All these shots of the Lake and Peak District gave me an itch. The sky looked promising so I went for a wander down a local lane into the marshes for a couple of hours.

I hoped to catch the sunset and then wait for the stars to come out but the clouds obscured the sun and blocked out the stars.

However the mist rolled in and there was enough colour in the sky to capture these.

All taken with a K5iis, DA* 16-50, DA 12-24, tripod and various Hitech ND grads. I kept the ISO at 80 for most of them and aperture at f22 for maximum DoF (and I removed the UV filters off the lenses for those that are interested.)

All have lad a bit of tweaking in LR4.

All C&C appreciated.

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Link to album with exif and larger files link

Sometimes I take snaps, general photos as if I was using a point and shoot. I actually put the camera on 'auto' (yes I know I'm going to get therapy) and click away just trying to capture basic images to remind me of where I've been. I even take them through train, plane and car windows!

Other times, when I can take the time, I consider the composition and the lighting, I put the camera on manual and pretend I'm a proper photographer. I even import the images into LR and adjust things to try and make it better.

Sorry if that doesn't match everybody's high standards but that's just me

You sound like my wife
Thats because you don't use one, if you did some proper research you'd realise that macs have much better high ISO performance

I hate to sound controversial but didn't you check?

Personally I can see no detrimental effect when I'm using the filter and the odd occasion where I 'think' it might make a difference I take it off.

I think we can easily get carried away by what we read on forums etc. and forget to check things ourselves.

I always leave a UV filter on my lens unless I'm specifically aiming to get the absolute best photograph I can. I always get a filter with every lens I buy as you can often get a deal on the filter price.

I would love to claim that a filter would have a detrimental effect on my images but 80%+ of the images I take fall into the family snap or general memory category where you would not notice any difference. When I deliberately put extra effort into capturing a specific image then I remove the filter just in case. Also where I feel there may be potential for 'extra' flare I take it off.

For 10 years I travelled as an engineer in the Merchant Navy. My Pentax K1000 and Olympus OM2 travelled on planes, boats, and trains, in backpacks up mountains, on deck in rough seas and in a variety of uncomfortable and rough locations. The camera bags back then were nowhere near as padded and protective as they are now and in all that time I never had a problem with broken filter. However I did have, sea spray, diesel and any number of other unmentionable fluids and fingerprints which would have ruined the lens.

In the last 5 years I have travelled extensively with my Oly E520 and Pentax K5iis and, again, have never suffered a broken filter but have been very grateful that I had them fitted.

For me the risk of goo on the lens and the slight chance that the filter will cause more damage than the impact that broke it are much higher than the risk of a minimal reduction in image quality. But that's just me

+1 for a move to macs. I got fed up with buying a windows based flying machine, only for it to grind to a snails pace after a few months.

Unfortunately you can't get one for £500. However once you have one you wont need to replace it for many years.

Yes but only after I'd been using it for months and because I was bored one day

Thanks guys. I knew that I had pretty good lenses but I was trying to justify buying something to play with Guess I'll have to think of another reason to spend some money I don't have

I have been doing my homework and, once we manage to get a cloudless sky in Norfolk, I shall be out trying my best.

I use a mac so Startrails.exe is out for me. Doing some googling I have found StarStax but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to recommend a mac offering???

I only said fairly certain

sorry....

Now this part I do know for certain. The camera will not 'auto change' you do have to switch it off, then on again to access the camera battery once the grip battery is dead. It said so in the manual

I'm fairly certain that a battery grip will not work unless a battery is installed (correctly) inside the camera.
I would imagine that the internal battery forms part of the circuit.
Sorry