option. Besides i prefer the softer,more natural look to their prints anyhow!
I considered buying a good quality A3 printer but decided against it pretty much for the same reasons that you describe!

Regards - Pete

As i recall,It is about 2 or 3 years since Kodak announced the development of these new Sensors. Kodak developed the Bayer pattern over 30 years ago which is used in the majority of current Sensors, They designed this new generation of sensor from the ground up. The Photosites are claimed to be 50% smaller and instead of the usual 1 red, 1 blue, and 2 green sensitive pattern they replaced one of the greens with one that is sensitive to all colours. So as it not blocking out any wavelengths of light it makes it more sensitive. So ultimately you should get less noise, finer detail and improved low light performance. They said at the time that they intended to use them in Kodak Camera`s initially before being offered to other manufacturers.

Regards - Pete

Here`s some more info from the BJP website link

Regards - Pete

Hoya used to make Camera lenses, I had a 300mm F 5.6 though it actually gave F8 in reality. I used it for around 6 months until it jammed on my MX at Greenham Common Air Display and i wrecked it trying to get it off!
So i went out and bought a Pentax 300mm F4 which i still use today!

Regartds - Pete

Full Frame 24x36mm Sensor.
Bigger Viewfinder
Spirit Level that works in Manual mode (In the viewfinder)
Tilt-Shift Sensor

Pete L

Polarising Filters won`t do much to reduce reflections but will help with glare (though at a cost of 1.5 -2 stops.) If it is possible i put the lens right up to the glass and manual focus in the subject. The old rubber lens hoods used to be very useful for this as you could alter the angle without letting any stray light in. I use a plain aluminium tripod so i sometimes have to cover the legs with something dark so that the reflection does`nt show. ( Memo to self - buy a black one next time!)

If i use flash then i place it away from the camera preferably on a different side of the glass case from the camera if possible.

Regards - Pete